Oregonians who packed a legislative hearing on the state’s addiction crisis and flooded the Legislature with passionate testimony this week have vastly different viewpoints, but on one thing they agree: The status quo is not working. Some want to repeal Measure 110, the state’s voter-approved drug decriminalization law. Others say it needs to be tweaked.
Public funding to boost early child care options in Oregon has grown by millions during the past few years, but options are still limited for many parents who are forced to choose — and lose — jobs, according to a survey from Portland State University.
Oregon lawmakers will have less money to spend next year than they anticipated after a promising revenue forecast released last week. The Office of Economic Analysis on Tuesday revised its December revenue forecast, saying it overstated an expected increase in tax collections. In fact, insurance tax collections are trending down, not up
A group trying to block former President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot in all 50 states ramped up pressure on Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade this week. Its latest letter asks Griffin-Valade to respond and indicate whether she’ll issue a temporary rule declaring Trump ineligible to appear on ballots in Oregon by Dec. 1.
State attorneys general in Oregon, Washington and California and two Oregon-based environmental groups are asking federal energy regulators to reconsider their approval of a natural gas pipeline project that would increase the flow of gas through the Northwest.
Oregon’s voter-approved gun law that would require permits and a safety course violates the state constitution, a Harney County Circuit Court judge ruled on Tuesday. The ruling is a setback for gun safety advocates who backed Measure 114 in response to gun violence and mass shootings and convinced Oregon voters to pass it in 2022.
About 4,500 Ukrainians have arrived in Oregon since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, upending their lives and forcing them to flee the danger and chaos of their homeland. Nearly two years later, government agencies, resettlement organizations and community groups have banded together to help Ukrainians settle into a new life in Oregon.
More than 1,100 Oregon households have received help from a $150 million wildfire recovery program the state set up after residents lost their homes during the devastating 2020 Labor Day fires. Three years later, the area is still recovering from the wildfires, which burned more than 1 million acres and destroyed or heavily damaged more than 4,300 homes in an eight-county region of Oregon. A full recovery is still years away.
The FBI is investigating a piece of suspicious mail that caused the elections office in Oregon’s fourth-largest county to shut down the day after Tuesday’s local election. The letter delivered to the Lane County elections office on Wednesday is among suspicious mail sent to local elections offices in at least five states, according to the Associated Press.
Landlords are filing more court evictions monthly than they did before the COVID pandemic, though the number of evictions trended down after the Legislature passed a law giving tenants more time to make up late rent. House Bill 2001, which took effect in late March, requires landlords to give tenants 10 days notice when filing for eviction for nonpayment of rent, rather than the previously allowed 72 hours.
Dozens of area residents ushered in a spirited first night of Hanukkah on Thursday, gathering on the Ashland Plaza late Thursday afternoon to light the first flames on the menorah.
Charles “Al” Huth: We can expand our potential to build true knowledge by altering what we spend time focusing on in our daily lives. In short, search for the Truth.
Herbert Rothschild: Apparently, Kissinger insisted on recording practically every word he said. His aides later commented that he needed to keep track of which lie he told to whom.
On a 4-2 vote, the Ashland City Council on Tuesday approved the first of two required readings of an ordinance to control time, place and manner of camping in Ashland. The ordinance will control occupation of public spaces and enforce behavior, rather than status, and does not seek to punish those who are homeless, the acting city attorney told the council.
Andrew Gast, general manager of the Mt. Ashland Ski Area, had hoped that this Saturday would be opening day for skiing this season, but he admitted defeat on Thursday, despite the latest snowstorm. Things are now day to day, while he, a couple hundred employees and untold numbers of skiers wait for more snow.
Oregonians who packed a legislative hearing on the state’s addiction crisis and flooded the Legislature with passionate testimony this week have vastly different viewpoints, but on one thing they agree: The status quo is not working. Some want to repeal Measure 110, the state’s voter-approved drug decriminalization law. Others say it needs to be tweaked.
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