U of Oregon ranks No. 7 for college marijuana use, Lewis & Clark, Reed also in national Top 20

Skidmore College, a "tree-hugging, clove-cigarette-smoking, vegetarian" type of liberal arts college, came out No. 1 on the Review's "Reefer Madness" ranking. UO was No. 7, Lewis & Clark No. 15 and Reed No. 17, the Review reported. Schools were ranked among the 379 "best colleges" covered by the Review's 2014 guide. The University of Oregon was the only Oregon school to make Princeton Review's national Top 20 list of "party schools," coming in at No. 19.
www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2014/08/u_o...river


https://chumly.com/n/27b84c4

Clackamas County wants support for land use deal in 2015

The approach follows a letter the commissioners wrote to legislators about how Clackamas County lacks industrial land, and can't create more with the current urban and rural reserves set-up. This all follows the February 2014 Oregon Legislature session when Washington County politicians struck a bargain that reconfigured the urban and rural reserves after an Oregon Appeals Court decision said the county messed up the designations. It's too bad Oregonians got swindled into the whole SB100 back in the 70's. I think most non-Portland voters would have been boldly against it if they knew it meant local cities and counties had to get permission from Portland (via Metro) to develop their land. The light rail smart growth industrial complex that spawned from it has become too big to fail; It has morphed into a intertwined network of crooked politicians, crony developer friends, and militant environmentalist groups, occupying all levels of government and private industry.
www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2014/...river


https://chumly.com/n/279c38c

How Does This Work? Kitz Fires This Guy Then Contractor Hires Him?

Cover Oregon has given a $70,000 contract to Aaron Karjala, the health insurance exchange's former top technology official, to assist with litigation against Oracle Corp. Clyde Hamstreet, formerly the exchange's acting executive director, signed the contract with Karjala June 3, less than three months after Gov. John Kitzhaber publicly called for his firing.
www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2014/07/cover_...river
#orcot #orpol #orgop #multgop #pdxevents #portlandia #mcmenamins #mcmenamin4or 


https://chumly.com/n/2790a03

Democratic Rule For 30 Years In Oregon How are You Doing?

This article is tough to read. Education and a strong economy are inextricably linked to the well-being of our children and the quality of life in Oregon. We have to do better.
www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2014/07/ore...river

Portland Superintendent Carole Smith's New salary of $257,000 stack up in Oregon.

The news of a pay raise for Portland Public Schools Superintendent Carole Smith has generated a lot of discussion. Portland's school board is getting ready to give Smith, who has been at the helm of Oregon's largest district since 2007, a big raise. One proposal pegged the increase as high as 33 percent, though board members insist the proposal has not been finalized. For context, a $257,000 salary is the equivalent of Smith receiving a 3.85 percent raise every year since she began seven years ago. The chart only includes salary, not additional annuities that are fairly common among superintendents. Smith currently earns a $1,500 monthly annuity, and a proposal by board leadership wanted to up that to $2,500 a month. What do you think of the proposal? Should other school board members approve such an amount, or lobby for a smaller raise?
www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/07/how_...river

Oregon's huge increase in people living in high-poverty areas one of nation's most extreme

Oregon experienced one of the nation's most severe increases in people living in areas of concentrated poverty during the first decade of this century, according to a new Census Bureau study of living situations in 2000 and 2010. It was one of just four states -- all in the South except Oregon -- where the share of people living in census tracts with a high share of impoverished residents shot up more than 15 percentage points over that period. Time For New Leadership!
www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2014/07/ore...river

Milwaukie, Happy Valley, Oak Grove to split $25 million in parks projects in proposed ballot measure

A proposed North Clackamas Parks & Recreation District rate increase will buy $25 million in development or construction of parks divided equally among Milwaukie, Happy Valley and the Oak Grove area. The current rate is 54 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, and a proposed ballot measure by the Clackamas County commissioners would bump that up to 89 cents. The measure will likely go on the November ballot, if the commissioners agree on the wording by Aug. 7.
www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2014/...river

New Cover Oregon executive director Aaron Patnode will make $215,000 a year!!

Cover Oregon's new executive director has signed a contract awarding him a base salary of $215,000 a year, more than a $30,000 raise over his predecessor. Aaron Patnode, selected by the health insurance exchange's board after a lengthy search to replace Howard "Rocky" King, starts Monday, July 14. The 36-year-old Kaiser Permanente manager will make more than twice the salary of Gov. John Kitzhaber. Patnode will also receive full state benefits as well as yearly incentive pay of $32,250 if he meets performance measures set by the Cover Oregon board.
www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2014/07/new_co...river

Portland Development Commission to offer $1.5 million to buy Right 2 Dream Too Site

On Wednesday the Portland Development Commission's board will consider signing off on a plan to buy Michael Wright's property at the base of the Chinatown Gate in a deal worth up to $1.5 million. The deal also includes a provision that would open the door for Right 2 Dream Too to remain in Old Town Chinatown until late 2016 or early 2017, four months after the City Council authorized directing $846,000 to help fund the entrenched community a new home as soon as possible.
www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/06/port...river

Clackamas County's forest dilemma - chainsaws or Uncle Sam?

If you ever doubted that governing is a lot more difficult and nuanced than campaigning, consider Clackamas County's attempt to sell timber on county-owned forestland near Brightwood. The proposal has been somewhat controversial, and one possible resolution might come as a surprise given commissioners' focus on employment and the strongly stated frustration of one commissioner, Tootie Smith, with the management of federally owned forestland. First, some background. The so-called Boulder sale covers about 180 acres of a 340-acre parcel the county acquired decades ago through tax foreclosure. It's been forestland – and subject to harvest – for a long, long time, though the timber in question is well over the county's 55-year rotation age. In all, about 6.4 million board-feet would be cut, and the revenue would be used to support county parks. The county manages a portfolio of roughly 3,000 acres of timberland for this purpose....
www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/06/post_...river

Lawsuit claims Regence BlueCross BlueShield no longer acting like nonprofit

Lawyers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Oregon nonprofit health insurer Regence BlueCross BlueShield, saying it is acting like a for-profit company by stockpiling excess funds that support large salaries rather than health care for policyholders. The suit lists Regence policyholder Tanya March and her two children as plaintiffs as well as Dischinger Orthodontics of Lake Oswego. Cambia Health Solutions, the parent company for Regence and its sister companies in Washington, Utah and Idaho, does not report total executive compensation that includes income from for-profit subsidiaries, making those figures difficult to ascertain. However, in 2012, Cambia CEO Mark Ganz told The Oregonian he earned $1.94 million.
www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2014/06/lawsui...river

Earl Blumenauer says GOP assaults wrecking IRS Seriously??

Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer joined in the verbal histrionics Friday as IRS Commissioner John Koskinen was hauled up to Capitol Hill to explain why the agency has lost thousands of emails sought by investigators. While Koskinen was angrily berated by Republican lawmakers who questioned his integrity, Blumenauer got his own share of the spotlight by fervently defending a tax agency he charged is under constant assault from the GOP. The House Ways and Means Committee is looking into the missing emails involving seven employees at the center of the investigation into charges that the agency mistreated conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Blumenauer defends this outrageous behavior by the IRS? Give Us a Break Earl. Vote James Buchal For US Representative!! Time for a change!
www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2014/06/earl_bl...river

Thousands have not paid premiums for Cover Oregon health policies, placing coverage at risk

A large number of people who've signed up for private health insurers through the Cover Oregon health insurance exchange have not paid their first month's premiums, meaning they are at risk of going without coverage through November. This year, for the first time, most people who don't have health coverage risk a federal tax penalty that runs as much as 1 percent of household income. Once the first month's premium is paid and the policy is in place, under the Affordable Care Act consumers will have a much longer grace period – 90 days—to reinstate insurance after failing to pay.
www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2014/05/thousa...river

Chief clerk of Oregon House, Ramona Line, resigns over PERS lobbying

The longtime chief clerk of the Oregon House has been bounced from her post over her lobbying for a 2007 bill amendment that may have benefited her financially. The resignation comes as The Oregonian had launched an investigation into the 2007 bill and Line's role. The amendment Line lobbied for allowed a very limited group of PERS members to repurchase past service credit and retirement account balances they had previously liquidated with money rolled over from the state's deferred compensation plan. The repurchase gave Line full credit for her retirement, plus interest while she continued working. She was among a small number of PERS members who qualified under the amendment.
www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/05/chie...river

Would you refuse to patronize a store whose owner has beliefs you don’t agree with?

Another controversy has erupted over a Sellwood-Moreland business, this one over the owner’s views on gays and same-sex marriage. Located on a busy block near Southeast Milwaukie Avenue and Bybee Boulevard, the store is taking the place of a former antique shop. Remodeling has been under way for months, and anticipation of what appears to be a new, high-end place to buy food has been building. Recently, neighbors found Facebook postings by owner Chauncy Childs that brought them up short. She wrote a long post about her opposition to same-sex marriage, complaining that"a tiny minority is dictating a change of our social structure.” She said she believes that gay marriage is wrong because it is the start of a slippery slope that could eventually lead to pedophilia and bigamy. But she said those are her private religious beliefs and don’t reflect how the store will operate.
www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/04/owne...river

Unemployment in Oregon Potential long-term benefits extension raises hope for thousands!!

An estimated 17,000 out-of-work Oregonians lost their weekly benefits at once, when a federal program expired at the start of 2014. On top of the workers whose benefits were cut off, another 9,200 Oregon workers --and counting -- have run out of state-funded unemployment insurance since January. The weekly state payments run out after six months. More than one-third of Oregon’s unemployed had been out of work for a half-year or longer at the close of 2013. Others have left the job market altogether because they faced such poor job prospects. What is clear, though, is that a growing number of people could be affected.
www.oregonlive.com/money/index.ssf/2014/03/unemplo...river

Oregon's tax man cometh for your personal dividends!!

I think Oregon should do more to ATTRACT private investment, not REPELLING it!
Here's something to chew on as tax day looms about a month away: Oregon residents face the fourth highest tax rate in the country on their personal dividends, according to the Tax Foundation, a tax policy research outfit in Washington D.C. California came in with the highest combined state and federal marginal tax rate on personal dividends at 33 percent. Oregon was fourth at 31 percent. Taxpayers in states with no personal income tax (including Washington) face a top marginal tax rate on personal dividend income of 25 percent, the organization said. Those supporting tax reform in Oregon often cite the state's high capital gains and income tax rates, saying it promotes a brain and wealth drain, as tax refugees flee to more attractive spots - like just over the Columbia River in Vancouver.
www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2014/03/oreg...river

Longshore union will lose credibility if it rejects Kitzhaber's request!!

One has to wonder when the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will run out of explanations for the slow pace of work at the Port of Portland – and how many people will be hurt before that happens. The union has taken new credibility hits in the past two weeks. First, The Oregonian’s Richard Read reported details of the union’s contract with the Pacific Maritime Association, which stipulates that some senior union members are paid by employers even when they don’t work. The provision has been applied during lockouts imposed by United Grain Corp. in a dispute at some Northwest grain terminals. Where does all of this leave the Port? Not in a good place. Kitzhaber and Wyatt are running out of options. If the ILWU doesn’t like the results of the Kitzhaber-ordered review, it has signaled its intention to claim the review is biased. The Port has established an incentive program, based on number of containers shipped through Portland, to try to entice container carriers to continue using the Port, but there’s little else it can do.
www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/03/longs...river

Timber veterans struggle to navigate Oregon's land use law and make forestry profitable!!

The story, which ran online Feb. 28, and on the front page of The Oregonian on March 3, discusses the balance between protecting the environment and protecting small businesses.
Fritch, a long-time forester, ran into a vaguely defined statute in Oregon’s landmark land use law, Senate Bill 100. Now, he is trying to find a way to stay in business, with the help of county and state politicians.
The debate is happening within Oregon’s new economy, which relies on tech-industry bearded hipsters who dress like lumberjacks and go to Pearl District bars named River Pig, rather than actual river pigs, the timber veterans who ran logs down the river for processing. Capital Press, an agriculture-focused publication, wrote about the hearing for Senate Bill 1575. The Press focused on the supporter and opponents who showed up to testify at the Legislature committee meeting.
www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2014/...river

Multnomah County issues formal response to lawsuit, calling state ban 'discriminatory and unconstitutional!!

When The Voter's Do Not Approve A New Amendment To The Oregon Constitution What Do The Losers Do? Sue!
Two Oregon couples are suing Multnomah County, Rosenblum, Gov. John Kitzhaber and Jennifer Woodward, a state registrar, arguing that they should have the right to get a marriage license in Oregon. Is Everyone as Tired of This
Approach as I Am? The couples submitted a motion for summary judgment in the case, meaning they asked the judge to side with them without taking the case to trial. As a defendant in the suit, Multnomah County must issue a response to the couples' motion.
www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/03/gay_...river