ODOT hires managers' children for summer jobs

Managers at the Oregon Department of Transportation arranged temporary agency jobs for their children this year despite state rules that prohibit nepotism in hiring and the use of an official position to obtain financial gain for a relative. At least eight children of employees secured temporary jobs for two to six months making between $11.33 and $15.27 an hour, most within the Transportation Department's information systems and technology units, according to records requested by The Oregonian. ODOT's situation sounds, at the least, like a violation of the spirit of state rules, said John Dienhart, director of the Center for Business Ethics at Seattle University's Albers School of Business. They included the daughter of Ron Winterrowd, the manager of information systems at ODOT; the son of Dave Ringeisen, the manager of the department's transportation data section; and the son of Lynn Cartwright, a project delivery manager in the information systems department who retired in 2012 and is now collecting a pension of $91,000 a year, while working 20 hours a week at her old job.
www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2013/10/odot...river

Ugly moment of truth for Bonneville Power Administration!

It would be difficult to overstate the significance to the Northwest of last week's flaming attack by the federal Department of Energy upon this region's key broker of cheap electricity, the Bonneville Power Administration. In so many words, the DOE's Office of the Inspector General declared BPA to be a rogue DOE unit that defies federal law and then lies about it. The immediate subject is the exclusion from BPA's hiring process of military veterans, who deservedly won support when Congress told federal agencies years ago to give to veterans every best chance at winning the next government job. Federal investigators found BPA went so far as to redefine job qualifications and repost jobs after reviewing candidates to eliminate veterans and others among them. Facing federal review, BPA then apparently tried to hide its practices by removing documents from its own files.
www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/10/its_t...river

Oregon Iron Works sues CRC over mitigation payment

Oregon Iron Works is suing the Oregon Department of Transportation over the value of a mitigation agreement it reached with the state and Washington over the height of the Columbia River Crossing. Under the agreement, Oregon Iron Works was pledged $11.8 million under the mitigation plan. Greenberry Industrial was pledged $24.8 million and Thompson Metal Fab was pledged $49.8 million. The agreements were made in order to mitigate for potential economic impacts to the companies, whose products could not be barged below the 116-foot proposed height of the replacement bridge.
www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/10/oreg...river

CRC faces political hurdles ahead of Oregon special session!

Oregon lawmakers are considering reviving the once-dead Columbia River Crossing in a special session later this month. They’re looking to barrel ahead on a $2.7 billion Oregon-led plan that relies heavily on tolls, cutting interchanges in Washington out after that state’s lawmakers bailed on a plan this summer to kick in $450 million. In addition, $107.8 million already spent by Oregon and Washington count toward the financing plan. An additional $86.4 million pledged to three companies to make up for the proposed bridge’s shorter 116-foot clearance has yet to be funded.
www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/10/colu...river

Oregonians should bar driver cards for illegal immigrants!

Friends its not just those folks South of our border. It is everyone that are already here. Cartel members, AL Qaeda, Hezbollah, and the
Muslim Brotherhood to name a few. Last week, culminating five months of effort by hundreds of volunteers, the group Protect Oregon Driver Licenses presented more than 70,000 voters' signatures to the secretary of state's office. What those signatures will do: assure a place on next year's ballot for a referendum measure to repeal Senate Bill 833, the state law passed in May that grants "driver cards" to illegal immigrants. Why did my compatriots and I undertake this effort? Because SB833 undercuts federal efforts to regulate immigration, unemployed Oregonians' hopes of finding jobs and police and sheriffs' work to interdict drugs said Richard F. LaMountain.
www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2013/10/orego...river

Oregon counterfeiter nailed bills all had same serial number!

Dietrich happens to be a supervisor at the Oregon Department of Revenue. Michael Wayne Dietrich, of Keizer, was taken into custody at his house. He was charged with 52 counts of first-degree forgery and possession of forged money. A tip to would-be counterfeiters: Think about changing the serial numbers on your bogus bills. That’s what tripped up a Salem-area man, who was arrested Thursday and faces prison for printing and passing counterfeit twenty- and fifty-dollar bills.
www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/10/oreg...river

Oregon concealed handgun licenses Permits surge 22 percent since January!

In Oregon, about one in 15 adults is now licensed to carry a concealed handgun, up from one in 22 adults in 2010. The surge has been particularly strong this year. The number of concealed handgun licenses issued in Oregon increased 22.7 percent during the first six months of 2013, according to Oregon State Police figures. The increase was similar across the Portland area: 22.9 in Clackamas County, 23.8 percent in Washington County, 26.2 percent in Multnomah County. Hayes has a lot of company. The Clackamas County Sheriff's Public Safety Training Center & Indoor Shooting Range serves as county's processing center for concealed handgun licenses and is one of the most heavily used shooting venues in the Portland area. Interest in handgun training has been so strong that the range has had a hard time keeping ammunition in stock, especially the most popular calibers, such as what Hayes uses.
www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2013/...ments