February 27, 2012 eClips Weekend Edition

State Library eClips
* Oregon’s credit unions outspend its banks in campaign contributions to legislators
* Oregon State Police investigation finds litany of errors in triple murder case
* Gov. John Kitzhber pushes Oregon lawmakers to move his education bills
* Oregon lawmakers, governor reach budget agreement: An inside look at the numbers
* Senate grants final approval to ‘Penn State’ bill
* Oregon watches Idaho experience as wolves reduce elk population
* Why did ODOT change ramp meter timing? The better to make the traffic flow — even if that’s not obvious — Blog
* Portland prepares to formally oppose alcohol sales at Cartlandia
* Pass education bills before time runs out, Gov. John Kitzhaber tells Oregon lawmakers
* Pseudoephedrine: Big Pharma study flawed — Guest Opinion
* Yes, take care of business — Opinion
* Higher education: Focus on rising tuition ignores true college barriers — Guest Opinion
* Boosting graduation rates: First, look to repair family breakdown — Opinion
* Happy to be a prison town?
* Seismic ‘report card’ urged
* Salmon smolts slated for release
* Senate expands list of abuse reporting
* Governor to speak on education issuesat Salem City Club
* Length of even-year session pondered as 1st one ends — Opinion
* Game isn’t over for politics in Oregon — Opinion
* Trustees appoint new state librarian
* Details emerge on budgetary compromise at Legislature
* Hospital funding limps forward
* Fusion confusion — Opinion
* Unions efficiency efforts will safe state taxpayers money — Guest Opinion
* Open enrollment: an opportunity and a responsibility — Opinion
* Earthquake in East County: Its not a matter of if, but when
* Vintage South
* Oregon grant process for renewable energy begins next week
* Ore. budget deal reached, school bills pending
* Oregon Set to Expand Abuse ‘Mandatory Reporters’
* Shrimpers seek relief from tariff
* Transformation Bill Passes the House
* Legislature passes bill to help victims of child prostitution
* Federal Data Integrated into Oregons Website
* Marine reserves bill passed by state legislature

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OREGON’S CREDIT UNIONS OUTSPEND ITS BANKS IN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS TO LEGISLATORS (Portland Oregonian)

The finance industry’s top contributor to Oregon political campaigns isn’t the state’s banks. It isn’t mortgage brokers, either.
It’s the credit unions.
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Blunders by Attorney General John Kroger’s office freed a man convicted of a triple murder, newly released reports show.
Philip Scott Cannon escaped a life sentence in 2009 when prosecutors, tasked with giving him a new trial, couldn’t find the evidence used to convict him.
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With time running out, Gov. John Kitzhaber continued to turn up the heat on lawmakers, holding his second news conference in two days aimed at jostling the Legislature into action on his key bills.
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The biggest surprise of the revised state budget, which got the nod this week from Oregon legislative leaders and Gov. John Kitzhaber, is not what’s being cut, but rather what’s not.
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The Oregon Senate gave final approval Friday to a bill that expands the sorts of people that are required by law to report child abuse.
House Bill 4016, which adds higher education employees, coaches and others, came in direct response to the recent scandal at Penn State University.
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Gray wolves have played a dramatic role in a 20 percent reduction of Idaho’s elk herds over the past 15 years — and that could be an omen for eastern Oregon’s 60,000 Rocky Mountain elk in the Blue Mountains.
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On Jan. 30, ODOT adjusted the ramp meter from Hillsboro’s Southwest 185th Avenue to eastbound U.S. 26 so that it turns on at 6:15 a.m. instead of 7:15 on week days.
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In case it wasn’t already clear, Portland’s elected officials really don’t want to let food carts sell alcohol.
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With time running out, Gov. John Kitzhaber continued to turn up the heat on lawmakers, holding his second news conference in a row aimed at jostling the Legislature into action on his key bills.
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The Cascade Policy Institute recently released a pharmaceutical industry-funded study that, unsurprisingly, supported the views of the industry. Cascade’s Steve Buckstein also wrote a commentary trumpeting the study, which concluded that Oregon’s law returning pseudoephedrine to a prescription drug was ineffective in reducing the use or manufacture of meth.
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And for the overwhelming majority of Oregon employers, that means passing bills to fix health care and strengthen the education system
Even in politics, friends don’t take friends hostage. The Republicans who spent all this week holding up health care and education reforms in Salem need to understand whom they are most likely to hurt.
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While Oregon college students protest tuition increases, President Barack Obama is on the campaign trail heralding his plan for keeping college affordable. A central premise of the plan is that college enrollment can be increased by limiting increases in college tuition.
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Last Monday, the Oregon Education Association organized the “Strong Schools, Strong Oregon” day of action, a rally that brought more than a thousand Oregon educators, union members and parents to the Capitol urging lawmakers to support funding for public schools. Signs read, “Fund our schools,” “School is closing” and “More books, fewer tests.”
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HAPPY TO BE A PRISON TOWN? (Salem Statesman Journal)
-Salem now embraces correctional facilities as job creators-
Peter Courtney remembers when Salem had a hard time being a prison town.
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SEISMIC ‘REPORT CARD’ URGED (Salem Statesman Journal)
-Infighting has stalled spending funds OK’d for school upgrades-
Salem’s two oldest high schools will collapse if a major earthquake occurs.
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SALMON SMOLTS SLATED FOR RELEASE (Salem Statesman Journal)
-The move could increase fish in McKenzie River-
An effort to reduce the number of hatchery sal-mon spawning in the McKenzie River will spur the release of more than 200,000 Chinook smolts into the Coast Fork Willamette River.
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SENATE EXPANDS LIST OF ABUSE REPORTING (Salem Statesman Journal)
Gov. John Kitzhaber will receive legislation that requires university employees, coaches and other staff, and employees of youth organizations to report child sexual abuse to police or the state Department of Human Services.
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Gov. John Kitzhaber will focus on his education initiatives when he speaks at a luncheon of the Salem City Club.
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The verdict is still out on the first constitutional session of the Oregon Legislature in an even-numbered year.
As is usual for sessions, whatever achievements or failures occur will take place in the final days leading to adjournment, which is planned for Wednesday.
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Mash the current legislative session with a basketball game, and you’ll get a sense of what to expect in the months ahead.
Right now, we’re nearing halftime.
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TRUSTEES APPOINT NEW STATE LIBRARIAN (Salem Statesman Journal)
The Oregon State Library Board of Trustees on Friday appointed MaryKay Dahlgreen as state librarian.
Dahlgreen has served as the interim state librarian since the former library chief, Jim Scheppke, retired late last year.
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Relief, hope and frustration poured out of Oregonians representing interest groups on Friday upon learning how moves to balance the state budget will affect them.
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HOSPITAL FUNDING LIMPS FORWARD (Eugene Register-Guard)
-The Legislature doesnt authorize new bonds, which will slow down work in Junction City-
There will be no new bond funding this year for the proposed state psychiatric hospital in Junction City, according to Gov. John Kitzhaber and several key lawmakers.
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FUSION CONFUSION — OPINION (Eugene Register-Guard)
-Abbreviating party names wont help-
The Legislature spends a fair amount of its time trying to fix the unintended consequences of things it did earlier.
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With some prodding, the Oregon University System has agreed to analyze and explain to the Legislature the administrative structure at the University of Oregon and six other campuses before the end of the year. This is the latest positive result from efforts by frontline university workers to improve the systems operating efficiency.
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The Ashland School District made the right decision in opting to approve open enrollment in Ashland schools for out-of-district students.
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-Oregon easily could see a shaker on the same scale as 2011 quake in Japan-
If you have ever wondered perhaps out of curiosity, morbid fantasy or paranoia what might happen if a major earthquake were to hit East Multnomah County and the Portland area, one place to look for an example would be Japan.
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VINTAGE SOUTH (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
The Oregon Wine Industry Symposium was held in Portland, but all eyes seemed to be focused on the south.
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The Oregon Department of Energy issued temporary rules this week for the Renewable Energy Development Grants program that was set up as a way to replace the Business Energy Tax Credit or BETC program.
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Time is running out for Oregon lawmakers to tackle education bills endorsed by Governor John Kitzhaber before the legistlative session ends.
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The Oregon Senate gave final legislative approval Friday to a bill that will help protect children from abuse by expanding the list of people who are required to report child abuse, commonly known as mandatory reporters.
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The shrimp boats of Charleston, Newport and Astoria are quietly involved in a long-term battle for free international trade. Until this month, the United States was losing.
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-It is expected to be signed into law within days, allowing coordinated care organizations to be created-
The bill allowing for the overhaul of the Oregon Health Plans delivery system passed the House with an overwhelmingly bipartisan 53-7 vote today, after being stalled for days because it became a part of end-of-session political negotiating and bargaining.
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A bill intended to help victims of child sex trafficking has now passed both chambers of the Oregon Legislature.
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February 22, 2012
ederal data accessible through Oregons government data website is an offering state officials believe is the first of its kind.
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The Oregon legislature has just passed a bill that will create three new marine reserves on the Oregon Coast including off Cape Falcon in north Tillamook County.
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