October 21, 2014 eClips

  • Taxes, phony ‘no’ arguments and a ‘pirate’ photo: Three oddities in Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet explained
  • Pendleton prison fight and shooting death of inmate likely headed to grand jury
  • Portland’s economic recovery loses ground, employers cut 1,400 jobs
  • Portland Public Schools enrollment up 1.3 percent as fewer parents leave district when kids reach school age
  • John Kitzhaber, Dennis Richardson respond to election complaints as state continues investigations
  • Public access to federal sage-grouse workshop criticized
  • Boardman potato plant worker severs fingers
  • Things about the Portland area that planners can’t change — Opinion
  • Portland forecast: Strongest storm of the season to bring high winds, heavy rain
  • Pulpit-to-pew advocacy grows for Measure 88
  • Local unemployment rate is steady
  • Coos Bay landslide cleanup deal reached
  • Oregon ERA draws a quiet campaign
  • GMO labeling campaign sets records
  • Oregon wants ideas for seniors, people with disabilities
  • The fight for Damascus: Land-use struggle heads to ballot
  • Officials keep nervous watch on levees
  • Preview of pot legalization plays out across Oregon border
  • Make way for the Oscar B
  • Measure 90 Would Bring Top Two Primaries To Oregon
  • The Burden of Proof– Blog
  • Boat Ed Presents Innovations Award to Oregon State Marine Board
  • State declares end to busy C. Oregon fire season
  • C. Oregon jobs grow; unemployment rates fall
  • Why quirky Portland is winning the battle for young college grads
  • Jobs increase in Coos, Curry counties as school starts
  • Elliott must be saved for schools — Opinion
  • Newport fighting to keep USCG rescue helicopter
  • Fire season flames out
  • Oregon Board of Ag sets legislative agenda
  • Midterm decisions: Measure 91 Legal marijuana
  • Chewing through Measure 92 GMO labeling
  • Boat ramp congestion requires etiquette
  • Coos Bay Shipyard Cleanup Project Resumes After 14 Years
  • Federal Investigation into Cover Oregon Costing Ore. Taxpayers $146K

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TAXES, PHONY ‘NO’ ARGUMENTS AND A ‘PIRATE’ PHOTO: THREE ODDITIES IN OREGON VOTERS’ PAMPHLET EXPLAINED

(Portland Oregonian)Here at The Oregonian’s Election Central, we’ve been hearing from voters puzzling their way through the Oregon Voters’ Pamphlet, and they’ve got questions. Here’s three we’re hearing.
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PENDLETON PRISON FIGHT AND SHOOTING DEATH OF INMATE LIKELY HEADED TO GRAND JURY

(Portland Oregonian)Umatilla County’s district attorney is poring through thousands of pages of investigative files to learn precisely what happened on the last Friday morning in August, when a corrections officer shot and killed an inmate on a prison recreation yard in Pendleton.
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PORTLAND’S ECONOMIC RECOVERY LOSES GROUND, EMPLOYERS CUT 1,400 JOBS

(Portland Oregonian)Portland-area employers cut back last month. But it wasn’t enough to drive up the metro unemployment rate.

The Oregon Employment Department said the seven-county Portland area lost an estimated 1,400 jobs in September.
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PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS ENROLLMENT UP 1.3 PERCENT AS FEWER PARENTS LEAVE DISTRICT WHEN KIDS REACH SCHOOL AGE

(Portland Oregonian)Portland Public Schools population has grown by 1.3 percent this year, marking the sixth consecutive year of enrollment growth in the district.

Its a trend that is expected to continue for years to come, as Portlands population growth continues and more parents choose to stay in Portland as their children reach school age.
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JOHN KITZHABER, DENNIS RICHARDSON RESPOND TO ELECTION COMPLAINTS AS STATE CONTINUES INVESTIGATIONS

(Portland Oregonian)The campaigns for both Gov. John Kitzhaber and Rep. Dennis Richardson have responded to election complaints filed against them.

In both cases, the complaints were filed with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office by the campaign’s opposing political party.
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PUBLIC ACCESS TO FEDERAL SAGE-GROUSE WORKSHOP CRITICIZED

(Portland Oregonian)A meeting next week in Fort Collins about the greater sage-grouse has drawn fire from several western representatives who want to know why public attendance is limited while regulators focus on possible land use issues.
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BOARDMAN POTATO PLANT WORKER SEVERS FINGERS

(Portland Oregonian)Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Division is investigating after a female employee severed four fingers on her right hand in a workplace accident at a potato plant in Boardman.
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THINGS ABOUT THE PORTLAND AREA THAT PLANNERS CAN’T CHANGE — OPINION

(Portland Oregonian)If you commute along U.S. 26 between Portland and either Beaverton or Hillsboro, you’ve probably spent some time stuck in traffic wondering why more people don’t live closer to their jobs. It’s a good question. And the answers are likely to frustrate planners who dream of a metro area where people drive significantly less.
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PORTLAND FORECAST: STRONGEST STORM OF THE SEASON TO BRING HIGH WINDS, HEAVY RAIN

(Portland Oregonian)There are still plenty of showers over northwest Oregon Tuesday morning, but forecasters are turning their attention to an offshore storm expected to be the most powerful of the season so far.
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PULPIT-TO-PEW ADVOCACY GROWS FOR MEASURE 88

(Salem Statesman Journal)With about two weeks remaining until the November general election, campaign rhetoric is heating up over Measure 88, a referendum that would grant drivers cards to individuals unable to prove their identities and legal residence.
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LOCAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IS STEADY

(Eugene Register-Guard)Lane Countys seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.9 percent in September, the state Employment Department said today.
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COOS BAY LANDSLIDE CLEANUP DEAL REACHED

(Eugene Register-Guard)All sides in a complex dispute over a massive construction landslide south of Coos Bay have reached a settlement that clears the way for hundreds of tons of mud, rock, tree limbs and other debris to be cleared from a big waterway thats home to federally protected coho salmon and green sturgeon.
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OREGON ERA DRAWS A QUIET CAMPAIGN

(Portland Tribune)-Advocates of women’s rights press for voter approval of Measure 89 on Nov. 4 ballot-

Although it has not attracted the campaign money or public attention that other measures on the Nov. 4 ballot have, Measure 89 would write a guarantee of womens rights into the Oregon Constitution.

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GMO LABELING CAMPAIGN SETS RECORDS

(Portland Tribune)-Total raised by both sides tops 2007 mark; spending likely to break $15 million as well.-

Its official: Measure 92 supporters and opponents have raised a record amount and are about to spend a record in their battle over whether Oregon should require labeling of food containing genetically modified organisms.
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OREGON WANTS IDEAS FOR SENIORS, PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

(Portland Tribune)The State of Oregon wants to hear from people about the services it should be providing for seniors and people with disabilities.

Aging and People with Disabilities, a division of the Oregon Department of Human Services, has scheduled a series of group discussion to help decide how to improve services in the future.
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THE FIGHT FOR DAMASCUS: LAND-USE STRUGGLE HEADS TO BALLOT

(Portland Tribune)-Part Two: Metro planners put their hope in rural city’s development-

What does a 1980s religious cult in Eastern Oregon have to do with the legal battles broiling 30 years later in Damascus?

More than you might expect.
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OFFICIALS KEEP NERVOUS WATCH ON LEVEES

(Portland Tribune)-Analysis finds weak links in system to hold back major floods-

The same railroad embankment that failed to stop the disastrous Vanport Flood of 1948 remains a weak link in Portlands levee system designed to prevent floods.

A new engineering assessment of the Columbia River levee system found four problem areas that dont meet stiffer federal flood-protection standards enacted after Hurricane Katrina.

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PREVIEW OF POT LEGALIZATION PLAYS OUT ACROSS OREGON BORDER

(Medford Mail Tribune)To get a sense of how legal marijuana might work in Oregon, curious voters can turn to the budding pot industry in the city of Vancouver, Wash., just over the border from Portland.

The sky has not fallen since the legalization of marijuana, said Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt.
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MAKE WAY FOR THE OSCAR B

(Daily Astorian)-Clatsop County is in the process of upgrading its Westport Ferry Landing to accommodate a brand new ferry on the Lower Columbia River.-

The last ferry on the Lower Columbia River is being replaced with a larger vessel by February, which means the landings on each side will need to be larger for the vessel to fit.
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MEASURE 90 WOULD BRING TOP TWO PRIMARIES TO OREGON

(Oregon Public Broadcasting)This fall, Oregon voters will choose between five candidates for U.S. senator and six candidates for governor. It could be the last time the general election ballot is this crowded in Oregon.
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THE BURDEN OF PROOF– BLOG

(Portland Mercury)-Oregon Spends Millions on Innovative Court Programs. Are We Sure They Work?-

Everyone clapped two months ago, as Kayla Ballew strolled up to a courthouse lectern in downtown Portland to accept a rarefied piece of paper.

The certificate announced the 22-year-old had completed START Court, a treatment program run out of Multnomah County Circuit Court aimed at addicts with a penchant for theft.
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BOAT ED PRESENTS INNOVATIONS AWARD TO OREGON STATE MARINE BOARD

(Houston Chronicle)The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, in conjunction with Boat Ed, is proud to announce the Oregon State Marine Board Boat Inspection & Procurement Program as the 2014 Innovations Award recipient.
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STATE DECLARES END TO BUSY C. OREGON FIRE SEASON

(KTVZ Bend)-Over 16,000 acres burned; nearly double 10-year average-

The Oregon Department of Forestry’s Central Oregon District announced Monday that the very busy 2014 wildfire season on state-protected lands will officially come to an end Tuesday morning.

All fire season-related rules will be lifted on the district, which encompasses 2.2 million acres of private and public forest and rangeland in 10 counties.
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C. OREGON JOBS GROW; UNEMPLOYMENT RATES FALL

(KTVZ Bend)-Deschutes job growth No. 1; jobless rate lowest in 6-plus years-

Job growth continued in September across Central Oregon, while unemployment rates began to show their first sign of improvement in several months, the Oregon Employment Department reported Monday.

Deschutes County job growth outpaced all other counties in Oregon, with employment levels up 5.4 percent from last year. The unemployment rate dropped below 8 percent for the first time since July 2008.
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WHERE YOUNG COLLEGE GRADUATES ARE CHOOSING TO LIVE

(New York Times)When young college graduates decide where to move, they are not just looking at the usual suspects, like New York, Washington and San Francisco. Other cities are increasing their share of these valuable residents at an even higher rate and have reached a high overall percentage, led by Denver, San Diego, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Portland, Ore., according to a report published Monday by City Observatory, a new think tank.
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WHY QUIRKY PORTLAND IS WINNING THE BATTLE FOR YOUNG COLLEGE GRADS

(Washington Post)Of all the Very Portland things that exist in Portland, there is a plot of land next to City Hall, right outside the building’s front portico, where the city is growing its own Swiss chard.

And on a place that used to be a parking lot” exclaims Mayor Charlie Hales, adding a detail that actually makes this story even more Portland.
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JOBS INCREASE IN COOS, CURRY COUNTIES AS SCHOOL STARTS

(The World)Coos County’s payroll jumped last month as school got under way.

In total, the county’s payroll rose by 190 jobs in September, according to the Oregon Employment Department.
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ELLIOTT MUST BE SAVED FOR SCHOOLS — OPINION

(The World)My family has experienced 130 years living and working near the head waters of the West Fork of the Millicoma River, Elliott State Forest, Coos County, Oregon. I worked with foresters for 50 years, following existing forest practice laws, to generate revenue for the Common School Fund.
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NEWPORT FIGHTING TO KEEP USCG RESCUE HELICOPTER

(KPTV)The Coast Guard air station in Newport, along the central Oregon coast, is being closed at the end of November but not without a fight.

The closure was announced in early October as a result of national budget restrictions and will be effective Nov. 30.
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FIRE SEASON FLAMES OUT

(Blue Mountain Eagle)-ODF calls for continued vigilance while working or enjoying the woods-

Fire season officially ends Tuesday morning in Grant County and other nine counties included in the Oregon Department of Forestrys Central Oregon District.

The agency announced Monday that all season-related restrictions will be lifted on the 2.2 million acres of forest and rangeland protected by ODF.
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OREGON BOARD OF AG SETS LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

(Blue Mountain Eagle)-The Oregon Board of Agriculture is narrowing down a list of priorities it will present to the Legislature.-

The Oregon Board of Agriculture plans to narrow down a list of priorities in its recommendations to lawmakers during the upcoming 2015 legislative session.

During a Sept. 23 meeting in Enterprise, Ore., the board discussed a report to the legislature due early next year that outlines recommended action items and investments.
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MIDTERM DECISIONS: MEASURE 91 LEGAL MARIJUANA

(Herald and News)Measure 91 aims to legalize recreational marijuana in the state of Oregon, but its up to registered voters to decide.

A No vote would maintain that recreational marijuana is illegal for use by all ages, while a Yes vote would allow use for those 21 and older. The measure is on the ballot for the General Election, Nov. 4.
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CHEWING THROUGH MEASURE 92 GMO LABELING

(Herald and News)Measure 92, sponsored by the group Oregon GMO Right to Know, if passed, would mandate the labeling of food items produced with or containing genetically modified organisms.
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BOAT RAMP CONGESTION REQUIRES ETIQUETTE

(north coast Citizen)Summer boating may be over but the fall salmon runs are bringing boaters from all over the state to fish Oregon’s bays and rivers, creating a great deal of congestion and some angst at many of the coastal ramps.
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COOS BAY SHIPYARD CLEANUP PROJECT RESUMES AFTER 14 YEARS

(Jefferson Public Radio)State environmental officials in Oregon are taking a second look at once heavily-contaminated shipyard near Coos Bay.

Fourteen years after walking away the Mid-Coast Marine cleanup site, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is back to see if its efforts were good enough to declare the project a success — or if there’s still work to do.
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FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO COVER OREGON COSTING ORE. TAXPAYERS $146K

(GoLocal PDX)A federal investigation into Cover Oregon, the state’s failed health exchange website, has cost Oregon taxpayers over $146,000 so far. And that figure looks likely to rise.
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