Author Archives: Jerry Curry

Hemp growers wait for new rules; Oregon will allow hemp growers to sell CBD products in pot shops

Oregon will allow hemp growers to sell CBD products in pot shops. Industrial hemp growers who make cannabidiol, or CBD, wanted to be able to put their products where the consumers are — in retail dispensaries for recreational marijuana. To do that they needed a law, which Gov. Kate Brown signed last week. As of […]
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Oregon’s Solid Job Growth and Low Unemployment Rate Continue in March

Oregon’s unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in February and March. For 15 consecutive months, the rate has been close to 4.1 percent, its lowest level since comparable records began in 1976. The U.S. unemployment rate was also 4.1 percent in both February and March. The economy continues to expand as reflected by record highs in […]
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Apartment Demographics and the Outlook

This morning I am presenting at the Spring 2018 Multifamily NW Apartment Report event. The big picture takeaway from the Portland rental market is something like the following. The continued supply of new apartments is beginning to result in a rising vacancy rate, and the flattening of rents. In fact 7 of the 20 submarkets […]
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Editorial: Gloom, doom mounts on state pension woes

Over the weekend, The New York Times ran a long story about how states across the nation (not just Oregon) are struggling with the mounting financial obligations of their public pension systems. The story caught our attention because it’s a topic of considerable interest to Oregonians — and also because the story focused, naturally, on Oregon. […]
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Bare-Bones Health Policies Are Cheaper Than ACA Plans—and Riskier Too

If you are both a state employee and registered with the State Library, you can access the article below via this link. Run your search for the story of interest. The State Library is currently offering a trial of the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Alternatively, contact us at 503-378-8800 or library.help@state.or.us to request the […]
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Oregon regulators challenge county’s rural housing zone

Oregon regulators are challenging a plan to allow more rural housing on farmland and forestland in Douglas County that was approved last month. In March, Douglas County decided to open about 22,500 acres to the development of 20-acre homes sites on properties that it had found were of marginal value or agriculture and forestry. Source: […]
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ITT Students Graduate | Opioids Study – OPB’s Think Out Loud

When ITT’s for-profit colleges were shut down nationwide, hundreds of students in its nursing program locally were left in the lurch. But the state and Portland Community College came up with a special nursing program so many of those students could finish their nursing degrees. A new study from OHSU found that chronic pain sufferers […]
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ODFW kills two more Pine Creek wolves

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has shot two more wolves from the Pine Creek pack after another attack on livestock in Baker County. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shot two more wolves from the Pine Creek pack Wednesday morning in Baker County, following the latest in a string of attacks on […]
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This Is What That ‘Salmon-Safe’ Label Says About Your Wine Bottle Or Egg Carton

One of the region’s biggest farm operations touts its products as certified “salmon safe.” Does that matter to consumers deciding which carton of eggs to put in their shopping cart? In a big grass pasture in the shadow of Mount Rainier, hundreds of chickens are crowded around a little house where they can get water […]
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Salvage Logging Proposed For Parts Of Chetco Bar Fire Burn Area

Chetco Bar was by far Oregon’s largest wildfire in 2017, burning just over 191,000 acres in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service is proposing to log trees killed or damaged in last year’s Chetco Bar Fire. Chetco Bar was by far Oregon’s largest wildfire in 2017, burning just over 191,000 acres in […]
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