Category Archives: Office of the Governor

Governor nominates Mark Bennett to state land conservation and development commission

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has nominated Mark Bennett of Baker County to serve on the Oregon Land Conservation and Development Commission. Bennett, who owns a cattle ranch near Unity, in southern Baker County, is a former county commissioner. He was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2013, then elected to four-year terms in 2014 and […]
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Capital Chatter: Kotek’s unpopularity is a Kate Brown legacy | Opinion |

Among the baffling aspects of Gov. Tina Kotek’s tenure is that she ranks among the nation’s least-popular governors, despite two successful legislative sessions. Oregonians’ low opinion of Kotek, which was borne out in recent Portland-area polling, likely has little to do with her Office of First Spouse fiasco. Instead, Kotek inherited the societal residue of […]
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Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library free books for kids expands across Oregon

Oregon’s new Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program has been expanded and will now allow access to free monthly books for all children ages 0-5 in 36 counties statewide, officials announced this week. Gov. Tina Kotek unveiled the statewide expansion of the program on Wednesday, saying the state will work toward its goal to bring the […]
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Jackson County gets $11.5 million in funding from state

Gov. Kotek signed Emergency Housing Stability and Production Package into law Monday. A series of recently passed bills focused on affordable housing, infrastructure and drug treatment will bring a combined $11.5 million to Jackson County for projects ranging from water system upgrades to the expansion of a new local drug withdrawal management program. The bills […]
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Oregon farmers, worker advocates reach impasse over improvements to labor camps. Will the governor help?

After more than five years, negotiations between Oregon growers and advocates have reached a deadlock over farmworker housing improvements – despite help from a state-funded facilitator – and advocates are now asking Gov. Tina Kotek for help. Both sides began meeting in November 2018 to hash out changes to the state’s outdated agricultural labor housing […]
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Oregon, Dolly Parton join to promote young readers

When Gov. Tina Kotek stopped at the Estacada library last year during her One Oregon listening tour of all 36 counties, a cutout of Dolly Parton was displayed at the entrance. “I had to get a photo,” Kotek recalled. “I love Dolly Parton. She is absolutely amazing. The impact of Dolly Parton’s commitment to the […]
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Oregon Supreme Court orders immediate release of woman whose commutation was revoked

The Oregon Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the immediate release of a woman who had been sent back to prison after Gov. Tina Kotek revoked an earlier commutation of her sentence. The court found Kotek lacked the authority to return the woman to Coffee Creek Correctional Institution because her sentence had expired. Request full-text (for […]
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Hello, Dolly! Oregon and Dolly Parton pair up on effort to boost free books for babies, toddlers and preschoolers

In a deeply divided America, there are precious few things that nearly everyone can agree upon, except, perhaps, the one and only Dolly Parton, queen of country music and champion of seemingly every good cause under the sun, from environmental conservation to public health to childhood literacy. Request full-text (for State Agency patrons only) Source: […]
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Editorial: The goodness ignored in flip-flopping | Opinion |

Flip-flopping. Reversing policy. It can make a politician or any government body look dithering, indecisive, unsure. The Redmond School District has apparently decided it is not going to consolidate high schools and close Redmond High. Gov. Tina Kotek decided she is not going to create an official Office of the First Spouse. Source: Editorial: The […]
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Oregon Supreme Court finds woman at Coffee Creek was illegally imprisoned 

The court orders her release and says she was unlawfully imprisoned by an order from Gov. Tina Kotek. The Oregon Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the immediate release of a woman from state prison, finding she was illegally imprisoned after Gov. Tina Kotek ordered her return to prison without the legal authority to do so. […]
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