Category Archives: Jefferson Public Radio

A Preview Of The Oregon Legislature’s Budget-Balancing Session

All Oregon legislators knew this day was coming, but none of them relished its arrival. With the economy taking a huge hit from the pandemic, Oregon tax revenues have declined significantly. And Oregon law requires a balanced budget, which means it is time to cut services or raise taxes, or both. Congress has so far […]
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Curious: Digging Deep Into Oregon’s Past

In theory, highway projects look easy: move the trees and rocks, flatten the land, and pave. But any digging can reveal clues to Oregon’s remote past, and that’s where Tom Connolly and his team come in.Connolly heads the archaeological research arm at the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History. The team frequently […]
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A Call For Child Welfare Reform Beyond Just Oregon

When parents are consistently abusive or under the influence of intoxicants or just not home for their kids, the state steps in; the children generally end up in foster care. It all sounds simple, but Oregon’s system continues to run into major complications. A shortage of beds led the state to send some foster children […]
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Oregon Nursing Homes Defend Against The Virus

Some of the earliest clusters of COVID-19 cases in the United States showed up at nursing homes and retirement centers. That put pressure on similar facilities to change practices to protect residents and staff. In most cases, that meant family could not visit face-to-face with loved ones in aging facilities, except through windows. Source: Oregon […]
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Why Oregon Spends Millions On Low-Value Medical Care

COVID-19 and its treatment aside, the health care system has some issues, you might have noticed. One of them is the issue of “low-value care,” visits and procedures that really do not do anything to improve the health of a patient. By some estimates, a quarter of what goes on in health care is of […]
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Oregon Cultural Trust: Museums And Other Sites Struggling

Survey shows depth of pain. Museums and other cultural organizations open the doors and hope crowds show up. In normal times, that is. Right now, with crowds a bad idea, museum hours, music concerts, art classes, and many other cultural events are just plain cancelled. The resulting financial pain could kill some organizations, as documented […]
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Oregon Starting Fire Season With Limited Budget

Oregon’s wildfire agency is starting the fire season with a budget that is well below what it’s expected to need. It will also need to make even deeper cuts after revenue shortfalls resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Source: Oregon Starting Fire Season With Limited Budget | Jefferson Public Radio

Maybe Oregon CAN Restrict Campaign Contributions

State Supreme Court opens the door. Oregon has long been one of the few states with no restrictions on how much people, corporations, and other organizations can give to political candidates. The state Supreme Court has often barred such restrictions from becoming law. Until just recently. The Oregon Supreme Court ruled in favor of a […]
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Residents Of Rural Oregon Towns Ask Urban Dwellers To Stay Home

Doug Hoschek has been counting cars in the driveways of Sunriver rental homes. Hoschek is a full-time resident of the 1,400-person Deschutes County town, and he’s alarmed by an abundance of unfamiliar license plates. He thinks some tourists are ignoring Gov. Kate Brown’s stay-at-home order, traveling to the popular vacation town and putting his older […]
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Oregon Nurses Assess Safeguards In Crisis

By the middle of April, more than 9,000 health care workers in the United States had tested positive for COVID-19, and more than two dozen had died. The people who work in hospitals and care facilities can’t work from home, and can’t avoid being near people sick with the new coronavirus. But steps can be […]
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