State Library eClips
* Oregon fines Portland marijuana dispensary for multiple violations related to product giveaways
* After weed killers drift, Oregon gets tough with helicopter sprayer
* Oregon’s new, improved graduation rate still ranks fourth worst in U.S.
* Global warming could be melting ancient greenhouse gases under Oregon coast
* Clean fuels: Oil industry blasts new carbon proposal
* Oregon hunter turns himself in after shooting wolf near Prairie City
* Tougher asbestos rules needed, experts tell Oregon environmental regulators
* The hidden cost of business regulations — Opinion
* Big Idea forum on Wednesday to explore small business issues — Opinion
* Malheur County officials set meeting on Owyhee Canyonlands preservation plan
* Charges possible after wolf OR22 killed in Eastern Oregon
* Open enrollment for state employee benefits ending soon
* Oregon graduation rate improves, still lags
* Oregon’s high school graduation rate shows one of greatest improvements in nation
* Oregon tests the test — Opinion
* High opt-out rate doesn’t invalidate school tests — Guest Opinion
* Oregon’s high school graduation rate shows one of greatest improvements in nation
* Legislators haven’t raised new gun initiatives
* Bridging the political divide — Guest Opinion
* Trade pact could have local impact
* Immigrants, Refugees Face Barriers To Earthquake Preparedness
* Oregon Graduation Rates No Longer Worst In US
* Man reports shooting Oregon wolf while hunting coyotes on private property
* Federal agency issues plan for coastal coho salmon recovery
* TPP has positives for ag, but questions remain – Opinion
* Rain reduces but doesn’t drown out fire-season restrictions
* Forest officials waiting on heavier rains to determine fire season end
* Do a more rigorous job — Opinion
* The future of a fish — Opinion
* Prescribed burns scheduled this week
* Wanted: Bilingual teachers for English-Spanish classrooms
* State reveals little about Bend doc who surrendered license
* OSHA fines on Deschutes National Forest would have been close to $300K
* BLM finally on the right side of the fence — Opinion
* Local government should decide hotel tax spending — Opinion
* Juniper Ridge lacks security, accountability — Opinion
* Monthly report on state jobs sounds cautionary note — Opinion
* Forest fires and climate change to be discussed at open forum Thursday
* A new starting line
* Walden’s support on dam removal could make a big difference — Opinion
* Homeless students difficult to tally, but numbers are up
* Too many eligible students miss out on free meals
* Wildfire dangers still high — Opinion
* OLCC drafts Interim rules
* Prescribed burns begin to reduce wildfire danger
* Oregon Emergency Management rolls out tsunami awareness program for Coast hospitality industry
* Time to bet on a different horse? — Guest Opinion
* Why teach when politics rules the classroom? — Opinion
* List of Oregon cities, counties banning cannabis commerce grows to 43
* Success story: White-tailed-deer population rebounds
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OREGON FINES PORTLAND MARIJUANA DISPENSARY FOR MULTIPLE VIOLATIONS RELATED TO PRODUCT GIVEAWAYS (Portland Oregonian)
The state has fined a Portland marijuana dispensary $2,500 for allowing a vendor to give away marijuana concentrates and pre-rolled joints in the parking lot on the opening day of recreational marijuana sales, according to a stipulated settlement order.
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AFTER WEED KILLERS DRIFT, OREGON GETS TOUGH WITH HELICOPTER SPRAYER (Portland Oregonian)
An Oregon helicopter pilot who lost his license to spray herbicides for a year after misting people in Curry County in 2013 now faces more sanctions and scrutiny for other incidents.
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OREGON’S NEW, IMPROVED GRADUATION RATE STILL RANKS FOURTH WORST IN U.S. (Portland Oregonian)
Oregon’s 72 percent graduation rate for the class of 2014 ranked fourth-worst in the nation, the U.S. Department of Education said Monday.
Only New Mexico, Nevada and Alaska had lower rates.
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GLOBAL WARMING COULD BE MELTING ANCIENT GREENHOUSE GASES UNDER OREGON COAST (Portland Oregonian)
Greenhouse gases 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide are bubbling up from beneath the ocean along Oregon and Washington, fueling global warming and contributing to changes in water chemistry that have devastated the northwest shellfish industry.
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CLEAN FUELS: OIL INDUSTRY BLASTS NEW CARBON PROPOSAL (Portland Oregonian)
The oil industry on Monday took swipes at proposed changes that would tighten Oregon’s clean fuels program, using the final hearing before the program takes effect next year to poke holes in the state’s method for calculating carbon output.
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OREGON HUNTER TURNS HIMSELF IN AFTER SHOOTING WOLF NEAR PRAIRIE CITY (Portland Oregonian)
A Grant County hunter turned himself in to wildlife officials after shooting and killing an endangered gray wolf earlier this month while hunting coyotes.
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TOUGHER ASBESTOS RULES NEEDED, EXPERTS TELL OREGON ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATORS (Portland Oregonian)
Oregon environmental regulators had a limited assignment for the two dozen experts invited to a meeting on asbestos Monday: Tell us the best way to implement a new law requiring contractors to check for the cancer causing substance when tearing down a house.
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THE HIDDEN COST OF BUSINESS REGULATIONS — OPINION (Portland Oregonian)
How much trouble could one more regulation cause, especially if it serves the greater good? That thought, sometimes spoken and more often just implied, runs through many policy discussions in the Legislature and some city council chambers.
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BIG IDEA FORUM ON WEDNESDAY TO EXPLORE SMALL BUSINESS ISSUES — OPINION (Portland Oregonian)
Small businesses in Oregon face growing uncertainty. The 2015 Legislature enacted new laws — including sick-leave requirements and a new retirement program that will increase paperwork for many businesses. Other changes, including a higher minimum wage and possible tax increases, loom as possibilities in 2016, via either the Legislature or ballot measures.
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MALHEUR COUNTY OFFICIALS SET MEETING ON OWYHEE CANYONLANDS PRESERVATION PLAN (Portland Oregonian)
Officials from Malheur County will hold a town hall meeting next week about the future of the Owhyhee Canyonlands, which make up much of the southern part of the county in southeastern Oregon.
The meeting was announced in a news release from Oregon Rep. Cliff Bentz, who represents House District 60 and is from Ontario.
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CHARGES POSSIBLE AFTER WOLF OR22 KILLED IN EASTERN OREGON (Salem Statesman Journal)
The Harney County District Attorney will decide whether a man that shot and killed a wolf in Eastern Oregon will face charges.
The man, who was not named, shot and killed the wolf OR22 on Oct. 6 while hunting coyotes south of Prairie City, according to the Oregon State Police.
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OPEN ENROLLMENT FOR STATE EMPLOYEE BENEFITS ENDING SOON (Salem Statesman Journal)
For Oregon’s state employees, the window for mandatory benefits enrollment closes Oct. 31.
Benefits for Oregon’s nearly 50,000 state employees are administered by the Public Employee Benefits Board. It’s the group that designs employee benefit programs and contracts for their purchase.
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OREGON GRADUATION RATE IMPROVES, STILL LAGS (Salem Statesman Journal)
Oregon high schools improved their graduation rates last school year, but the state still has the fourth-lowest rate in country, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Education on Monday.
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OREGONS HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE SHOWS ONE OF GREATEST IMPROVEMENTS IN NATION (Eugene Register-Guard)
-A jump of 4.8 percent is the third highest, but its overall rate is still one of the lowest-
Oregon has made great strides improving high school graduation rates but remains near the back of the pack nationally, according to preliminary data released Monday by the Obama administration.
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OREGON TESTS THE TEST — OPINION (Eugene Register-Guard)
-New assessments illuminate familiar problems-
Students in Oregon’s public schools took a new and tougher battery of standardized tests at the end of last school year, and the results tell a familiar story of achievement gaps and a lack of proficiency in mathematics.
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HIGH OPT-OUT RATE DOESN’T INVALIDATE SCHOOL TESTS — GUEST OPINION (Eugene Register-Guard)
In a Sept. 27 Commentary essay, Jerry Rosiek asserts that the states new standardized test is invalidated by a high number of students who opted out. He presented a potpourri of numbers as his evidence, claiming that the outcomes cannot be trusted, do not guide instruction and cost too much. Therefore, he argued, the testing program should be abolished.
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OREGON’S HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE SHOWS ONE OF GREATEST IMPROVEMENTS IN NATION (Eugene Register-Guard)
-A jump of 4.8 percent is the third highest, but its overall rate is still one of the lowest-
Oregon has made great strides improving high school graduation rates but remains near the back of the pack nationally, according to preliminary data released Monday by the Obama administration.
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LEGISLATORS HAVEN’T RAISED NEW GUN INITIATIVES (Portland Tribune)
The mass shooting at Umpqua Community College last week renewed debate over gun control and on Thursday, Senate Democrats announced plans to close loopholes in the federal background check system and crack down on straw purchasing.
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BRIDGING THE POLITICAL DIVIDE — GUEST OPINION (Portland Tribune)
For the past two months, Oregon voters have watched a parade of personalities march across the national stage. From Chinese President Hu Jintao to Pope Francis to presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, they’re all talking about issues that are important to Oregonians, including consumerism, income inequality, and climate change.
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TRADE PACT COULD HAVE LOCAL IMPACT (Portland Tribune)
The battle is heating up over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the new trade agreement negotiated between the United States and 11 trading partners, mostly in Asia.
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IMMIGRANTS, REFUGEES FACE BARRIERS TO EARTHQUAKE PREPAREDNESS (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Refugees and recent immigrants in Oregon face unique challenges when preparing for a possible Cascadia megaquake. Communities from Burma, Nepal, Somalia, Iraq, and other countries each bring different languages, experiences, and cultural associations that are not always addressed by standard emergency preparedness sessions.
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OREGON GRADUATION RATES NO LONGER WORST IN US (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Oregon no longer has the worst graduation rate of any state in the country, according to federal data out Monday.
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MAN REPORTS SHOOTING OREGON WOLF WHILE HUNTING COYOTES ON PRIVATE PROPERTY (Capital Press)
-It’s at least the third Oregon wolf death since August, when the Sled Springs pair were found dead of unknown causes in Wallowa County.-
A Grant County resident in Eastern Oregon reported to Oregon State Police Oct. 6 that he shot a wolf while hunting coyotes on private property south of Prairie City.
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FEDERAL AGENCY ISSUES PLAN FOR COASTAL COHO SALMON RECOVERY (Capital Press)
-A large part of the land with critical coho habitat lies on private land, including farmland and timber land.-
A federal agency has released a road map for the recovery of threatened Oregon Coast coho salmon
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TPP HAS POSITIVES FOR AG, BUT QUESTIONS REMAIN – Opinion (East Oregonian)
The administration’s talking points make the Trans-Pacific Partnership sound like a slam dunk for U.S. agriculture. While we generally agree, we withhold final judgment until the official text and the ensuing debate.
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RAIN REDUCES BUT DOESN’T DROWN OUT FIRE-SEASON RESTRICTIONS (Medford Mail Tribune)
Today’s cool rain was enough to reduce most wildfire restrictions in Southern Oregon, but it wasn’t a good enough soaker to end this year’s fire season.
The Oregon Department of Forestry this afternoon dropped the fire-danger level from high to moderate, inviting elk hunters to build campfires and allowing afternoon use of equipment such as chainsaws and brush-cutters _________________________________________
FOREST OFFICIALS WAITING ON HEAVIER RAINS TO DETERMINE FIRE SEASON END (Albany Democrat Herald)
Although dew drips like rain from metal gates on cool mornings and there’s a slight tinge of green to area grass seed fields, the mid-valley is not yet out of wildfire season, according to Craig Pettinger of the Oregon Department of Forestry.
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DO A MORE RIGOROUS JOB — OPINION (Daily Astorian)
-Johnson believes citizens can hold agencies accountable-
Sen. Johnson’s concept is idealistic but not practical.
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THE FUTURE OF A FISH — OPINION (Baker City Herald)
Much of the attention given to the status of the bull trout in and around Baker County over the past 16 years has focused on the potential effects on livestock grazing, irrigation for farming, logging and other natural resources industries.
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PRESCRIBED BURNS SCHEDULED THIS WEEK (Bend Bulletin)
-Burning to take place in Deschutes and Crook counties-
Fire managers across Central Oregon plan to conduct prescribed burns this week in southwestern Deschutes County and eastern Crook County.
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WANTED: BILINGUAL TEACHERS FOR ENGLISH-SPANISH CLASSROOMS (Bend Bulletin)
-State faces teacher shortage as districts add bilingual programs-
Hannah Keen has a plan: English in the morning, Spanish in the afternoon. But just a few weeks into the school year, sometimes she has to deviate.
On a recent Monday morning, her kindergarten class was practicing S words sock, sun, spoon, straw.
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STATE REVEALS LITTLE ABOUT BEND DOC WHO SURRENDERED LICENSE (Bend Bulletin)
-Doctors have some control over public knowledge of misconduct-
The secrecy surrounding the case of a Bend physician who surrendered his medical license this month illustrates physicians ability to control what the Oregon Medical Board reveals about their wrongdoing.
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OSHA FINES ON DESCHUTES NATIONAL FOREST WOULD HAVE BEEN CLOSE TO $300K (Bend Bulletin)
-Federal agency does not fine other parts of federal government-
More than two dozen safety violations found by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration in 2014 inspections at Deschutes National Forest offices and other buildings would have resulted in nearly $300,000 in fines.
But, because OSHA and the national forest are both federal entities, the government does not fine itself.
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BLM FINALLY ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE FENCE — OPINION (Bend Bulletin)
The Bureau of Land Management can be justifiably proud of some of its work to control wild horses, protect sage grouse, preserve spectacular landscapes and cooperate with ranchers.
But it should not be proud of its efforts with ranchers and Congress on Steens Mountain.
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT SHOULD DECIDE HOTEL TAX SPENDING — OPINION (Bend Bulletin)
With all the discussion about repairing Bends potholed roads, theres been renewed attention on the taxes on hotel rooms. Does that money go to the place of greatest need?
Probably not.
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JUNIPER RIDGE LACKS SECURITY, ACCOUNTABILITY — OPINION (Blue Mountain
When Juniper Ridge Acute Care Center opened in 2013, citizens of Grant County welcomed the jobs and mental health treatment the facility would offer. Both were desperately needed in this part of Eastern Oregon.
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MONTHLY REPORT ON STATE JOBS SOUNDS CAUTIONARY NOTE — OPINION (Corvallis Gazette-Times)
Is it a monthly blip or a sign that Oregon’s economic recovery is starting to lose whatever momentum its built up over the past years?
Last weeks statewide employment report was troubling, but lets hope its just a temporary aberration.
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FOREST FIRES AND CLIMATE CHANGE TO BE DISCUSSED AT OPEN FORUM THURSDAY (Douglas County News-Review)
The growing number of forest fires sparking in the Pacific Northwest will be discussed at an open forum Thursday.
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A NEW STARTING LINE (Herald and News)
-Klamath schools shift focus to critical thinking-
Last spring, Oregon students took off from a new starting line in the race for education by taking a new state standardized test.
You want a baseline that’s fair, that reflects what the true picture is, said James Huntsman, Klamath County School District curriculum director. And then you start building from there. Were in position to see really good growth.
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WALDEN’S SUPPORT ON DAM REMOVAL COULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE — OPINION (Herald and News)
The effort to put together an agreement on the future of Klamath Basin water use has been long, drawn-out and contentious. That still rings true, but a key part of the support for an agreement moved into place with U.S. Rep. Greg Walden’s statement that he is close to drafting a bill aimed at resolving water issues and dam removal is likely to be part of it.
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HOMELESS STUDENTS DIFFICULT TO TALLY, BUT NUMBERS ARE UP (Hermiston Herald)
-Local districts work to get accurate data on living situations, but much is “word of mouth.”-
Despite a statewide increase in homeless students last school year, most local districts enrolled fewer students known to be without a permanent residence.
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TOO MANY ELIGIBLE STUDENTS MISS OUT ON FREE MEALS (LaGrande Observer)
Roughly two-thirds of Oregon’s eligible low-income students don’t eat free or reduced-price breakfast at school, a new report shows.
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WILDFIRE DANGERS STILL HIGH — OPINION (LaGrande Observer)
The fire dangers remains high in the forests that surround our great piece of Oregon.
While serious concerns about wildland blazes is routine during the summer months, to realize that just a few weeks from Halloween the specter of forest fire is still acute is troubling.
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OLCC DRAFTS INTERIM RULES (LaGrande Observer)
Marijuana growers producing for the recreational market would be required to pay $3,750 or $5,750 a year to maintain a state license under draft rules issued Friday.
Others, such as marijuana wholesalers, processors and retailers, would pay $4,750 annually for a state license.
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PRESCRIBED BURNS BEGIN TO REDUCE WILDFIRE DANGER (Lake County Examiner)
Where there’s smoke there’s fire, but unlike during the summer months amidst fire season, there was no cause for alarm this time. Prescribed burns began last week across Lake County, agencies purposely igniting small, contained fires when weather conditions allowed to safely burn designated areas in an effort to reduce fire fuels.
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OREGON EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ROLLS OUT TSUNAMI AWARENESS PROGRAM FOR COAST HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (Tillamook County Pioneer) h
The Oregon Office of Emergency Management is officially rolling out Tsunami Safe: Hospitality Begins with Safety, a free program that focuses on tsunami awareness in the hospitality industry along the Oregon coast. The program begins today, Monday, Oct. 19.
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TIME TO BET ON A DIFFERENT HORSE? — GUEST OPINION (The World)
“Coos Bay,” Port manager Steve Felkins told potential tourists in August 1978, “is not oriented to making you people happy two weeks in August,” and he haughtily bragged of how Coos Bay preferred real jobs, not tourism jobs.
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WHY TEACH WHEN POLITICS RULES THE CLASSROOM? — OPINION (The World)
-No one wants to teach when politics imposes unrealistic expectations-
Good teachers, or for that matter, any teachers are darn hard to find lately. Thats what the Coos Bay school board learned this week. Physical education and math classes seem to be hurting the most.
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LIST OF OREGON CITIES, COUNTIES BANNING CANNABIS COMMERCE GROWS TO 43 (Oregon Business Journal)
The list of Oregon cities and counties seeking to ban the sales of recreational marijuana continues to rise.
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SUCCESS STORY: WHITE-TAILED-DEER POPULATION REBOUNDS (Seattle Times)
After decades of protection under the Endangered Species Act, the Columbian white-tailed deer could be reclassified from endangered to threatened under a federal proposal.
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