HOUSE REPUBLICAN OFFICE
AUGUST 7, 2017 DAILY CLIPS
OREGON WILDFIRES
Multiple blazes keep firefighters busy
Register-Guard
“We expected gusty east winds today,” Amy Hendricks, a spokeswoman for the Willamette National Forest, said Sunday. “They didn’t happen.” Hendricks said she didn’t have the fire figures for Sunday yet, but the latest figures from Saturday night showed that the Whitewater Fire had grown to 5,421 acres. The steadily advancing fire has forced the closure of additional access to recreation areas near Detroit Lake because the fire “poses a risk to firefighters and public safety,” according to a news release from the Willamette National Forest.
Cinder Butte Fire Threatens Tribal Archaeological Sites
Oregon Public Broadcasting
The fire is threatening archeological sites with strong cultural and historical significance to the Burns Paiute and Klamath tribes. “We’re working with our partners to identify those and be very respectful while working to contain the fire in those areas,” said Nick Cronquist, a public information officer with Northwest Incident Management Team No. 10.
Crater Lake issues ‘Be Ready’ for potential evacuation of Rim Village, Park Headquarters
Herald and News
Current or projected threats from the approaching fire indicate that there may be a need to evacuate in the future. Mazama Village and other areas in the park are not affected by this Level 1 notice.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Oregon receives high marks on 2017 Economic Recovery Scorecard
Portland Business Journal
Oregon’s unemployment rate is back to pre-Great Recession peak rates, but many 18 to 34 year-olds still live at home.“During expansions it is usually that the good news outweighs the bad and vice versus during recessions,” he said. “Today the good news continues to outweigh the bad news, which is, well, good news.”
Portland, Multnomah County back big PGE renewable energy buy
Portland Business Journal
In a letter filed with the PUC on Friday, Mayor Ted Wheeler and County Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson acknowledged the disagreements, but said their constituents want aggressive climate action. “New technologies may arise which would serve customers more efficiently and effectively, but there are also risks in not acting, including failing to make progress on our community’s renewable energy commitments, as well as the increased risk of the consequences of climate change,” the leaders wrote.
HEALTH CARE
Why a Portland psych hospital can now take Medicaid — but probably won’t
Portland Business Journal
“We would fully like to enter into contracts with Health Share and FamilyCare, and we actually even tried to do so in late 2016 because of the rule change at the federal level. They seemed interested at first, but due to some communication from the state, they pulled back.” FamilyCare Health declined to comment for this story. A Health Share of Oregon spokeswoman said the CCO has no immediate plans to contract with Cedar Hills because the CCO’s current network for adult mental health services is adequate, not because of any communication from the Oregon Health Authority. The OHA oversees the state’s coordinated care organizations.
Bend Bulletin
Doctors in Canada are now prescribing pharmaceutical-grade heroin and other prescription opioids to patients with addictions so severe that society had written them off as impossible to treat. While providing heroin to heroin addicts may seem counterintuitive, the practice has helped stabilize patients, reduce their illegal drug use and offer them a path to overcoming their addiction. “Not everything will work for everybody, and some people need more intensive care,” said Dr. Scott MacDonald, lead physician at Providence Crosstown Clinic in Vancouver, British Columbia. “We need every tool in the toolbox to rise to the challenge the opioid epidemic presents.”
AGRICULTURE & NATURAL RESOURCES
La Grande Observer
“What is cool about this particular program is that there is a lot of interest from farmers and ranchers wanting to conserve their land,” Ackley said. “This law will help us be more successful in helping them.” The law allocates funding to support the efforts of Oregon’s land trusts to help farmers and ranchers with succession planning and conservation easements. The state funding can be used to leverage federal money authorized in the 2014 Farm Bill and made available through the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service.
HOUSING
Gazette-Times
In the just-concluded full session the Legislature added a major piece of legislation, SB 1051, that addresses affordability criteria, density, accessory dwelling units, the review period for development applications and the standards municipalities use when considering housing development. “We wanted to find something to deal with the affordable housing crisis that is happening right now,” said Andy Olson, Republican state representative for District 15. “We know that a total of 110,000 market rate units need to be built. That’s how dire our crisis is right now.”
OTHER NEWS
Human trafficking expected during solar eclipse
Bend Bulletin
The eclipse, which is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of people to Central Oregon, could result in more cases of people being bought or sold for sex, said Nita Belles, executive director of the anti-trafficking organization In Our Backyard. “We know with the increase in population and the party atmosphere surrounding the eclipse, there will be an increase in human trafficking,” Belles said.
Three arrested during Sunday’s clashing rallies
Portland Tribune
The arrests came as a few hundred people gathered in two groups in the park, one for a Patriot Prayer “March for Freedom,” and a counter-protest organized by Portland Stands United Against Hate, a coalition of anti-hate groups.
OPINION
Editorial: Buehler’s challenges
Register-Guard
A moderate Republican who makes it to the general election ballot has a chance in the Oregon governor’s race. In four of the past nine elections, the Democrat has won with less than 50 percent of the vote. Dudley came within 22,000 votes of defeating Kitzhaber in 2010. Presuming Buehler can present himself as a plausible leader — a presentation Democrats will work to prevent, emphasizing the more conservative aspects of the Republican’s record and ensuring that no one forgets an Oregon Government Ethics Commission’s finding that he failed to disclose income — the question will be whether he can whet Oregonians’ appetite for change.
Editorial: Zinke should leave Cascade-Siskiyou protections in place
The Oregonian
Zinke suspended the groups’ activities in early May and canceled their scheduled summer meetings. He should reinstate these important and effective groups, and the Southwest Oregon council should help shape the bureau’s management plan for the expanded monument. Together Oregonians can best balance the monument’s ecological needs along with some of the uses landowners within the new boundary have long relied.
The Oregonian
The problem is that the DOJ, under the Trump Administration, has been directed to review such police-reform agreements and consent decrees with an eye toward emphasizing local control and boosting officer safety and morale. “It is not the responsibility of the federal government to manage non-federal law enforcement agencies,” the memo from U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions states. That’s hardly a call for aggressive accountability. If City Council can’t find the courage to stick to their original pledge, then the public should take their case to Judge Simon. Approving changes to the settlement is fortunately still a power that he wields.
OREGONIANS IN CONGRESS
Wyden defends support of Israel boycott proposal: ‘no one has gone to jail’
Portland Tribune
However, Sen. Wyden has a different take on the proposal. “As we have read the bill, it means that anybody in this audience can boycott Israeli products or say they intend to boycott Israeli products. The bill doesn’t prevent or punish anybody who makes those choices,” he said. He said, as the son of a journalist, he has continually fought for First Amendment rights.
Wyden on what’s next for health care and his fix for the exchanges
Portland Business Journal
“The president has been pouring gasoline on the fires of uncertainty of the marketplace,” Wyden, said in an interview with Portland Business Journal reporters on Friday. “The president putting in a lot of effort to undermine the law, talking about imploding the system. He’s willing to hurt people to get leverage for what he wants.”