TOP STORY
Man firing into Toronto cafes shoots 14 people, killing 2
The Associated Press
A man walked along a Toronto street firing a handgun into restaurants and cafes, shooting 14 people and killing two before dying after an exchange of gunfire with police. Police Chief Mark Saunders did not rule out terrorism as a motive, though officials did not immediately identify the attacker, other than to say he was 29 years old.
OREGON GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
Oregon State Senator Who Was Harassed Gives Ideas On How To Improve Policies
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Gelser told the task force this week she never anticipated how difficult it would be to go public with allegations against Kruse. Gelser accused Kruse of touching her breasts and placing his hand on her thigh under a dais last year. Her accusations prompted a high-profile sexual misconduct investigation that revealed Kruse had a pattern of “engaging in unwelcome physical contact toward females in the workplace.” Kruse resigned amid pressure. “I did not anticipate what it would feel like to turn on the radio to hear my name associated with the word ‘breast,’” Gelser said. Gelser, a Democrat, described physical threats left on her voicemail and people who talked to her about the incident while she was shopping for groceries. People openly commented she was, “too fat or too ugly or too whatever to have experienced this behavior.”
NATIONAL POLITICS
Some conservatives are fuming that Baker is too far left
The Boston Globe
The progressive laws starkly illustrate how Baker is increasingly at odds not just with the conservative national GOP, but also the base of his party in Massachusetts, which remains fiercely loyal to President Trump. “He has completely thumbed his nose at the Republican platform. He’s not even a Republican at this point. He has lost the base, and he has lost a lot of conservative independents,” said Daxland, president of the Massachusetts Republican Assembly, a statewide conservative GOP group.
CAMPAIGNS
GOP, Independent candidates make case to publishers
East Oregonian
GOP nominee Knute Buehler, a state representative and orthopedic surgeon from Bend, and Independent Party of Oregon nominee Patrick Starnes, a cabinet maker from Brownsville, spoke briefly at the annual convention of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Incumbent Gov. Kate Brown, the Democratic nominee, did not attend. Brown initially declined the invitation because she planned to go to a National Governors’ Association conference in Santa Fe, N.M. But, Brown instead stayed in Oregon to oversee emergency response to major wildfires, according to a spokesman for her campaign.
IPO works to recruit third party members
East Oregonian
About a month after winning the Pacific Green nomination for governor, Alex DiBlasi withdrew from the race, registered as a member of the Independent Party of Oregon and endorsed IPO nominee Patrick Starnes. Starnes, a Brownsville cabinetmaker, and DiBlasi, a Portland social worker, hope the step will be the first among thousands of other members of small third parties to join the IPO. Their union could help them have influence in state politics as part of a major party, Starnes said. “We need all hands on deck to go against these corporate-backed Republican and Democratic candidates who each have at least a million or two million in the war chest, both of them,” DiBlasi said.
ICE
As Occupation Outside Portland ICE Building Persists, Locals Feel an Impact
Willamette Week
On Friday around 10 a.m., the street outside of the ICE building at 4310 Southwest Macadam Ave., in South Waterfront was blocked off by Department of Homeland Security officers, as it regularly has been during the occupation. A looped recording of a demonstrator shouting, “Quit blocking the road, you’re hurting local businesses,” blared on repeat for at least an hour.
A man powerwashing the sidewalk in front of a neighboring apartment complex exclaimed, “That voice is in my head now!”
Food cart owners: ICE protesters led us to close our doors
Portland Tribune
The couple said they, their 21-year-old daughter, and customers have been harassed by protesters outside the ICE facility in Southwest Portland for over five weeks. Their last day of business was Friday. The daily worry wasn’t worth it anymore, Scott said, adding that they plan to sell their cart for a lot less than what they bought it for. “We’re willing to take a loss to move forward,” he said. The tension between the food cart and the protesters, according to Scott, started after a protester got on a megaphone and accused his daughter and a customer of laughing at the protesters and “making a mockery.” “And boom, away it went,” Scott said. “We were on the No. 1 hit list from that point on.”
EDUCATION
Former English Language Learners completing high school at higher rates than state average
Statesman Journal
English Learner Programs are intended to prepare students who don’t speak English as a first language with “the language and academic skills necessary to access and achieve success in college and multiple career pathways,” state officials said. A recent report released by the Oregon Department of Education shows 83 percent of students who qualified for English language services prior to 2016-17 completed high school. This completer rate refers to students earning a regular, modified, extended or adult high school diploma or completing a GED within five years of entering high school. That is more than the five-year graduation rate for students accessing the services in 2016-17, which was 63 percent. It is also greater the statewide average for all students, which was 79 percent.
HOUSING
Lane County housing market continues historic rise as buyers feel the squeeze
The Register-Guard
Lane County’s housing market told the same story in June that it has told for several years now: record sale prices, brisk sale paces and bare-bones inventory. The sellers market continued in earnest last month, with new listings and pending sales each hitting more than 10-year highs for the month of June, according to a monthly report by Portland-based Regional Multiple Listing Service.
A Plan to Increase Number of Homes Allowed in Portland’s Single-Family Neighborhoods Delayed
Willamette Week
A vote to increase the number of homes in Portland’s single-family neighborhoods has been delayed until next year. The Planning and Sustainability Commission has been deliberating on changes that could allow two houses where one is currently allowed as well as double the number of backyard cottages and other accessory dwelling units allowed. For advocates of development, the “residential infill project,” as it’s called, is the next big step toward increasing a shortage of supply of housing in Portland. For critics, there’s a fear the proposal will increase the number of demolitions and utterly change neighborhoods for the worse.
Oregon weighs record bond for housing as real estate prices jump
Herald and News
The Oregon agency that runs Portland’s zoo is behind the biggest bond measure in the state’s history to build homes. For humans. Metro, a municipal entity known for running the Oregon Zoo and natural areas around Portland, is asking voters in November whether they want to borrow $653 million to build and renovate housing for people priced out of the booming local real estate market. The move would expand the purview of Metro, which was created in 1978 to oversee the zoo, as well as land use, transportation and waste management in three counties.
For housing promise to black Portlanders, city mulls millions more in debt
Oregonian/OregonLive
The idea: begin the complex process of redrawing an urban renewal area’s boundary so housing and economic development bureaus can spend another $67 million by taking on debt. If they do that, city officials say they can “produce the units promised” by a housing plan the City Council approved in 2015, records show. The City Council has already dedicated $52 million to implement the plan to help people stay in or move back to Portland’s traditionally black north and northeast neighborhoods. Progress has been slow. A report issued earlier this year by the plan’s housing oversight board showed very few families have benefited from it. At the time, Mayor Ted Wheeler called a down payment subsidy offered under it an “abject failure.” He said the city is “way off the mark” from meeting its goals. Officials now say they need more money to make good on promises to black families.
TRANSPORTATION
Is the Willamette Valley’s proposed intermodal facility on the right track?
Capital Press
To help agricultural shippers in the Willamette Valley avoid Portland’s traffic problems, Oregon lawmakers authorized spending $25 million for a Mid-Willamette Intermodal Facility as part of a broader transportation package. The facility would allow containers of agricultural freight to be loaded from trucks onto trains, which would transport straw, hay, seeds, grains, potatoes, wood products and other commodities that are commonly exported from the state. Those containers would then bypass Portand’s jammed freeways on the way to major shipping terminals in Seattle and Tacoma, where they could be loaded onto ships bound for Asian ports.
WILDFIRES
Substation Fire 92 percent contained, most evacuations lifted
Oregonian/OregonLive
The Substation fire, which burned up thousands of acres southeast of the Dalles, is 92 percent contained. The fire perimeter has also been reduced from 80,000 to 78,425 acres after more accurate mapping was used, fire officials announced on Facebook Monday morning. Little fire activity was seen Sunday, but some areas along Eightmile Canyon and the Deschutes River are still smoldering as the hot, dry weather continues, officials said. All evacuation areas in Sherman and Wasco counties were reduced to level one (get ready) Sunday morning.
Gov. Brown, state senators seek emergency aid for wheat farmers
Fox 12
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and state senators Friday asked for emergency aid for farmers affected by a deadly wildfire burning east of The Dalles. The more than 70,000-acre fire is burning through wheat, grass and brush, causing “untold damage” to Oregon’s farmers, the letter says. “This type of fire has not been seen in decades,” the letter said, noting that wheat, a top commodity in Oregon, is valued at nearly $186 million. “It is with urgency we write to request that the Department of Agriculture provide any emergency assistance possible.”
LOST VALLEY FARM
Drugs, gambling, secret loans: Feds move to take control of Oregon megadairy
Statesman Journal
The Justice Department is overseeing te Velde’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which he filed April 26 to stall a bank foreclosure sale of his cattle. Since then, te Velde admitted he continued to use methamphetamine and gamble at a California casino once or twice a week, U.S. Trustee Tracy Hope Davis wrote in a July 13 motion. Davis asked a judge to either appoint a separate trustee to manage the dairy’s finances and operations on behalf of creditors, or to dismiss the bankruptcy case. “Debtor’s admitted conduct constitutes gross mismanagement,” she wrote. “It is clearly in the best interests of the debtor’s estate and its creditors to take management control out of the hands of current management and appoint an independent trustee who will comply with the fiduciary duties mandated by the bankruptcy code.”
LOCAL
Manzanita property owner challenges $1.8 million in vacation rental fines with a federal lawsuit
The Daily Astorian
A property owner hit with $1.8 million in vacation rental fines has filed a federal lawsuit against Manzanita claiming the city’s enforcement is unconstitutional. Sandra Petersen, a co-trustee of the Kingwood Trust, which owns the home on Edmund Lane, was fined by the city in October for operating a vacation rental without a license and for not paying the lodging tax. Petersen, who lives in Washington state, said the city notified her of the citations in one document, nearly two years after the first alleged violation in January 2015. “When I got the letter, I was in total shock,” she said. “It was very unexpected. I had no idea that I was disobeying any ordinances.”
Clark County Sheriff Deputy Fired After Wearing A Proud Boys Sweatshirt
Willamette Week
Deputy Erin Willey was placed on administrative leave after The Columbian showed the Clark County Sheriff’s Office the photograph. Her sweatshirt featured a stick of lipstick, a switchblade and the letters “PBG” – which stand for Proud Boy’s Girl. She was fired on Tuesday. “Law enforcement officers are peacekeepers whose core mission is to protect and safeguard the community,” Clark County Sheriff Chuck Atkins told The Columbian. “My expectation is that my employees do not engage in activities or associations that undermine or diminish our role as peacekeepers.”
Portlanders getting utility discounts aren’t doing what they promised
Portland Tribune
A spot check by city auditors found half the Portland residents who pledged to manage stormwater on-site to get utility discounts aren’t doing what they promised. An audit released Friday by the Portland City Auditor noted that eight of 15 residents enjoying Clean River Rewards discounts had not disconnected their downspouts as promised, or were diverting water from their property onto the street, contrary to the goals of the discount program. The program to reward residents for managing their own stormwater causes a $1.70 monthly rate increase for other residents to pay for the discounts, auditors noted.
OPINION
State should refuse water quality certificate to remove Boyle Dam
Senator Dennis Linthicum
I stand alongside the majority of taxpayers and citizens in firm opposition to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s approval of a water quality certification request for the J. C. Boyle Dam removal project. These dams provide environmentally beneficial functions by creating a series of reservoirs which diminish turbidity and improve downstream water quality. These reservoirs are giant settling ponds for particulate matter, including erosional debris, dead algae, cobble-sized sediment pebbles, and valley-fill alluvium.
For health care reform version 2.0, a few guiding principles: Editorial
The Oregonian Editorial Board
But while policymakers should keep pushing hard for innovation and cost efficiencies, they should keep the unrealized goals of CCO 1.0 front and center in building the next generation. They should also temper their ambitions with respect for the fine line that separates thinking big from tackling too much.
Guest column: State should show discretion about day care complaints
The Bend Bulletin
How can our community and the state of Oregon best serve children and families? And how can we also support child care providers? Child care providers who are often working for substandard wages, who have opened up their homes to care for young children because they care about “being strong for all working families”? Who also have to consider the best interests of their own families? Publishing unsubstantiated and invalid complaints simply does not serve children, families, providers or our community.
City Schools launch new effort to hike attendance through web-based program
Herald and News
No matter how much our district spends to hire and train the best teachers, to update the curriculum, or to improve instruction, none of it is meaningful if students are not in class. Good attendance is the foundation for good performance. The research couldn’t be more compelling: A student’s attendance record is second only to grades as the best indicator of later academic performance. Among early learners, attendance is especially critical – only about 17 percent of chronically absent kindergartners and first graders scored proficient in reading in the third grade, according to a 2013 UCLA study. To increase success for each student the Klamath Falls City Schools district is launching a new initiative aimed at getting every student to class, every day. Attendance has always been a priority at our schools, but beginning this fall families will notice the district is putting new resources to work.