GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Oregon Legislature Kicks Off Work To Curb Campaign Spending
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Gov.
Kate Brown, who was part of the state’s most expensive governor’s race
ever last year, told lawmakers on Wednesday that it’s time to curb the
amount of political money spent in Oregon. A newly-created campaign
finance committee in the state Senate is tasked with reining in Oregon’s
campaign finance laws, an area that is akin — as the governor likes to
say — to the “wild, Wild West.” The governor said she raised three
times more than her three Democratic predecessors in her last race. And
she urged lawmakers to increase transparency when it comes to reporting
contributions and expenditures. Campaign spending and donations should
be posted quickly for the public to see, she said. Currently there is
often a 30-day window before transactions become public. The governor
also said it’s time for Oregon to tackle what’s known as “dark money,”
essentially donations made to nonprofits that do political work but
aren’t limited in how much they can collect and aren’t required to
disclose their supporters. “As long as dollars flow unfettered in
Oregon, the very least we can do is ensure that everyone can follow the
money in politics,” Brown said. Brown, who benefited tremendously from
union support in the last election cycle, also told lawmakers that it’s
time to limit how much candidates can accept. Oregon is only one of a
handful of states that doesn’t have any cap on how much money can be
given to candidates.
Business group warns: public employee benefits ‘large and growing costs’
Portland Tribune
Oregon’s
public employees typically pay less for health insurance than their
peers in neighboring states, a new study finds. The study by the
actuarial firm Milliman was commissioned by The Oregon Business Council,
an association of business leaders as part of the Oregon Business Plan
initiative. The study found that the average state employee in Oregon
pays a smaller share of his or her health insurance premium than the
average state employee in Idaho, California, Nevada and Washington. And
the average premium is more expensive for a state employee here than for
state employees in those other states. But Oregon’s public school
teachers generally pay more out of pocket for less pricey premiums than
Oregon state employees. But the amount that teachers contribute to their
insurance premiums varies widely across the state. Among the five
states, Oregon pays the second-highest percentage of its employees’
total medical costs. The Oregon Business Plan said that health insurance
benefits “represent a large and growing share of employee compensation
and employer costs.” A December study by Oregon’s Department of
Administrative Services found that the average public employee pays far
less out of pocket for health insurance premiums than the average worker
out on the market. An average state employee with no dependents pays
$6.47 per month in insurance premiums, the DAS study found, while a
comparable employee out on the market pays $98.13 a month for a medical
insurance premium. State workers unions agreed that Oregon’s state
employees have a good benefits package, but said looking at health care
in a vacuum is misleading.
Refusing to back down
Lake Oswego Review
When
state Sen. Rob Wagner and state Rep. Andrea Salinas proposed Senate
Bill 501, they expected some resistance. But they did not expect death
threats. SB 501 was drafted using input from a group of high schoolers
known as Students for Change in an effort to curb gun violence and
increase safety across the state. The comprehensive legislation calls
for changes to how guns are purchased and stored, magazine size,
ammunition limits and more. Members of Students for Change say the bill
is neither unreasonable nor unrealistic. There are currently 14 bills
submitted to the Oregon Legislature regarding gun reform, they say; SB
501 simply calls for the widest range of changes. But the bill’s
introduction earlier this month has prompted a deluge of angry emails
and a rally against its components at the Capitol in Salem. Oregon State
Police troopers are also investigating threats made against Wagner and
Salinas, although no details about those threats have been released.
Regardless, Penelope Spurr — a Lake Oswego High School student and one
of the original members of Students for Change — says that despite the
opposition to the bill, she and other students are not deterred.
Redemption: Sen. Jackie Winters sees hope in second chances
Portland Tribune
When
state Sen. Jackie Winters hears the word “felon,” she often thinks of
her late husband, Marc “Ted” Winters. Her husband, who died in 2008, had
a prestigious career in the gubernatorial administrations of Tom McCall
and Bob Straub. But before that, he was one of thousands of inmates in
Oregon’s state prisons. His catapult from a prison cell at the Oregon
State Penitentiary to the governor’s staff is a story of redemption. His
path has been an overwhelming influence on the Salem senator’s work to
reform the criminal justice system and improve inmates’ chances of
rehabilitation. “I think we forget about the whole issue of redemption
and forgiveness when we are dealing with the criminal justice system,”
said Winters in an interview at her Salem legislative office. Her
commitment to justice reform prompted her to give up her role as Senate
Republican leader at the end of 2018. Winters, a Christian, said she
believed in redemption before she met her husband. Early in Winters’
career, her race and gender created obstacles to getting the kinds of
jobs she wanted. Former inmates, she noted, have similar obstacles when
they try to secure housing or employment. In November 2017, Winters
became the first African-American legislator to lead an Oregon
legislative caucus. She was elected as Senate Republican leader to
succeed Sen. Ted Ferrioli of John Day. Winters’ commitment to justice
reform sometimes put her at odds with members of her party, and last
month, she decided to move out of leadership. She maintains that
Republicans support justice reform, but she was the only Republican to
sponsor one of the most controversial justice reforms of the 2017
Legislature. House Bill 3078 reduced prison sentences for property
thieves. The majority of Senate Republicans voted against the bill. She
is sponsoring several justice reforms in legislation before the 2019
Legislature. Her priorities are creating a domestic violence commission
to streamline services between agencies and justice reform for juvenile
offenders.
EDUCATION
Oregon’s Graduation Rate Improves, But Achievement Gap Persists
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon
high schools bumped up their graduation rates last spring, to an
average of 78.7 percent statewide. That’s a two percentage point gain
over the state’s 76.7 percent rate from a year ago. The director of the
state’s education agency, Colt Gill, sees the report demonstrating
steady improvement over nearly a decade when it comes to helping
students complete high school. “So this marks yet another increase — so
we have year-after-year increases for the last nine years, really,” said
Gill. Depending on what time frame you look at, it’s possible to see
stronger improvement from students of color and low-income students,
than for the state as a whole. “So we are beginning to see a close in
those gaps,” noted Gill, the director of the Oregon Department of
Education. The gaps may be smaller, but they remain. African-American
students graduate at a rate 10 points below Oregon’s average. For Native
American students, it’s 13 points lower. Latino students are within
four points of the state average. And low-income students, regardless of
ethnicity, graduate at a rate six points below the state average. But
in a state as large and diverse as Oregon, the story of graduation rates
varies wildly from region to region and school to school.
Well done, grads: rates on the rise
Mail Tribune
Logos
Public Charter School had the highest graduation rate among Jackson
County schools in 2018, according to new data released this morning from
the Oregon Department of Education. The charter school’s class of 2018
showed a four-year graduation rate of 92.94 percent. “I can’t help but
just be thrilled with what Logos has accomplished for kids in this
region,” said Sheryl Zimmerer, the school’s executive director. All but
two Jackson County school districts saw improvement from the previous
year, and three districts have increased their graduation rate by 15
percentage points or more over the past five years. Some of the Rogue
Valley’s biggest high schools — from Medford to Central Point to Eagle
Point — all saw gains from the previous year. North Medford, which
topped Jackson County schools in 2017, rose again, to 91.02 percent.
South Medford regained ground, rising to 85.05 percent after a 4.85
point loss the previous year. Crater Renaissance Academy increased its
graduation rate by more than 7 points to 87.74 percent, while Crater
Academy of Health and Public Services and Crater School of Business
Innovation and Science slipped by about 3 percentage points each, to
80.41 and 81.65 percent, respectively. Phoenix High School rose to the
fourth highest rate among high schools in the county, with a nearly
10-point jump to 87.04 percent. “We obviously feel really good about the
data and super proud of our whole staff, especially the kids that
persevered through all the challenges,” said Brent Barry, superintendent
of Phoenix-Talent School District.
Oregon graduation rate nears 80 percent after 2nd year of solid gains
Oregon Live
Oregon’s
high school graduation rate improved by 2 percentage points for a
second straight year, marking the most sustained improvement in a
decade, the state reported Thursday. Statewide, 79 percent of students
in the class of 2018 earned diplomas within four years, the Oregon
Department of Education said. The gains were broadly shared, with
Latinos, Native Americans, whites, low-income students, girls and boys
all matching or exceeding the statewide rate of improvement. The most
glaring exception was among black students, whose on-time graduation
rate remained mired at 68 percent after showing steady gains the
previous four years.
Graduation rates rose across Central Oregon schools in 2017-18 school year
The Bend Bulletin
All
of Central Oregon’s largest high schools saw graduation rates rise last
school year, and nearly all are above the state average, according to
Oregon Department of Education data. At Bend-La Pine Schools, the
region’s largest district with 18,000 students, the graduation rate was
81.9 percent, a 3.1 percent bump. While some graduation rates stayed
steady, like those at Bend and Summit high schools, which had modest
gains of 90.98 percent and 91.63 percent of students graduating,
respectively, other schools in the district saw big jumps. La Pine High
School’s graduation rate rose 7.7 percent to a 77.14 percent graduation
rate, while Marshall jumped 11.3 percent to a 44.6 percent rate. Last
year was Marshall’s last year as an alternative high school. It is now a
STEM-focused magnet school. A major point of pride for Bend-La Pine is
the growing success of its Latino students — the group’s graduation rate
was 67.22 percent, a 10.3 percent jump. In an email, Bend-La Pine
Superintendent Shay Mikalson credited his district’s staffers and “their
commitment to building positive relationships with students” for the
rise in graduation rates, particularly for students of under-served
races or ethnicities. “This increase in graduation rate did not happen
by chance,” he said. “We have put systems and people in place to try to
keep all students on a track to graduation. I am proud today to see
these efforts paying off in increased graduate rates across the board.”
Preventing sexual violence requires early, appropriate sex ed
The Register-Guard
Carley
Weixelman was sexually assaulted as a freshman at Gonzaga University in
Spokane, Wash. Following the incident, she received a text from the man
who she said raped her in a dorm room. It was clear in the text the
man, who was a fellow student and acquaintance she met the day before,
“didn’t understand that what he did was wrong,” she said “The next day
he texted me and said something along the lines of ‘sorry you weren’t
into it but I was,’ and to me it was really obvious that I wasn’t OK
with it, but maybe he didn’t have the education or didn’t know it was
wrong,” said Weixelman, 21. The sexual violence described by Weixelman,
as well as the confusion about who to reach out to and what exactly
constituted as rape are some of the reasons education about sex is so
important, according to the state of Oregon. It’s also why the state
recently released an online sexual violence prevention resource map full
of sexual health data and information ranging from teen pregnancy
statistics to facts about when children begin to engage in sexual
intercourse, details about bullying and sexual violence incidents and
more. State officials say that education about sex, healthy
relationships, consent, sexual violence and other topics can help to
address risk factors that lead to sexual violence perpetration and they
hope that the interactive online map can help raise awareness. “Research
studies show that this does work, sex (education) does lead to
preventing sexual abuse, violence and bullying,” said Sasha Grenier, a
Oregon Department of Education sexual education specialist. “It does
that by several different key messages, including teaching students how
to recognize and maintain healthy relationships, identify and
communicate their own boundaries, values and needs and by laying a
foundation of social emotional skills that promote empathy and respect
for others.” A recent study by Columbia University’s Sexual Health
Initiative to Foster Transformation project indicates that students who
receive sexuality education before beginning college are at a lower risk
of experiencing sexual assault during their higher education years. The
study found that “students who received formal education about how to
say no to sex before age 18 were less likely to experience penetrative
sexual assault in college and that “students who received refusal skills
training also received other forms of sexual education, including
instruction about methods of birth control and prevention of sexually
transmitted diseases.”
Portland middle schools find success with coffee, surveys and reflection
Oregon Live
Portland’s
newest middle school principals have been on a coffee kick. A hot cup
of joe in an informal setting has helped boost community engagement and
given parents a platform to talk about more than just academic success,
three first-year chief administrators told the Portland school board
Tuesday. At Roseway Heights and Ockley Green middle schools and Lent K-8
School, “coffee with the principal” events have helped establish
relationships as administrators navigate new waters. Parents “weren’t
just concerned about our students becoming students, but how could they
affect their community in the future?” Roseway Heights Principal
Kathleen Elwood said, relaying to the board conversations she’s had
during such meetings. Elwood presides over one of the district’s two new
middle schools, both of which opened in August. Roseway Heights was
converted from a K-8 while Harriet Tubman reopened six years after it
was closed. At Lent, Principal Richard Smith said his staff set out at
the start of the year to reduce the school’s suspension rate by at least
10 percent. Now, school leaders think they can reduce suspensions by 20
to 25 percent. Smith and his staff are bent on reversing negative
stereotypes he said are often attributed to the Southeast Portland
School.
Portland grad rates improve but Latino success trails state average
Oregon Live
Oregon’s
largest school district achieved across-the-board gains in its
graduation rates in 2018, marking the district’s fourth straight year of
improvement. Portland Public Schools also recorded an uptick in the
percentage of black students who earned a diploma for the fourth year in
a row, landing nearly 2 percentage points above the state average. But
the district still lags behind Oregon in success rates for its Latino
students. Statewide, 74 percent of Latino students enrolled in public
schools across the state earned a diploma in 2018 versus 72 percent in
Portland. Most area districts with at least 50 students of color
outperformed Portland when it came to getting kids to earn diplomas in
four years. North Clackamas and Hillsboro were overachievers in the
group, with 81 percent of Latino, black, Native American and Pacific
Islander students graduating on time. In Portland Public Schools, only
71 percent did.
LOCAL
Deschutes County Commissioners to discuss gun rights ordinance
The Bend Bulletin
The
Deschutes County Commission has agreed to discuss an ordinance that
would prohibit county resources from being used to enforce state gun
laws. During a meeting Wednesday, commissioners received a draft
ordinance from Jerrad Robison, a Redmond resident. None of the three
commissioners returned phone calls Wednesday evening, but Commission
Chairman Phil Henderson said during the meeting the three would read
Robison’s draft ordinance, look into the process of passing it and
discuss it next week. “I think all three of us will take it seriously,”
Henderson said. It’s a slightly changed version of a ballot measure
proposed by gun rights advocates in several Oregon counties last year
that would allow sheriffs to determine whether federal, state and local
gun laws violated the U.S. or Oregon constitutions. If sheriffs believed
they did, local officials would be barred from enforcing those laws.
Robison was the chief petitioner for the Deschutes County ballot
measure, which didn’t gather the required 4,144 signatures to make the
November ballot. Voters in several other counties, including Union,
Umatilla and Baker counties, approved their versions of the measure. The
new ordinance he proposed Wednesday lacks the requirement that a
sheriff determine which laws are acceptable. Instead, it broadly defines
local, state and federal gun control regulations as “extraterritorial
acts” that would be considered null and void in Deschutes County. Laws
that tax ammunition, require background checks, ban accessories that
give semi-automatic weapons the same features as fully automatic weapons
and restrict open or concealed carrying of firearms would be among
those nullified. “Any gun law is against the Constitution,” Robison said
in an interview with The Bulletin. He said efforts to gather signatures
for the earlier measure in time for elections in 2020 are ongoing, but
the new ordinance he proposed Wednesday might be easier to pass.
Singer Paul Simon gives funds to local schools
Portland Tribune
Some
special-education students in Portland soon will learn the finer points
of cooking thanks to rock superstar Paul Simon. Simon recently donated
$10,000 to Portland Public Schools and the district decided to use most
of the funds for culinary programs for special education students. Half
of the money went to Lane Middle School and the other half went to the
Community Transition Program, which serves 130 students, ages 18 to 21,
who have completed high school but have a variety of challenges, such as
Down syndrome or severe autism. Simon donated to local organizations at
each stop of his 2018 worldwide farewell tour. The Community Transition
Program combined Simon’s $5,000 with $5,000 from the Oregon Community
Foundation and is building a teaching kitchen on the campus, at 6801
S.E. 60th Ave., to teach the students some basic culinary skills. The
Community Transition Program helps adult students gain life and job
skills to navigate the world after high school.
New deputy fire chief to go high-tech
Mail Tribune
A
longtime ally of Jackson County Fire District No. 3 has been placed in
charge of a high-tech initiative meant to make the community safer.
Justin Bates started this week as the fire district’s new deputy chief
of strategic services, according to the fire district, where he’ll
oversee a push to improve rescuer response times through new
data-analysis tools. Bates has more than two decades of experience —
most recently as deputy chief of operations with Medford Fire-Rescue.
District 3 Deputy Chief of Operations Mike Hussey said Bates brings “a
good analytical mind” to the role, able to pull data from different
sources for a variety of purposes. Hussey said they plan to draw from
that data for a pair of initiatives — an internal program focused on
improving equipment logistics, and an external program seeking to reduce
common calls for service by fostering community partnerships. On the
equipment end, Bates will draw from updated systems that tell fire
chiefs exactly where their crews are located at a given moment,
according to Hussey, along with deeper real-time information about the
equipment crews are using, such as how many calls the fire engine
they’re driving has responded to that day. Bates will also manage the
inventory program to ensure that the consumable equipment involved in
rescues, such as oxygen tanks, are ready and in the right place ahead of
service calls.
Lane County Public Health keeps eye out for possible measles cases
The Register-Guard
Lane
County Public Health is asking local doctors to keep an eye out for
measles after more than 20 cases of the disease were reported in
Washington state. At least 23 cases of measles have been reported in the
Vancouver area since Jan. 1, according to Oregon Public Radio. Clark
County in Washington state has declared a public health emergency
because of the number of cases of the disease and officials expect the
virus to cross the state line into Oregon. The Clark County, Washington
Public Health website lists several locations in the Portland area that
were visited by people infected with the virus, including Portland
International Airport, several stores and the Jan. 11 Trailblazers game
at the Moda Center. “Given the proximity of these cases to Lane County,
the amount of travel that happens daily between us and the greater
Portland metro area, and the particularly contagious nature of measles,
we are concerned about the risk of exposure,” said Dr. Patrick Luedtke,
Lane County senior public health officer, in a press release. In order
to decrease exposure to others, Lane County Public Health is urging
anyone who might show symptoms of measles to call for medical advice
before going to an emergency department, doctor’s office, urgent care
office or the public health department. This allows medical staff to
isolate the person properly in order to prevent the spread of the virus
in the medical facility. In addition to vaccination, people can help
prevent the spread of measles by staying home if they’re sick, covering
their cough or sneeze, washing hands frequently and disposing of tissues
used for coughing or sneezing. The last time Oregon and Lane County had
a case of measles was in 2015. That case was linked to a man who
visited Disneyland with his family, according to the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control. That year, the CDC reported 125 cases of the virus in
seven western states, Mexico and Canada from people who all had visited
Disneyland.
Council hears familiar arguments on familiar ADU proposals
The Democrat-Herald
The
Albany City Council reopened a public hearing on accessory dwelling
units on Wednesday night, but it won’t deliberate on two proposed
ordinances until its regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 13. The
hearing, which lasted nearly two hours, included familiar arguments on
the familiar proposals. ADUs are detached extra living units on property
that also contains a primary dwelling. Residents often use them as
in-law apartments on room for grown children. The majority of the
council had previously voted 4-2 to allow ADUs to expand in size from
750 square feet to 900 square feet, to allow homes with ADUs to have one
of their three required parking spaces on site, and to remove a mandate
that the owner of the property live in one of the homes on the land.
Mayor Sharon Konopa vetoed the vote twice, supporting the current rules
in place. Proponents, including a handful of builders, said on Wednesday
night that easing restrictions wouldn’t create a deluge of new
structures, but would result in more affordable housing in Albany.
OPINION
Liability watch
Ken Ebi
Emily
Fitzgerald’s article in the Jan. 11 issue of the News about liability
concerns by the Port of Hood River directs needed attention on a
critical issue for the Gorge region. The issue of recreational liability
is a critical one for public bodies and private sector businesses in
our area. Recent court decisions have found the state of Oregon liable
for accidents that occurred in the ocean and at a state-owned lake
simply because surfers and swimmers weren’t notified that accidents may
happen when you choose to surf of dive into lakes. Ski areas have
already been successfully sued by patrons who had unfortunate accidents
while performing risky maneuvers on the slopes and in terrain parks.
Left unchecked, this issue has the potential to drastically curtail
outdoor recreation in the Gorge, or at least make the sports much more
expensive as businesses boost their liability insurance. By the way,
Meadows weekend day pass is now 99 bucks … hardly an affordable activity
anymore. The problem is language in Oregon law related to liability and
inherent risk is very weak. Other big outdoor recreation states like
Washington and Colorado don’t have this problem, as they have stronger
language in statute. A few years back, Mark Johnson worked on this issue
in Salem along with the Pacific Northwest Ski Association to try to get
a bill passed that would remedy the problem. They were stopped cold by
the Oregon Trial Lawyers who love the status quo and who have great
political strength in Salem. Now we have a new representative, Anna
Williams. Her party has super majorities in both chambers of the
legislature. They have the power to fix this issue so that public bodies
like the Port of Hood River won’t have to worry about frivolous and
costly lawsuits. And companies that serve skiers, boarders, bikers and
sailors won’t be priced out of business. Will Anna show leadership on
this issue? The complication is that she took in over $43,000 in
campaign money from the trial lawyers in her campaign to get elected.
Will she listen to them or her constituents in the Gorge on this issue?
We’ll be watching.
Our view | Environmentalists follow playbook on wolves
East Oregonian Editorial
We
live in an era of black-and-white, of lines drawn in the sand, of
non-negotiables. The only problem: That’s not the way life is. Anyone
who has ever been married — or involved in any other committed
relationship — knows compromise is a large part of life. Ironically,
decisions are often better because of compromise, not in spite of it.
But it takes goodwill and a willingness to say “yes” to reach an
agreement. That observation came to mind as we digested the shenanigans
perpetrated by four environmental groups that took part in mediation
over the revision of the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan.
In straight talk, they bailed out of the discussions because they
wouldn’t budge on their opposition to killing wolves that continue to
attack livestock. They believe ranchers are at fault for not keeping the
wolves away from cattle and sheep. No doubt they also blame the cattle
and sheep for jumping into the mouths of the wolves. The groups — Oregon
Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, Defenders of Wildlife and the Center for
Biological Diversity — told Gov. Kate Brown in a letter that the whole
exercise was a sham because everyone else in the room didn’t go along
with their demand. All sides should recognize that success, such as it
is, by acknowledging the resilience of gray wolves. The predators know
how to take care of themselves. The idea that an apex predator that
dominates the countryside wherever it roams needs protection
demonstrates — once again — that the federal Endangered Species Act
needs to be rewritten to take reality into account. Only a handful of
those wolves have caused problems, and ranchers and wildlife managers
are only saying those few need to be removed. That’s not an ultimatum,
which the environmentalists like to use as part of their playbook. It’s
just plain common sense.
