SPECIAL SESSION
Tax break passes in special session
The Associated Press
House Republican Minority Leader Mike McLane said Monday the process was forced through by the majority party. “This is the governor’s bill — any attempt to by the Republicans to shape it or modify its language were rejected by the Democrats,” McLane said. McLane said his main request in negotiations had been to broaden who qualified for the bill, but that it had been denied.
Legislature passes business tax break
The Bend Bulletin
“I think we can all agree this is an emergency manufactured by the governor,” Buehler said. Instead of the business tax issue, Buehler said their were “real emergencies” such as foster care, public schools and pensions. “Issues you’ve avoided, ignored and made worse your last three years in office,” Buehler said.
Ethics commission asked to weigh in on special session
Portland Tribune
He also noted that “merited or not,” it was the “belief of many today” that the governor, in calling the special session that she was “furthering her reelection campaign using public resources.” Boquist asked the commission a number of questions about the limits on a governor’s use of his or her position, including whether it was permissible for the governor to use “public employees and funds to lobby for a bill in the self-proclaimed special session to support a governor’s reelection.”
Legislature approves business tax break expansion
Portland Tribune
About 100 demonstrators affiliated with the Democrat Socialists of America and the Poor People’s Campaign converged on the Oregon Capitol steps just after noon Monday to protest the expansion of the business tax break. “We reject this special session and everything it stands for — a choice to increase the wealth and the comfort of the few at the top at the expense of those struggling at the bottom,” said Olivia Katbi-Smith, co-chairwoman of the Portland chapter of Democratic Socialists of America.
FREE SPEECH
Liberty HS student files free-speech suit over Trump shirt
Koin 6
“If people are offended by his shirt – that’s their right to be offended,” Barnes’ attorney Mike McLane said. “But it’s also his right to have his opinion, as well. The constitutional line isn’t who’s offended. The constitutional line is there a specific and clear disturbance being created by the expression of the student’s political speech.”
Hillsboro student sues district over right to wear pro-border wall shirt
Oregonian/OregonLive
The lawsuit said the school has allowed opposite viewpoints on immigration. One of Barnes’ teachers once displayed a sign in front of the classroom that said, “Sanctuary City, Welcome Home.”
DISCRIMINATION
North Bend district faces hearing over anti-gay bias
The Register-Guard
Now, the Oregon Department of Education is planning a hearing week after finding that allegations of discrimination appeared legitimate. The state could yank part or all of its funding for the school district if it is found to violate anti-discrimination laws.
Willamette Week
In public letters published on ACLU of Oregon’s website, Funk and Smith say they were subject to repeated verbal, and at times physical, abuse by fellow students. When they brought these complaints to school administrators, they say they were either ignored or harassed further.
Southern Oregon School District Settles Over LGBTQ Discrimination
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Those harassments, according to investigation files, included LGBTQ students being forced to read the Bible as punishment, a teacher comparing same-sex marriage to “marrying your dog,” and the principal’s own son using a homophobic slur against two students.
VOTING
In wake of tragedies, young voters register
New York Times
If voters in their teens and 20s vote in greater numbers than usual, as many promised during nationwide marches for gun control this spring, the groundswell could affect close races in key states like Arizona and Florida, where there will be competitive races for governor, the Senate and a number of House districts in November.
GUN CONTROL
Blazers Owner Paul Allen Contributes $1 Million to Washington Gun Control Measure
Willamette Week
If it makes the November ballot, the initiative would ask Washington voters to raise the age for purchasing semi-automatic weapons to 21; create a stronger background check system; require training for purchases and beef up storage requirements.
AGRICULTURE
Oregon lawmakers mull preventing ‘too big to fail’ livestock operations
Portland Tribune
The hearing was cut short after an hour because the full Senate was expected to convene, but Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, said the matter will likely be revisited during legislative committee days in September. “I would like to see what we can do to prevent this from happening again,” said Dembrow, the committee’s chair. The state government should be wary of confined animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, that are “too big to fail” due to the large numbers of animals involved, he said.
OTHER
Conservative Professor Jordan Peterson Is Bringing His Campaign Against Gender Fluidity to Portland
Willamette Week
At the basis of the philosophy is Peterson’s belief is that gender is in fact binary, and that differences between men and women are due to biology, not social construction. He has often referred to “gender neutral” as a made-up and even harmful term. He was the first person to interview James Damore. As part of his current book tour, he will give a talk at Keller Auditorium on June 25.
OPINION
Editorial: GOP primary sets up lively governor’s race
Corvallis Gazette-Times
But there’s a sense in GOP circles that Brown could be vulnerable to attacks on her leadership since becoming governor in 2015. And Buehler has shown at least some ability to woo Democrats — after all, he’s won re-election in a district that skews Democratic.
George Will: Battling campus oppression of the freedom of expression
Mail Tribune
It is suing to invalidate Michigan’s “elaborate investigatory and disciplinary apparatus” that exists “to suppress and punish speech other students deem ‘demeaning,’ ‘bothersome’ or ‘hurtful.’ ” Speech First’s complaint notes that “the most sensitive student on campus effectively dictates the terms under which others may speak.” The university darkly warns that “bias comes in many forms” and “the most important indication of bias is your own feelings.” Speech First says that Michigan’s edifice of speech regulation, with its Orwellian threats to submit offenders to “restorative justice,” “individual education” and “unconscious bias training,” amounts to unconstitutional prior restraint speech and is too overbroad and vague to give anyone due notice of what is proscribed.