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On this day, March 28, 1942, Japanese-American lawyer Minoru Yasui (1916-1986) violated a military curfew in Portland, Oregon, and demanded to be arrested after he was refused enlistment to fight for the US. He was one of the few Japanese Americans who fought laws that directly targeted Japanese Americans or Japanese immigrants following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In 2015 he was among 17 people awarded the presidential Medal of Freedom.

Also on this day March 28, 1939, the front page of the Eugene Register-Guard blared the headline: "Mighty Oregon Scramble Ohio State to Take Hoop Title of All America," right under a declaration that the Spanish War had ended, of course.




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Hood River County GOP's Second Annual Lincoln Dinner
Saturday, April 6, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Hood River County GOP's Second Annual Lincoln Dinner 5pm-9pm
Hood River, OR



Dorchester Conference 2024
Friday, April 26, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Dorchester Conference 2024 April 26th-28th
Welches, Oregon



Memorial Day
Monday, May 27, 2024 at 11:00 am
Memorial Day
A federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving.



Juneteenth
Wednesday, June 19, 2024 at 12:00 am
Juneteenth
Celebrated on the anniversary of June 19, 1865, when in the wake of the American Civil War, Major General Gordon Granger ordered the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas.



Independence Day
Thursday, July 4, 2024 at 11:59 pm
Independence Day
USA



Linn Laughs LIVE with Adam Corolla
Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Linn Laughs LIVE with Adam Corolla 5pm-9pm
Albany, OR


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A Look at Oregon’s Strategic Investment Program
Helps industry create jobs

The Strategic Investment Program run by the Oregon Business Development Department offers a 15-year property tax exemption on a portion of large capital investments. The program was created in the 1990s to induce large, capital-intensive facilities to locate and grow anywhere in Oregon.

To qualify, projects must serve a "traded sector" industry. Oregon law defines "traded sector" as one in which "member firms sell their goods or services into markets for which national or international competition exists."

The project's cost must be at least $25 million in a rural area or $100 million otherwise. But as a practical matter to benefit from the program, the overall investment will need to be considerably bigger. The actual exemption is on property value in excess of a taxable portion, which starts at $100 million for all urban projects, while in rural areas:

Total Investment CostsInitial Taxable Portion Amount
Not more than $500 million$25,000,000
Between $0.5 and $1.0 billion$50,000,000
Greater than $1.0 billion$100,000,000


A rural area must be located entirely outside urban growth boundary of a city with a population of 40,000 or more at the time of state SIP application or in a Rural Strategic Investment Zone designated before October 5, 2015. Taxable portion is based on property's real market value and grows 3% per year.

There are two options for an SIP project to be approved: Companies must also pay the respective county a community service fee as set by law. The fee is contained in the agreement with the business, which may include additional requirements on the business. The county must also sign a separate agreement with other local governments for distributing the fee.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

For any SIP project that is exempt in the prior tax year, the business must submit a report to Business Oregon detailing its employment and payroll. The report is used to evaluate the program's performance and provide estimates of state personal income tax revenue that may be shared with local governments.

Supporters of the program point out that other states have similar programs and will poach the cream-of-the-crop companies without it. They also point to the jobs and positive secondary economic effects of the program. Critics say that it uses taxpayer funds -- any tax abatement is essentially a general fund loss -- that targets only large and successful companies. Additionally, it may not make sense to have a large monopoly utility company -- Portland General Electric, for instance -- using taxpayer backed money for economic development.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2020-12-28 20:08:02Last Update: 2020-12-29 08:31:23



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