On this day, March 14, 2003, 87-year-old Wesley Howard, an odd loner, died in Medford. He bequeathed his estate, valued over $11 million, to create a youth sports park on his 68-acre farm.
Maybe you can put my to go order in a blender and give me a straw.
State Representative Maxine Dexter (D-Portland), appointed to District 33 in June of 2020 ran on her support for “greater protections for workers.†In her first opportunity to impress her constituents, she introduced
HB 2365, which will have a negative impact on her district. Restaurant and food vendor workers make up the third largest non-government industry in her district experiencing a 27% loss in 2020.
HB 2365 prohibits food vendors from using single-use plastic food service ware when selling prepared food, unless specifically requested and then the food service ware can’t be plastic and must be recyclable. It further requires specified restaurants and bed and breakfast facilities to be able to sanitize reusable food service ware.
The pandemic and the Governor’s lockdown has had a devastating impact on restaurants and food vendors. The economy can only rebound with restaurants and food vendors in full operation. Is this the time to ask food vendors to take another hit and slow their recovery that will surely impact the state coffers?
The bill is telling food vendors they can’t provide any service ware that is plastic and service ware must be made entirely from fiber-based materials and readily compostable or readily recyclable; and doesn't contain any PFOA or PFOS chemicals. The “food service ware†list is long, it includes bowls, plates, cups, lids, straws, forks, spoons, knives, chopsticks, clamshells or other containers or any other items used for serving, containing or consuming prepared food, including takeout food and leftovers from partially consumed meals prepared by food vendors; and food service ware accessories includes napkins, cup sleeves, food or beverage trays, condiment packets and saucers, stirrers, splash sticks, toothpicks or any other nonfood item regularly provided alongside prepared food.
Some food vendors have gone mobile to meet the needs of consumers that were locked out of facilities. The bill requires mobile units to be able to sanitize reusable food service ware on premises or at another location.
One can't help but be reminded of the breathlessness with which environmentalists told us that we
must have a plastic grocery bag ban in 2019, only to be told that it's no longer the best practice to use our reusable cloth bags and we can go ahead and use plastic bags again, the planet be damned. This bill might have some areas that are viable for research, but government needs to make their case and show the effect on the economy before they slap on such a restricting regulation and send enforcement after the food industry when they are surviving on a string.
--Donna Bleiler| Post Date: 2021-01-18 07:37:50 | Last Update: 2021-01-17 17:36:42 |
Soon, you could be living near a sex offender and not know it.
As a part of what looks to be a softer, gentler approach to crime and criminals during this Legislative session, State Representative Anna Williams (D-Hood River) has
introduced legislation that would allow persons who are convicted of a crime and required to register as sex offenders to petition the court to have that requirement waived.
Oregon law does allow a person to ask the court to remove that requirement, but does not allow the court to do so if the crime is very serious. The current law which is proposed to be repealed reads:
A person who has been convicted or found guilty except for insanity of one of the following
offenses is not eligible for relief from the obligation to report as a sex offender pursuant to a petition
filed under ORS 163A.125 (1):
a. Rape in the first degree;
b. Sodomy in the first degree;
c. Unlawful sexual penetration in the first degree;
d. Kidnapping in the first degree as described in ORS 163.235 (1)(e) or when the victim is under 18 years of age; or
e. Burglary in the first degree when committed with the intent to commit any of the offenses listed in ORS 163A.005 (5)(a) to (w).
Current Oregon law does not allow persons convicted of these very serious crimes to ask the court to remove their requirement that they continue to report as sex offenders.
ORS 163A.100 describes three classes of sex offenders. It reads:
The State Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision shall, in consultation with community corrections agencies, adopt by rule a sex offender risk assessment methodology for use in classifying sex offenders. Application of the risk assessment methodology to a sex offender must result in placing the sex offender in one of the following levels:
1. A level one sex offender who presents the lowest risk of reoffending and requires a limited range of notification.
2. A level two sex offender who presents a moderate risk of reoffending and requires a moderate range of notification.
3. A level three sex offender who presents the highest risk of reoffending and requires the widest range of notification.
Representative Williams, a former social worker, was involved in Oregon's closest House race this cycle. She defeated former incumbent, Republican Jeff Helfrich by a margin of just 84 votes out of 39,420 votes cast. A Libertarian in the race, Stephen Alder took 1,060 votes, and some analysts say that it cost Helfrich the race.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2021-01-18 07:20:22 | Last Update: 2021-02-10 08:11:01 |
Wilson accused of segregation and discriminatory hiring practices
In another case of historical revisionism, a group has proposed renaming Portland's Wilson High School. The group will present it's proposal to the Portland Public Schools Board of Directors. They've sent this letter to the local community.
Dear Wilson Community,
We, the Wilson High School Renaming Committee, are writing to share some exciting news. Over the last few months, our Committee engaged in numerous community outreach efforts, we gathered nearly 2,000 community comments, and we spent many hours in careful consideration of the most appropriate new name for our school. Earlier this week, we sent a formal request to Superintendent Guerrero that our school be renamed “Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School.â€
Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931), a singular American journalist, activist, educator, and researcher, was born into enslavement during the Civil War in the state of Mississippi. As an investigative journalist, she used the power of truth to shed light on the unjust and violent conditions under which African-Americans lived throughout the South. She was a firm believer that an education was important, and that spreading and sharing knowledge was the key to a more tolerant and just society. Long recognized for her leadership in anti-lynching activism, Wells-Barnett marched on Washington in the name of women’s suffrage on the day of Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration, and she later wrote and spoke to President Wilson in protest of segregation and of his discriminatory hiring practices. Wells-Barnett helped found the National Association of Colored Women, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the first Black women's suffrage association, the Alpha Suffrage Club. Remembered as one of the most lauded civil rights advocates of the 19th and 20th centuries, Wells-Barnett is an American hero. Ida B. Wells-Barnett will foster a lasting message of determination, valor, and tolerance among all students and staff.
Today we received Superintendent Guerrero’s approval to present our recommendation to the PPS School Board on January 26th. We are looking forward to sharing information on how our renaming process aligned with district guidelines, how we solicited and processed community input, and why we ultimately decided that Ida B. Wells-Barnett is the most appropriate person to name our school after.
We want to thank all of you who participated in and helped guide this historic process. Please that see some of the community comments we received in appreciation of our new eponym, Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned Wilson High School Renaming Committee:
Ayesha Coning, Vice Principal
Filip Hristić, Principal
Hui Hui Hutchinson, Junior
Liliana McClain, Junior
Noreena McCleave, Alumni
Jonel Mondero, Junior
Aslan Newson, Junior
Martin Osborne, Community Representative
Nura Salah, Junior
Senya Scott, Junior
Mia Sedory, Senior
Katisyn Sweeney, Junior
Deborah Walsh, Parent Representative
Ellen Whatmore, Teacher Representative
Zachariah Winterspring, Teacher Representative
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2021-01-17 13:04:17 | Last Update: 2021-01-17 13:33:22 |
Were just not seeing much nutritional value
--Northwest Observer Meme Team| Post Date: 2021-01-17 11:27:32 | Last Update: 2021-01-17 13:04:17 |
No joke. $123,000 to Black Oregonians who can demonstrate heritage in slavery
The concept of reparations for slavery has been around for a few years, and though the idea rarely surfaces in a raw form -- a proposal for cash payments to descendants of slaves -- it more often surfaces as "equity" proposals, or more recently in
assistance programs targeted by race. Now, however, a bill proposing reparations has been proposed for the 2021 legislative session. The proposal,
SB 619 has explicitly laid out a plan for reparations. The plan calls for a $123,000 annuity to be paid out for the life of the applicant.
The legislation is being introduced by State Senator Lew Frederick (D-Portland) and has indicated that it is at the request of former State Representative Tiffiny Mitchell. Mitchell recently served one term representing House District 32, which is Clatsop and Tillamook counties. She has since moved to Washington state. It's not clear if Senator Frederick, who is black, would be eligible to apply for reparations.
The eligibility criteria are listed in the bill:
(a) Is descended from an American slave
(b) Has identified as African-American on legal documents for at least 10 years before the date of the application
(c) Is at least 18 years of age, an emancipated minor or a ward, as defined in ORS 419A.004, whose parents are deceased or for whom parental rights have been terminated and have not been reinstated, and
(d) Has resided in Oregon for at least two years before the date of the application.
Reparation payments as outlined in the bill would be protected from being taken by legal processes, too. The bill says, "Reparations paid under this section and the right of a person to an annuity under this section are exempt from garnishment and all state, county and municipal taxation, except as provided under ORS chapter 118, are not subject to execution, garnishment, attachment or any other process or to the operation of any bankruptcy or insolvency law and are unassignable."
It's not clear if the bill would pass constitutional muster. Besides running counter to the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, the Oregon Constitution provides that "No law shall be passed granting to any citizen or class of citizens privileges, or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens." Cases making claims against the Oregon Cares Fund for its racial criteria are pending now in federal court.
There is no fiscal report for the bill to determine what the cost of this would be, but we did a quick back-of-the-cocktail-napkin calculation. The Census Bureau estimates that there are about 78,000 blacks in Oregon. If half qualified for and applied for reparations at $123,000 per person, the cost would be about $9.5 billion dollars, though that would be paid out over the lives of the recipients.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2021-01-17 10:03:45 | Last Update: 2021-01-18 14:01:19 |
Even the man’s mother begged the crowd to stop
A protest that formed around a crisis call involving a man holding a knife downtown prompted a call for help citywide.
On Friday, January 15, 2021 at about 1:00p.m., Portland Central Precinct officers responded to a welfare check call outside an apartment building in the 300 block of Southwest 4th Avenue. The call indicated that a man had jumped from a second story window of the building, pulled out a knife, and began waving it around at people and cars going by.
The 30-year-old man showed arriving officers his knife, held it to his neck, and said he would kill himself if they came any closer. An Enhanced Crisis Intervention Team (ECIT) officer began a dialogue with the man in crisis, while other officers attempted to clear the area hoping to reduce the stress of the situation. The officers learned that the man was schizophrenic and extremely paranoid. He not only threatened to kill himself, he said he would hurt others as well. Rather than rush in, exacerbating a dangerous situation, officers slowed down, kept their distance, and exercised patience and de-escalation.
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
The negotiation lasted for about 90 minutes before two separate crowds of protesters began showing up to the north and south. Some in the crowd began chanting, and one even started using a bullhorn. The extra noise and distraction made it impossible for the specially trained officers to speak to the man. Officers implored the crowd to stop interfering, but their energy only increased. Even when the suicidal man's mother arrived and begged the crowd to stop, most in the crowd continued. Some in the crowd began threatening the officers. A supervisor requested resources citywide, and all available officers responded from North and East Precincts. This caused a major resource drain citywide and all but the highest priority calls had to wait. The officers had to don helmets and face shields to protect themselves as they stood in front of the hostile crowd.
The officers consulted with the Crisis Negotiation Team, whose members were able to find a mental health professional familiar with the man. They learned that the man could be a threat to himself and violent toward others. After over 3 hours of negotiation, the incident commander set into motion a plan to take the man into custody. A K9 unit was used to divert his attention by barking so officers could safely approach him. A Conducted Electrical Weapon (CEW, or Taser) was used to prevent him from using the knife, and he was taken into custody and transported by ambulance to a hospital. Besides the punctures from the CEW probes, he was uninjured. Officers placed him on a Police Officer Hold so that he could be evaluated by medical professionals.
The only force used against the protesters was some pushing to keep them back and out of the street.
--Bruce Armstrong| Post Date: 2021-01-16 17:58:40 | Last Update: 2021-01-17 15:37:50 |
Eugene Democrat wants to eliminate compensation
As if times weren't tough enough for businesses, legislation has been proposed that will change the way businesses are compensated when governments take possession of their property during an emergency. Marty Wilde (D-Eugene) has introduced
HB 2238 is a proposal to make these changes and they could have massive impacts on businesses in Oregon and their ability to recover damages after being shut down for close to a year with no end in sight.
Currently under Oregon Law, if a piece of property is a threat to persons or property during an emergency, a government agency is allowed to take possession of it, but the owner must be compensated. It's fairly clear that this law is intended to curb lawsuits by businesses to recover damages from the state because of being shut down during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The effective part of the proposed legislation reads,
An owner of property that is used or possessed only temporarily under this section is not entitled to compensation except as the owner may prove entitlement to compensation under Article I, section 18, of the Oregon Constitution.
Two words that are not defined in the change are "temporary" and "possessed." One can imagine a scenario in which the COVID-19 lockdowns are regarded as temporary and an order to shut down or reduce activity is regarded as possessed. If both of these are true, then the state need not compensate businesses for losses due to lockdown orders.
Affected businesses could include:
- Housing providers' losses due to eviction moratoria
- Service industry businesses, such as restaurants and bars
- Other businesses that cater to the public, such as gyms, ice rinks and exercise facilities
Several lawsuits regarding compensation are currently pending. Oregon's constitution prohibits
ex post facto laws, or laws that have a retroactive effect.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2021-01-16 17:47:11 | Last Update: 2021-01-17 15:30:31 |
Forest management doesn’t support carbon taxation
The timber industry is a target on two fronts. Representative Pam Marsh (D-Ashland) and Nancy Nathanson (D-Eugene) propose to extend or make permanent the privilege harvesting tax with automatic increases - funding for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute Fund (
HB 2430,
HB 2389). On another front, Representatives Andrea Salinas (D-Lake Oswego), Paul Holvey (D-Eugene), Khanh Pham (D-Portland), Marty Wilde (D-Eugene), and Senator Jeff Golden (D-Ashland) propose to eliminate the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) and the Oregon Forest Resources Institute Fund (
HB 2357).
HB 2357 would create a separate Sound Forestry Practices Subaccount and the funds in the Oregon Forest Resources Institute Fund from privilege harvesting taxes will be transferred to the General Fund. It poses the questions of proper use of those tax funds that had a specific purpose.
Calling for the elimination of OFRI, they propose to require the State Forestry Department to develop and apply sound forestry practices to:
(a) Promote forest health;
(b) Incorporate regulation or monitoring of pesticide use in forests;
(c) Employ adaptive resource management; and
(d) As related to forest management, advance climate science or climate policy.
The Legislature created OFRI in 1991 to advance public understanding of forests, forest management and forest products, and to encourage sound forestry through landowner education. It has been a lobbying arm for Oregon’s timber industry. Therein lies the problem for the Governor’s carbon agenda.
Governor Kate Brown crafted her cap-and-trade bill in 2018 to enact sweeping limits on greenhouse gas emissions that targeted industries, and timber was not excluded.
OPB reported that OFRI worked to discredit the research that calculated for the first time how much carbon was lost to the atmosphere as a result of cutting trees in Oregon. It concluded that logging, once thought to have no negative effect on global warming, was among the state’s biggest climate polluters.
A new
OFRI report highlights the major role Oregon’s forests play in keeping carbon out of the atmosphere, underscoring the importance of using strategies that enhance these forests’ carbon-sequestering superpowers to combat climate change. The vast forests that cover nearly half the state capture and store significant amounts of atmospheric carbon, both in growing trees and wood products sourced from those forests, according to their Carbon in Oregon’s Managed Forests science review report. “As we work to solve the climate crisis, this report will inform Oregonians about ways we can harness our forests’ natural carbon-storing abilities in the fight against climate change,†says OFRI Director of Forestry Mike Cloughesy, who served as one of the report’s technical editors.
The primary goal of OFRI is to educate the public about forestry and responsible forest management. Is it that OFRI’s forest management doesn’t support carbon taxation that prompts elimination? Numerous Legislators have introduced bills to reinstate the tax credit for reforestation (
HB 2632,
HB 2782). If timber happens to retain their lobby arm in OFRI, they will surely face increased privilege harvesting taxation.
--Donna Bleiler| Post Date: 2021-01-16 16:36:39 | Last Update: 2021-01-16 17:47:11 |
Winners and losers and how they are picked
As COVID-19 vaccines are distributed to states, they are then distributed to the public according to a formula developed by each state. In oregon,
Oregon Health Authority websiteseveral phases have been identified to earmark the vaccine to be administered.
Everyone is Phase 1A, Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 are currently eligible for the vaccine.
Group 1
- Hospitals
- Urgent Care
- Skilled nursing and memory care facility healthcare personnel and residents
- Tribal health programs
- Emergency medical services providers and other first responders
- Health care interpreters
- Traditional health workers
Group 2
- Other long-term care facilities, including healthcare personnel and residents of:
- Residential care facilities
- Adult foster care
- Group homes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
- Other congregate care sites
- Hospice programs
- Mobile crisis care and related services
- Individuals working in a correctional setting
Group 3
- Healthcare providers in outpatient settings serving specific high-risk groups
- Day treatment services
- Non-emergency medical transport
- Caregivers of medically fragile children or adults who live at home
Group 4
- All other outpatient healthcare providers
- Public health sites
Phase 1B, IC and Phase 2 have yet to be specifically determined, but the Oregon Health Authority is beginning to map out who will be next.
- Child-care, preschool and K-12 school and school district staff will be in the first group of Phase 1B.
- Subsequent groups in Phase 1B and beyond will be determined by the Vaccine Advisory Committee and shared on OHA's COVID-19 vaccine
web page. These are examples of groups of people who may included:
- Critical workers in high-risk settings — workers who are in industries essential to the functioning of society and substantially higher risk of exposure
- People of all ages with underlying conditions that put them at moderately higher risk
- People in prisons, jails, detention centers, and similar facilities, and staff who work in such settings
- All older adults not included in Group IA
- General population
Adding to the complexity of vaccine administration is that both the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccines require two injections. First, a priming dose must be given, followed by a booster shot. The interval between Moderna doses is 28 days. The Pfizer vaccine's interval is 21 days.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2021-01-15 08:22:27 | Last Update: 2021-01-16 14:04:32 |
Government rationing of vaccine slows the pace
As Oregon stumbles to get vaccines distributed to certain selected members of the public, Oregon Governor Kate Brown visited Salem Health's vaccination clinic at the Oregon State Fairgrounds, where she visited with Oregon National Guard members who are administering vaccines at the clinic, spoke with community members in the 1a vaccination group who were attending the clinic, and met with officials from Salem Health. The Governor was joined by Adjutant General Michael Stencel, Salem Health President and CEO Cheryl Wolfe, and Salem Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ralph Yates.
"Today I had the opportunity to visit with Jason, a hospice care worker who received a COVID-19 vaccine administered by Private First Class Juan Rojas," said Governor Brown. "It's truly overwhelming. As a hospice worker, not only does Jason make people feel more comfortable as they're nearing the end of their lives, he also provides massage therapy for cancer patients. With this vaccination, we're going to make sure Jason can continue this important and honorable work.
"I am very proud of the leadership of Salem Health, who stood up this vaccination clinic on their own, and who are vaccinating hundreds of people a day. They also have a great partner with the Oregon National Guard, who are providing vaccination support. We are working to develop more partnerships like this one—in communities large and small across the state—to get Oregonians vaccinated as quickly as possible."
As of this point in time, the Oregon Health Authority is reporting that
133,090 persons have been vaccinated in Oregon, or about 3% of the population. The daily record for vaccines is 12,039 on January 8. Even at that record pace, it would take over a year to get all Oregonians vaccinated.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2021-01-15 08:02:33 | |
Put a tax on assistance. Yeah, that will work.
Representative Marty Wilde (D-Eugene) introduced
HB 2253 that would “surcharge†those that received forgiven loans received as a corporate excise or personal income taxpayer through Paycheck Protection Program of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. His proposal would apply to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2021.
The Governor continues to keep Oregon closed, so businesses have resorted to alternative means to keep their businesses above the red line with the help of forgiveness loans. It has kept millions employed while unemployment has skyrocketed and many businesses have gone beyond that to keep employees in jobs. Do they get thanked? NO! They get reprimanded for making the slightest effort for survival. Those businesses not hit the hardest are expected to spread their wealth, which will ultimately put more businesses into bankrupt status.
One businessman told Northwest Observer that he was able to keep his staff and not reduce any hours even though clients cancelled. He said, “My landlord was able to collect full rent from me at the office, my utilities were able to be paid, and I was able to take what little revenue my business generated during the toughest months of the pandemic and keep my rent paid at home and my wife and baby fed and clothed.†He calculated his addition tax -- or surcharge, as it is called -- would be around $1000.
That may not sound like a lot, but another business owner said they have been in the red $4-5,000 monthly since last May, and none of the surcharge will help his business as the Governor has put her focus for relief on minority business and restaurants.
If the bill passes, any business that increased receipts by five percent over 2019 will be charged a 10% tax on moneys received under the CARES Act. How will that restore Oregon’s economy? Maybe we're
not all in this together.
--Donna Bleiler| Post Date: 2021-01-14 20:42:14 | Last Update: 2021-01-14 20:53:53 |
Rule addresses a harmful court decision
This week the
Associated Press reported wildfire smoke has accounted for up to half of all health-damaging small particle air pollution in the western U.S. in recent years. Even as pollution emissions declined from other sources including vehicle exhaust and power plants, the amount from fires have increased sharply, researchers said.
The news continues to illustrate the need for proactive and science-based forest management as part of the solution to reducing the risk of severe wildfire. To protect our communities, wildlife habitat, recreation, clean air and water, the federal government must allow its professional land managers to do their jobs.
Fortunately, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a new rule changing their regulations on duplicative interagency consultations for existing Forest Plans. The rule addresses a harmful court decision, known as "
Cottonwood" that has stalled many important forest management, wildlife habitat enhancement and wildfire fuel reduction projects developed by the U.S. Forest Service. Lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are also impacted.
This solution is bipartisan. It reflects efforts by both Democratic and Republican administrations and members of the U.S. Congress to resolve lawsuits over duplicative interagency consultation procedures that have prevented work from being done on public lands.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2021-01-14 18:40:47 | Last Update: 2021-01-16 16:36:39 |
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