On this day, April 20, 2004, an Oregon judge ordered a halt to same sex marriages. He also ordered official recognition of marriages already held in Multnomah County.
Washington County 2024 Primary Candidate Meet & Greet
Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 5:00 pm
Come meet your candidates running for office here in Oregon such as Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Treasurer as well as Washington County state house and senate legislators and local county commissioners. Food and a no-host bar. Family friendly.
Scotch Church Road Vineyard
30125 NW Scotch Church Rd.
Hillsboro, OR 97124
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.
Mid-Term Resignation Allows Governor to Appoint Replacement
Governor Kate Brown has announced that she is accepting applications for a judicial position on the Circuit Court for the 22nd Judicial District to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Michael McLane (R-Powell Butte).
The Governor thanked Judge McLane for his dedicated judicial service to Jefferson and Crook Counties, wished him well in his return to private practice in Bend, and announced that she will fill the position by appointment. Judge McLane’s resignation is effective October 10, 2021.
McLane was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 2010 and was named Republican Leader in 2013 until after the 2018 elections. He vacated his seat to take a judicial appointment in Crook and Jefferson County in 2019.
Interested applicants should address their completed application forms to Dustin Buehler, General Counsel, Office of the Governor, and email (no mail or hand delivery) those completed forms to Shevaun Gutridge at shevaun.gutridge@oregon.gov. Forms must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 11, 2021.
OHA COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough report
Under the direction of Pat Allen, the Oregon Health Authority is milking the data for all they can get. While the COVID-19 cases are leveling off and hospitalizations are declining, they send out a breakthrough report they hope tells a different story. Breakthrough cases are related to people that are fully vaccinated that get COVID-19 anyway. There were 2,778 breakthrough cases, accounting for 23.2% of all cases between Sept. 12 through Sept. 18.
COVID-19 breakthrough case report released found that 76.8% of the 11,994 reported COVID-19 cases occurred in people who were unvaccinated. But unvaccinated, doesn’t really mean unvaccinated. Unvaccinated persons are defined as people who have not completed a COVID-19 vaccine series, are within two-weeks of injection, or have not received an approved COVID-19 vaccine. Even without fully counting all the vaccinated cases, breakthrough cases have averaged 20% since the week of July 24 totaling 22,879 vaccinated breakthrough cases. Additionally, all the early cases had to have occurred in unvaccinated people, because the vaccine wasn't available to the general public until early this year.
The hospitalizations reported September 23, showed a decrease of 54 fewer hospitalized totaling 381 available beds, and seven fewer intensive care bed patients freeing up 56 available beds. They did not categorize the 12 deaths for the week.
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To date, 4.5% of all known breakthrough (vaccinated) cases have been hospitalized, compared to 5.4% overall, and 0.9% breakthrough cases have died compared to 1.1% overall. The median age of breakthrough cases who died is 81 (range: 36-101). OHA claims the number of vaccine breakthrough cases identified in Oregon remains very small at 0.9% deaths, but they may be hoping you won’t take a closer look or listen to nurses and doctors exposing the unreported vaccinated cases at rallies around the state, which is creating a hospital staff shortage.
Dr. Angela Plowhead has announced her candidacy for Oregon’s new 6th Congressional District seat.
While she currently resides in Marion County, she has years of experience working, living and going to school across much of the Willamette Valley, the Portland Metro area, Central Oregon, as well as Central and Northern Oregon Coasts.
As an Intelligence Analyst in the US Air Force she saw first hand the dangers of allowing Communist and Marxist ideals to permeate a society and the detrimental impacts it had on citizen’s freedoms and daily lives. She has watched these same ideas take root in Portland policies to create chaos, harm business, allow homelessness to go unchecked, and destroy tourism due to defunded law enforcement, who no longer have the resources to keep Portland streets safe.
She sees similar ideology coming out of DC and does not want to see the rest of Oregon or America go down this same destructive path. She says, “I served in the military to protect our freedoms and our constitution from those from the outside and now I am prepared to go to DC to protect it from those within, from those who are attempting to erode the rights our constitution gives us to self-determination, to bear arms, to religious and economic freedoms. Every American deserves the right to improve their circumstances!â€
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Plowhead sees the protections provided by the constitution as essential to her own rise from poverty and racial prejudice to obtain her doctorate in Clinical Psychology and become a small business owner. She has spent her career serving other veterans and lobbying state and federal legislatures for the rights and needs of seniors and people with disabilities. She understands the challenges faced by parents struggling with the current public school system through real life experience advocating in for her own child with special needs.
Angela Plowhead is a Clinical Psychologist, Veteran, and small business owner who has committed her career to serving veterans and being a voice for those who do not have one. She has been married for over 25 years and is a mother of two active boys.
The Portland Police Bureau's Enhanced Community Safety Team (ECST) has reported there were seven shootings in almost 15 hours, beginning just after 2 a.m. through 6:50 p.m. on Tuesday, September 21, 2021.
The first shooting occurred at 2: 20 a.m. at SE 67th/SE Ogden Street. Officers responded to reports from several callers regarding multiple shots fired. More than 10 cartridge casings were located. No victims or related property damage was located. Case #21-263320
A couple hours later at 4:30 p.m., at NE 82nd/NE Sandy Blvd, officers responded and learned an individual was shot and wounded. The victim suffered a non-life threatening injury. Officers extensively canvassed the area, but are uncertain exactly where this incident occurred, but believe it was near the Grotto, which is located at 8840 NE Skidmore Street. Case #21-263395
Later in the morning, at 11:09 a.m., officers responded to NE Prescott/NE Sandy Blvd on a shots fired call. Officers discovered multiple cartridge casings in the area. Preliminary information suggests that this was a drive-by shooting. There were no known injuries at this time. Case #21-263604
At 1:54 p.m., Officers responded to a call of an individual with a gunshot wound who walked into a local hospital. The victim suffered a non-life threatening injury. Based on preliminary investigation, the Officers believe the shooting occurred in the 500 Block of NE Multnomah Street. Case #21-263753
Just over an hour later at 3:07 p.m., another individual walked into a hospital with a gunshot wound. The victim was uncooperative with police and suffered a non-life threatening injury. The individual claims the injury occurred at a shooting at an unknown location in Portland overnight. Case #21-263821
At 6:02 p.m., East Precinct responded to this area on multiple reports of shots fired. Multiple people on foot were shot at by suspects in a drive-by style shooting. There were no reported injuries. Case #21-264030
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Shortly after at 6:50 p.m., officers responded to the 5900 block of SE 72nd Avenue on numerous reports of shots fired. Officers located several cartridge casings at the crime scene. A related unoccupied stolen vehicle was located a short distance away after it was involved in a traffic crash. There were no known injuries reported. Case #21-264061
These incidents required significant numbers of officers, sergeants, detectives, and criminalists to investigate, and drained resources for patrol.
These shootings are ongoing investigations and any additional information will be released at the direction of ECST.
On September 21st Dallas, Oregon Police learned of, and began investigating, potential threats that students were allegedly making towards each other at Dallas High School. The investigation involved talking with numerous students and staff.
As the investigation progressed, more allegations were discovered and investigators learned additional students were possibly involved. All allegations identified were appropriately investigated.
Some allegations revolved around students making verbal threats to shoot each other. Police and school staff ultimately determined there were no immediate threats or dangers posed to staff or students.
After the initial response, a Dallas PD detective and school staff spent at least ten hours over the past two days interviewing everyone involved. The investigation determined there are no credible threat towards any students or staff at this time. It was also determined that the involved persons did not have firearms on school property, nor did they have access to firearms.
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This case remains under investigation and juvenile, referrals (charges) for potential crimes involved are pending. Persons with first-hand information who has not already spoken with authorities are asked to contact Detective Jordan Schrock at 503-831-3516."
Additional information has since come to light that the teen threatening other schoolmates and School staff has access to firearms, as he keeps posting updated threats and images to his social media page with proof that he, indeed, has access not only to a firearm but a cache of bullets as well.
Dallas PD has been advised of this new information, and is silent on whether they plan on doing more investigating or whether arrests will be made.
Speaker Tina Kotek adjourned the House of Representatives earlier this week due to a positive COVID case being reported from within the Capitol. She said in her statement to the sparse attendance of members on the floor that, “We are working with the Governor’s office and the Oregon Health Authority to make sure that testing is available to the individuals who were close contacts of the positive case. It is also our understanding that individuals that have been vaccinated do not need to quarantineâ€.
What is unclear is “who†advised the Speaker that vaccinated people did not need to quarantine.
According to the CDC website, people who are fully vaccinated and who have had close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, should get tested 3-5 days after exposure, even if they don’t have symptoms. If they then test positive, they should isolate for 10 days.
A 14-day quarantine is the safest option to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to others.
If the local public health administrator or designee recommends a shortened quarantine period that balances the risk of disease spread with the impacts on individuals from a longer quarantine, individuals may end quarantine:
10 days after their last exposure to a person with COVID-19 if they remain asymptomatic
or
After 7 days, with a negative test result by an antigen or nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) collected within 48 hours before ending quarantine in individuals who remain asymptomatic.
“Quarantine should start as soon as you know you’ve been in close contact with someone who is sick with COVID-19 or who has tested positive for the virus. Stay home for 10 days after your last contact with someone who has COVID-19. Even if you test negative for COVID-19 or feel healthy, you should stay home (quarantine) because symptoms can show up from 2 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. You might test negative during this time because there may not be enough of the virus in your system yet.â€
The only other possibility is that the Speaker was advised by and is following the guidelines of the county in which she and her constituents live. The Multnomah Health Department website says that,
“If you have been fully vaccinated seek testing if you have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19. If you are fully vaccinated, you do not have to quarantine if you’ve been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 or who has tested positive for COVID-19, unless you develop symptomsâ€.
After the close of the session, members received an email from staff in the Speaker’s office stating that,
“On Thursday (9/23/21), members and staff who are close contacts will be able to receive both rapid and PCR tests in Salem. We expect this will allow individuals to receive test results by no later than Friday afternoon. The House will then convene on Saturday morning.
This timeline will ensure that members who require tests will have the opportunity to get results back. It will also allow enough time for the House to confirm quorum and complete its work by voting on the bills that the Senate passed for House considerationâ€.
The memo points to the real reason for rushing testing and going against all Federal, State and local health department recommendations. Testing quickly, 3 days after exposure, will “allow enough time for the House to confirm quorum and complete its work by voting on the bills that the Senate passed for House considerationâ€.
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The vote on the redistricting maps must take place by midnight on Monday the 27th or the maps go to the Secretary of State, for the Oregon Legislative maps, and a committee of Retired Oregon Supreme Court Judges for the Congressional maps. The House Democrats want their maps -- not anyone else’s. They need quorum, they need to vote, and they need to do it quickly.
If the Speaker follows the CDC guidelines, she must test everyone, vaccinated and unvaccinated that were close contacts within 3-5 days of exposure (Thurs – Sat). Waiting till the 5-day mark only leaves her Sunday and Monday to move the redistricting bills.
If the Speaker follows the OHA guidelines, all known close contacts would quarantine for 14 days or could possibly be reduced by local officials to 10 days after exposure if the person is not sick or 7 days with a negative test. This is not an option because time would run out to pass the maps.
If the Speaker follows the Marion County Health Department guidelines which recommend a 10-day quarantine after contact, even if the test is negative, that is also not an option because time would run out to pass the maps.
So, the Oregon Legislature will once again follow what Portland does by apparently following the Multnomah County Health Department rules.
Senate procedures regarding COVID-19 protection have come under fire.
Senator Dallas Heard (R-Winston) was called out of order by Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem) for not wearing a mask.
Senator Brian Boquist (I-Dallas) submitted a vote explanation on SB 881 which, in addition to calling out the proposal as failing "all the legal and judicial prerequisites," he describes Senator Courtney's action against Senator Heard, as well as other actions and behaviors on the floor.
Just like in June 2019, the Democrat supermajority attempted to create a political media deception to deflect the legal deficiencies of the bill. I watched Senate majority staff request the Secretary’s’ floor staff to harass Senator Heard for not wearing a mask on the side aisle. Then President Courtney (Democrat) found Senator Heard out of order for not wearing a mask in the gallery, theoretically due to medical risks. However, for the record, the Senate President Courtney placed contaminated wooden signs on all desks today but members could not distribute floor letters regarding SB 881 debate. This happened dozens of times during the regular Session. Other leadership materials were placed on the members desks as well despite contamination prohibitions in the same presidential rules. President Courtney had over 20 members signing nearly a hundred picture posters at three different floor desks. Member after member, sheet after sheet, same felt markers ... zero sanitation. The perfect super spreader again in violation of the presidential rules. I personally saw almost every member shaking hands and giving hugs for which I did not refuse any Democrat handshake or hug. Dozens of head to head meetings and arm wraps. Floor and aisle chairs were back to inches apart. There was zero social distancing as OLIS video can easily prove. Many Democrats off the camera removed masks at breaks as well as Republicans. Pictures will even show the Presiding Officer without a mask. The President encouraged member staff not to attend supposedly due to medical concerns. President Courtney, Senator Wagner, and select individuals were complete hypocrites in an effort to deflect the debate on SB 881 for pure partisan political purposes not any medical reason what-so-ever.
The Senate passed SB 881 by a vote of 18-11. It passed another measure on redistricting, SB 882 by the same margin.
U.S. Congressional candidate Alek Skarlatos has taken note of Oregon Speaker of the House Tina Kotek's removal two Republicans from the House Redistricting Committee, saying that it was done to ensure the process favors the Democratic Party.
“Oregon Democrats promised to work with Republicans on redistricting, but now they are breaking their word and rigging the electoral system to ensure that these districts will create as many Democrat elected officials as possible, while silencing those who disagree. Redistricting is supposed to balance each district by population, instead Democrats are using it as a tool to game the system, gain more power and advance their liberal agenda. The Democrats went as far as to propose a map that would place four congressional districts in the city of Portland, a district that crosses the Cascade Mountains to include a portion of the city of Portland and the city of Bend, and splits seven counties in 9 different ways. This is textbook gerrymandering being pushed just to aid one political party.â€
Skarlatos is expected to run next year against 12-term incumbent Peter DeFazio in what is currently the 2nd Congressional District.
This is dangerously close to the Monday, September 27 deadline
Representative Paul Evans attempted to gavel the Oregon House of Representatives into session this morning at 9:00am but the other 59 members were excused, so a quorum could not be met and the chamber was adjourned until 9:00am, Saturday, September 25th.
This is dangerously close to the Monday, September 27 deadline by which a redistricting plan must be passed or it moves to the Secretary of State's office under Shemia Fagan.
House Speaker Tina Kotek has released a statement that an individual who was present at the Capitol tested positive for COVID-19.
The statement says, "The individual who tested positive was last in the building Monday, September 20, 2021. Close contacts of this person have already been notified individually. The Speaker’s office is working with the Governor’s Office and the Oregon Health Authority to make sure testing is available to the individuals who were close contacts.
The House recognizes that this special session is being conducted during a global pandemic. Building procedures have been modified in adherence to OSHA rules and OHA guidance. It is the Speaker’s goal, as always, to preserve health and safety while continuing to fulfill the Legislature’s constitutional duty of redistricting.
The priority for the session continues to be keeping people safe and doing the people’s work.
Governor Kate Brown has announced that she will appoint Michele Rini to the Washington County Circuit Court to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Jim Fun. Rini’s appointment is effective October 1, 2021.
“Michele Rini has deep roots in Washington County, and has long served her community as a juvenile hearings referee on this court,†Governor Brown said. “Her experience, compassion, and work ethic will enable her to hit the ground running.â€
Rini grew up in Washington County and attended Beaverton High School. She went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Portland State University and a law degree from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College. From there, Rini entered private practice, focusing on juvenile, criminal, and family law cases. She is a registered Democrat.
In 2005, Rini began serving as a part-time Pro Tem judge in Washington County, and in 2006, she was hired by the Washington County Court as a full time Juvenile Hearings Referee, where she has served ever since. In that role, she has presided over a juvenile docket, including juvenile dependency and delinquency hearings, termination of parental rights cases, and emancipation. She has also presided over other matters, including support enforcement cases, small claims motions, and landlord tenant first appearances.
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Rini has served for ten years as a participant in Washington County’s model court team, served on the Oregon Judicial Department’s implementation workgroup for SB 1008, a juvenile justice reform bill which provided for criminal sentence reduction. Rini is a past president of the Washington County Bar Association and a former member of the juvenile law section committee of the Oregon State Bar.
Speaker Kotek plus a COVID exposure means Secretary Fagan could draw the lines
Editor's note: A previous article indicated that it was probable that redistricting would not be completed by the Legislature. This is not conclusive and this article has been edited to reflect that. We apologize for the error
Sources inside the Oregon Capitol have confirmed that the House Republican caucus are considering not supplying the necessary members for a quorum to complete the special session and enact a redistricting plan. The Legislature must complete the plan by Monday or it falls to Secretary of State Shemia Fagan (D-Portland) to create maps for the Congressional, State Senate and State House districts.
The upset is over a broken deal that was made in the 2021 regular session between the Republican caucus and House Speaker Tina Kotek (D-Portland). The agreement was that the Republicans would get an even number of seats and chairs as their Democratic colleagues on the House Special Committee On Congressional Redistricting in exchange for not forcing the constitutional requirement that each bill be read in its entirety before passage and that Republicans would not walk out on the session.
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Surprisingly, Speaker Kotek restacked the House Redistricting Committee so that it has one Republican and two Democrats, depriving Republicans of their veto leverage on the committee.
Additionally, House Republican insiders have revealed that there has been a COVID-19 exposure to many of the House Republican Members, who, by Legislature COVID-19 personnel rules, are required to quarantine -- regardless of vaccine status or natural immunity from having survived the disease. The quarantine requirement would make it impossible for members to attend the session prior to the Monday deadline.
Speaker Kotek's actions are seen as very risky by most political observers, as she has announced that she will run for Governor in 2022 and has a larger -- and more politically diverse -- constituency than her North Portland District who may take a dim view of this breach of integrity.
5th consecutive session with restricted public access
Oregon Senate Democrats rammed through partisan gerrymandered redistricting plans that will rig elections for the next decade. The Congressional Plan, by far the most egregious, creates 5 solidly Democratic districts. This would give Democrats control of 86% of Oregon’s congressional delegation, despite Oregonians never giving Democrats 86% of the vote in contested elections.
“I believe the plan that was passed violated the law by not following the criteria,†said Senator Tim Knopp (R-Bend), vice-chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee. “They must do logical and legal gymnastics to justify pairing the rural and urban communities that they lumped together. No matter how Democrats try to spin it, the only reason to spread downtown Portland into three districts is to silence the voices of rural communities.â€
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Senate Republicans spoke about the problems with the Democrats’ proposed redistricting plan on the Senate floor, referencing hours of public testimony in opposition to gerrymandering.
“As written, this plan will rig the next 10 years of election to favor Democrats,†Senator Republican Leader Fred Girod (R-Lyons) said. “Fifty percent of Oregon’s congressional representatives will serve the City of Portland, but only 15% of Oregon’s population live in Portland. The urban-rural divide will continue to grow wider under this plan. Today the Democratic politicians decided it was more important that they pick their voters than voters pick their representatives. This partisan process proves that the legislature cannot be trusted to draw these lines in the future. The majority party will always look out for themselves. Oregonians deserve better than that.â€
The redistricting plans will now be considered by the House.
Additionally, House Republican insiders have revealed that there has been a COVID-19 exposure to many of the House Republican Members, who, by Legislature COVID-19 personnel rules, are required to quarantine -- regardless of vaccine status or natural immunity from having survived the disease. The quarantine requirement would make it impossible for members to attend the session prior to the Monday deadline.
