Senator Cedric Hayden (R-Fall Creek) files religious discrimination complaints on sixth day of Oregon Senate walkout. Senator Hayden, aka Pastor Hayden is an occasional preacher and member of the Seventh Day Adventist, which meets for worship on Saturdays.

Senate President Rob Wagner (D-Lake Oswego) denied Hayden’s request to be absent for church on Saturday where he was scheduled to preach, as well as requests to be off the next seven Saturdays of the legislative session for “duties scheduled as elder of my church.”

“Other Senate absences have been excused, absences unrelated to religious reasons,” Hayden wrote in his complaint to the bureau. Hayden also complained he was denied Sunday off to take care of his disabled daughter, a request that was “flatly denied.”

Hayden noted, “Meanwhile, other legislators have been treated like employees and ‘excused’ from floor sessions by Wagner for apparent medical reasons.”

His complaint to the Bureau of Labor and Industries and to the Legislative Equity Office claims President Rob Wagner violated his religious freedom by denying his requests to be excused to attend a church service on Saturday. Wagner denied the request without any written explanation. Hayden has previously been granted Saturday absences throughout his legislative career.

Hayden wrote, “The receipt did not indicate the rationale for being denied the fundamental right to attend and lead the worship services of my church as Saturday is my known day of faith. Notice was given by my staff twice earlier in April that it is my practice that, absent an emergent need to be away from my church duties on a Saturday, my faith is a sincerely held religious belief, and my attendance of worship and time off for such is a valid reason for an excused absence.”

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The walkout is a protest over the lack of following rules, laws and the constitution. Wagner’s spokesman, Connor Radnovich told Oregon Capital Chronicle that the First Amendment doesn’t hold weight in a walkout. “This isn’t about religion, this is about this being a walkout. If we were able to get the work done on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, we would not have to be here on Saturday.”

Is Senate President Wagner using Measure 113 as an excuse to break the law? Oregon Constitution Article IV, Section 15. Punishment and expulsion of members. Either house may punish its members for disorderly behavior, and may with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member; but not a second time for the same cause. Failure to attend, without permission or excuse, ten or more legislative floor sessions called to transact business during a regular or special legislative session shall be deemed disorderly behavior and shall disqualify the member from holding office as a Senator or Representative for the term following the election after the member’s current term is completed.

The requirement of “permission or excuse” is one or the other. One is aimed at permission from legislative authority. But the other seems self regulation by the person. An “excuse” option is the legislator’s reason or justification for the absence that doesn’t need preauthorization, just grounds for the absences. Certainly a constitutional religious right would be justification needing no authorization. Perhaps challenging illegal procedures is also justification for absences needing no authorization.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-05-13 00:00:58

Last Update: 2023-05-13 00:18:40

In efforts to protect Bighorn Sheep and be compliant with the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area Comprehensive Management Plan, the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest executed Forest Order No. 06-16-04-23-01. The order places restrictions on domestic sheep and goats within the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.

The order prohibits, “possessing, storing, or transporting any domestic sheep or goat,” within all Forest Service Lands within the Congressionally designated boundaries of the Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.

Shaun McKinney, Forest Supervisor for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, explains the intention of the order in the Assessment of Need. “The intent of this order is to protect the health and viability of bighorn sheep, a Region 6 sensitive species, within their core habitat. Further, this order augments the science and conservation work from our partners and ensures significant investments to Bighorn Sheep are safeguarded.”

Jamie Ratliff, Wildlife Program Manager on the Wallowa-Whitman, explains that disease and parasite transmission from contact with domestic sheep and goats is a significant risk for bighorn sheep.

“The effects of domestic sheep and goat exposure on bighorn populations can take several forms including high mortality rates in lambs and chronic or sporadic adult mortality,” said Ratliff.

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Ratliff continues to explain that multiple bighorn sheep populations in the Hells Canyon (ID, OR, and WA) area have already experienced high rates of mortality due to pneumonia outbreaks caused by bacteria (Mycoplasma Ovipneumonia) which continues to have lingering effects. “Overall, contact between bighorn sheep and domestic sheep will limit bighorn numbers and distribution in areas where respiratory disease occurs,” said Ratliff.

Currently, pathogen transmission to bighorn sheep can only be controlled by maintaining separation between bighorn sheep and domestic sheep and/or goats.

Forest Order No. 06-16-04-23-01 is scheduled to remain in effect until May 1, 2026, unless rescinded sooner. For a full copy of this order, visit the Forest Orders website.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2023-05-12 10:27:11

Last Update: 2023-05-12 11:43:56

In alignment with the federal COVID-19 public health emergency ending May 11, state health officials today announced the lifting of health-protective measures that helped reduce COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths, and expanded access to services during the pandemic.

The changes affect a wide range of programs and services. Some changes are effective May 11, and others will take effect in the coming weeks. Other changes put in place during the COVID-19 emergency will continue after the end of the federal emergency.

“These changes are an acknowledgement of the progress we’ve made over the last three-plus years,” said Dean Sidelinger, health officer and state epidemiologist at OHA. “However, we know COVID-19 will remain a part of our lives for years to come, so we need to continue taking steps that prevent its spread, such as staying up to date with vaccinations. My thoughts go out to those sick with COVID-19, mourning a loved one, or still suffering with symptoms following their acute infection.”

Highlights of the changes resulting from the ending of the federal public health emergency are as follows:

Vaccination requirements
Effective Thursday, May 11, workers in health care settings will no longer be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 under state rules, OHA announced today. A similar vaccination requirement for teachers and school staff in private and public education settings will lift June 17, the end of the last week of school, to support consistency in student instruction through this school year.

Exposure, isolation guidance
A five-day period of isolation for those infected with COVID-19 also will no longer be recommended for the general population, including people in K-12 education settings. Oregon public health officials believe widespread population immunity due to vaccination and repeated infections means many COVID-19 infections are now likely asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, and the five-day isolation period is doing little to reduce transmission.

Instead, officials say, the recommendation for the general population will be to stay home until fever free for 24 hours and symptoms are improving; avoid contact with individuals at increased risk for severe disease, including older adults and those with underlying medical conditions; and consider masking for 10 days.

School testing
Diagnostic testing resources for students and staff with symptoms or exposure to COVID-19 in schools will remain available through July 31, 2024. iHealth self-tests will remain available for K-12 schools to request and distribute to their school communities until current stock is depleted. Weekly opt-in “screening” testing for K-12 students and staff without COVID-19 symptoms will end July 31 as funding for the effort wraps up.

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The endings of the vaccination, isolation and some testing measures are among a spate of impending changes over the coming weeks as Oregon, and the nation, continue the long, careful transition out of the pandemic. A number of “flexibilities” put in place during the pandemic will remain in effect.

The following are among the COVID-era activities and requirements that will continue after May 11:

• An extension of a 90-day “reasonable opportunity period” for non-citizens to verify citizenship or immigration status to 180 days so they can enroll in Oregon Health Plan.
• A requirement that OHP providers, including coordinated care organizations, continue to cover COVID-19 vaccinations and treatment without cost sharing, and that commercial health insurers cover vaccinations without cost sharing. Oregon vaccinations are covered at all providers.
• A requirement that Oregon health care providers be reimbursed for language interpreter services (spoken or signed) provided during an office visit.
• A requirement that OHP providers offer access to telehealth services.
• In addition, state officials are currently implementing previously announced changes in access to Medicaid coverage and other human services programs administered by the state and federal governments.

The following are among many other changes taking effect May 11:

COVID-19 reporting

• A change in how OHA monitors COVID-19. Epidemiologists will transition to a more sustainable and effective model that focuses on measures that indicate transmission, and continue monitoring for severe outcomes, including hospitalizations and death. Case data, which is based on individual laboratory test reporting and is heavily biased, will be retired. The changes align with CDC recommendations and mirror how influenza is monitored.
• A change in how OHA reports COVID-19 data. Epidemiologists will streamline data reporting to a smaller number of dashboards updated weekly. Data visualizations will include graphs showing statewide percent positivity, wastewater levels and trends, distribution of variants, hospitalization rates and capacity, death counts, emergency department visit and vaccination trends. Dashboards with case counts and county data will be archived.

Health coverage, supports

• The end of extended health coverage, services and supports for people with disabilities and older adults, and extra food benefits that were provided during federal emergency. Continuous coverage for Medicaid also is ending. Oregon began a “redetermination” process April 1 to help people renew their OHP membership and other Medicaid benefits, and stay on the plan, and is encouraging members to keep mailing addresses, phone numbers and email addresses current to ensure they receive information about their benefits in the coming months.

--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2023-05-11 06:56:23

Last Update: 2023-05-17 22:21:48

Editor’s note: This is the tenth and final in a multi-part series on the impact of your vote for School Board Candidates, an OAA Voter Education Project

One of the top challenges for Oregon school boards is to improve graduation rates and reduce drop-outs. Oregon is ranked 44 for public school quality and safety.

School boards are making important decisions about strategies to mitigate the learning decline during the last two years. The magnitude of the impact of COVID-19 lockdown resulted in test-score drops and increase absentees. Studies have been done on strategies to help students catch up.

The Brookings Institute Research Study says these students are not a “lost generation,” and student’s have a capacity for resiliency. What they discovered, which shouldn’t be a surprise, is the type of intervention is specific to grade and subject. For instance, tutoring was found to have larger effects in elementary math than in reading. Other studies showed summer learning programs in math were effective, reductions in class size had no effect, and extending the school day was beneficial but only to maximize teaching.

The need to restore the last two years is directly related to graduation rates. The Oregon Statewide Report Card 2021-22 clearly shows the last two years had a much greater impact on high school students than lower levels. That is translating into lower graduation rates. Despite what legislators would have you believe, the pandemic devastated all races and ethnicities alike. Matter of fact, English Learners maintained the highest levels throughout the pandemic. And white students ranked seventh out of 12 categories – not a “privileged” group as taught.

Looking for a way to improve on Oregon's graduation rate and make college affordable, former Senator Mark Hass pushed for the creation of Oregon Promise, which makes Oregon’s 17 community colleges tuition-free to high school graduates. Eight years later, the program may be dismantled.

The State’s Higher Education Coordinating Committee says Oregon Promise "has not led to lasting increases in enrollment, momentum, completion, or equity.” Only an additional one percent of students have found it made college more affordable. Meanwhile, taxpayers are picking up the tab.

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The Joint Task Force on Student Success for Underrepresented Students in Higher Education requested SB 262 suggesting limiting eligibility for Oregon Promise program to students and families with adjusted gross income at or below $100,000, and permit the Higher Education Coordinating Commission to use Oregon Promise funding to award grants for degree completion. Their report suggests that graduation rates are affected by the increasing costs at public universities and community colleges. It makes combined state and federal grant aid for a student at the lowest income level insufficient to meet the full cost of attendance at many public institutions of higher education in Oregon. Therefore, the Oregon Promise is needed to motivate underrepresented students. They also suggested pre-college mentorship to help more underrepresented students attend college. The bill currently sits in the Ways and Means Committee.

A June 2022 poll commissioned by the Oregon Moms Union found that 55% of Oregonians think our state’s education system is on the wrong track. They said they knew something was seriously wrong with the way politicians were imposing their own will on students.

More than anything else, this series has pointed out how comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) has been integrated into the curriculum and affecting all aspects of education. It is the most contentious issue for parents. Stop World Control has obtained documents from the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) instructing teachers in kindergartens and elementary schools to teach toddlers to masturbate. UN documents instructs all education authorities and policy makers to make sure that little children will have sexual relationships, and international judicial organization’s statement suggests that sex between little children and adults should be legalized, calling for the acceptance of pedophilia as a normal sexual orientation. Parents want answers from the State Board of Education.

School boards are not just faced with restoring students and graduation rates, but the Statewide Report Card 2021-22 shows the Economically Disadvantaged student group is larger in 2021-22 than in prior years and anticipated to increase. Despite the state's push towards equity, CSE, CRT, social-emotional learning, and gender identity, school boards are challenged with deciphering state guidelines so they can be administered in an equal manner to advance all students.

Oregon Abigail Adams Voter Education Project lists the candidates and those responding to the survey on their website.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-05-11 02:36:42

Last Update: 2023-05-11 01:33:39

Governor Tina Kotek has issued the following statement regarding the timeline to appoint a new Secretary of State:

“Local elections are underway across the state, culminating in election day next week on May 16, and I do not want to distract from the important work of the staff in the Secretary of State’s office and the elections team who are working to ensure the election goes smoothly and without disruption. Therefore, I will announce updates on my plans to appoint a new Secretary of State after the election.”

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The office of Secretary of State has been particularly volatile in the past several years, with three

• Jeanne Atkins replaced Secretary of State Kate Brown in 2015 when she took office as governor, following the resignation of then Governor John Kitzhaber.
• Bev Clarno was appointed Secretary of State following the death of then Secretary of State Dennis Richardson.
• Governor Kotek will now appoint a replacement for outgoing Secretary of State Shemia Fagan

Article V, Section 16 of the Oregon Constitution reads:

Governor to Fill Vacancies by Appointment. When during a recess of the legislative assembly a vacancy occurs in any office, the appointment to which is vested in the legislative assembly, or when at any time a vacancy occurs in any other state office, or in the office of judge of any court, the governor shall fill such vacancy by appointment.

--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2023-05-10 19:34:52

Last Update: 2023-05-17 22:23:16

There is much to look forward to at the Oregon coast with the onset of warmer and sunnier weather but -- according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife -- bears getting into your garbage is not one of them. With spring comes the emergence of black bears from their dens in search of food.

Now is the prime time to look around your property and make sure food sources attractive to bears are secure and inaccessible. If you live along the Oregon coast or own or manage coastal rental property, consider using bear-resistant trash cans.

A bear's strongest sense is smell and everything from trash cans to grill drippings can bring them to your property. Finding your trash spread out across the yard or driveway can certainly ruin your day, but the consequences could be much more severe. If bears become habituated to humans (too comfortable around people) they could pose a serious threat to human safety.

A bear that loses its wariness of people and becomes conditioned to human-provided sources of food may be humanely killed. This is often the only option to protect humans and ultimately to protect the larger bear population from learning the same behavior.

Bears, like all wildlife, have a specialized diet that coincides with seasonal changes. Access to human-provided food can negatively impact their health, lead to conflict with humans and in many cases have fatal consequences.

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Bears have a great memory when it comes to food. Not only will they remember where they have found food before, including trash, but female bears will also pass this knowledge down to their young. Intentionally or unintentionally feeding bears can negatively affect multiple generations of bears.

The good news is that most conflict between humans and bears is preventable. Bears don't want to be around humans, but the prospect of an easy meal is often too good to resist. Removing things that attract them to the area is the most important thing you can do to protect people and ensure bears stay wild.

Follow these BearWise tips:

• Never feed or approach bears. Feeding bears, intentionally or unintentionally, will cause them to associate humans with food. It is also against the law in Oregon (ORS 496.730).
• Secure food, garbage and recycling. Please ensure that your trash and dumpsters are secure from bears by using commercially available garbage cans, metal bars over dumpsters, fully enclosed trash storage, or by storing garbage inside. Take trash out immediately before pick-up, not the night before. Wash garbage cans with bleach to reduce their smell. Food waste is one of the strongest attractants for black bears and allowing bears access could qualify as illegal feeding if appropriate steps are not taken to prevent the issue.
• Remove bird feeders when bears are active. Birds have plenty of naturally available food sources and bears will commonly feed from and destroy birdfeeders. Never leave pet food outdoors. It attracts bears and other wildlife, putting your pets and wildlife at risk.
• Clean and store grills after each use.
• Alert neighbors and ODFW to unusual bear activity (continued sightings during daylight hours, lack of wariness around humans or pets, etc.).
• Share these tips with your neighbors, friends and family. A community effort is vital to preventing problems with bears. One person who feeds or attracts bears, intentionally or not, can pose a risk to everyone in the neighborhood.

Living responsibly with black bears is possible and it's up to everyone to do their part to keep humans safe and bears wild. Contact your local ODFW office to report unusual bear activity or for information and resources to help prevent conflict with black bears.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2023-05-10 18:35:08

Last Update: 2023-05-10 19:07:20

Some observers might be wondering lately why there is another walkout protest happening at the Oregon legislature. The Republican Senators have staged a walkout protest lasting several days in response to some radical legislation being pushed through by the Majority Democrats. The walkout seems to be a technique used to leverage perhaps at least some bargaining power, with hopes to get the majority party to alter the bill to be more acceptable, and less radical.

HB 2002 proposes a number of radical changes to Oregon law, even stripping parental rights. It would encode into Oregon law that a child of any age, can receive an abortion, without parental knowledge.

It prohibits health insurance plans from denying or even limiting coverage irreversible sex-changing procedures and treatments. Under this law, parents would not have the right to know whether their child is receiving these treatments.

Under this radical law, insurers must cover cosmetic medical procedures for those identifying as a different gender, such as tracheal shaving, hair electrolysis and facial feminization surgery.

Another Oregon law that HB 2002 alters is the decriminalization of the concealing the birth of an infant.

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Within the bill, in section 59(5) the bill states that it would repeal ORS 167.820, and ORS 161.005.

These Oregon laws are enumerated within the Oregon Revised Statutes as Offenses Against General Welfare and Animals, concealing the birth of an infant.

According to ORS 167.820, a person commits the crime of concealing the birth of an infant if the person conceals the corpse of a newborn child with intent to conceal the fact of its birth or to prevent a determination of whether it was born dead or alive.

Concealing the birth of an infant in Oregon is currently only a Class A misdemeanor, it seems that the complete removal of the law would set a dangerous precedent for society, a suggestion that an infant's life is not worth investigating.

For many people, this raises serious concerns about the society we are building, and our culture.

Representative Andrea Valderrama (D-Portland), Representative Travis Nelson (D-Portland), Senator Kate Lieber (D-Beaverton & Southwest Portland) and Senator Elizabeth Steiner (D-NW Portland/Beaverton) are the Chief Sponsors of HB 2002.

At the time of this publication, the Republican Senators are continuing their walkout in protest of the radical legislation.


--Ben Fisher

Post Date: 2023-05-10 13:25:58

Last Update: 2023-05-30 13:43:17

Attorneys United for a Secure America (AUSA), a project of the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the City of Cottage Grove, Oregon, and its police department, both of which are being sued by activist plaintiffs to enforce an Oregon law called the “Sanctuary Promise Act,” which bans local law enforcement from cooperating with federal government in immigration law enforcement.

In filing the brief, AUSA represents Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC). AUSA’s brief points out that Oregon’s anti-cooperation law is preempted by a federal law granting local officials the right to cooperate in federal immigration law enforcement; that the alleged harm of eroding the illegal alien community’s trust of the police is too speculative to support the requests preliminary injunction; and that Oregon’s anti-cooperation law, by working to keep criminal aliens in the country, has devastating effects on these criminal aliens’ subsequent victims.

“It is hard to fathom why any state would want to endanger its citizens and legal permanent residents by protecting people who entered the United States illegally and then commit additional crimes,” said Don Rosenberg, president of AVIAC. “Look at the criminal record of any illegal alien who has killed someone, and you will always see they had prior arrests and convictions for other crimes. The Sanctuary Promise Act is nothing more than a promise made by Oregonian authorities that law-abiding Oregonians will become victims of criminal illegal aliens.”

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“It is axiomatic that the protection of public safety is a core governmental function,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “With this anti-cooperation law, Oregon nevertheless hopes to prevent as many criminal alien deportations as possible. We hope the court sees this law as the disaster that it is, and does not construe it to block the public-spirited official of Cottage Grove from exercising their federal right to cooperate with immigration officials to protect their community.”

The case is Rural Organizing Project v. The City of Cottage Grove__, No. 23CV07691 (Ore. Lane Circuit Court).


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-05-09 00:47:48

Last Update: 2023-05-09 01:37:17

Deputy Secretary of State Cheryl Myers will assume the title of Acting Secretary of State today, May 8, at 1:00 PM when Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s resignation officially occurs. Governor Tina Kotek will appoint a new Secretary of State to complete the remainder of Secretary Fagan’s term.

According to a statement released by the office, the Secretary of State’s office will not experience any interruption in its operations during the transition.

“Secretary of State Shemia Fagan’s actions put this agency in a difficult position," said Acting Secretary of State Cheryl Myers. "I believe she made the right decision by resigning. The professional staff at the Secretary of State’s office will continue serving Oregonians through the Elections Division, Audits Division, State Archives and Corporation Division. We do not expect any interruptions in service during the transition.

“This is a resilient agency, with strong division leadership and internal systems that can withstand change. We are ready to continue the important work of the Secretary of State’s office during this transition.

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“While I already possess the same authorities as the Secretary from when originally sworn in as Deputy SoS, I am not an elected official. Since January 2021, my role has been to manage the directors of the Elections, Audits, Archives, Corporation and internal divisions, with a focus on helping them serve Oregonians. That’s what I’ll continue to do through this transition.

Elections Director Molly Woon said, “The Elections Division is assisting and supporting Oregon’s 36 county clerks and election administrators during this regularly scheduled Special District Election. The Secretary’s resignation has no bearing on our team’s ability to provide centralized services and support county operations. We will continue to provide exceptional service and encourage all voters to make their voices heard in the May 16th elections.”

The Secretary of State is not the filing officer for any May 2023 contests and does not certify this election as in even numbered years.

“Secretary Fagan’s actions have cast a shadow over the good work of the Oregon Audits Division," said Audits Director Kip Memmott. "I join Acting Secretary Myers in agreeing with the Secretary’s decision to resign. It’s the best way for the agency to move forward.

“Soon, an independent, third-party review of our audit work, requested by the Governor’s Office, will show we operated in full compliance with Government Auditing Standards and demonstrated our commitment to accountability, integrity and reliability. I look forward to that validation as we begin to restore the trust that is necessary to the work we do as auditors.

"I want to personally say I stand behind my staff and the work completed in our audit of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. From the origin of the idea to audit OLCC up until the report release last week, the Oregon Audits Division followed government auditing standards and procedures every step of the way, as we always do.”


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2023-05-08 12:49:42

Last Update: 2023-05-08 16:12:17

Editor’s note: This is the nineth of a multi-part series on the impact of your vote for School Board Candidates, an OAA Voter Education Project

The Oregon Education Association (OEA) is a union that represents about 41,000 educators working in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 public schools and community colleges. OEA’s membership includes licensed teachers and specialists, classified/education support professionals, community college faculty, retired educators, and student members. OEA members also belong to the 3.2 million members of the National Education Association (NEA).

OEA members are affiliated with Local Associations, which bargain their work contracts with support from OEA staff. Local Associations also collaborate with local school districts, community colleges, school boards, and community leaders to provide the basic right to a good public education to every student.

The mission of OEA is to unite the public education profession and advocate for those professionals to ensure quality public education for students in Oregon. But this is where OEA gets off track. They say, “We’re on a journey to address equity and racial justice in our union and our schools. This work begins by looking deeply at our own experiences and preconceived notions around race and equity—how white supremacy and privilege shape our perspectives, attitudes and actions.”

How OEA is addressing equity and racial justice is creating issues for school boards. They recent announced financial sponsorship of the “Tides of Pride Grooming Event” complete with drag queen history, and building a gender and sexuality association to talk “really explicitly and seriously about sexuality and gender” to children. This event, held in North Bend on May 5, helps the Gender & Sexuality Association (GSA) actively organize clubs throughout the state with a tool kit for growing clubs.

In the GSA tool kit is a list of groups with systemic power of privilege that they sterol-type. The tool kit is prejudice in the same way they present their information identifying the privileged. Privileged are labeled as straight people, cisgender people, men, white people, and nationalist-citizens that are the cause of oppression.

Is this how OEA supports a “safe, welcoming, and inclusive school environments”? OEA says their members work to engage in professional learning, policy advocacy, and organizing that have a positive impact on schools, themselves and their colleagues, and most importantly, students. But membership funds are being spent to belittle and attack the normal adjusted students.

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OEA members are also members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Behind the information AFT distributes to teachers is NewsGuard, a private, self-declared fact checker that receives money from the government and partners with large institutions like AFT, Microsoft, big pharma and the World Economic Forum. They put pressure on media companies to not report on certain things. Marissa Streit, PragerU, reported that their documentaries make for students on the founding of America and pro-American content, NewsGuard labeled as a misinformation and rated them as a misinformation company.

NewsGuard is rating conservative news outlets like The Federalist, Epoch, Fox, Daily Wire and PragerU with very low scores less than 50% while New York Times and CNN received 100%. Any company receiving less than 60 is labeled with a warning against doing business with them to curb the news away from their direction.

NewsGuard offers their service free to libraries and schools. Schools use the ratings that NewsGuard gives as due diligence, best practices and truth in science. AFT is censoring out information for teachers that NewsGuard gives a low rating to creating a shield censoring out topics they don’t want brought out in schools. Streit says, “this isn’t just a Praeger U fight it is all of America, they are going to come after every podcast they can’t control…America needs to be awake that they are operating in our schools and media…and we are being robbed of our freedom of speech.”

Don’t forget, it was mostly at the say of OEA why Oregon schools were the last to open after the COVID threat was over. Even after teachers were vaccinated, unions played politics with getting students back to school. Teachers need to evaluate the worth of being an OEA member. Now school boards are faced with how to accelerate learning from credible sources without the interference from OEA.

Oregon Abigail Adams Voter Education Project lists the candidates and those responding to the survey on their website.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-05-07 11:32:27

Last Update: 2023-05-02 21:20:26

The Sunset Empire Transportation District in Clatsop County, Oregon has now suspended the bus services and other operations after the agency’s troubling financial condition came to light.

The transit district’s board voted unanimously on April 27th to discontinue operations indefinitely and furlough employees.

"The message is we will not be offering any public transportation services effective Saturday due to the financial situation that we’re in. We will get it restarted as soon as we have a financial package in place. And we’ll get the process to restart up and running as soon as possible,” said Jeff Hazen, the transit district’s executive director.

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The publicly funded transit district’s bus routes and para transit services are meant to connect riders across Clatsop County. The Lower Columbia Connector also takes riders between Astoria and Portland. The agency has an annual budget of $6.6 million and 46 employees.

The Sunset Empire Transportation District (SETD) was formed by the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners on March 24, 1993.


--Bruce Armstrong

Post Date: 2023-05-07 11:23:45

Last Update: 2023-05-07 18:56:50

Editor’s note: This is the eighth in a multi-part series on How Your School Board Vote Affects Oregon Schools an OAA Voter Education Project

When the New York Times published the 1619 Project, it fueled heated debates on the role of critical race theory (CRT) in classrooms. The study of how racism shapes laws, policies, society and American history only accelerated the conversation of slavery and racial injustice.

The media narrative has defined racism by their victimized class. So much so that if you are of a victimized class - minority, then you can’t be a racist or commit a hate crime, even if you are guilty of doing so. The by-line is that society has driven them to crime by not giving them equal status regardless of having equal opportunity. This is being played out in the Nashville School shooting. The shooter is being portrayed as the victim because of her victimized class.

School boards, superintendents and teachers, even experts, all have their own theory and disagreements on how CRT is defined. The core idea is that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies. The major argument is its focus on group identity over universal, shared traits that divides people into "oppressed" and "oppressor" groups and urges intolerance. What started as a culturally relevant teaching has morphed into a theory that advocates discrimination against the privileged, mainly white people, in order to achieve equity. This is evident in the Oregon legislature and organizations allowed into schools that refer to "white supremacy."

In 2021, Senator Sara Gelser Blouin (D-Corvallis, Albany) attempted to put the 1619 Project and CRT as a required part of instruction when she sponsored SB 683. That bill may not have passed, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been implemented. CRT is at the core of social and economic justice that takes into consideration race as a nexus of equality.

As the Civil Rights Movement used the First Amendment that spurred protest marches and media reporting on racial discrimination, so is CRT using the First Amendment with the same racial concerns with a broader economic context. It elevates the equality principles of the Fourteenth Amendment above the liberty principles of the First Amendment. CRT was pushed by lawyers and activists that saw the civil rights era had diminished and they sought an alternative legal framework for combating racial inequality. CRT was one of the approaches tried along with critical legal studies, critical theory, feminist theory, postmodernism, and cultural studies.

Today CRT has expanded into the fields of education, political science, American studies, and ethnic studies. It also has produced several offshoots, including critical white studies, Latino critical race studies, Asian American critical race studies, American Indian critical race studies, and critical queer studies.

The rub that CRT scholars proport is instead of helping to achieve healthy and robust debate, the First Amendment is used to preserve the inequities of the status quo. They claim “there can be no such thing as an objective or content neutral interpretation in law in general or of the First Amendment in particular… there is no 'equality' in 'freedom' of speech.”

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

CRT used the First Amendment to wage their battlefield for hate speech regulations. There is no legal definition for hate speech, but Oregon has passed extensive laws trying to define it with penalties even when a Supreme Court’s ruling, R.A.V. v. St. Paul (1992), seemingly closed the door on “hate speech” regulation. "The First Amendment does not permit a state to use content discrimination to achieve a compelling interest if it is not necessary to achieve that interest."

However, CRT, as presented in SB 683, is the history of slavery and the disproportionate harm towards Blacks and other inequities in the judicial system compared to whites. It has been adopted into curriculums by piecemeal into social studies standards. That was enabled in 2021 by passing SB 702, replacing social studies disciplines and best practices for curriculum with consultation of any group that supports a theory being pushed making it easier to incorporate CRT, SEL and any other theory.

In 2022 Oregon Department of Education (ODE) adopted standards to integrate ethnic studies in social studies for K-12 adding new "perspectives and histories" to allow students to "feel welcome and recognized in the classroom and a part of our collective narrative, our shared history," an ODE spokesman told Fox News Digital. The new standards address white supremacy by having kindergartners "engage in respectful dialogue with classmates to define diversity by comparing and contrasting visible and invisible similarities and differences."

CRT flows over into other areas. It was the impetus to defunding school resource officers and police. After a number of school shootings, parents are again starting to ask for resource officers to be returned to the schools. However, the majority party in the legislature has blocked attempts to fund resource officers, so it is left to school boards on how to provide a safe environment. School boards are also faced with where to draw the line between First Amendment rights and equality. Critical race studies has become a battlefield for rights, and school boards have become the mediator to make sure one person's rights doesn't turn into "hate speech" for another.

Oregon Abigail Adams Voter Education Project lists the candidates and those responding to the survey on their website.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-05-05 11:31:24

Last Update: 2023-05-03 00:52:23