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Today's Political News from Oregon
Watchdog.com
TriMet: Transit patrols work
February
4 − Despite a recent rash of high-profile assaults involving MAX riders,
bus drivers and passengers, crime reported on TriMet’s MAX lines is down
dramatically – even with a growing transit system – according to statistics
provided by the region’s mass transit agency. Back in 2005, 780 crimes were
reported along the MAX system, dropping to a low of 413 crime reports in
2009. And that’s the same year the system grew with the additions of WES
commuter rail and the Green Line, bringing the number of MAX and rail stations
from 64 to 89, said Mary Fetsch, TriMet spokeswoman. Crime reports did increase
to 471 the next year in 2010. But that 14 percent increase is much lower
than the 39 percent increase in the number of MAX and rail stations added
to the system. Residents along the MAX Blue Line, which runs from Hillsboro
through Gresham, have historically blamed local crime on the light-rail
line. They say the trains give criminals a quick means of escape and an
easy way to swoop into other cities, commit crimes and make a clean get-away.
Read
more...
Federal money allocated for eastern Oregon forest projects,
to create more than 200 jobs
February 4 − Malheur Lumber Co. in John Day has come close
to going under. Despite being perched on the edge of the Malheur National
Forest, timber sale reductions have made it hard for the mill to operate
on a steady basis. "We've had some close calls the last few years," timber
manager Mike Billman says. "It's been tough." That's why announcement Thursday
of a $48.4 million allocation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture was
particularly welcome in the eastern Oregon community. "Awesome," as Billman
describes it. The department, which includes the Forest Service, will provide
money to two projects on the Malheur and Fremont-Winema national forests.
The funding will help restore more than 422,000 acres of "dry side" forests
and will retain or create more than 242 over 10 years.
Read more...
In Southeast Portland, a dispute between Warner Pacific
College and its neighbors has faded
February 4 − On a Saturday evening last August, hundreds
of people gathered on the lawn in front of the AF Gray building at Warner
Pacific College in Southeast Portland. Bands played, the popcorn was free
and when it got dark, the family-friendly movie “How to Train Your Dragon”
was shown on a big screen. Warner Pacific had worked with the Mount Tabor
and South Tabor neighborhood associations, Friends of Mt.Tabor Park and
Portland Parks & Recreation to bring the movie to its campus. It was a conciliatory
offer in a neighborhood relationship that has been marked in recent years
by anger, suspicion and accusations of dishonesty. “I think we all saw that
as a real positive gesture,” said John Laursen, a member of the neighborhood
association board. The college has also loaned neighbors the use of its
parking lot and meeting rooms. Kevin Bryant, Warner Pacific’s vice president
for institutional advancement and external relations, attends the Mt. Tabor
Neighborhood Association’s monthly meetings. And the college is helping
Franklin High School raise money to replace its track.
Read
more...
New, larger Safeway store coming to Southwest Barbur
Boulevard in Portland
February 4 − The more things change, the more they stay
the same. In the '50s, the Safeway store at Southwest Barbur Boulevard and
Capitol Hill Road fronted directly onto the sidewalk. It was later demolished
to make way for the current store, which is set back behind a large parking
lot. This summer, the 21,665-square-foot store will be demolished and replaced
by a 62,925-square-foot structure close to the sidewalk. The current store
sits on a relatively small piece of land and to make the expansion possible,
Safeway bought two adjacent residential properties. In late January, the
city council granted Safeway’s request to change the zoning of these lots
from residential to commercial, allowing the construction project to go
ahead.
Read more...
Debris from Japan tsunami headed to West Coast, the
only question is when?
February
3 − If anyone knows tsunami debris, it would be the folks at the Port of
Brookings Harbor. So far, they've cleaned up about four pickup loads of
local rubble generated from the tsunami that destroyed their harbor last
March, said Port Director Ted Fitzgerald. And there's still at least another
truckload worth to be hauled away. Now, they're wondering how much more
to expect from the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that devastated
eastern Japan last year. "We're waiting to learn what we can," Fitzgerald
said. "If there is a forecast I am glad to hear it. I don't know if anyone
is even keeping track of where it is." There is. And they are. But after
that, the details get a little murky. "No one knows when and where and how
much of it will arrive, or whether it will arrive or not," said Tomoko Dodo,
senior consul with the Japanese Consulate in Seattle. "The Japanese government
has set up an interagency task force involving all the relevant ministries,
and it is now conducting research about the amount of debris that washed
out and may be floating in the ocean."
Read more...
No Doritos for the seagulls if new Parks Department
rules approved
February 3 − Oregonians who share
bits of their sandwiches with the gulls along the Oregon coast would be
rule breakers under ideas the state Department of Parks and Recreation is
considering. New rules would prohibit feeding wildlife to protect animals
from food that's bad for them or makes them dependent and from hazards such
as getting hit in parking lots. The Daily Astorian reports the idea is among
several the department has held hearings about. The commission overseeing
the agency is expected to consider the rules in April. Read
more...
Oregon students show startling rate of absenteeism
February
3 − Nearly 1 in 4 Oregon students are chronically absent from school, with
130,000 missing at least 10 percent of school days during 2009-10, jeopardizing
their odds of learning to read or graduating from high school. Those findings,
in a study commissioned by the national school attendance advocacy group
Attendance Works, were released
Thursday to call attention to the problem and motivate schools to do more
to identify and help students who miss a lot of school. It's not just high
schoolers who are truant, the study found. Some of the highest rates of
chronic absenteeism were found among kindergartners and first-graders. Most
of those students, particularly those from low-income families, will suffer
lifelong effects from missing so much school, even if they attend school
regularly in later grades, said Hedy Chang, Attendance Works' director.
The study, performed by the economic research firm
ECONorthwest, suggests that Oregon kindergartners
and first-graders may be significantly more likely to miss a lot of school
than those in other states.
Read more...
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