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No more will Lawanda and James Manning carry the American and Oregon flags to start each day’s session of the Oregon Senate.
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When Oregon made national news last week, “it wasn’t because of riots in Portland, and it wasn’t because of other issues from our most populated city,” said Rep. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford.
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With gusto, an employee of a Salem tire store tipped down the signs stating that face coverings were required. Up went new notices with a hot-off-the press exemption: Customers who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can go maskless.
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Who writes the laws in Oregon? The Legislature, the governor or state agencies?
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Well, that was anticlimactic. And strange, maybe even bizarre.
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Twenty years ago, Democrats in the Oregon Legislature were publicly incensed about the redistricting plan created by then-Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. The plan arbitrarily benefitted Republican candidates. Or so the Democrats said.
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Oh, what to do if you’re ready to exit the Oregon Legislature? How about one of the cushiest jobs in state government.
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A sexual harassment complaint between two legislators has upended the Oregon House of Representatives.
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Oregon high schoolers may soon have to learn about their government. So today, I offer a primer on what goes on behind the scenes … the stuff that might not show up in textbooks.
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The Oregon Capitol remains closed to the public. But the supermajority Democrats say the 2021 legislative session is the most open, transparent and accessible on record, thanks to the use of technology.
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Oregon’s Employment Department, like Oregon’s economy, has gradually rebounded.
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Mark Simmons, a Republican former speaker of the Oregon House, was set to testify this week at the Idaho Legislature in favor of letting Eastern and Southern Oregon counties become part of Idaho.
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Should Oregon legislators still get paid if they don’t show up for work (i.e., the minority Republicans)?
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The governors of Oregon and Washington both say that science has guided their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a Seattle Times columnist thinks that Oregon “went more with its gut” when Gov. Kate Brown moved K-12 educators to the front of the line for coronavirus vaccines.
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The Oregon Senate began passing legislation this week. But it’s not yet time for Oregonians to worry. Or applaud.
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If this were a normal year, Room 50 in the basement of the Oregon Capitol would have been packed for this week’s gun-control hearing. The overflow crowd also would have filled additional rooms in the Capitol, with people watching the hearing on big screens and hoping to hear their names call…
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With the Oregon Legislature running at half-speed this week due to the ice storm, we’ll start by talking a bit about what is, or isn’t, happening at the State Capitol. Then we’ll catch up on other tidbits of news and reader comments.
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There’s a longstanding joke among Salem residents that state offices shut down the moment a snowflake is spotted.
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During several evenings of testimony and discussion this week, a bipartisan committee voted that state Rep. Diego Hernandez, D-Portland, violated legislative rules against sexual harassment and a hostile work environment.
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2021 is starting badly as far as transparency in state government.
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A third political party has joined the Oregon Legislature. Sen. Brian Boquist of Dallas switched from Republican to being a registered voter with the Independent Party of Oregon.
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Closed to the public, the Oregon State Capitol also will be temporarily off-limits to lawmakers and their staffs, interfering with the start of the 2021 Legislature.
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I need to find new descriptions for life in Salem and at the Oregon Capitol. “Weird” is both redundant and insufficient.
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My wish for Oregon in 2021 boils down to four words: clarity, trust and good health.
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In the season of peace, in the city of peace, this week the Oregon Capitol was awash in both amity and animosity.
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“There are existential questions with which humankind has wrestled for time immemorial. What exists beyond the edges of the universe? What, ultimately, is the meaning of life? Will the Oregon Legislature convene for a third special session to keep working on 2020’s disasters?
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Oregon on Thursday transitions from a COVID-19 freeze to a frosty list of new restrictions that will likely last into the start of 2021.
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Gov. Kate Brown began the seven-month duel with the Legislature over the next state budget on Tuesday, unveiling a $25.6 billion plan to shift priorities to reflect problems since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the state last March.
As Gov. Kate Brown announced her latest COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and social gatherings, one of the state’s top doctors offered this advice: Learn how to cook your grandmother’s stuffing recipe through using Zoom instead of looking over her shoulder.
Although the divisive 2020 election may be over and there are just a few weeks left in a year of unprecedented challenges, don’t think it is going to necessarily be smooth sailing for Oregon in 2021.
Oregon voters have passed a new state motto last week: “Keep Oregon politics weird.”
The envelope opener in the Clackamas County Elections Office broke on Tuesday, delaying processing of ballots.
When the pandemic hit and states started enforcing social distancing and other restrictions, Steve Trout’s phone began ringing off the hook.
Election Day no longer exists, at least not as we knew it.
How many Oregonians are so frustrated with the state’s unemployment system that they have given up seeking benefits?
Jim Weaver and Bob Smith will go down in Oregon history as having served our state in Congress. Neither leaves much of a national legacy, despite the plaudits expressed in their recent obituaries.
Will Oregon legislators start their 2021 session and then disappear for several months?
“2020 has been, I think, a little bit rough on Oregon’s image,” State Economist Mark McMullen said this week.
Oregon legislators will gather by video conference next week to hear the latest word on the state’s worsening budget situation and get updates on wildfires, school reopenings, unemployment compensation and COVID-19.
Over breakfast recently, a longtime Oregon Democrat and political observer mused that Gov. Kate Brown’s muddled response to the pandemic — including the state’s Employment Department fiasco — could finally undo the politician he calls “Teflon Kate.”
Local officials across Oregon got a verbal spanking from the governor last week.
In the dead of the night, in the 11th hour, Oregon State University-Cascades's proposed Student Success Center was a failure in the Legislature — again.
If this week’s legislative session were a murder-mystery game, it might be called “The Case of the Oregon Capitol: Who Killed Statesmanship?”
The second special session of the Oregon Legislature on Monday careened between boredom and anger, spiritual quotes and name calling as it dragged on from early morning into the night.
Oregon lawmakers were poised Monday to achieve their special-session aims by cutting spending and rebalancing the state budget, and passing other bills affecting unemployment claims and further limiting police use of chokeholds.
This has been a week of bad news, worse news and occasional good news in Oregon government. But instead of recounting all those downs, ups and sideways, let’s check in on a continuing issue: unemployment.
Oregon lawmakers approved $94 million more to expand coronavirus testing and contact tracing, but deadlocked on $105 million more for the state to buy personal protective equipment for distribution to counties and tribes.
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