Budget, PERS and transportation demand plan with broad buy-in
The Oregon Legislature is facing a general fund shortfall of $1.4 billion, a Public Employees Retirement System shortfall of $21 billion and a transportation system deficit, harder to estimate with any ...
There’s no excuse for inmate’s painful death
Let’s make one thing clear from the outset. Joshua Mulbreght and Zachary Chronister are each serving more than six years, Mulbreght for manslaughter and Chronister for assault, for the Yamhill County ...
Left does itself no favors by allowing fringe to run amok
Increasingly in recent years, Republican Party leaders have shirked their moral responsibility to condemn dark, ugly fringe elements of their base — fascists, racists, Nazis, militiamen, Klansmen, ...
For now, the gross receipts tax appears to be only plan in play
The governor and Legislature are battling on two fronts to balance the state budget for the next biennium. On the first, the government has no choice but to curb spending. The Oregon Constitution requires ...
Linfield fumbled opportunity to embrace free exchange of ideas
Linfield College’s administration, faculty and student body didn’t come off very well this week in their hyperbolic response to a guest speaker lined up by the nascent Young Americans for Liberty ...
When addicts and families talk all the rest of us need to listen
Following a report on a recent town hall meeting with state legislators, the News-Register received a stern rebuke for not including comments about the need for funding drug addiction services. As ...
Roberts, Benner deserve a return to Mac school board
Zach Dotson, candidate for the McMinnville School Board’s Position 1, is thoughtful, articulate, community-minded and could provide a complementary voice to the board. So is retiree Vernon V.J. Adams, ...
Small-town newpaper’s Pulitzer celebrated by peers everywhere
As if 21st century journalism weren’t challenging enough already, community newspapers frequently have to battle being lumped in with national web, broadcast and print outlets. As President Trump ...
Say no to litigation that tramples the little guy
For almost 50 years, records compiled or acquired by a public agency in this state — any type of agency at any level, from a lowly cemetery district to the Oregon Supreme Court — have been ...
Agreement to keep Warrior mascot a better, but still imperfect, solution
The fate of Native American mascots in Oregon is being settled one-by-one. Amity High School is one of 15 facing a July 1 deadline to either change mascots, face penalties, or, as Amity has chosen, enter ...
Mac schools take the lead in testing for radon hazard
The 2015 Legislature enacted a law requiring school districts to submit radon testing plans by the fall of 2016 and carry them out by the end of 2020. But the McMinnville School District proceeded to ...
Chain retailers now feeling heat they once visited on Main
In its current state, the New Economy might as well be known as the Amazon Economy. According to Business Insider, the online retailing behemoth now has a larger market share than Walmart, Target, ...
Trail won’t go anywhere without communication
“There seems to be considerable discord between the town, or rather some factions of the town, and the surrounding country. This should be adjusted. Get together. Harmony is what we want, and harmony ...
Boquist unafraid to take stand in memory of son lost to suicide
Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, Democrat from Portland, is probably as closely associated with efforts to curb gun violence as any Oregon legislator. So her sponsorship of this year’s gun control ...
Thoughtful scheduling, legislating both needed
Oregon labor’s highest priority for the 2017 Legislature, the predictive scheduling mandate embodied in Senate Bill 828, contains the seed of a good idea. Unfortunately, it buries that seed in a ...
