PERS panel presents solid report, but it's of little value to major problem
The PERS Unfunded Actuarial Liability Task Force presented its final report to the governer this week. The group was tasked with exploring a range of money-generating options to pay down the state’s ...
New opportunities with change in Turkey Rama
The fate of Turkey Rama is unknown, and that’s just fine. After all, the original purpose of McMinnville’s annual community event — to promote the area’s major turkey industry — ...
Women deserve freedom from unwanted workplace advances
What trait does Oregon State Sen. Jeff Kruse, Republican from Roseburg, share with Clarence Thomas, Bob Packwood, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, David Letterman, Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly and Harvey ...
Conduct that raises eyebrows has no place in public office
Last Friday’s News-Register contained stories about two locally elected officials confronted with conflicts of interest. One behaved impeccably, avoiding not only the exercise of undue influence, ...
Mac continues to stay in front of major vacation rental issues
Cities around the country are constantly battling social technologies that affect local governance. Notably, the “sharing economy” has resulted in a large vacation rental industry. Using web-based ...
Don’t let museum fall to pair coveting its carcass
The three key figures in a $25 million lawsuit filed last month in federal court — plaintiff Steve Down and defendants Paul R. Peterson and J.W. Millegan — share certain similarities. They ...
DeVos visit seen as honor for deserving district and school
Neither protests nor counter-protests nor gloom of day nor Oregon drizzle stayed U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos from swift completion of her appointed rounds on a wet McMinnville Wednesday. We ...
Sensible gun control action is long overdue
On Dec. 14, 2012, Adam Lanza used a rapid-fire semi-automatic rifle to kill his mother, then gun down 26 students and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. On June 12, 2016, Omar ...
Economic development at the county could use consistency
Yamhill County has yet to come up with a economic development strategy that’s stuck. But it’s not for lack of effort. Five years ago, the county budget committee urged commissioners to better ...
Task force unlikely to hit on better solution than churches
Merchants don’t feel the McMinnville City Council has done enough to control disruptive downtown behavior, serving to send shoppers packing. In response, the council has asked a task force to spend ...
Parking poses a challenge, but it's not insurmountable
Eventually, McMinnville is going to have to acquire a suitable site for a second downtown parking structure and raise the money to fund construction. Already, the Atticus Hotel and Allegory Brewery are ...
Small steps make some progress in addressing housing issue
The old saying goes, “It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness.” In McMinnville’s case, city officials have broken out the candles, but are still stumbling around in the ...
Linfield facing challenges, but seems poised to prevail
America’s private four-year colleges have been buffeted by gale force winds of change. They face the risk of increasing marginalization, as a dwindling number of college graduates pursue a proliferating ...
Basic planning and preparation make big difference in a crisis
Recognition of September as Emergency Preparedness Month this year is met with myriad scenes of destruction, caused primarily by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Though the storms struck the other side of ...
Congress now last resort for nation’s Dreamers
Former President Barack Obama was the architect of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, designed to grant a safe haven to children who didn’t enter the U.S. of their own volition and ...
