Senate Republicans Lynn Findley of Vale, from left, Dennis Linthicum of Klamath Falls, Dick Anderson of Lincoln City, Tim Knopp of Bend, Kim Thatcher of Keizer and Daniel Bonham of The Dalles spoke Tuesday about their legislative priorities. By JULIA SHUMWAY/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — Oregon Senate Republicans described hopes of a bipartisan legislative session […]
Archives for January 2023
Portland-based vacation rental management company lays off 1,300 employees
By Oregon Public Broadcasting Portland-based Vacasa laid off about 1,300 workers on Tuesday or roughly 17% of its workforce. The cuts include the elimination of 240 jobs in Portland. The vacation rental management company went public in 2021, but its stock has slumped. Vacasa is trying to shrink its expenses as it seeks to become profitable. […]
National environmental group asks federal agency to speed up plans to reintroduce sea otters to Oregon coast
By ZACH URNESS/Salem Statesman Journal The Center for Biological Diversity wants the federal government to get moving on a plan to reintroduce sea otters on the Oregon coast. The national environmental group submitted a petition Thursday, under the Endangered Species Act, to reintroduce the sea otter to their native habitat from the San Francisco through Oregon. […]
Oregon’s public defense agency formulating plan on how to spend $10 million to improve legal representation
By CAYLA MIHALOVICH/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — Officials have approved a plan for spending $10 million of emergency funding to address Oregon’s public defender crisis, which has left hundreds of people languishing in jails or in the community awaiting legal representation. Last month, the Joint Legislative Emergency Board allocated $10 million to help the state hire more […]
Oregon Department of Justice, law firms open free legal advice hotline about abortions
By The Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — The Oregon Department of Justice has launched a hotline to provide free legal advice to people with legal questions about abortions. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum’s Monday announcement came the day after the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v Wade, which guaranteed abortion […]
Lack of quorum again stymies Yachats fire district board
YACHATS – The Yachats Rural Fire Protection District board has been unable to hold its first meeting of the year — and decide how to give firefighters enough of a raise to counteract inflation — for lack of a quorum Monday and earlier this month. The five-member board discussed a cost-of-living increase for employees in […]
Yachats “Swifty” group seeks funding to expand its aid to migrating birds, builds website, launches video
By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews YACHATS — While their winged tenants are wintering in warmer climes, a local group of bird-lovers is expanding to provide more nesting boxes for some migrating species. Thanks to the efforts of SWIFTY — Swallows In Flight to Yachats — tree swallows, violet-green swallows, chickadees and purple martins may find more […]
Fire destroys abandoned house Sunday north of Yachats
YACHATS – U.S. Highway 101 three miles north of Yachats was closed for nearly two hours Sunday night as firefighters from three departments fought a blaze that destroyed an abandoned house. The one-story house at 7610 N. Highway 101 had been neglected for years and half of it was covered with heavy brush, the […]
How a Lincoln City startup took advantage of Oregon DEQ program with lax oversight to net $1.8 million
BY ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle Behind a convenience store on Oregon Highway 18 near Sheridan, three electric vehicle charging machines sit wrapped in plastic. They have been there since April and have never charged a single car. The Valley Market near Sheridan. But Merlin Thompson earlier this year convinced the state they had, collecting nearly […]
OSU’s PacWave energy project north of Waldport signs contracts for miles of cable and construction of electrical substation
By MICHELLE KLAMPE/OSU News Service The last major pieces of the contract to build the wave energy test facility PacWave South near Waldport have been executed, paving the way for the completion of the Oregon State University-led facility off the central coast. PacWave South will be the first utility-scale, grid-connected wave energy test site in […]