Category Government
Garbage rates in Salem could go up again
A truck from Suburban Garbage Services approaches cans on Southeast 45th Avenue in November 2018. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) Your garbage bill may go up again in January, thanks in part to that still-strained recycling market. On either side of the Willamette River, a Salem resident…
Work still needed to protect student information against hackers, Oregon audit finds
(Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) SALEM — The state agency that holds the education records of more than half a million Oregon students can tighten its control of that information, state auditors say. The Oregon Department of Education regularly checks its computer systems for vulnerabilities and performs…
Where others see chaos, he tackles opportunity to reshape mental health care
Steve Allen is director of the state agency charged with caring for Oregonians with mental health and substance abuse. (Sam Stites/Oregon Capital Bureau) Finding a director to run a key new division of the Oregon Health Authority vexed Pat Allen for months. The agency director…
Marion County to go to court over inmate’s lost eye
Marion County Courthouse (File/Salem Reporter) After inmate Billy Gostevskyh asked for days for help for pain in his already-damaged right eye, the Marion County Jail’s doctor advised him to see an ophthalmologist as soon as possible. The next day, jail employees sent him to a…
Local constitutional law professor weighs in on Trump impeachment
A view from outside the U.S. House of Representatives. (Courtesy/Wikimedia Commons) On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives took a vote it’s only held twice before in the last 100 years. On a 232-196 vote, the House passed a resolution formalizing and setting rules for…
Oregon State Hospital gets a break as federal judge decides against contempt finding
Oregon State Hospital in Salem (Salem Reporter/file) After several months of noncompliance, wait times for patients being admitted to the Oregon State Hospital are back in compliance with a 2002 rule requiring the facility to take just seven days to admit patients who have been…
Democrats renew effort to pass carbon-reduction bill
Oregon State Capitol, Legislature (Salem Reporter/file) SALEM – The next session of the Oregon Legislature is expected to begin the way the last one ended, with a dramatic clash between Democrats and Republicans over the future carbon emissions. Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, is reworking a…
New city law drafted to clear downtown streets of homeless
Robert Stone, a native of Cheyenne, Wyo., sits outside near a coffee shop in downtown Salem. The homeless Salem resident said he would “probably” be impacted by a proposed ban on sitting or lying down on public rights of way. (Troy Brynelson/Salem Reporter) Salem city…
Bentz, key Oregon Senate Republican, announces bid to succeed Walden
State Sen. Cliff Bentz announced Tuesday he will run for Congress in 2020. (The Enterprise/File). ONTARIO – State Sen. Cliff Bentz, an Ontario attorney, said Tuesday he intends to run for Congress in 2020, hoping to fill incumbent Greg Walden’s slot to represent the 2nd…