Tag STATE GOVERNMENT
State transportation director Garrett to retire after 13 years
Oregon Department of Transportation Director Matt Garrett speaks at a distracted driving awareness event in 2017. (ODOT Flickr) SALEM —Matt Garrett, the longtime director of the state Transportation Department, announced Friday that he intends to retire by June. 30. During his 13-year tenure, Garrett oversaw…
Outreach and organization can help regular citizens have a voice in the Capitol
SALEM — When Oregon legislators convene on Tuesday, they could raise or lower your taxes, cut or boost government services and decide how much your landlord can hike the rent. Interest groups, from the pharmaceutical industry to labor unions, spend millions of dollars lobbying legislators…
Unions look to take advantage of Democratic leadership and strong economy in 2019
In November, educators and school children got a champion. The homeless got an advocate and environmentalists got a steward. But perhaps the people most happy with Gov. Kate Brown’s re-election reside in Oregon’s union shops. Brown has long been pro union. She has publicly supported…
After a decade of delay, Oregon officials finally launching child abuse call center
A state worker answers calls to Oregon’s child abuse hotline, operating from a new call center in Portland. (Portland Tribune/Jaime Valdez) PORTLAND — The caller told Hannah Lene about a child disciplined at school for spraying water who begged school employees not to send a…
Harassment investigation hangs over swearing in of Oregon’s 80th legislature
Gov. Kate Brown gets congratulated during her inauguration Monday in the Oregon House chambers. (Jaime Valdez/Portland Tribune) SALEM — Claims that legislative leaders mishandled sexual harassment reports cast a shadow over the Capitol Monday as lawmakers gathered to kick off the 2019 Legislature. A report…
Three weeks into shutdown, Oregon state government weathering the storm
(Photo by Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) Oregon state government has yet to see deep impacts from a three-week federal government shutdown, but some Oregonians are feeling the pinch. Today, the shutdown tied the longest in U.S. history at 21 days. With President Donald Trump…
Marion County team recognized for efforts to prevent human trafficking
From left to right, Hillary Roeder, Wendy Matthews and Arielle Crist make up the core of a team fighting human trafficking in Marion County. (Aubrey Wieber/Salem Reporter) When a 16-year-old Marion County girl was arrested on delinquency charges, authorities and the judge saw another bad…
Decades later, Courtney again takes aim at DUI threshold
As a state representative in 1983, Peter Courtney introduced legislation to lower the drunk driving threshold from .10 blood alcohol content to .08. It was a radical move from a new lawmaker who was expected to bide his time. Courtney had little support outside of…
2018 law lacks teeth for overprescribing doctors
(Caleb Wolf/Special to Salem Reporter) SALEM — State officials know of 160 doctors with suspicious prescribing patterns but Oregon law shields those doctors from further scrutiny. Legislators put little teeth into a 2018 law that requires doctors to register for a program that monitors drug…