The Oregon Legislature wrapped up its even-year short session after approving millions of dollars to build new housing and provide more shelter beds and other services for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness Robert Day has given up on ever living ...
3 Apr 2024 - Tom Henderson
Legislative session ends with a mixed bag on housing issues as human toll continues The 2023 Oregon Legislature convened Jan. 17. Melisa Blake died from hypothermia four days later in a downtown Salem parking lot. Legislators came to Salem with an energet ...
12 Jul 2023 - Tom Henderson
Amid inflation and high rent costs, Senate Bill 611 seeks to strengthen rent control, tenants rights President Lyndon Johnson said, "Education is the only valid passport from poverty," but 58 years later, Andrea Haverkamp said a lot of highly ed ...
12 Apr 2023 - Tom Henderson
Hearings on a criminal justice reform bill draw testimony about mandatory minimums, parole restrictions and more Kenneth McGee ran into an old acquaintance online Feb. 25 during a public hearing on House Bill 2002 on criminal justice reform. It was former ...
10 Mar 2021 - Tom Henderson
The Aloha representative, who brings lived experience with poverty to her leadership role on a housing committee, speaks for young people who demand action on the housing and climate crises they’ve inherited W hen Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, 7 ...
3 Mar 2021 - Tom Henderson
Testimony before a legislative panel turned emotional — and for many, it was personal A slew of bills before the Oregon Legislature this year come under the heading of “equitable policing.” Angela Foster of Milwaukie told lawmakers Jan. 27 she would fin ...
17 Feb 2021 - Tom Henderson
Check back for updates on the status of these important pieces of legislation The Oregon Legislature adjourned its special session late Friday, June 26. Bills specifically addressing homelessness — an issue Speaker of the House Tina Kotek wanted to decla ...
26 Jun 2020 - Tom Henderson
Vulnerable Oregonians take center stage during Legislature's emergency session, likely to extend into next week He went to the hospital in Corvallis with pneumonia, but the physician who saw him thought the 64-year-old quadriplegic man with developme ...
26 Jun 2020 - Tom Henderson
Whether the Legislature will convene to provide relief remains uncertain, and the Employment Department's director has been replaced in response to a massive backlog Kelsi Morrison’s livelihood abruptly ended when she closed the doors of Hair Bar 47, ...
4 Jun 2020 - Tom Henderson
The governor’s decision not to call a special session leaves housing policy recommendations in the balance Morgan Florea doesn’t have to worry for three months about being evicted from her Portland apartment because she can’t pay the rent. Oregon Gov. Kat ...
7 Apr 2020 - Tom Henderson