News
Libraries offer some of the few remaining truly public places
Philip Elliott used to be a resident manager for a nonprofit shelter provider. That was before the organization laid him off in 2020, and he became unsheltered himself. Now he waits for the automatic sprinklers to begin watering the grass in public parks so he can fill his water bottle. There are days when they…
Portland enforces public sleeping ban
Portland police can ticket and arrest homeless Portlanders who reject a shelter offer as of July 1. In its latest attempt to dust off a practice deployed by the city for decades, Portland City Council prohibited public sleeping under threat of criminal and civil penalties May 8. Homeless service providers and legal experts said the…
Morning Star church breaks ground on community resiliency project
Local nonprofit Depave and a group of volunteers broke ground on a project to turn Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church’s unused parking lot into a community hub. More than 60 volunteers showed up on a sunny, 87-degree day to pull up slabs of concrete June 22. Morning Star, a historically Black church in the Cully…
Supreme Court rules arresting, citing people for not having shelter is constitutional
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson on June 28, reversing the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals injunction barring the southern Oregon city of Grants Pass from enforcing ordinances banning sleeping in public spaces. In a 6-3 decision, conservative justices reversed the lower court’s 2022 ruling that said punishing…
Opinion
Last Month in Oregon Labor | June 2024
Oregon labor saw another slow month in June but still reached new historic heights, with nurses carrying the headlines. “Last month in Oregon labor” is a monthly installment by Aurora Biggers covering all things Oregon labor. Despite having five fewer union election wins, Oregon nurses continued their campaign streak with nearly 300 more health care…
Letter from the editor | We won’t ‘BS’ you about homelessness
Arresting homeless people is a tool for addressing homelessness in much the same way bashing your head against a wall until the point of losing consciousness is a tool for addressing headaches. You may not know the headache is there for a while, but when you wake up, it’ll be worse than before. Though the…
