Oregon lawmakers reconvene Feb. 5 for a 35-day short session with an agenda including addressing housing, homelessness, substance use issues and the upcoming surplus tax kicker Jean Hendron kissed Ricky Bayse's forehead Nov. 14 and said goodbye. Bays ...
31 Jan 2024 - Tom Henderson
Church at the Park wishes to build a shelter in Dallas for its unhoused community members, but many local residents fiercely oppose the idea Organizers at the Church at the Park in Salem want to build a shelter 15 miles west of the Willamette River in the ...
18 Oct 2023 - 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
A bill to give homeless people the right to be left alone fails to move through OR House Editor's note: This is an updated version of a story originally published in the April 26 print edition of Street Roots. O vid Neal III was 6-foot-4 with chisele ...
3 May 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
Farmers who oppose these bills testify they have laborers’ best interests in mind, but the campesinos tell a different story State Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis (R-Millersburg) knows what’s best for workers on her family’s Linn County farm, she told her fello ...
5 May 2021 - 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
Top Oregon Democrats refused to send the recommendation to the floor for a vote. The governor may still have executive authority to move forward with closures. Many prison reform activists wonder if Oregon lawmakers care more about preserving jobs than sa ...
14 Aug 2020 - Tom Henderson