Oregon
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Merkley triumphs in Oregon; three other races still undecided
The Oregon Senate race has been called for enviro-backed candidate Jeff Merkley, who finished with a 48.4 to 46 percent lead over Republican incumbent Gordon Smith. In Minnesota, the latest tally puts Republican incumbent Norm Coleman just 439 votes ahead of Democrat Al Franken, a margin that falls within the state’s mandatory recount law. That […]
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If you lead a candidate to books, can you make him read?
Kurt Schrader, an Oregon state senator, veterinarian, Willamette Valley farmer, and Democratic candidate for Congress is now considered the favorite to win Oregon’s 5th District — the only competitive district in Oregon for either party. If he wins as predicted, he will beat a self-funded multimillionaire Republican who lost the same race in 2006 — […]
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New LCV ad in Oregon calls for enviro backup in the Senate
The League of Conservation Voters is running this ad in Oregon promoting both Barack Obama and Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Merkley, whom the group has also endorsed. “How far would a rock star get without a band?” the ad asks. “Barack Obama will create new jobs and fight global warming, but he’ll need some help […]
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Oregon looks to protect its ocean ecology
Amidst the slavering cries to drill pretty much everywhere, it’s encouraging to hear the news from Oregon. The state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife has just finished accepting proposals for new marine reserves — protected places where Oregon’s maritime ecology can thrive. A coalition of conservation leaders has developed an ambitious and smart proposal. Now […]
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Oregon’s capital far behind its bigger sister
From LoveSalem: So we were talking about keeping chickens as part of a scheme for implementing the "Food Not Lawns" ideal (Victory Gardening for The New Reality). Someone thought you could keep hens but not roosters. Someone else thought you couldn’t keep either. It all led to an inquiry to the powers that be, who […]
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Permit me to ignore building codes
I know everyone’s in the throes of the Obama-McCain frenzy, but allow me to divert your attention to a minor ballot initiative in Oregon: Measure 63. Oh it’s fascinating, I assure you. Measure 63 is the last whimpering gasp of the property rights measures that originated in Oregon. Times change. It was just a few […]
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Google knows what you’re doing
Oh, Google, what would we ever do without you? Check out this Google Maps-generated image of the region near Cannon Beach, Oregon: The strange patchwork of brown? Those are clearcuts in the Coast Range. And many of them appear to be recent. What’s really great is that you can zoom in so close that […]
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Disappearing owls, threatened forests, and the city-country conflict
"Ghost" is a word field biologists use to describe a species near the end of its time on earth. Often these endangered species are birds, but in a spectacular essay in a newly internet-friendly issue of the English literary journal Granta, Robert MacFarlane slightly expands the meaning of the word. He visits an obscure low-lying […]
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Sen. Gordon Smith’s frozen-foods plant violates environmental regs
Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith (R) is in hot water over a water-quality violation at his family’s food-processing plant. Wastewater from Smith Frozen Foods in eastern Oregon overflowed into a creek recently while the plant was processing corn, a violation of state environmental regulations. This is bad timing for Smith, who has been touting his eco-credentials […]
