The Oregon Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation Funding will consider legislation this week called “LC 2” as they head into a special session to address transportation funding. The Governor’s Transportation Budget Framework defines the problem as an ODOT “budget gap” that needs to be addressed with a “funding solution.” She says that the cause is […]
Governor Tina Kotek has called a special session of the legislature to secure more funding for the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). She wants to raise gas taxes by six cents per gallon, double vehicle registration fees, and increase titling fees. Both the governor and legislative leaders claim that ODOT revenue has been declining due […]
In 2017, when the Oregon Legislature authorized a modest highway widening project on I-5 just north of the I-84 intersection, it was expected to improve travel speeds and reduce traffic accidents. The estimated construction cost was $500 million-$700 million. By 2021, the project had morphed into a social justice and real estate development scheme, with […]
Everyone Knows This — So Why Haven’t We Changed the Rules? In science, paradigm shifts often begin with a quiet “that’s odd.” But in the political economy of biomedical innovation, the most damning truths begin with: “Everyone knows this.” Everyone knows that American universities—funded by taxpayers—perform the foundational research that leads to most new drugs. […]
The state legislature is in the final stages of passing SB 1182, which will authorize the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to give away property and development rights and contracts associated with the four-acre highway cover over I-5, which ODOT plans to build in the Rose Quarter. The cover has an estimated construction cost of […]
Overpromising and under-delivering has been the habit of Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) for decades, with businesses, counties, and towns struggling to weather the financial hardships of ODF’s inconsistent timber sales. House Bill 3103 with the -1 amendment seeks to address these concerns by requiring ODF to establish sustainable harvest levels (SHL) on state forest […]
This has massive implications for civil rights litigation in the US. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on June 5 that a woman who believes she was denied promotions because she is straight should have the chance to prove her case in court. The ruling removes a legal barrier that had made it harder for […]
So-called affordable housing is anything but affordable. Instead, it is mainly a scam that benefits developers far more than it helps low-income people. By restricting most development to less than 1.5 percent of land in the state, Oregon’s land-use planning has made housing expensive. Politicians have responded by spending more tax dollars on subsidized housing, […]
Next Steps for Policy and Public Health Research In a landmark press conference on April 16, 2025, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered a sobering diagnosis—not of a child, but of an entire nation. Flanked by researchers, parents, and reporters, Kennedy declared that the United States is facing a […]
On October 14, Google announced that it will finance the construction of seven small nuclear reactors in the U.S. built by energy start-up Kairos Power. The agreement will provide 500 megawatts of clean, reliable electricity to feed Google’s growing need for data centers. This follows on the September 20th announcement by Microsoft and Constellation Energy […]