People in the Portland area love their parks and they love nature. So much that in 2019, voters approved $475 million in bonds for Metro’s “Parks and Nature” program. What voters thought they were voting for—and what they were told they would get—was more public parks for people and the protection of natural areas. However […]
Why does Oregon still have a mask mandate? Oregon is now one of the last states to have a statewide mask mandate for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. If you listen closely to our public health experts, they say they’re focused on hospitalizations. Once the hospitalizations come down, they say then we can throw off […]
Land use regulations in Oregon are adversely impacting the state’s residents and economy. A quick glance at recent news headlines reveals as much. OPB reports that the Oregon Department of Transportation cannot repair key portions of Highway 101 along the Oregon coast due to a land use regulation that prohibits the fortification of highway infrastructure […]
A recent poll by the Portland Business Alliance found that 88% of voters believe their quality of life is getting worse. This is up significantly from 2017, when less than half of voters said the same thing. It’s not hard to understand why; all you need to do is step outside. Tents and trash line […]
January 23-29 is National School Choice Week, a 50-state celebration of opportunity in K-12 education. Every January, tens of thousands of independent events and activities draw attention to the ways school choice brings quality education to millions of students. School Choice Week provides free, practical resources year-round on its website to help families looking for […]
COVID-19 disrupted—and may continue to disrupt—in-person learning at many Oregon public schools. For many high schoolers, this has led to reduced academic achievement and a decline in mental health. At the same time, some students, colleges, and employers worry that a new law removing a longstanding graduation requirement that students prove proficiency in essential learning […]
Earlier this week, the Michigan Democratic Party’s Facebook account landed in some hot water. A post published to the page mocked parents who say they should have a voice in what public schools teach. The post went on to say that public schools teach kids what society “needs them to know.” This was the same […]
What if everything we thought we knew about homelessness was wrong? If that’s the case, many of the policies we’re pursuing are making things worse instead of better. It’s becoming clearer that much of the accepted wisdom regarding homelessness may be nothing more than convenient myths—myths that lead to doomed policies. The Oregon Office of […]
If you guessed that Oregonians think homelessness is the most important problem facing the state, you’d be right. That’s no surprise. What’s surprising is what came in second. It turns out, according to a poll by DHM Research, more than 1-in-6 Oregonians think politicians and government are the biggest problem facing our state. At the […]
The era of small-modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) is upon us, but Oregon lives in the past. Oregon continues to ban nuclear power, while other states with a similar moratorium are taking action to reverse their bans and bring nuclear power to their states. Oregon voters approved a moratorium on the construction of any new nuclear […]