Now that the Transportation Security Administration will allow airline passsengers to keep their small pocket knives, maybe other federal agencies will see the light as well. The TSA decision aroused the ire of unions representing airline workers as well as family members of people killed on 9/11. Their chagrin is understandable, but still the TSA made the right […]
C-SPAN 2 covered the filibuster live. The question Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky asked during his filibuster in the U.S. Senate on Wednesday may have seemed absurd. Does the Obama administration believe it has the power under the Constitution to use a drone strike to kill an American citizen on U.S. soil who is not […]
In Albany, the new manager of Heritage Mall told the local paper she is confident she can recruit enough stores to fill 90 percent of the mall within a year. Every resident of the mid-valley has reason to wish her well and to hope that she meets or exceeds this goal. There are far too […]
There’s no shortage of proposals in the legislature to force property owners to pay higher taxes. The Revenue Committee of the Oregon House has scheduled a public hearing on a bunch of them for Thursday, March 7. You remember Measure 5, Don McIntire’s initiative we passed in 1990, which eventually limited property taxes to $5 […]
Judging by the letters in the local paper, lots of people are getting exercised about the ballot initiatives now being decided in Albany’s special election, which ends March 12. They may be right to be worried, and the measures are still unnecessary as I’ve said before. But on further reflection, if they are approved the effect is […]
On the scene in West Albany: Three houses under construction, another small indication of what the media have been reporting as a nationwide trend, namely that the demand for housing is picking up. Through January this fiscal year, the Albany Building Division had issued permits for 63 single-family residences valued at $13,291,484, up from 41 […]
Panel improves cell-phone driving bill
Oregon’s Senate president, Peter Courtney, filed a bill that threatened to fine cell-phoning drivers up to $1,000. This would be accomplished by upgrading the offense — using a hand-held cell phone while driving — from a Class D to a Class B traffic violation. I’m glad to report that the Senate Judiciary Committee has improved […]
Tags: cell phones, driving