After lying low for about a year, Albany’s downtown urban renewal district will soon have to make a choice: Look for new projects and regain its momentum or return some of its money to other taxing districts. The advisory board of the Central Albany Revitalization Area started debating this Wednesday. The issue comes up because […]
Senate Bill 796 would require applicants for an Oregon concealed handgun license to prove they can shoot a handgun. Who could argue with that? Except that the original bill by Sen. Floyd Prozanski of Eugene was unworkable. It would require applicants to get a score of at least 70 percent on a shooting test almost impossible […]
Our Oregon legislature is filled with earnest legislators who like nothing better than to make new laws. So it won’t be a complete surprise for you to learn that they intend to tighten their control of, among many other things, the amount of water you flush down the toilet. On April 12, according to the […]
Oregon’s three biggest public universities are about to undergo a big change in how they are governed. This could be good if it holds down or even lowers the price of attendance, as unlikely as that is. It will be a mistake if it accelerates the soaring rise in tuition and fees and results in […]
Four Albany City Council members made what could become a big mistake on Wednesday. Councilors Floyd Collins, Ray Kopczynski, Dick Olsen and Bill Coburn voted not to place in the city charter the debt-limit initiative voters had approved in March. Only Councilors Rich Kellum and Bessie Johnson were against rejecting the voters’ decision this way. […]
I stopped my bicycle on Spring Hill Drive on Tuesday to take a quick look at this field. It looked like a field of rapeseed or, as we now call it, canola. I would have been surer of this if there had been a sign telling passersby what they’re looking at. I’ve long had an […]
CHL bills softened, but still …
Keeping an eye on — or over — the Capitol. The Oregon Senate Judiciary Committee appears to be taking seriously the arguments against two of the gun-related bills it has been considering. The committee was scheduled to act on the bills Wednesday but instead held them over for another day. The reason appears to be […]
Tags: Oregon CHL bills, Senate Judiciary Committee