Hasso Hering

Doing better with coal

Written April 9th, 2013 by

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“No Coal Exports, We Can Do Better.” That’s what the lawn signs say, and they are right. We can do better than to export coal to Asia or anywhere else. But we won’t. We could do better by using the coal in our country. We have lots of it and it is relatively cheap. We […]

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: coal exports

Albany: Why rile up 5,000-plus voters?

Written April 9th, 2013 by

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Tom Cordier, holding papers, after Monday’s city council work session. By declaring Albany’s debt-limit charter amendment to have passed, the city council could make peace with the more than 5,000 voters who approved it last month. But apparently it won’t. At a work session Monday, the council majority seemed to agree to go ahead and […]

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany City Council, city charter debt limit, Rich Kellum, Tom Cordier

Sports: Fun and games

Written April 8th, 2013 by

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How come we pay so much attention to sports at the expense of everything else? It’s a question we ought to think about now and then. Television personality Dr. Keith Ablow did just that the other day. He wrote an online commentary on why the behavior of the basketball coach at Rutgers was tolerated for […]

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Book titles and big names

Written April 8th, 2013 by

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The late Robert B. Parker wrote dozens of splendid detective stories, many of them centered on Boston private eye Spenser. He also wrote three notable westerns. The other day I spotted a new Parker western at the downtown Albany library. How could that be, I briefly wondered, since Mr. Parker died in 2010. Turns out […]

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A bike idea from SoCal

Written April 6th, 2013 by

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Want to encourage more people to ride bikes in and around Albany? Check out what “Bike Long Beach” publicizes there, in Southern California. Not too long ago Jim Lawrence, a member of the Albany Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission, was wondering what else could be done to encourage more routine bike transportation around town. I was […]

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Answer to debt limit unveiled

Written April 6th, 2013 by

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This is how the Albany City Council plans to deal with voter approval of the debt limit initiative last month: At a work session on Monday afternoon it will preview the draft of an ordinance which the council could then enact on Wednesday. The outlines of the draft were agreed on — though not […]

Posted in: Commentary, News
Tags: Albany City Council, Albany debt initiative

Gun hearing: Did testimony matter?

Written April 5th, 2013 by

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You almost have to feel sorry for legislators when they have to sit through endless public hearings even though their minds are made up on the issue at hand. With rare exceptions, witness after witness says pretty much the same thing, and legislators have to sit there and pretend to look interested. Friday’s four-hour hearing before […]

Posted in: Commentary
Tags: gun control, Oregon Senate