As expected, state Sen. Betsy Close, R-Albany, next year will run for a four-year term in the position to which she was appointed a year ago. She talked to me on camera just before she announced her plans at a reception at the Albany Golf and Event Center Thursday evening. She plans to file on Friday. […]
If President Obama was interested in moving on to a more constructive way of running the government after the shutdown and near-default on federal obligations, he could not have made a worse start than he did today. In a speech at the White House, Obama angrily blamed his opponents in the House for refusing to negotiate […]
A new state law allows Oregon counties and cities to set maximum prices that tow companies can charge for giving back cars seized from private parking facilities. House Bill 3159 passed over Republican objections in the 2013 regular session of the legislature and takes effect on Jan. 1, 2014. It’s a response to predatory towing […]
Linn County is making a sensible change in its program dealing with problem dogs and other animals. It is putting the sheriff’s office in charge of the small department, which is staffed by five people and works out of the dog pound on Ferry Street in Albany. The sheriff’s office has been in charge of dog control office […]
The former St. Francis Hotel in downtown Albany was 101 years old this year. The question now is whether there’s a chance of restoring the vacant upper floors of this four-story landmark — and the adjacent Rhodes block built in 1907 — as apartments or partly as a so-called “boutique hotel.” A team of architects […]
This is a very nice time of year when the sun shines, especially in the region’s forests, as here in the McDonald Forest near Albany on Monday, Oct. 14. (It happened to be the government’s version of Columbus Day, but that has nothing to do with this.)
A brighter downtown — on one street
Downtown Albany may become brighter during winter nights — or as soon as a new lighting program can be started. But unfortunately, it will be a change limited to just a short stretch of First Avenue. And that brings up an old complaint that has been all but forgotten.
Tags: Albany downtown, Albany Downtown Association, CARA, tree lights