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State doubles rebate on electric vehicles for low and moderate income Oregonians
Beginning this year, qualifying Oregonians will get higher rebates for buying an electric car or a plug-in hybrid. The Department of Environmental Quality announced this week that it has doubled the refund under a program for lower-income buyers from $2,500 to $5,000. Individuals have to earn less than $52,000 a year; the income cap for […]
Oregon’s state education director a quiet, collaborative force in the turbulence of pandemic
Colt Gill gets up at 2:30 every morning, thinking about his duty to the principals, teachers, students and school staff in Oregon’s 216 school districts and education service districts. The director of the state Education Department is in action, answering emails, conferring with his deputy director Carmen Urbina and responding to text messages from school […]
Slowing effects of climate change among priorities for Oregon’s new watersheds director
Lisa Charpilloz-Hanson learns best out in the field, which is how the new director of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board found herself, first month on the job, standing over a bridge in Tillamook watching salmon and steelhead swim upstream. In her new role, Charpilloz-Hanson now has a hand in how to spend $170 million each […]
OSU horticulturist helps Oregonians fortify lawns, landscapes for climate change
Weston Miller is helping Oregonians plant for a future of more heavy rains, winds, droughts, fires and bugs. Miller directs the West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, is a master gardener and has been a community and urban horticulturist at Oregon State University’s Extension Service for 14 years. He teaches people to landscape their […]
Restrictions on fishing threatened steelhead to remain into 2022
Record low numbers of summer steelhead returning to the Columbia River and its tributaries this summer mean there will continue to be limited fishing for the threatened trout. Steelhead on the Columbia River are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. On Wednesday, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said they would maintain […]
Oregon colleges receive funds to support student veterans
Oregon community colleges and universities will get new funds to support veterans, the state’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs announced this week. They’ve awarded $600,000 to five public universities and 10 community colleges to expand their Campus Veteran Resource Centers, which help student veterans get acclimated to college life, stay in school, complete their degrees and […]
Oregon groups receive grant from EPA to improve air, water quality, food access
The Environmental Protection Agency announced last week it would give two Oregon nonprofits funding to combat air, water quality and food access among low-income communities and communities of color in the Portland area and in southern Oregon. The agency is awarding $14.1 million in Environmental Justice Small Grants to 133 projects nationwide. Just 12 projects were […]
Oregon schools face few limits on how to use millions in unexpected federal money
In some Oregon school districts, turf fields and lawn mowers were necessities to overcome the pandemic and get schools reopened. Others used emergency relief money to retrofit buildings with ventilation systems, add laptop computers for students and pay for online teaching. But the state still holds more than $1 billion meant to help school districts […]
Oregon adopts new carbon emission caps on fuel suppliers, major polluters
At a meeting Thursday, Oregon’s Environmental Quality Commission voted for new regulations that require the state’s fuel companies to reduce their emissions by 90% during the next 30 years. The Climate Protection Program would require Oregon’s fuel suppliers to cut in half the greenhouse gas emissions from their products by 2035 and reduce emissions by […]
Hunters, animal rights group raise reward for information on poisoned wolves
The unsolved, illegal killing of eight wolves in northeast Oregon earlier this year has riled up everyone from animal rights groups to a hunting association, driving up the reward for information about who poisoned the animals. The fund grew by more than $20,000 in just two weeks with the addition of thousands of dollars from […]
Record employment posted in Oregon sectors, but recovery remains uneven
The Oregon Employment Department on Tuesday reported a record number of jobs in construction, wholesale trade and professional and business service sectors, but continued declines in employment at private hospitals, residential care facilities and in education. The monthly report is a snapshot, based on surveys sent to 7,000 businesses across the state that self-report their […]
Legislators on Monday will decide millions to help Afghans resettle in Oregon
Legislators on Monday will consider appropriating $18 million to aid Afghan refugee resettlement in Oregon with housing, legal services, language and job training programs. The enhanced program would help up to 1,200 Afghan refugees expected to be resettled in Oregon in the next year. State Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland, and Rep. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, convened […]