Oregon’s People

COMMENTARY
Oregon cattle grazing

Votes in eastern Oregon to shift to Idaho deserve attention – on both side of the Cascades

BY: - November 22, 2021

The movement to shift big chunks of Oregon into Idaho got another convert earlier this month. Harney County voters put their muscle behind the idea of cutting ties to Oregon and living under the Gem State, favoring the concept 63% to 37%. The local ballot measure is like others passed around the state in the […]

Children running on sidewalk

Oregon’s child welfare director appointed to new job by the Biden Administration

BY: - November 18, 2021

Rebecca Jones Gaston, Oregon’s child welfare director, just received a big promotion: The Biden administration picked her to be its commissioner overseeing federal social services for children. The nomination comes two years after Jones Gaston took the reins at Oregon’s Child Welfare Division, a troubled agency with unstable management. She was the seventh division chief […]

COMMENTARY
behavioral health facility in Corvallis

In Oregon, families and their children can’t wait for processes, bureaucracy to get care

BY: - November 17, 2021

It would seem any child experiencing mental health crisis would receive compassionate care, with understanding for how that child and family is impacted by what they are going through.  Yet the act of seeking help can be traumatizing. Take the experience I recently learned about from a colleague and friend. She described that it took […]

Oregon’s new wildfire czar explains his job – Q&A

BY: - October 25, 2021

Last week, Doug Grafe wrapped up orientation at his new job as state wildfire programs director. He takes on his new job after 17 years at the Oregon Department of Forestry, appointed by Gov. Kate Brown. He will advise her on preventing wildfires and carrying out the mandates of Senate Bill 762.  That legislation, passed […]

Dr. Dean Sidelinger

Dr. Dean Sidelinger: Big-picture team player in Oregon public health

BY: - October 5, 2021

At 50, there’s a lot that Dr. Dean Sidelinger could brag about. He earned a doctor of medicine degree from a highly ranked university and added a master’s in education. As a pediatrician, he trained younger physicians and helped shape medical curricula.  Then he went into public health.  For nearly 15 years as a health […]