Tempers flare during Redmond City Council’s ‘year in review’ meeting
The Redmond City Council met Tuesday night for a meeting that featured a 2020 year in review for several departments, including the police.
Continue ReadingYear: 2021
Lowering Covid-19 cases is ‘best thing’ US can do to improve chances that vaccines will continue working, expert says
Lowering Covid-19 cases across the US isn’t only critical to helping prevent another surge fueled by variants — it also makes vaccines more likely to continue working effectively against mutations, one expert says. “The best thing we could possibly do to improve the chances that the vaccine will continue working as we’re hoping it will,
Continue ReadingUS steps up challenges to Chinese-claimed islands in South China Sea
A US Navy warship sailed by islands claimed by China in the South China Sea on Wednesday, the second such sailing in as many weeks, as the Biden administration steps up the US’ military presence in the disputed waters. In a so-called freedom of navigation operation, the guided-missile destroyer USS Russell steamed within 12 nautical
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Federal lease allows OSU’s offshore wave energy testing facility to proceed this year
An Oregon State University-led project to build the nation’s first pre-permitted wave energy testing facility cleared a critical hurdle this week as the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management awarded the university a lease to operate in federal waters about seven miles off the Oregon coast.
Continue ReadingDr. Fauci shifts the timeline on when the general public will be able to get a vaccine
Dr. Anthony Fauci said vaccines won’t be available to the “general public” before mid- to late May or early June, he told CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Tuesday. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, acknowledged that previous estimates had placed vaccine availability for the general public — or nonessential workers under
Continue Reading‘Hell or high water:’ Manchin tells Biden he won’t back push to skirt Senate rules on relief bill
West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has privately informed President Joe Biden that he won’t join any Democratic efforts to force through provisions in his economic rescue package if they are ruled in violation of strict Senate budget restrictions, the latest warning sign for Biden’s push for a hike to the federal minimum wage. Manchin’s declaration
Continue ReadingBrown issues order targeting hotel price-gouging reports amid winter storm
Gov. Kate Brown on Tuesday issued Executive Order 21-03, declaring an abnormal market disruption as a result of the severe winter weather emergency in nine Oregon counties. The order is in response to reports of unusual increases in lodging rates for Oregonians who have sought temporary stays until power can be restored at their homes.
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Biden says he feels ‘a sense of history’ living at White House
President Joe Biden on Tuesday described the “sense of history” he feels residing at the White House and all the ways living in the historic building is an adjustment, including being waited on by White House staff. “I get up in the morning and look at Jill and say: ‘Where the hell are we?’ ”
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Biden shows he is the voice of presidential sanity
On Tuesday night, President Joe Biden joined CNN’s Anderson Cooper for a town hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The conversation spanned everything from immigration to White supremacist violence to student loan debt to Covid-19, and Biden struck a markedly different tone than his predecessor. He was polite and empathetic. He was thoughtful, if at times a
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Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing home deaths calls for serious investigation
Going back more than a hundred years, New York has held the dubious distinction of being a corruption leader among US states and has struggled to ensure integrity in state government. In recent years, high-profile bribery cases have ensnared the leaders of both legislative bodies and Governor Andrew Cuomo’s former right-hand man. Now, a different
Continue ReadingNorth Korean hackers stole Covid-19 data from Pfizer, South Korean lawmaker says
North Korean hackers stole technology related to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments from US drugmaker Pfizer, according to a South Korean lawmaker. Ha Tae-keung said Tuesday that he and other lawmakers were briefed on the hack by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the country’s spy agency. It is unclear when the alleged attack happened. The NIS
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Lillard scores 31 as Trail Blazers top Thunder 115-104
Damian Lillard scored 12 of his 31 points in the final 4:11 to help the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 115-104 on Tuesday night.
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Biden again rejects $50,000 student loan debt forgiveness plan pushed by other top Democrats
President Joe Biden made it clear during Tuesday night’s CNN town hall that he disagrees with other members of his party who want to cancel $50,000 of student debt per borrower. “I will not make that happen,” Biden said after a member of the audience said his proposal to cancel $10,000 per borrower doesn’t go
Continue Reading Biden continues to push $15 federal minimum wage
President Joe Biden reaffirmed his support for raising the federal minimum wage — gradually — to $15 an hour at CNN’s town hall on Tuesday. While he acknowledged that increasing the wage could squeeze some employers, he pointed to economists and studies that say the impact would be minor. Plus, the President argued, it would
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4 die in Clackamas County from carbon monoxide poisoning amid storm
As thousands of Oregonians remained without power in the Portland area and crews raced to restore service came word Tuesday that four people died near Portland in recent days from carbon monoxide poisoning.
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6 takeaways from Joe Biden’s CNN town hall
President Joe Biden took part in his first town hall since entering the White House last month, answering questions from CNN’s Anderson Cooper (and audience members) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I watched, took notes and have some thoughts about what mattered most — and why. My takeaways are below. 1. A hard deadline on vaccinations: Less
Continue ReadingFirst FEMA Covid-19 mass vaccination sites open in California amid supply shortage
Two new coronavirus mass vaccination sites opened in California on Tuesday, where cities continue to struggle with securing vaccine supply. The sites are the first to open as part of a wider effort by the federal government to establish 100 vaccination sites nationwide in 100 days. In a joint effort with the Federal Emergency Management
Continue ReadingBiden says things may be back to normal by next Christmas
President Joe Biden would only commit to a return to normal by next Christmas during a CNN town hall on Tuesday, saying he did not want to boost Americans’ hopes when he could not be certain of a still-early vaccine rollout. The prediction of nearly another year in pandemic-dampened conditions was admittedly not optimistic. But
Continue Reading Biden says he’s spoken with all of his predecessors ‘with one exception’
President Joe Biden on Tuesday reflected on the “sense of history” he feels as a new resident of the White House and suggested he has spoken with his predecessors, but cited one notable exception. Asked whether he has called any former presidents, Biden told CNN’s Anderson Cooper during a town hall in Milwaukee: “Yes, I
Continue ReadingDemocrats and Biden prepare to unveil bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
The Biden administration, in concert with Hill Democrats, is preparing to unveil legislation this week that seeks to provide a pathway to citizenship to the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. For decades, lawmakers have tried to reform the US immigration system and fallen short. The latest effort will similarly be a
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