Bulletin E-Edition:
EDITORIALS
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Scary problem, scary solution
May 25, 2013 4:00 am
House Bill 3436 is a well-intentioned, carefully crafted and alarming product of the Oregon Legislature. It creates a task force, the Oregon Retirement Savings Investment Board, to go about the task of creating the Oregon Secure Retirement Plan. The idea is to develop something like the Oregon....MORE
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Culver residents need to restore trust, engagement
May 25, 2013 4:00 am
Eighteen months ago, voters rejected a Culver school bond by 381 votes. This week, the gap was only 60 votes. That’s more than a glimmer of hope. This year’s bond request was smaller — $9.75 million vs. the earlier $14.6 million — which surely helped. The district has real....MORE
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Mediation bill an improvement
May 24, 2013 4:00 am
Oregon’s foreclosure crisis took a step toward resolution Wednesday when the state House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve SB 558, the bill requiring the opportunity for mediation in judicial as well as nonjudicial foreclosures. The bill itself is not perfect, but it is far....MORE
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Health law complexities undercut critical progress
May 24, 2013 4:00 am
For all the controversy about President Barack Obama’s grand revision of health care, there was wide agreement on at least two things: Too many people lack access to health care, and too many household budgets are ruined by its cost. The goal — everybody gets health care at a reasonable....MORE
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Celebrate limits to double majority
May 23, 2013 4:00 am
Central Oregon voters approved all but one of the money measures on their ballots this week, choosing to support schools, public safety and recreation. Had this election taken place during the 10-year reign of the original double-majority rule, however, all the measures would have failed.....MORE
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Diapers foul trash pickup plan
May 23, 2013 4:00 am
Not quite two years ago, the city of Portland decided to take the next step in its push to persuade residents not only to recycle, but to compost, as well. By one measure the move has been a success — garbage going to landfills has dropped by 38 percent, according to Oregon Public....MORE
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Don’t allow off-leash dogs on park trails
May 22, 2013 1:06 am
Bend parks and trails are scenes of all sorts of polite — usually — clashes: Bike v. pedestrian. Duck and geese feeders v. Bend law. And off-leash dog v. on-leash dog or people or bikes. Some candidates for the Bend Park & Recreation Board said they wanted to look into allowing more....MORE
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Don’t reduce legal limit for drunken driving
May 22, 2013 1:01 am
We’re all for putting an end to drunken driving. In Oregon in 2011, alcohol-impaired drivers were involved in nearly 30 percent of all traffic fatalities, a figure that mirrors the national average closely. At the same time, however, imposing Prohibition by degrees, as a National....MORE
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City must take care of Pilot Butte Cemetery
May 21, 2013 4:00 am
Bend’s Pilot Butte Cemetery is a link to the community’s past unlike any other. In it are buried some of the city’s earliest residents and some far more recent, as well. The city of Bend owns the cemetery, the city’s oldest, and it must spend money to keep it looking good.....MORE
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Bend should focus on needs not wants
May 19, 2013 4:00 am
Suppose you are making choices about what Bend’s police need. Would a mobile command vehicle be on the list?One part of Bend’s proposed budget for the next biennium that deserves some council scrutiny is the plan to buy a mobile command vehicle for the police for $200,000. Why is it....MORE
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Legislature fails on long-term PERS reform
May 18, 2013 4:00 am
Better than any governor before him, Gov. John Kitzhaber framed the problem with the state employee retirement system called PERS. Cut PERS or cut schools.“The average cost per pupil in Oregon will go up about $1,000 per pupil this next biennium; $500 of that is the increase in PERS," he said....MORE
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Email gives context to senators’ letters
May 18, 2013 4:00 am
When Oregon’s U. S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and other Democratic senators wrote to the IRS last year criticizing the agency’s regulations, they didn’t mention conservative groups. But Merkley’s email to supporters makes it clear that was his concern. However, the letters to the IRS....MORE
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Computers testing writing goes too far
May 17, 2013 4:00 am
Can a machine grade a writing test? Surprisingly, it’s a subject of some dispute, with dueling studies, impassioned statements and an online petition. A critical driver is money. As tests are being developed for the new Common Core K-12 educational standards, some see computer scoring as....MORE
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Internet freedom bill is a gesture worth making
May 17, 2013 4:00 am
While an official U. S. policy favoring global Internet freedom may not improve things in China or even here at home, adopting one is a gesture worth making. And so the U. S. House of Representatives did this week, approving H. R. 1580 unanimously and sending it on to the Senate. The bill, introduced....MORE
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Government should update email policies
May 16, 2013 4:00 am
The government can’t routinely open a letter sent in the mail without a warrant. The same standard should apply to email, but it’s not clear if the IRS and the FBI bother much with warrants for email. The American Civil Liberties Union has been nosing into the government’s policies.....MORE
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Don’t do an Oregon statue switcheroo
May 15, 2013 4:00 am
Those who hope to honor the late Mark Hatfield by putting a statue of him in the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D. C., have the right idea — memorialize a great person in Oregon history — but the wrong location. The statue of the man whom Hatfield would replace in Washington, Jason ....MORE
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Health exchanges provide critical transparency
May 15, 2013 4:00 am
When consumers can see price comparisons, the marketplace responds. That’s been rare in health care, but last week brought a speedy demonstration. The state posted proposed medical insurance rates from different providers, and some companies with higher prices quickly prepared to reduce them.....MORE
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Noise ordinance needs to protect residences, too
May 14, 2013 4:00 am
Bend’s noise ordinance is getting a needed upgrade, but the revision flops when it comes to protecting homes from arbitrary enforcement. The Bend City Council is scheduled to vote on changes to the ordinance on Wednesday. The council made a number of worthy changes in the ordinance at its last ....MORE
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Tighten rules on DAs, collection companies
May 14, 2013 4:00 am
The Oregon Senate voted in late April to approve a measure designed to tighten the rules covering companies that collect on bad checks for local district attorneys. Senate Bill 525 would require that a bill collector working for the local district attorney use his own letterhead, telephone number....MORE
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Don’t cut back federal funding for fuels reduction
May 12, 2013 4:00 am
The best time to fight a wildfire is before it starts. Reducing fuels reduces fires. There’s less threat to the public, firefighters, trees, wildlife and property. So why is the U. S. government planning to spend less on reducing fuels for wildfire?The 2014 budget reduces funding for....MORE
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Need more than IRS apology
May 11, 2013 4:00 am
News that the Internal Revenue Service made life difficult for some conservative political groups during the last election campaign got your juices flowing, if you are a suspicious sort. Employees of the agency’s Cincinnati, Ohio, office singled out for extra scrutiny groups with the words....MORE
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Don’t let PERS affect bond and levy support
May 11, 2013 4:00 am
If you’re considering a no vote on any of several money measures on Central Oregon ballots this month because you’re upset over problems with the state’s Public Employees Retirement System, don’t. You’re aiming at the wrong target. In fact, taking anger at PERS spending ....MORE
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Legislation could improve Oregon’s vaccination rate
May 10, 2013 4:00 am
The number of parents in Oregon who choose not to vaccinate their children continues to grow, and as it does so, it continues to raise the health risks for those who, for medical reasons, cannot be vaccinated. State senators will try to stem that tide when they vote on one of two versions of Senate ....MORE
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Better to get involved than to complain later
May 10, 2013 4:00 am
It’s always easier to complain than to get involved and help find solutions. The latest local example is the lack of applicants for the city of Bend’s water treatment advisory board. The city has taken plenty of heat for the supposed errors of its ways in designing the Surface Water....MORE
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Schools’ digital conversion is too much, too fast
May 9, 2013 4:00 am
The Bend-La Pine school district wants to educate its students “for their future, not our past," as the now-popular phrase goes. To that end, the district is making plans to dump traditional textbooks and hand a digital device — likely an iPad or other tablet — to every student in ....MORE
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One sure thing: you’ll pay more for health care
May 8, 2013 4:00 am
For the 180,000 Oregonians who buy health insurance in the individual market, dramatic price changes are on the horizon. For some, those increases will be offset by tax credits, but others could face premium hikes of as much as 50 percent. So much for being able to keep insurance we like, as....MORE
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Pass Knopp bill to catch crooks
May 8, 2013 4:00 am
Billions of health care dollars go to waste each year, siphoned off by criminals defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. State Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, has proposed a bill to try to do a better job of catching the criminals. Senate Bill 753 would allow the state to contract to use technology to stop....MORE
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Film industry tax incentives deserve extension
May 7, 2013 4:00 am
If you’ve watched “Portlandia" or “Grimm" in the last couple of years, you’ve seen the value of the Oregon Production Investment Fund, which reimburses filmmakers, television productions and others in those industries for some of the cost of doing business here. The fund is....MORE
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Study undercuts some health insurance notions
May 7, 2013 4:00 am
Gaining health insurance coverage doesn’t necessarily make people any healthier, according to a study of Oregon Health Plan members. That perplexing outcome is a worrisome reminder of the many unknowns as the nation prepares to extend medical insurance to millions of low-income people as it....MORE
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Common Core’s benefits are well worth challenges
May 5, 2013 4:00 am
Opposition is growing in some states as testing nears on new Common Core education standards. The anxiety is understandable, but the potential benefits to students are well worth the predictable growing pains. The standards were instigated by the nation’s governors and adopted by 45 states....MORE
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Don’t feed the wildlife
May 4, 2013 4:00 am
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife does not want you to feed wildlife. It doesn’t matter how cute the ducklings are, how polite the squirrel is, how cold the winter may be for the deer. Most people have heard the arguments before. Feeding animals people food can be bad for them.....MORE
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Don’t give the money back to Forest Service
May 4, 2013 4:00 am
The stupid, undiscriminating sequester cuts have caused a stupid, discriminating mess for Oregon counties and the U. S. Forest Service. The Forest Service sent out $17.9 million in federal subsidies and has asked for the money back. It paid out the money. It didn’t withhold any as some....MORE
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Social gaming poker should be left alone
May 3, 2013 4:00 am
Some Oregon lawmakers are throwing a legislative tantrum about social poker gaming. Businesses running social poker are making money. House Bill 3518 would make that illegal. The bill would only make such social gaming legal if it were on premises operated and controlled by charitable, religious or ....MORE
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City has more urgent issues than 3rd Street
May 3, 2013 4:00 am
Given the problems the city of Bend faces, re-creating Third Street is hardly the community’s No. 1 priority, though it shouldn’t disappear from the to-do list entirely. Officials have said, for example, that they must delay work on expanding the city’s urban growth boundary....MORE
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Senate should approve bills on logging protests
May 2, 2013 4:00 am
Heated rhetoric aside, two bills approved by the Oregon House of Representatives on Tuesday should shift the burden created by logging protesters against work on state forest lands back where it belongs, on the protesters themselves. House Bills 2595 and 2596 were approved by substantial margins,....MORE
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Measure the noise to enforce the ordinance
April 30, 2013 4:00 am
Bend city councilors are going to talk noise at their Wednesday meeting. On the agenda, there’s a plan to polish away the ambiguities in the city’s noise ordinance. But the revision fails to purge the ordinance’s biggest ambiguity: Police are not required to measure the noise.....MORE
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Wyden disclosure bill would aid transparency
April 28, 2013 4:00 am
The U. S. Supreme Court has been consistent over the years: Americans have a right to contribute what they wish to the political candidates and causes of their choice. And the court’s ruling in the Citizens United case in 2010 made clear that, where political contributions are concerned,....MORE
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Destination resorts need some flexibility
April 27, 2013 4:00 am
Deschutes County commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing Monday to consider if destination resorts should be able to reduce the number of required overnight units. The commissioners should approve the change. Almost nothing in Oregon land use law gets debated as much as destination....MORE
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Tax vote is a gift of opportunity
April 26, 2013 4:00 am
Oregon’s House Republicans held fast Wednesday, blocking the Democratic plan to railroad a damaging tax hike. Now it’s up to the Senate and the governor to take full advantage of this renewed chance to do the right thing. Maybe the Senate can avoid the hard-ball partisan approach used by....MORE
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