Latest news with #TinaKotek
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
David vs. Goliath: Oregon bill offers lifeline for journalism — and Democracy
The Oregonian/Oregonlive co-authored this op-ed with the Lake Oswego Review, The Chronicle in Springfield and The Columbia Gorge News, with the endorsement of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association and several dozen news organizations from across the state. Have you ever worked on a group project and then had someone else take full credit for your contributions? It's fundamentally unfair, isn't it? And for Oregon news organizations, the pain is felt in the pocketbook. Newspapers are businesses, and everyone knows our revenue model has changed radically as readers migrated to Big Tech platforms online. But Google and Facebook have used our work to fuel their growth, without compensating us. In an era where information is abundant but trust is scarce, local journalism remains one of the last bastions of accountability, transparency, and civic connection. Yet, across Oregon, newsrooms are shrinking, reporters are vanishing, and communities are losing access to the reliable information they need to make informed decisions. Senate Bill 686 offers a bold and necessary first step towards a solution. This legislation would require dominant tech platforms — like Google and Meta — to compensate Oregon news organizations for using the content they scrape from our websites to drive traffic and profits. These platforms have used local reporting to generate significant profits for years, yet they return little to nothing to the journalists and publishers who produce it. SB686 would help correct that imbalance. This is not a tax. It's not a subsidy. It's compensation for value taken in the form of direct payment to news organizations using formal arbitration or a research-backed fund to set benchmarks. Platforms scrape and summarize journalism, keeping users on their sites and siphoning away the revenue that once supported local reporting, and this problem has only gotten worse with the advent of artificial intelligence. The result? Fewer reporters, fewer investigations, and fewer watchdogs in our communities. SB686 is modeled after other successful efforts. It ensures that 90% of the funds collected go directly to publishers, with the remaining 10% supporting innovation and equity in Oregon's media ecosystem. It's a plan that supports both large and small outlets, urban and rural, print and digital. And it creates a platform for additional investment in reporting across the entire state. Critics claim this bill threatens free speech or innovation. But legal experts — including a former Oregon Supreme Court justice — have affirmed its constitutionality. And innovation doesn't mean exploitation. It's time for Big Tech to innovate responsibly and pay fairly. Now, Big Tech is launching a fear campaign, threatening to throttle information in retaliation. This bill has broad support from journalists, publishers, labor unions, broadcasters, academics, and civic leaders — including Governor Tina Kotek. At the end of the day, this isn't just about journalism. It's about democracy. When local news disappears, civic engagement declines, corruption increases, and polarization deepens. SB686 is a chance to reverse that trend — to invest in the infrastructure of truth, trust, and community. Typically fiercely competitive, news organizations around the state have united in support of this bill to publish this editorial. We urge all Oregonians to contact their state legislators to voice their support for SB686. Let's stand up for local news, for fair play, and for a future where every Oregonian has access to the information they need to thrive. Not sure who your legislator is? Check here: News organizations that endorsed this letter: 47, Argus Observer (Ontario), Beaverton Valley Times/Tigard-Tualatin Times, Bend Bulletin, Canby Herald-Pioneer, Cannon Beach Gazette, Central Oregonian (Prineville), The Chronicle (Springfield), Columbia Gorge News, Cottage Grove Sentinel, Curry Coastal Pilot (Brookings), The Daily Astorian, East Oregonian, Estacada News, Eugene Register Guard, Forest Grove News-Times, Grants Pass Daily Courier, Herald and News, Hillsboro Tribune, The Gresham Outlook, Lake Oswego Review, Lakeview Examiner, Lincoln City Leader, The Madras Pioneer, The Newberg Graphic, The New Era (Sweet Home), The News-Register (McMinnville), The News-Review (Roseburg), North Coast Citizen, Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, The Oregonian, Polk Co. Itemizer Observer (Dallas), Redmond Spokesman, Rogue Valley Times (Medford), The Sandy Post, South County Spotlight (Scappoose), Seaside Signal, Siuslaw News (Florence), Tillamook Headllight Herald, West Linn Tidings, Wilsonville Spokesman, Woodburn Independent, The World (Coos Bay). This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon SB 686 would require Big Tech to pay for news
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
ACLU, Decoding Dyslexia join calls for state literacy grants to target highest needs schools
A student in the North Powder School District gets tutored in reading Feb. 20, 2023. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Literacy and civil rights advocates are calling on Oregon legislators to add targeted investment and accountability targets to Gov. Tina Kotek's bedrock literacy initiative or risk wasting it. House Bill 3040 would re-up funding for the Early Literacy Success Initiative first passed in 2023, providing schools with an additional $100 million to spend on improving reading and writing outcomes through 2027. It's currently in the Joint Ways and Means Committee, where legislators will negotiate funding and rules attached to the bill. The Oregon ACLU, the Oregon chapter of the national nonprofit Decoding Dyslexia, the nonprofit advocacy group Oregon Kids Read and several other groups in late May requested the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Ways and Means require at least $17 million of that go toward 42 of the state's 'most neglected' schools. In the first two years of the Early Literacy Success Initiative, more than 250 schools received a literacy grant. 'Oregon risks spending $90 million or more without meaningful progress on closing the literacy achievement gap,' group officials wrote in a news release. The 42 schools advocates want to receive targeted funding have the highest percentage of third through fifth graders not reading at grade level since at least 2018. They include César Chávez K-8 School in Portland and Washington Elementary School in Salem, which also have a higher than average percentage of students who are Black, Hispanic or Latino, Indigenous, rural or experiencing poverty. The groups also asked that of the $17 million to be set aside, legislators should require that $4 million is spent on training more than 400 teachers at those 42 schools in the 'science of reading,' and that the remaining $13 million go toward tutoring more than 5,000 of the highest needs students in those schools. The term 'science of reading' is used to describe the large body of cognitive and neurological science showing how the brain learns to read. Since the 1960s, hundreds of studies have been conducted to find the most effective ways to teach kids to read. Evidence shows that the human brain does not learn to read or write naturally but relies on explicit instruction in a specific set of skills. Over the past 25 years, nearly two in five Oregon fourth graders and one in five eighth graders have scored 'below basic' on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the nation's report card. That means they struggle to read and understand simple words. The nearly 10,000 elementary school teachers in Oregon learned different methods for teaching reading depending on where they went to college. Many colleges are failing to prepare teachers to teach reading, according to a recent analysis by the National Council on Teacher Quality. Research has found that teacher quality is the most important, in-school factor when it comes to student achievement. Reporting from the Oregon Capital Chronicle found most elementary teachers-in-training at colleges and universities in the state take only one or two courses on reading instruction, and are more immersed in theory than in linguistics and the rules of written language. Some even learned flawed methods as part of an approach to teaching reading called 'balanced literacy,' which can include teaching students to guess at unknown words, to memorize words and to use pictures to decode a word. House Bill 3040 as written offers a few updates to the Early Literacy Success Initiative, including language that will allow schools to spend the grants on training classroom assistants, not just teachers and administrators. It also would add the requirement that any grant money spent on K-5 reading curriculum has to be spent on curriculum that has been approved by the State Board of Education and create a regional network of literacy experts housed in the Oregon Department of Education to support school and district literacy specialists and help with coaching. In their request to the Joint Ways and Means Committee, the literacy and civil rights advocates asked that language in the bill currently prioritizing grant money to 'schools that have literacy proficiency rates that have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels,' be changed to, 'schools with the lowest rates of proficiency in literacy.' They also want the bill to mandate the Oregon Department of Education collect and report more data on what schools are doing with the grant money, including how many hours of tutoring students are offered, and details about the type and number of hours of professional development in reading instruction that teachers take, and who all is participating in the professional development. They've also asked that the Legislature require the Oregon Department of Education to monitor the efficacy of the Early Success Initiative by tracking and reporting regularly to legislators progress among 3rd graders at schools with the bottom 20% of reading proficiency scores. The latest request to the Joint Ways and Means committee follows an open letter Oregon Kids Read and more than 100 educators sent to the Legislature in March, asking that lawmakers require a portion of every literacy grant to go towards teacher training in the science of reading, ensuring all K-3 teachers and administrators in the state have received training by the fall of 2027. 'Literacy is a civil right,' Angela Uherbelau, founder of Oregon Kids Read, said in a news release. 'Families are calling on Ways and Means to use its funding oversight to prioritize students and schools that struggle the most.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Bill that would end statute of limitations for Oregon child sex abuse suits moves ahead
PORTLAND, Ore. () — A bill that would allow sexual assault survivors to report the abuse at any time has cleared the Oregon House. A group of state lawmakers unanimously approved after its third reading on Thursday. If it receives further support from the Oregon Senate and Gov. Tina Kotek, it could immediately remove the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse. Downtown Salem will nix free street parking later this summer The office of Rep. Annessa Hartman, one of the bill's chief sponsors, reported that law gives adult survivors just five years before they're able to file a civil complaint against their abusers. Those who are underage at the time of the abuse can wait up to five years or whenever they turn 40, depending on which comes later. But according to officials, experts have determined 52 is the average age for people to report the sexual assault they experienced as children. 'For far too long, survivors have been silenced by arbitrary deadlines that ignore the complex reality of trauma,' Rep. Hartman said in a statement. 'Today, we've said loud and clear: we believe you, we support you, and we refuse to let time be your abuser's greatest ally.' Gov. Kotek signed a . The passage of House Bill 3632 increased the statute of limitations for prosecuting first-degree sex crimes from 12 years to 20 years for adult survivors. For child survivors, the threshold was either increased to 20 years or whenever the individual turns 30, depending on which happens later. Historic lawsuit filed against big oil companies for Washington mother's heat dome death If Oregon were to pass HB 3582 as well, Rep. Hartman's office noted it would join 19 other states and the federal government in eliminating the statute of limitations for survivors of child sex abuse. The Oregon Senate read the bill for the first time on Thursday. It has since been referred to the rules committee. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Governor signs ban on dangerous chemical used for decades in first responder jobs: 'Something has to change'
Oregon's governor, Tina Kotek, approved a ban on firefighting foam that contains forever chemicals. As Environment America reported, Kotek made Oregon the 16th state in the U.S. to ban perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, in firefighting missions. She signed Senate Bill 91 into law at the request of the state Senate Interim Committee on Energy and Environment. This firefighting foam ban is good news because experts have linked PFAS to many health and environmental issues. The ban will protect firefighters from toxic chemical exposure as they risk their lives to save others. These substances are called forever chemicals because they don't break down in the human body or in natural environments. Even small amounts of exposure to them can lead to serious health conditions, including cancer, birth defects, organ damage, and developmental delays. Fortunately, many states have been working to pass laws to reduce exposure to forever chemicals. Because of the growing body of research connecting PFAS to health risks, lawmakers have proposed banning them from hospital equipment and common household products. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a ban on a commonly used, toxic solvent called N-Methylpyrrolidone because of its health risks. As new laws are gradually implemented to keep forever chemicals out of everyday life, you can protect yourself by reading product labels and avoiding plastic products. For example, you can choose plastic-free alternatives for the products you use and support brands that use plastic-free packaging. The Statesman Journal reported state Rep. Courtney Neron as saying: "When our first responders are getting sick from the very tools meant to keep us safe, something has to change. Safer alternatives are already being used by the military, at Oregon airports and fire stations in numerous states across the country." Celeste Meiffren-Swango, state director of Environment Oregon, thanked Kotek and the Oregon legislature for eliminating PFAS-laden firefighting foam to protect firefighters. "Together, we can keep working to eliminate PFAS from consumer products and help build a cleaner, greener, safer future in Oregon," she said, per Environment America. Do you worry about having toxic forever chemicals in your home? Majorly Sometimes Not really I don't know enough about them Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Group formed to invest, grant money from state's largest environmental damages settlement
The Lower John Day River, pictured, is among the Oregon waterways contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls. (Photo by Greg Shine/U.S. Bureau of Land Management/Flickr) More than two years ago, Oregon settled with agrochemical giant Monsanto over the company's alleged role in polluting waters of the state for more than 90 years with toxic chemicals harming humans and aquatic species. Now, Gov. Tina Kotek and the newly established Oregon Environmental Restoration Council will begin planning, investing and distributing that settlement money – $698 million – over the course of 50 years, using it to pay for environmental restoration and cleanup work across the state. Kotek announced the council's chairs Wednesday, as well as details about how the money in the state's Environmental Restoration Fund will eventually be allocated. 'The term 'once-in-a-generation opportunity' can be a little bit hyperbolic, but I think in this case, it's absolutely true,' said Nicole Maness, manager of the fund. 'This is a significant amount of money, and it's coming at a time when there's a huge amount of uncertainty around federal funding for restoration.' The settlement money will be invested by the State Treasury, and earn interest income that will be distributed by the Environmental Restoration Council and the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board biennially, Maness said. Half of the settlement money awarded each biennium will go to state agencies to support work on water and environmental restoration. One quarter will go to the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon for conservation and natural resources; and the remaining quarter will go to local communities and community-based organizations for projects benefitting people and neighborhoods disproportionately harmed by pollution. The deal between the Oregon Department of Justice and Monsanto is the largest environmental damages settlement in state history. The company agreed to pay in December 2022 to end a lawsuit brought by then Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum over allegations that Monsanto had for decades polluted state waters with Polychlorinated biphenyls, also called PCBs. Oregon is among several states that have sued the company, which has not admitted guilt or liability for the pollution. Monsanto was for decades the only manufacturer, seller and distributor of PCBs — colorless or light yellow compounds once used in coolants, electrical equipment, hydraulic oils, paints and caulking and copy paper — until it voluntarily ceased production of the compounds in 1977. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found the compounds can cause cancer in animals, and the federal Environmental Protection Agency says they are likely human carcinogens. PCBs continue to leach from landfills and travel into ground and surface waters where they are difficult to remove. More than a dozen waterways in Oregon are damaged by PCBs, including the Portland Harbor, Lower Columbia River, Middle Columbia River, Willamette River, Upper and Lower John Day Rivers and Coos Bay. The money will be used for more than just trying to tackle PCB pollution, Maness said, and 'in a way that is going to be meaningful to Oregonians, that is going to strike that balance between addressing past harms, but also opportunities to restore places that are important to people, important to wildlife.' These could include removing barriers to fish passage, improving overall water quality and aquatic habitat and ensuring salmon consumed among many tribes in Oregon are abundant and safe to eat, she said. Kotek on Wednesday announced she appointed Chuck Sams, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the former director of the National Park Service, and Michael Dembrow, former Democratic state senator representing Portland, as co-chairs of the council. She also appointed Vice Chair Cheyenne Holliday, advocacy director at the nonprofit Portland-based environmental and social justice group Verde. 'This is a tremendous opportunity for us to improve the health and living conditions of Oregonians in every part of the state, year after year for the next fifty years at least,' Dembrow said in a news release. 'It's especially important to have this stable source of funding right now, given our uncertain state budget and little hope for federal support for this important work.' The rest of the council will be made up of the directors, or a designee of the directors, of the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality; Oregon's attorney general or someone from the Office of the Attorney General; and two non-voting members from the Oregon House of Representatives and the Oregon Senate, chosen by those chambers. Kotek has yet to pick the final two members of the 11-member council she gets to appoint, but Maness said they will have to possess expertise in either PCBs or a wide range of environmental toxins. The council aims to have its first meeting this summer, Maness said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
