BY JACOB SZETO
PORTLAND - In an Oregon Politico effort to obtain city records, a city staffer revealed that the highest paid staff is usually the one fulfilling the low-level records requests.
Public records requests are requests made by citizens to their government for information. In Oregon, the citizen is charged for the staff time to make [...]

BY JACOB SZETO
Portland – On Saturday morning, the Portland Public Schools (PPS) approved a labor contract with the Portland Association of Teachers.
The agreement has yet to be published online but Oregon Politico has obtained a copy and posted it for the public to examine.
When Oregon Politico asked PPS last week when the board would vote [...]

BY JACOB SZETO
PORTLAND- Portland Public Schools (PPS) and the Portland Association of Teachers union have come to a tentative collective bargaining agreement (CBA), but the public will not be allowed to see it until it is approved by both the district and the union.
This agreement will run for three years, retroactive to July 2009. Among [...]

BY JACOB SZETO
SALEM- An Oregon Politico investigation has revealed that state agencies and local governments are claiming their unclaimed property.
The Unclaimed Property office is a division of the Department of State Lands. This division’s goal is to “reunite as many people as possible with their money or possessions.” Often this brings to mind only individuals [...]

BY JACOB SZETO
A Secretary of State Audits Division audit report questions if $1.46 million used by the Oregon Commission for the Blind was spent prudently or lawfully.
This audit was not random. It was initiated in March 2007 after the Secretary of State received allegations of mismanaged operations and misused funds. After substantiating several of the [...]

BY JACOB SZETO

PORTLAND- Flyers distributed by the Oregon Student Association (OSA) to students on university campuses contained incorrect information about Oregon ballot Measures 66 and 67.

The flyer in question was intended to educate students about the impacts of Measures 66 and 67. It was passed out to students in classrooms during presentations and placed [...]

BY JACOB SZETO
In an effort to meet requirements for a transparency website created by House Bill 2500, the Department of Administrative Services has compiled and made available state workers’ salaries.
The data provided includes approximately 32,620 state workers’ salaries. Not included are employees of the Oregon University System, Oregon State Treasurer, and semi-independent agencies, temporary employees, [...]

BY JACOB SZETO
A recent report by the Oregon Secretary of State Audit Division questions the efficiency of state cell phone use. Of $3.1 million charged to the state for cell phones, the report found $588,000 of waste during a one-year period for unused and overused cell phones.
According to the report, “Charges did not appear consistent [...]

BY JACOB SZETO
The White House recently claimed that about 640,000 jobs have been saved or created as a result of the $787 billion stimulus package. Many have questioned the accuracy of this number, and for good reason.
Faulty reporting appears to be pervasive in the data used to make the claim. Jim Scarantino, of NewMexico.Watchdog.org, first [...]

BY JACOB SZETO
According to Recovery.gov, the U.S. government’s official website for data related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Oregon has a total of nine new congressional districts. That’s eight more than Oregon is projected to have after the 2010 census.
These nine phantom Congressional districts include: 00, 14th, 8th, 16th, 60th, 21st, 6th, 36th [...]