SALEM- Senate President Peter Courtney, D- Salem, and House Speaker Dave Hunt, D-Clackamas County, announced on Tuesday their intentions to use the week’s Emergency Board meeting to prevent cuts to senior in-home care and services for those people with disabilities.

During the Legislative Emergency Board meeting scheduled for Thursday morning, Hunt and Courtney expect to restore $17 million of the $158 million that the Oregon Department of Human Services was required to cut as part of the governor’s allotment process.

BEND- Jim Klahr made his way to Bend, Oregon on Friday to happily announce that Initiative 28, which would establish medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, would be on the 2010 ballot.

Klahr, the co-chief petitioner of Initiative 28, said the regulated medical marijuana supply system would allow patients instant access to their medicine from a qualified and reliable source.

PORTLAND- With the end of the second quarter in 2010, congressional candidates across Oregon have released their fundraising data.

State Rep. Scott Bruun, R-West Linn, sent out a release shortly before financial data was due to the Federal Election Commission. The Republican candidate hoping to unseat freshman Congressman Kurt Schrader raised $198,000 between March 30 and June 30. This has been his strongest quarter in the election so far, with over $150,000 coming from individuals and just over $13,000 coming from political action committees (PACs).

PORTLAND- An internal poll released Wednesday brings into question the electoral safety of long time Senator Ron Wyden.

Portland based polling firm, Moore Information, made public their survey results paid for by the Huffman campaign which showed that 37% of Oregonians support a GOP candidate for Sen. Wyden’s seat while 36% favored the incumbent Democratic Party. Twenty-eight percent of respondents remained undecided, as of when the survey was performed on July 10th.

PORTLAND- The Oregon Health Policy Board met Tuesday to discuss, among other things, the goals and recommendations of the Health Improvement Plan Committee.

The committee came forward with six broad goals.

Their primary goal was to improve social and economic factors affecting public health. The committee recommended that the Oregon Health Authority request a Governor’s Executive Order to create a council that would “monitor health equity in all statewide policies.”

A group gathered at a bus stop Friday, despite the heat, to celebrate the addition of four low-floor hybrid buses to the TriMet fleet that covers the Line 72-Killingsworth/82nd Ave. route.
TriMet was notified Thursday that it had received $2 million in funds from the Federal Transit Administration after submitting its application in early February to [...]