Fix the Initiative

By Greg Wasson It is common to lament the big, often out-of-state “abuse” of the initiative process by hearkening back to the days when Oregon initiatives were pure expressions of home-grown populist yearnings, uncontaminated by inter-state commerce. Problem is, those days existed only briefly, if ever. Less than a decade after the initiative’s creation, the…

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Private Company Likely to Manage Jackson Co. Libraries

by Kurt Weber A likely contract between Library Systems & Services, LLC and Jackson County, Oregon would reduce annual operating costs from $8.75 million to $4.3 million. The 15-branch Jackson County Library Systems has been closed since early April, due to the anticipated end of a federal timber payments program. The $4.3 million contract is…

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Economic Recovery in Sight

Posted by: Gienie Assink After years of endless debate, The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is revising existing plans to replace the land use allocations and management direction proposed under the Northwest Forest Plan in order to better meet the agency’s dual goals of providing a sustained flow of timber output and providing for habitat…

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