By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation The Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation did a tour of the Arizona-Mexico border with a retired U.S. Border Patrol Agent and a journalist. Here’s what we found: We came across this wrecked car (above) a mile from the border wall. A getaway car left out too long is often quickly destroyed…
By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation The Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation did a tour of the Arizona-Mexico border with a retired U.S. Border Patrol Agent and a journalist. Here’s what we found: Along the Arizona border with Mexico, we found a huge hole in the wall—a gigantic gap. As our team came upon…
By Oregon Taxpayers Association Foundation Anyone pumping a vehicle with gas knows the prices have soared—hitting a 10-year record—and they’re much higher on the West Coast than anywhere else in the nation. In Portland, where the price of a gallon of gas hit $3.98, motorists soon may see the city’s second-highest price for fuel ever. In…
By Richard Leonetti Taxpayers Foundation of Oregon The large drop in auto production holds a lesson for the housing crisis. In 2021 North American auto production was down as much as 9% from 2019 due to supply chain problems and some temporary shutdowns of facilities, including GM and Ford. (Auto Production Idles, 1/21/22) The result…
By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation Oregonians who use natural gas could see their rates increase by nearly 10 percent if regulators grant a request from NW Natural—its second rate hike in three years. The average residential rates would increase from $63 to $70 a month, according to the Portland Business Journal. If approved, commercial…
The State of Utah was tired of people drawing endless unemployment benefits at a time when 10 million vacant jobs went ignored. They required all long-term people receiving unemployment benefits to attend a class on how to look for a job or a class on job training. The simple requirement of asking people to attend…
The homeless may go hungry in the Oregon Coast town of Brookings after the City Council prohibited churches from providing them with meals more than twice a week. This is similar to when a Gresham church ran into opposition in 2016. When the Covid-19 pandemic began, St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church began serving four meals a…
In the six previous years that Oregon measured how many of its students entered 10th grade on track, it was never lower than 78.5% — and that group of students went on to post a graduation rate of just 77%, second worst in the country in 2017. In 2020, the share of Oregon high school…
Oregon state government accidentally sent 40,000 vaccine records to the state’s two largest newspapers — The Oregonian and the Salem Statesman Journal. It meant to send just data totals but ended up sending the entire files. Oregon Department of Administrative Services said it was a “mistake”. This follows a pattern of mistakes by Oreon State…
Oregon has been rated as the nation’s worst hospital capacity per capita with its staffing shortage crisis as a leading culprit. While patients are dying waiting in line, Oregon governor Brown has approved nearly $200 million bonus for government staff. This does not include the up to $1,500 bonus for those government employees who worked…