Graphic maps out Israel-Hamas war

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, In light of Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, visit to Congress this week, we created this graphic to map out the Israel-Hamas conflict. As the graphic shows, Israel is being attacked by forces within six different nations, all supplied by Iran.  It also shows some of the 120 attacks…

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Schools get billions more, kids drop out anyway

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, Absenteeism that started with the Covid-19 pandemic has morphed into a crisis with nearly half of all Oregon students listed as chronically absent in a newly released 2024 Kids County Data Book report. The data book, which evaluates the well-being of children throughout all 50 states, ranked Oregon children…

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Multnomah County continues free tent program

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation Portland city officials cleared 4,000 homeless encampments last year after a 2022 lawsuit contended tents blocked access on public sidewalks needed by people with disabilities, which equated to between 8,000 and 12,000 tents. But at the same time, the Joint Office of Homeless Services—a collaboration between the city and…

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Inflation is holding on (chart)

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, Inflation rose in recent months, with year-over-year inflation holding steady around three percent. Healing supply chains, and slower wage gains are largely responsible for slowing the rate from 2022, but inflation is still far from the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The Fed believes that inflation will slow further in…

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State makes $2.9 billion mistake

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, Unintentional accounting errors by Oregon state officials totaled $2.9 billion in 2023, state auditors concluded. That means state agencies failed to keep clear track of extra tax money received during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Oregon Secretary of State’s office reported. Auditors who reviewed paperwork from 18 federal programs allocating…

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School bans military stole at graduation

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, Officials at Reynolds High School in Troutdale refused to let graduates who enlisted in the military wear the stoles of their chosen armed services branches, prompting outrage from their families. Angel Lopez Lane, who enlisted in the Marines, planned to wear his stole when he crossed the stage to…

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Chart: Unusual gap in job numbers

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, Here is some data point from the job numbers: • Foreign born workers (which includes illegal migrants) vastly outpaced American born workers. • 433,000 people have left the labor force in May 2024. • 100,000 of these workers being defined as discouraged workers. • Those holding multiple jobs increased…

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Oregon’s 7 most admired

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon & Foundation, We know there is a lot of negativity and bad news in Oregon … … so we aimed to try focus on the positive. We asked Taxpayers Association of Oregon supporters which elected officials are doing a great job. There were 422 responses highlighting 40 elected officials, and…

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Serial thieves plague Portland, churches

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation, A burglar broke into St. Michael the Archangel Church in downtown Portland three times in one week and stole sacred items.  The church is offered a $1,000 reward for return of its sacred tabernacle and a holy item inside it.  It was later discovered in a garbage dumpster. Father…

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College costs +38%, enrollment -10%

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation About 10 percent fewer Oregonians are heading to college after high school graduation than the number who did so a decade ago, a change partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2011, about 65 percent of high school students attended community college or a university or trade school within…

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