Sherwood Gazette

Wages will increase to $14.75 for much of the Portland area, $13.50 for outlying areas.Starting July 1, Oregon workers earning minimum wage will take home a little more pay each week. State legislators passed a bill in 2016 creating a three-tiered minimum wage, with different minimums for workers depending on location. The state is divided into three zones: The highest minimum wage occurs in the Portland area's Urban Growth Boundary which stretches through Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties. The move placed Oregon among the highest minimum wage states in the nation. This Friday, workers in much of Multnomah, Washington...

West Linn native and Stanford alum Tim Tawa was promoted to Double-A Amarillo June 23.Movin' on. That's the theme of this past week's Hops action as the minor-league team finished-up the first half of the 2022 season, while one of its best and most prominent players was promoted to Double-A Amarillo. After dropping four-of-six games to Vancouver, Hillsboro ended the first half with a 29-35 record and in last place in the High-A West standings. But with the slate wiped clean, the team and its manager are excited to start anew with heightened goals for the second-half's 66 games. "That's...

Residents of state are more polarized on issue than nationally based on political party affiliation.A majority of Oregonians support stricter gun laws, according to a new poll by the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center. The nonpartisan independent research group on Thursday released data reporting 59% of survey respondents say they believe the state's firearms laws should be stricter, which is in line with an April 2021 Pew Research poll finding 60% of Americans want stricter gun laws. The beliefs center surveyed 1,446 Oregon adults between June 2 and 11 about gun regulations. Last month, an 18-year-old man in...

The Hops infielder and former prep basketball standout chose pro baseball over a college career at Louisville.The NBA may be "fantastic," but baseball has always been king for Hillsboro Hops infielder A.J. Vukovich. The third-year professional and second-year player — minor league baseball didn't play in 2020 due to COVID-19 — from Wisconsin made his mark on the state's high school basketball history books, finishing his career at East Troy High School as Wisconsin's 25th all-time leading scorer with 2,155 points. But despite his success on the hardwood, the 20-year-old slugger made one thing very clear. "Yeah, I miss basketball,...

With Senate papers due to open, historian praises 'admirable leadership,' but also touches on later scandals.Had Richard Etulain graduated four years after he entered Northwest Nazarene College, he would have heard a 36-year-old Mark Hatfield speak at the commencement ceremony in May 1959. But Etulain took an extra year to obtain a bachelor's degree from what is now a university in Nampa, Idaho. He was pursuing an Oregon dairyman's daughter who would later become his wife. So he did not hear Hatfield, then and now the youngest person ever elected governor of Oregon. That changed during his six years in...

Legislator: Oregon must continue its leadership in standing up for access to reproductive care. In more than 30 years of ordained ministry, I have been asked countless times to provide counsel, prayerful support and pastoral care to people making medical decisions. I believe that individuals are the best decision-makers when it comes to their own sacred bodies, in consultation with their health care providers. During those 30 years, I have seen a lot. That's why I'm calling for stronger pro-choice leadership in Oregon than ever before. I believe in the separation of church and state. Laws which restrict abortion use...

The Tigard Festival of Balloons is underway, restoring a time-honored tradition after two years of cancellations. {loadposition sub-article-01}

Oregon reactions roll in on the ruling that ends federal guarantees of a woman's right to choose.The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling Friday, June 24, which has protected women's reproductive rights for nearly half a century. A leaked document had foreshadowed the seismic shift in the court, which had upheld other reproductive rights cases in the decades following Roe. The high court on Friday eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion, which leaves the questions of abortion to the states, not the federal government. The ruling was on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a...

Happy Valley woman mobilizes friends to create nonprofit, provide supplies and bread for war-ravaged countryWhile the world watched Russia invade Ukraine, Happy Valley resident Klavdia Moore cried. She cried for days because her homeland was again besieged by an aggressive nation. With a deep fear for her family living in Ukraine and for the millions of residents now at war, Moore decided to act. "It was the 24th of February, and I was at home alone. Watching the news broke my heart," Moore said. "I was devastated, but I often send packages to family living in Ukraine, so I...

Tigard High School student, 17-year-old Clackamas County resident will attend national pageant in AugustIt is not every day that a parent gets to see her child's dream come true, but last Saturday night at the Seaside Convention Center Fabienne Fitzwater saw her daughter crowned Miss Oregon's Outstanding Teen 2022. "It was such an emotional experience. As a parent, you know how hard your child has worked to achieve this victory and to actually be there to watch her dream come true, was such a surreal moment," she said. "I am extremely proud of her and so happy for her. She...

There will be as many as 20 balloons taking flight June 24-26 at Cook Park; tethered rides are available for all ages.It has been a fun way for people from the Portland area to welcome summer over the years, and go up, up and away at the same time. Now, the Tigard Festival of Balloons will welcome back people after two years away because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Up, up and away they'll go in hot air heaven for the 38th year, Friday-Sunday, June 24-26 at Cook Park in Tigard, a festival that also includes live music, a carnival, fancy...

There will be as many as 20 balloons taking flight June 24-26 at Cook Park; tethered rides are available for all ages.It has been a fun way for people from the Portland area to welcome summer over the years, and go up, up and away at the same time. Now, the Tigard Festival of Balloons will welcome back people after two years away because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Up, up and away they'll go in hot air heaven for the 38th year, Friday-Sunday, June 24-26 at Cook Park in Tigard, a festival that also includes live music, a carnival, fancy...

The regional transit agency is reducing service again because of its worst driver shortage.Service on some bus lines in the Portland metro area will once again be trimmed down — and in some places, canceled altogether — as TriMet continues to battle its worst driver shortage in history. The transit agency announced the newest service reduction affecting 10 bus lines in a press release Wednesday morning, June 22. Here are the changes bus riders can expect: • Two bus lines, 50-Cedar Mill and 92-South Beaverton Express, will be canceled altogether. • Hours will be reduced to only "peak travel time...

The Washington County Jail in Hillsboro has never had a stretch quite like the recent three deaths in under two months. The Washington County Sheriff's Office has never experienced a string of inmate deaths quite like the one it's seen in the past two months. The agency says that it usually only sees one death at the county jail in a year at most. This year, there have been three — and all since April. The trend mirrors a larger statewide and national increase in in-custody deaths, and it's also dredged up issues previously identified in the county's jail...

County officials say they must take a microscope to county budgets and operations in order to avoid future shortfalls.Washington County approved a $1.6 billion budget for next fiscal year on Tuesday, June 21, though the larger work of overhauling the county government's financial priorities is only just beginning. County officials had to balance the budget to address a $30 million shortfall identified earlier this year, with requested expenses for various county departments outpacing revenues. While the next fiscal year's budget is balanced — as required by state law — officials said that they will be taking a magnifying glass...

The new Saudi-backed golf tour is making the rich richer, but I'd like to think there are more important things.LIV Golf has become a fight over money and what it means to us — and I don't like it. The Saudi-backed alternative golf tour, which kicked off June 9 in the United Kingdom, makes its U.S. debut June 30 at Pumpkin Ridge in North Plains. Much has been made of the new eight-tournament circuit, made up of mostly aging stars diving headfirst into the pot of Saudi gold at the end of their career rainbow, and even more has been...

The Hops' losing streak hits 10 before team splits final four games of road series.Baseball isn't easy, and playing at the professional level is the furthest thing from it. In fact, Popular Science once said that hitting a baseball was the hardest thing to do in sports. Throw in the travel, the money, the physical toll on the body, and wives and kids at home longing for their husband or dad who's playing a kids game often thousands of miles away, and you've got a pressure-cooker for a young adult wondering if it's all worth it. That reality came to...

Economic Development, Housing, Judiciary and others get new lineups in a potential preview of 2023.Several Oregon House committees will see changes in leaders and members in what may be a preview of the 2023 session, assuming Democrats maintain a majority in the chamber. Perhaps the most significant involves Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas, who will relinquish her leadership of the Judiciary Committee and take over a renamed Economic Development and Small Business Committee. Bynum is in her third term. Rep. Jason Kropf, a first-term Democrat from Bend, will lead the Judiciary Committee. The Housing Committee will be led by Rep. Maxine...

Advocates join Merkley and Wyden to say state laws and Supreme Court decisions are not enough to end legal bias.Oregon's U.S. senators say that only national legislation, not Supreme Court decisions or state laws, will end discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden made their case for such legislation on Saturday, June 18, flanked by LGBTQ advocates — including a transgender college student — at an event where Merkley's Portland office is located. It was also Pride weekend in Portland. Merkley said that the current court, with its six-member conservative majority, could...

The Seattle-based company is suing, saying the county violated state law to protect regional monopolies. The ramifications of Washington County's spat with regional recycler Ridwell might be felt across the state, and both sides are preparing for a legal battle. Both sides of the debate say they are fighting for the same things: keeping recyclables out of landfills and ensuring a level playing field for recycling businesses in Oregon. But where they differ on these issues reveals larger complexities with Oregon's recycling laws and in Washington County's enforcement of the decades-old franchised waste hauling system. The conflict In...