Multnomah County considers flavored tobacco ban, despite court ruling

Your browser does not support the audio element. Earlier this month, Oregon City officials penned an open letter, published by the Portland Tribune, to the Oregon Department of Transportation. The letter states that the city commission is “adamantly opposed to any application of tolling in the region.”. It also...

Two years ago, the Oregon legislature approved the sale of $15 million in lottery bonds to help pay for a community center in Woodburn. Last year, the Department of Administrative Services decided against selling the bonds. The city of Woodburn filed suit. We talk to Woodburn mayor Frank Lonergan about what the community center would mean for the city, how much it will cost and what the lawsuit means for the future of the project.

More than 600 Portland city employees are prepared to strike Thursday after nearly a year of contract negotiations ground to a halt. The strike could broadly impact city operations, as Laborers Local 483 includes workers in the Portland Bureau of Transportation, the Bureau of Environmental Services, and Portland Parks and Recreation. Those employees are responsible for addressing sewage leaks, removing debris from city streets, cleaning biohazard waste dumped at city parks, and clearing streets of ice and snow, among other tasks.

More than 600 Portland city workers have walked off the job. Workers represented by the union Laborers Local 483 officially went on strike early Thursday after nearly a year of negotiations. The workers have been without a contract since June 2022, and negotiations over a new four-year deal broke down in December over wages.

Oregon Department of Transportation leaders are looking to implement tolling on Interstate 205 over the Abernethy and Tualatin River Bridges. The first toll could go into effect as early as next year. The state agency also plans to use a program of congestion pricing, where tolls are higher during the busiest times of the day. new revenue will pay for highway and bridge improvements, including seismic upgrades, and relieve congestion.

Your browser does not support the audio element. Last week, the first ever tri-county point-in-time count began, which was largely coordinated by Portland State University. Volunteers, service providers and outreach workers from Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas County surveyed people without adequate shelter to formulate updated data on what homelessness looks like in the region. The count finished yesterday. We’ll hear from two Portlanders who volunteered for this count for the first time. Marianne Nelson and Richard Gibson share why they chose to participate and what they heard from people they surveyed.

Portland Public Schools is closing its online program, the Online Learning Academy, at the end of the school year. Staff was notified Tuesday during a meeting. Families found out from an email they received Tuesday evening. In the message to families, district officials cited future budget concerns as a reason for closing the school.

With two weeks left before voters in Vancouver decide the fate of a proposed 10-year, $100 million affordable housing levy, its backers are feeling optimistic. The city, as much of the Northwest, has grown so much in recent years that its housing stock has not kept pace. The levy’s backers say people in the community are viewing the proposal as a necessity.

In Portland Public Schools’ adopted budget for this school year, continuing the Online Learning Academy was highlighted as one of the district’s efforts to “increase learning opportunities for every student.”. The state’s largest district opened the Online Learning Academy, or OLA, in 2021 to serve students in...