Citizen initiatives repair what our elected officials will not
Stop by the Coos County Fair and you will have a chance to chat with commissioner candidates Don...
Read MoreStop by the Coos County Fair and you will have a chance to chat with commissioner candidates Don...
Read MoreConsidering Port of Coos Bay CEO David Koch claims that Governor John Kitzhaber provided at least...
Read MoreCurry County could be the first test of a new law giving the governor the power to work with county officials to impose local taxes
Read Moretwo members of Cascadia Forest Defenders (CFD) climbed off the side of the “Oregon Pioneer” statue atop the state capitol with a banner proclaiming “KITZHABER’S LEGACY: PRIVATIZING THE ELLIOTT FOREST – CLEARCUTTING FOR PROFIT”.
Read MoreThe commission for the Port of Coos Bay had two slots come open and two more openings on the five person commission were vacant when Dan Smith and Caddy McKeown resigned. Sources indicate that Gov John Kitzhaber has appointed Eileen Ophus, Community Development Director of CCD Business Development and Eric Farm of Menasha Forest Products to fill two commission seats. These appointments would indicate that Kitzhaber supports the port’s role as an economic development agency while simultaneously ignoring the effect of a healthy environment on local industry. No one on the port appears to represent the environment or the fishing industry.
Read MoreIf corporations really wanted tax certainty, they would stop fiddling with the tax code and they would help clean it up by getting rid of the tax loopholes they enjoy.
Read MoreGuess what corporate tax loophole will cost an additional $35.1 million next biennium without requiring that the beneficiaries create a single job? That tax code spending provision is none other than single-sales factor...
Read MoreConservation groups have long encouraged the state to pursue other options for funding county operations and schools, and to generate revenue on state forests through innovative programs.
Read MoreCascadia Forest Defenders want good schools for Oregon’s children and vibrant, intact ecosystems. We believe that education should not be funded by clear-cuts. There are no schools on a dead planet!
Read MoreThe timber harvest privilege tax accrued roughly $35 million per year ( Oregon Department of Revenue ) to the state of Oregon, public schools and county governments before 2000. However, with the full implementation of HB 3575 by 2004 the timber harvest taxes collected from owners of more than 5,000 acres plummeted to zero. This has meant the loss of hundred of millions of tax revenue dollars over the last 12 years that is now vital to the State of Oregon, Oregon’s public schools, and shrinking county budgets and services.
Read MoreIn 1995, Kitzhaber approved a plan for the Elliott State Forest that allowed a 500-acre annual cut for the next 60 years. On Oct. 11, 2011, the governor approved a new plan allowing an annual cut of 850 acres a year, with decreased protection for endangered species and riparian zones. CFD says that the governor broke his own promise and is allowing a bigger cut in an already devastated ecosystem.
Read MoreThe Governor stated in a press release that Oregon has “learned a lot from our decade-long experiment with No Child Left Behind, but the program has not given us the tools we need to make meaningful improvements to student achievement and performance.”
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