EDITORIALS
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Why the rush on lodging tax?
June 19, 2013 4:00 am
Some awfully good people disagree about what’s best for Bend tourism. A group of hotel owners, tourism officials and business owners supports increasing Bend’s lodging tax by 2 percentage points from 9 to 11 percent. There’s another group — made up of an equally diverse....MORE
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Education bill defection opens door for leadership
June 19, 2013 4:00 am
One defecting Democratic senator gave pension reform and education funding another chance Monday. Sen. Chris Edwards, D-Eugene, said he voted against the K-12 school budget because it leaves his district short, facing more teacher layoffs and fewer school days. He broke the party-line vote and....MORE
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Rule change would clarify need to hold the leash
June 18, 2013 4:00 am
Like most cities and park districts, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department requires that dogs be leashed on most parks land. Unfortunately, the rule putting the requirement in place doesn’t specifically say that a person must be holding the leash, and some park visitors have used that....MORE
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SDC deferral program should be extended
June 18, 2013 4:00 am
In 2008, the city of Bend gave builders a break by allowing them to delay payment of system development charges, better known as SDCs. The move was a response to the economic troubles that were devastating the construction industry, and the city is now considering extending the program for two more ....MORE
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Follow the Bend park board’s lead on the 6% pickup
June 16, 2013 4:00 am
The leaders at Bend Park & Recreation District have succeeded where legislators in Salem and many local governments have failed. They have abolished the so-called “6 percent pickup" for their employees in the state retirement system. The 6 percent pickup is one piece of the funding for....MORE
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Drug court earns its keep
June 16, 2013 4:00 am
If you want a criminal justice success story in Deschutes County, look no further than the Deschutes County Circuit Court’s Family Drug Court. It’s the kind of story that should make it easy for county commissioners to approve the program’s grant application for roughly $250,000.....MORE
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Don’t pass burden of passing taxes
June 15, 2013 4:00 am
The Oregon Liquor Control Commission this week served the Legislature a refreshing shot of push back. The OLCC board rejected a 25-cent-a-bottle increase on distilled spirits. It was a 3-2 vote. Some legislators were hoping the increase of $8 million a year in booze taxes would help close the....MORE
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Changes increase rigor of GED
June 15, 2013 4:00 am
Big changes are coming to the GED test that allows adults to gain a high school credential. The test is moving online and being revised to better align with the new Common Core standards being introduced in schools across the nation. The GED is a critical point of access for those who didn’t....MORE
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Don’t hide school district’s wage and benefit deals
June 14, 2013 4:00 am
The board of Bend-La Pine Schools approved a contract this week with its teachers union, classified union and agreements with other staff. What’s in those contracts? What pay raises? What benefit changes?If a member of the public had gone to the board meeting on Tuesday night, they....MORE
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Mirror Pond decision depends on the dam
June 14, 2013 4:00 am
Central Oregon abounds in pristine river scenes, where water follows natural paths edged by marshy areas and riparian shrubbery. In downtown Bend, though, for decades we’ve had something else: an urban pond, a landscaped place, partly lined with retaining walls and walkways. We’d like....MORE
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School district is smart to scale back digital plan
June 13, 2013 4:00 am
Give Bend-La Pine Schools credit for listening. After receiving criticism for the size and speed of their digital conversion vision, administrators have made some meaningful revisions. When the district presented its vision to the school board on April 23, it included putting a digital device,....MORE
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Changes improve child-prostitution bill
June 13, 2013 4:00 am
Having sex with a child prostitute is despicable. Young men and women lured or coerced into prostitution at the age of 14 or 15 or even younger are often the victims of ongoing abuse at the hands of those who control their lives. Yet pimps continue to seek out youngsters because there’s a....MORE
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Oregon doesn’t need Rudy Crew’s empty promises
June 12, 2013 4:00 am
Rudy Crew, Oregon’s education czar, has found another way to fail Oregon students. He’s failed to show commitment to his job to transform Oregon’s public education. His arrogant excuses are pure gamesmanship. Crew made a promise to Gov. John Kitzhaber that he’d stay in his....MORE
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House should sign off on immunization bill
June 12, 2013 4:00 am
Oregon has a problem with immunizations that Senate Bill 132 could help solve. Passed by the Oregon Senate last week, the bill would force parents to confront the facts if they want their children exempted from school vaccination requirements for non-medical reasons. The bill now goes to the House,....MORE
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Degrees shouldn’t trump appropriate education
June 11, 2013 4:00 am
Newly released figures show Oregon college enrollment rates are not just far below Gov. John Kitzhaber’s goals, but also significantly below the national average. The National Student Clearinghouse reports that only 61 percent of students from Oregon’s high school class of 2011 were....MORE
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Wolf measure contains good compromises
June 11, 2013 4:00 am
After 18 months of talking, Oregon ranchers, conservationists and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife can agree on a plan to manage predatory wolves in this state. Key elements of that agreement are written into House Bill 3452, which cleared the House Thursday. Wolves’ history in....MORE
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Bill would limit electronic tracking of students
June 9, 2013 4:00 am
In some schools in Texas and California, radio-frequency devices have been installed in student ID cards or clothing, allowing the schools to track students’ locations and take attendance automatically. No one has proposed doing this in Oregon, but legislators are working on a bill that would....MORE
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There are no easy solutions for Josephine, Curry
June 9, 2013 4:00 am
It’s hard to see a happy end to the budget problems that have Josephine and Curry counties on the brink of financial disaster. Every solution offered has serious drawbacks. Both counties relied heavily on timber revenues from the federal government to fill coffers from 1937 until the early....MORE
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House lobbying bill would clarify reporting rules
June 8, 2013 4:00 am
When a lobbyist lobbies a lobbyist, must he report the cost of their lunch? How about if each pays for his own food? And are the answers different if one “solicits" rather than just “lobbies" the other?Such are the issues under discussion as the Oregon House Committee on Rules discusses ....MORE
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Don’t poison state’s health care reform
June 8, 2013 4:00 am
Oregon’s sweeping changes to Medicaid don’t stand a chance of succeeding if the Legislature doesn’t stop bad bills such as House Bill 3309. Poison pill politics and health care reform do not mix. Gov. John Kitzhaber’s Medicaid overhaul was designed to improve health and help....MORE
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Phone record collection is way beyond the limit
June 7, 2013 4:00 am
Don’t you believe that cellphone carrier Verizon is the only one being required to turn virtually all its call records over to the National Security Agency, the exception being calls made outside the U. S. to locations outside the U. S. In fact, don’t be surprised if every service....MORE
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Don’t just stick measures on ballot
June 7, 2013 4:00 am
Bad ideas don’t belong on the ballot. Bend City councilors shouldn’t stick measures there just to let voters decide their merit. The discussion came up Wednesday night when the Bend City Council was discussing an increase in Bend’s transient room tax. A coalition of business, arts....MORE
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Collect hotel taxes based on what the lodger pays
June 6, 2013 4:00 am
Tourists visiting Oregon generally pay a room tax for the privilege of staying here. The tax varies by community and includes 1 percent for the state. In theory, it is calculated on the cost the lodger pays for the room. Reality is a bit different, though. If you book your rooms through an online....MORE
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Fix health care reimbursements
June 6, 2013 4:00 am
If health care reform is going to work, there has got to be reasonable compensation for health care providers. Medicare and Medicaid are going the wrong way in Oregon. Reimbursement rates for home health providers in Oregon get a 6 percent cut in 2013. If providers were being overcompensated, a cut....MORE
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Prescribed burns are needed to tame wildfire
June 5, 2013 4:00 am
Wildfires keep winning, more than 100 years after the U. S. Forest Service declared war on them. The tools to prevent wildfires are shackled by unpopularity, lack of money and policies that don’t make them easy to use. That’s why prescribed burns, such as the ones you may see on the....MORE
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Death of a family member warrants leave
June 5, 2013 4:00 am
Oregon is well on its way to giving many employees in the state the right to take up to two weeks off in the wake of the death of a family member. A bill expanding the Oregon Family Leave Act has been approved by both houses of the Legislature, though the House of Representatives still must approve ....MORE
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Foreclosed properties should get basic tidying up
June 4, 2013 4:00 am
Some neighborhoods in Oregon have been harder hit by foreclosures than others. A bill that cleared the state Legislature last week and is on its way to the governor could be a boon to those who remain behind. House Bill 2662 gives local governments the power to step in, should vacant properties....MORE
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Bus fee increase is reasonable
June 4, 2013 4:00 am
Bus riders are likely to soon be paying more in Central Oregon. The Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council’s board is scheduled to look at fee increases at its meeting on Thursday. It’s something that must happen if the Cascades East Transit service is going to be stable. The proposed....MORE
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It should not be against the law to ask for information
June 2, 2013 4:00 am
President Obama made an attempt in his recent speech on terrorism to quash any suspicion that he is out to intimidate the press.“I’m troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," he said.....MORE
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Congress needs to pass bill on Bowman Dam
June 2, 2013 4:00 am
Bowman Dam’s issues didn’t get fixed in the last Congress. They should get fixed in this one. The issues are simple enough. We don’t know who said this first, but there is nothing wild and scenic about a dam. When the Crooked River was designated wild and scenic under federal law,....MORE
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Better approach to prisons
June 1, 2013 4:00 am
Keeping all sides happy while reforming Oregon's prison system may be as difficult to accomplish as making major changes to its Public Employee Retirement System. A majority of Gov. John Kitzhaber's blue-ribbon Commission on Public Safety came up with a reform proposal that relied in part on....MORE
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Don’t mess with Bend-La Pine’s reserve money
June 1, 2013 4:00 am
The labor negotiations between Bend-La Pine Schools and its teachers union are as about as collegial and polite as things can get when it’s a fight about money. When the groups met over four hours Thursday night, they did get courteously crosswise in a few areas. For instance, one difference....MORE
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Rainy day fund shouldn’t exist only for schools
May 31, 2013 4:00 am
Oregon’s schools are critical — without quality education available children and, indeed, everyone else in this state face huge economic handicaps. Arguably just as important, however, are such things as public safety, poverty and health. Yet state lawmakers are considering a plan that....MORE
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Alfalfa needs fire protection
May 31, 2013 4:00 am
About 300 homes in Deschutes County could catch fire today and burn without a single firefighting agency there to put out the blaze. Residents of Plainview, Lower Bridge and Alfalfa live outside any of the county’s several rural fire protection districts. That may change in the coming months,....MORE
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Don’t sneak around intent of Measure 25
May 30, 2013 4:00 am
In 1996, Oregon voters made it clear just how difficult they want it to be for the Legislature to add new taxes. Voters approved Measure 25. It requires a three-fifths vote in the Legislature before new taxes are passed. In the House, that would be 36 votes. In the Senate, that would be 18 votes. We....MORE
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Charging for police overtime makes sense
May 30, 2013 4:00 am
The Bend Police Department has its share of financial challenges these days, and one way it hopes to resolve them is to bring in more money for some of the services it provides. Thus it will begin charging organizers of public events for some of the cost of policing those gatherings. It’s a....MORE
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Library is right to have areas for teens and kids
May 29, 2013 4:00 am
Libraries are many different things to many different people. They offer services to patrons from infancy through old age, and in doing so they must keep the needs of everyone in mind. That can create hard feelings, as Deschutes Public Library officials learned last summer when a patron charged that ....MORE
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Noise ordinance is biased in favor of businesses
May 29, 2013 4:00 am
The city of Bend’s noise ordinance is up for approval at tonight’s City Council meeting. It’s new and improved, but it’s still not good enough. The council needs to tweak it again so that homeowners can’t be fined without the police using a decibel meter. Homeowners....MORE
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Community colleges would benefit from bill
May 28, 2013 4:00 am
Today Oregon’s community colleges and universities may not compete directly with privately owned career colleges such as DeVry University under most circumstances. A bill on its way to the governor will change that. Central Oregon Community College has become one of the poster children in....MORE
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City website offers useful information
May 28, 2013 4:00 am
Despite snow flurries in Bend Wednesday morning, summer really is almost here, and with it, the rush to get streets into shape while the weather holds. With the rush come traffic delays, unfortunately, although the city of Bend has a new tool to make avoiding them easier. A new interactive feature....MORE
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Pressure mounts to expand Bend’s growth boundary
May 26, 2013 4:00 am
Good news about the Central Oregon economy points to the increasing urgency to expand Bend’s urban growth boundary. Figures released last week show Bend’s population growth is picking up, adding 2,470 residents from 2010-2012, a rate of 3.2 percent. That follows the much slower....MORE
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Support airspace expansion for training
May 26, 2013 4:00 am
The U. S. Air Force and the National Guard Bureau want more room for their planes to fly over Oregon. They should get it. There are already thousands of square miles of airspace over the state that the planes can use to train. The proposal would grow that. It would add about 2,500-square miles over....MORE
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Scary problem, scary solution
May 25, 2013 4:00 am
House Bill 3436 is a well-intentioned, carefully crafted and alarming product of the Oregon Legislature. It creates a task force, the Oregon Retirement Savings Investment Board, to go about the task of creating the Oregon Secure Retirement Plan. The idea is to develop something like the Oregon....MORE
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Culver residents need to restore trust, engagement
May 25, 2013 4:00 am
Eighteen months ago, voters rejected a Culver school bond by 381 votes. This week, the gap was only 60 votes. That’s more than a glimmer of hope. This year’s bond request was smaller — $9.75 million vs. the earlier $14.6 million — which surely helped. The district has real....MORE
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Mediation bill an improvement
May 24, 2013 4:00 am
Oregon’s foreclosure crisis took a step toward resolution Wednesday when the state House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve SB 558, the bill requiring the opportunity for mediation in judicial as well as nonjudicial foreclosures. The bill itself is not perfect, but it is far....MORE
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Health law complexities undercut critical progress
May 24, 2013 4:00 am
For all the controversy about President Barack Obama’s grand revision of health care, there was wide agreement on at least two things: Too many people lack access to health care, and too many household budgets are ruined by its cost. The goal — everybody gets health care at a reasonable....MORE
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Celebrate limits to double majority
May 23, 2013 4:00 am
Central Oregon voters approved all but one of the money measures on their ballots this week, choosing to support schools, public safety and recreation. Had this election taken place during the 10-year reign of the original double-majority rule, however, all the measures would have failed.....MORE
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Diapers foul trash pickup plan
May 23, 2013 4:00 am
Not quite two years ago, the city of Portland decided to take the next step in its push to persuade residents not only to recycle, but to compost, as well. By one measure the move has been a success — garbage going to landfills has dropped by 38 percent, according to Oregon Public....MORE
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Don’t allow off-leash dogs on park trails
May 22, 2013 1:06 am
Bend parks and trails are scenes of all sorts of polite — usually — clashes: Bike v. pedestrian. Duck and geese feeders v. Bend law. And off-leash dog v. on-leash dog or people or bikes. Some candidates for the Bend Park & Recreation Board said they wanted to look into allowing more....MORE
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Don’t reduce legal limit for drunken driving
May 22, 2013 1:01 am
We’re all for putting an end to drunken driving. In Oregon in 2011, alcohol-impaired drivers were involved in nearly 30 percent of all traffic fatalities, a figure that mirrors the national average closely. At the same time, however, imposing Prohibition by degrees, as a National....MORE
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