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April Baer's comments:

on Racial Profiling

Hey everyone~

Here's a link to last weeks' council meeting, if you want to watch some of the public testimony. It's not the final word on the subject - but it might give you a better sense of the range of community concerns, and how the Commissioners see these issues.

Click on the hyperlink for the 9-2-09 meeting.

posted 3 years, 8 months ago
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on Obama Rolls Back Bush Logging Plan

thanks! We're rolling fast but I'll try to get the question in.

posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Obama Rolls Back Bush Logging Plan

I'll try to get this in, wes, but do you want to post more info about the suit?

posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Obama Rolls Back Bush Logging Plan

Here's the Biz Journal story, and the comment I just mentioned.

posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Rx: Doctors' Salaries

One final note--sorry I was late getting this up, we had some server problems. There's a pretty comprehensive NEJM article suggesting concrete changes for doctor pay. Go dig in.

posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Rx: Doctors' Salaries

Morning, everyone! Our staffing switcheroo has David in Emily’s host chair for the week. I’m wrangling the online conversation for him today. I noticed a popular medical blog, kevinmd.com is talking about this very same issue today.

posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Veterans' Affairs

Hey, great discussion, guys.

I'm a reporter at OPB, and I've been doing some stories lately about the impact of the war. I've been stunned to discover how the damage of war can lie dormant for years. I've met former service members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, came home, and did their best to get their lives restarted. They did OK for a year or three, but began to experience problems as they moved farther away from the supportive cocoon of the military. I also talked with one VFW counsellor who told me he's seeing more Vietnam-era vets running into latent PTSD and other psychological problems as they retire, when life finally comes to a slower pace. I know the Veterans' Administration has a big job on its hands already, but I find myself thinking about what can be done for veterans who are 3-5 years out of their service, and slipping through the cracks.

Any ideas?

posted 4 years, 6 months ago
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on Faith in the Northwest

One of our guests today is Gregg Harris, a well-known Evangelican minister in his own right, and father of the rock stars of online Christianity, Brett and Alex Harris. At their website, you?ll find the post I mentioned about challenging adult expectations.

***ooops. I just realized I misattributed the quote on air to Brett & Alex. They were quoting John Piper. Apologies to the Harrises!! --ab

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Faith in the Northwest

Thanks Chad!

Check out Gautham Pathial of Newberg, the only Hindu kid in his school. He had some thoughts on being the lone Hindu in town, posted for the website Hinduism Today

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Faith in the Northwest

Anybody catch Valarie's comment on air, that you can't be religious without being in fellowship? Thoughts?

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Faith in the Northwest


It's easy to talk about religion, but tricker to get to the heart of spirituality. I've been engrossed in what Ami, a former Oregonian living in Israel, has to say about this on his blog, Via Maris.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Faith in the Northwest

Is it possible to come at this as a study of what people find attractive in faith? Just scratching the surface of any group of believers, you can see pretty quickly that everybody brings something different. Some are looking for comfort, some for answers, some for purpose.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Summer Struggles

Here's one for you: Would you try a child care provider on Craig's List? There are quite a few listings on the Portland, Salem, and Bend Craig's list sites, some of them relatively affordable. But as one dad put it on this Atlanta forum, sometimes you get what you pay for. Would you try it, if it was the only option you could afford?

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Summer Struggles

Did everybody hear Jeffrey Capizzao's on-air take? He says these programs are one way of lifting graduation rates, improving the workforce.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Summer Struggles


One option is to see if your church/mosque/synagogue/shala has a free or reduced-price summer program, like this one in Portland. This may not be the first option that crops up. We know most Oregonians don't claim an affiliation. But would you send your kid to a religious summer camp, if you could get that service for free?

p.s. Thanks for the urbanmamas blog for posting info about the PUMP program.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Summer Struggles

Here's that link Annie just mentioned, listing summer food programs.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Summer Struggles

Thanks, all.

Actually, we're hoping to blow the discussion out beyond summer hunger, to what options are out there for families who can't afford summer day camp or sleepaway camps. Anyone who's ever priced these services can tell you it's not cheap.


The state of Oregon has a referral network that lists open slots in every county. But interestingly, there's no way to search just for summer options, or for subsidized or low-income programs geared toward people who can't pay market rate.

How are kids spending their summer, if they can't make it to camp?

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Measure 49 - How's that working out for you?

Buck, another interesting side trip: water rights and land use. Try out this blog by a guy in Salem. He?s definitely taken sides, but lays out some interesting stuff

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Measure 49 - How's that working out for you?

Coastrange, I'll see what I can find. I know maps exist of M37 claims....if I can't find it before ten AM, check back later today.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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on Measure 49 - How's that working out for you?

I'm wondering if the cooling of the real estate market is also throwing a little water on the vitriol of the Measure 37/49 debate. The kind of undeveloped land we're talking about will always be hot, but there's less demand now than two years ago. See these comments by Wilbur in the Dorothy English obit.

posted 4 years, 10 months ago
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