In the News
"Total crisis" was the phrase Sonya Moody-Jurado used in her Capitol Hill testimony to describe Chemawa Indian School, an off-reservation boarding school managed by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education (BIE).
Moody-Jurado should know the school's problems; she chaired the school board from 2015 to 2018.
Three Democratic members of Congress, two from Oregon and one from Washington, made the case for Medicare for All on Saturday in Portland.
Idaho Congressman Russ Fulcher is pushing for the passage of the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2019, this year's iteration of a bill that would provide for, among other things, clearing trees in the name of wildfire prevention.
A standard-bearer in the Medicare for All movement found a receptive audience during a pit stop in Portland — though crucial questions about the ambitious proposal remain unanswered, including how to pay for it.
Finding solutions to address affordable housing — not only in Columbia County but across the state and country — is complex and multifaceted.
That was the major outcome from a discussion between Democratic U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and a group of community leaders who met Monday, May 6, in St. Helens to discuss the intricacies, challenges and possible innovative solutions to the affordable housing crisis.
A classroom of preschoolers at the Head Start facility near McBride Elementary School in St. Helens got a special visit Monday afternoon, May 6.
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, a Democrat and longtime supporter of the federally funded Head Start program, and who also helped secure additional funding for the program in the 2018 omnibus spending bill, stopped by the school Monday to observe the educational program firsthand.
In a report that elicited calls for congressional action, the New York TimesrevealedWednesday that "senior officials at the Environmental Protection Agency disregarded the advice of their own scientists and lawyers in April when the agency issued a rule that restricted but did not ban asbestos."
St. Helens city leaders are reviewing a series of steps toward solutions to the city's housing needs.
On May 1, the St. Helens City Council held a public forum to discuss the current results of the Housing Needs Analysis, an ongoing project that began in October of 2018 to address current affordable housing shortages in St. Helens.
Congressional review
Rep. Bill Posey's (R-Rockledge) bipartisan legislation to fight coastal acidification and help estuaries like our Indian River Lagoon was recently approved by the Full House Science Committee.
Posey introduced the National Estuaries and Acidification Research Act (H.R. 988) with Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), both fellow co-chairs of the Congressional Estuary Caucus.