Bend awarded $5 million federal grant to fuel affordable housing production
Bend Bulletin The city of Bend has received a $5 million grant intended to kickstart affordable housing supply, the federal government announced Wednesday. Awarded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the grant set the course for the city to identify and address policies that slow affordable housing
Wyden, Merkley announce $30.1 million in ‘Payments in Lieu of Taxes’ to Oregon counties; $6 million to C. Oregon
KTVZ WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley announced Thursday that counties throughout Oregon will receive more than $30.1 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) funding for 2024, including over $6 million for Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson counties. Because local governments cannot tax federal lands, annual PILT
Wyden, Merkley, colleagues call on Postal Service to prepare for November election
KTVZ WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Senator Ron Wyden said Thursday he is leading Senate colleagues including fellow Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley in calling on Postmaster General DeJoy and the U.S. Postal Service to share their plans to accommodate high volumes of mail expected in the upcoming 2024 general election in Oregon and nationwide.
Mortgage relief for those ‘underwater’
Last month alone, one in every 253 homes in Deschutes County was foreclosed upon. While Bend’s enduring housing disaster seems the flip side of its heralded growth years, the problem hardly nests there. One in every 397 homes in Crook County similarly went down in September, as did one in
EDITORIAL: It’s about jobs
Ever since congressional Republicans hijacked the national debate about the state of the U.S. economy and misdirected it toward reducing the federal deficit, millions of Americans — those still working as well as those unemployed and underemployed — have been trying to figure out why Congress doesn’t seem to understand
How to keep the `super-committee’ honest on jobs
Senator Jeff Merkley is worried. He fears that it’s increasingly unlikely that the Congressional deficit “super-committee” will make a serious effort to incorporate job creation into its mission. Worse, he worries that some of its deficit-cutting proposals could actually do further harm to the economy. Senator Merkley has an idea
Super Committee Proposal Should Be Scored For Labor Market Impact
Jeff Merkley continues to be one of my very favorite senators: “We need to have every proposal that the super-committee brings out to have it scored by its jobs impact,” Merkley told me in an interview this morning. He plans to urge Democratic and GOP leaders to agree to this
An Oregon Perspective: What We Can Do to Lower Gas Prices
Skyrocketing gas prices are like a tax on working families. And it is the worst possible tax in the sense that it ships our energy dollars overseas, enriching the Middle East while hurting job creation here at home. We need to take concrete steps both to lower costs at the pump now and to gradually reduce the grip oil companies and petro-dictators have on our economy.
Merkley Calls For Action To Lower Gas Prices
BEND, OR — With oil and gas prices increasing considerably over the last couple of weeks, Jeff Merkley and several other senators have called on President Obama to act now to lower the price at the pump. Merkley, a guest Thursday morning on Wake Up Bend!, said a small portion
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