In The News

Americans bet $100 million on Trump v. Harris, but at what cost?

NPRAn election betting advertisement flashed on screen during coverage of former President Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden this weekend on the Right Side Broadcasting Network, a conservative media company. “Bet on the US election,” the ad for Kalshi said as Trump spoke on stage. “Bet $100 on Trump,

Why Democrats’ purest filibuster reformer is playing the long game

Semafor The News The filibuster’s leading Democratic antagonist will continue his charge to weaken the 60-vote threshold — even if Republicans are in power. To many Democrats, choosing process over party might sound ill-advised or even crazy. Not to Jeff Merkley, the lanky progressive senator from Oregon, whose commitment to

Disability cut would be ‘death sentence,’ says Social Security chief

A failure by Congress to shore up the Social Security Disability Insurance Trust Fund would be a “death sentence” for its beneficiaries, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration said Wednesday. At a Senate Budget Committee hearing focused on the fund, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) asked what would happen

‘Better for people and fish’

ASHLAND — Bear Creek’s wild coho salmon will get more water without siphoning it away from irrigators under a $1 million grant that will help jump-start what could become a massive restructuring of irrigation deliveries in the Bear Creek Basin. The federal Bureau of Reclamation has awarded $1 million to

Senators call for VA benefits for post-Vietnam vets exposed to Agent Orange

Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange on contaminated C-123 aircraft after the Vietnam War deserve compensation and benefits, and the Veterans Administration should stop denying them, a bipartisan group of senators led by North Carolina’s Sen. Richard Burr and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon wrote in a letter on

Lawmakers push for stronger regulations on e-cigarettes

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) – A group of U.S. senators are urging the FDA to regulate e-cigarettes after a new study reportedly shows high levels of cancer causing formaldehyde can be present in “vaping.” The study from Portland State University claims that high levels of a hidden form of the carcinogen formaldehyde can

President’s 2016 budget would reinstate timber payments

WASHINGTON — The 2016 budget released Monday by the White House calls for the reauthorization of timber payments, funds sage grouse conservation efforts and treats the largest wildfires as natural disasters. The spending initiatives are all familiar to Central Oregon. The Secure Rural Schools program, which compensated timbered counties for

Umatilla superintendent to join Merkley for State of the Union Address

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley announced Friday that Umatilla Superintendent Heidi Sipe will accompany him as his guest to Washington, D.C., for the 2015 State of the Union Address, Tuesday. Merkley selected Sipe as his guest in recognition of the school district’s efforts to build a successful robotics program and for

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