Editor's Take: May 18, 2009
atli haroarson, flickr
How Soon Can Green Jobs Get Here?
Bittersweet news for Oregon today as the state’s skyrocketing unemployment rate takes a breather. The 12 percent on the hunt are resting their hopes on green-collar training programs at local community colleges. Meanwhile, a poll shows 51 percent of Americans say they’re “pro-life,” but the Oregonian editorial board says the numbers are deceiving and the majority are in the middle.
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Oregon's unemployed look to community colleges
Oregonian
05/19/2009
Despite an additional $17 million in federal stimulus money for retraining laid-off workers in Oregon, the state's 12 percent unemployment rate is the second-highest in the nation. College officials hope that when the economy turns around, workers will be better prepared for the jobs that emerge. But for now, some students are being trained for jobs that aren't there.
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Washington governor expands same-sex partnerships
Seattle Times
05/18/2009
Surrounded by about 300 people -- most of them gay and lesbians couples and their children -- Gov. Chris Gregoire on Monday signed legislation giving registered same-sex domestic partners all the rights and benefits that Washington now offers married couples.
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BC power grid goes under the microscope
Vancouver Sun
05/19/2009
The debate over independent power production in British Columbia did not end with the recent provincial election. Now, along with electricity exports and natural resource development, private power projects will be examined in the context of their ability to make a practical contribution to the provincial economy -- for the next 30 years.
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Oregon's jobless rate takes a breather
Oregonian
05/19/2009
Oregon's unemployment rate flattened at 12 percent in April, interrupting the state's economic free fall but providing little hope to people stuck looking for work. The state lost 9,500 jobs in April, seasonally adjusted, a far cry from February, for example, when 22,800 jobs disappeared.
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Bill may help get health care for all WA residents
Tri-City Herald
05/19/2009
Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill Monday that advocates say is a step toward providing health care to all Washingtonians by 2014.
But while some in Olympia have their eye on the long view, the state's Health Care Authority is figuring out how to drop 40,000 people from the Basic Health Plan by Jan. 1.
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MT Senator Baucus at the center of health care debate
NPR
05/19/2009
When Barack Obama was still battling Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination last spring, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus was holding hearings in preparation for a major health care overhaul effort in 2009.
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Stimulus money for Hanford contractors despite record
Washington Post
05/19/2009
The Energy Department has begun releasing more than $6 billion in stimulus money to clean up 18 nuclear sites. Washington will receive $254 million for additional cleanup work at the Hanford nuclear site. Two years ago, some workers who the company had hired were caught falsifying documents about their handling of nuclear waste, according to an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Dam breaching an option to protect salmon
Boise Idaho Statesman
05/19/2009
U.S. District Judge James Redden told the Obama administration on Monday its changes to a Columbia-Snake salmon and dam plan should include a contingency plan to breach the four lower Snake River dams or draw down reservoirs on the Columbia or Snake rivers if current measures fail to protect endangered fish.
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Views: On abortion, the majority are in the middle
Oregonian
05/19/2009
A slim majority of Americans now identify themselves as pro-life for the first time since Gallup pollsters began asking the question 15 years ago. The shift would be newsworthy if not for the steady truth behind the simplistic label: The vast majority of Americans continue to believe in Roe v. Wade, which enshrines both the right of women to seek an abortion and the right of the state to impose certain limits on that right.
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Views: Time to scale up the new energy economy
Seattle Times
05/18/2009
The Environmental Protection Agency's finding that climate pollution endangers public health and welfare is a welcome step. The Obama administration deserves credit for moving quickly to respond to the climate challenge. But we have to do much more than just enforce existing laws like the Clean Air Act to deliver real climate solutions.
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