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News Clips

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Local

• Portland must take a new look at its priorities to solve its budget problems

We are facing a budget crisis in the city of Portland for the same reason virtually every other city and state in this country is facing a budget crisis: In 2008, investment bankers and hedge fund CEOs drove this country into the biggest, most prolonged, most severe economic crisis we've seen since the Great Depression.

• PROPOSED EDUCATION URBAN RENEWAL AREA - These are challenging economic times. Teacher layoffs, school closures, cuts to public safety, parks and infrastructure maintenance are in the news on a regular basis. When considering using urban renewal as a financing tool, it is important to:
  

• Appreciate the impact urban renewal has on basic city, county and school services; and

• Evaluate whether the proposed urban renewal projects truly are a higher priority than the city, county and school services that will be adversely affected by the diversion of property tax dollars over the life of the district.

• Big salaries escape school cuts: Groups say PPS budget ax is hitting the wrong positions By Jennifer Anderson

Portland Public Schools is a land of many chiefs.

• Parents, students and teachers plead for reprieve from North Portland's Humboldt, Tubman schools closure By Cornelius Swart

“I look around here and all I see are broken hearts.”

• Bake Sale and Budget Cuts by Nathan Gilles

“For every dollar we save now,” said Labors’ Local 483’s Kevin Stampflee, “we lose ten dollars down the road when things are worse. So do we wait for it to crumple, or do we fix it now?”

• City of Portland unveils grand goals for PSU growth By Katrina Petrovich

Proposed urban-renewal area could boost university development by $100 million

• A Corporate Budget or a People’s Budget? By Shamus Cooke

How are government budgets created, and in whose interests?

National

• The People Behind the Lawmakers Out to Destroy Public Education: A Primer - What You Need To Know About ALEC

Since the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of many states, there has been an explosion of legislation advancing privatization of public schools and stripping teachers of job protections and collective bargaining rights.

• Rejecting ‘Buffett Rule,’ House Passes Business Tax Cut By JONATHAN WEISMAN

Republicans are in talks about pushing a bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 before the November election, and ahead of their expiration in January.

• Senate Republicans Block Debate On Buffett Rule DAVID WELNA

The Buffett Rule bill would "restore the confidence of middle-class Americans in our tax system by assuring that those at the very top of the income spectrum aren't paying lower rates than regular families do."

• The Arrest of George Zimmerman by MARK VORPAHL

Mass Action Gets Results

• Read the Tax Returns From Karl Rove’s ‘Dark Money’ Group (Donors Still a Mystery) by Kim Barker

There are no donor names, no clues as to whether they are individuals, companies or trade groups, and no hint as to whether there are repeated donors from year to year.