Share this article! Health-care bill passes Congress has passed groundbreaking health-care legislation that extends coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and cracks down on abuses by insurance companies. Oregonian representatives voted along party lines, with only Republican Rep. Greg Walden voting no on the bill. Congressman Schrader, who represents the Mid-Valley, said the health care … Read more
Health-care bill passes
Congress has passed groundbreaking health-care legislation that extends coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and cracks down on abuses by insurance companies.
Oregonian representatives voted along party lines, with only Republican Rep. Greg Walden voting no on the bill.
Congressman Schrader, who represents the Mid-Valley, said the health care bill makes “real progress” in reducing health care costs for Oregonians.
“This is not a perfect bill and we will have more work to do to moving forward,” he said in a statement.
Read the full story at the Statesman Journal.
Spreading the wealth
The $3.9 billion federal stimulus infusion Oregon received is mostly going to state agencies working to help the unemployed, the elderly and the poor.
But millions are also going directly to local governments and nonprofits, with groups like the Eugene Symphony among the beneficiaries.
By the end of 2009, according to a report by Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s office, state government had obligated or spent nearly $1.7 billion. Of that, $707 million was emergency unemployment compensation and extended benefits to the long lines of Oregon’s jobless. Another big chunk, $545 million, was direct aid to the growing ranks of the needy, in the form of increased food stamps, welfare payments and health care. Education got $279 million, mostly to pay teachers and other school and university employees.
Separately, hundreds of millions of stimulus dollars have entered Oregon without passing through state agencies, instead flowing directly to local governments, nonprofit groups such as the Eugene Symphony, and private contractors.
Read the full story at The Register-Guard.
Subsidies create biomess
As the federal government boosts subsidies to improve the biomass industries, Oregon’s wood-product plants could take a hit.
The biomass industry aims to turn leftover parts of forests into renewable energy, but draws its supplies from the same sources as wood plants.
“There’s already a lot of competition,” said David Leding, a Flakeboard plant manager in Albany. “And now all of a sudden, we have to compete with our federal government.”
As Congress moves to kickstart the biomass market — the burning of waste wood to generate electricity — its incentives and subsidies stand to make winners and losers out of players within the same industry. So far, its attempts have not been entirely successful, leading to unintended consequences.
Read the full story at OregonLive.com.
Stimulus softens UO cuts
The University of Oregon received $40 million in federal stimulus funds as of Dec. 31 — the most of any Lane County organization.
The money has helped the UO avoid deeper budget cuts and has mostly gone to paying faculty and continuing research.
Of the total, about $27.5 million will ultimately go to faculty salaries and benefits, and most of the rest will be doled out to a long list of research projects and graduate student support. The total allocation will help support 1,148 jobs, according to Oregon University System figures.
Even though the amount of stimulus money going to research is modest, both as a share of overall federal stimulus spending and as a share of the nation’s recent research budget, it could be enough to sustain a string of record-breaking years for research spending at the UO.
Read the full story at The Register-Guard.
The commercial conundrum
Commercial real estate values soared nationwide from 2003 to 2007, but with the collapse of the job market, the industry is struggling to improve.
Empty office buildings are a common sight throughout the Portland metro area, a situation not helped by Oregon’s still-high unemployment.
The office market is powered almost solely by the job market, and Oregon’s unemployment rate is still perched above 10 percent.
Downsizing companies are begging landlords to reduce their space and rent. Even thriving companies have been reluctant to expand. Landlords are seeing their revenue and building values plummet. Banks have largely been unwilling to make loans to rescue office park owners or their tenants.
Read the full story at OregonLive.com.
