Governor Brown on Drilling
After promising to do so earlier this week, Oregon Governor Kate Brown has issued an executive order blocking offshore oil drilling. Her order today directs state agencies to protect Oregon's coastal economy by preventing offshore oil and gas drilling.
It comes as President Trump is trying to expand offshore drilling. He scrapped an Obama-era policy to protect oceans and the Great Lakes, replacing it with one emphasizing economic growth.
Brown, a Democrat, sought an exemption for Oregon from the administration, but has not received one. Florida's Republican governor got an exemption. Brown said her executive order will make it clear to oil and gas speculators that Oregon is not for sale. States control 3 miles of ocean closest to shore.
Transgender ID
A nationally recognized expert from Pacific University is striking back against the Trump Administration’s claim that gender identity and biological sex are the same.
Associate professor Dr. Laura Edwards-Leeper, who’s an expert on transgender identity issues, says the mental health, medical, and scientific communities define these two aspects of people as distinct constructs.
She says it has been quote, “Well-established that an individual’s gender identity does not always match their sex assigned at birth.”
Dr. Edwards Leeper says every major mental health and medical organization has established guidelines for how to support transgender individuals. She says they recommend allowing people to live as, adopt the name and pronouns of, and use the restroom that aligns with, their affirmed gender. She says the Trump administration’s proposal to redefine these terms will cause irreparable damage to a vulnerable population that already has the cards stacked against them.
Planned Parenthood Measure 106
Jeffrey Hons, the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Texas, will be in Portland tomorrow, to educate voters about what he calls “The devastating impact that Ballot Measure 106 would have on Oregonians.”
Hons will appear at City Club of Portland’s meeting at the Sentinel Hotel, with his speech entitled “Measure 106: Injecting Inequality into Reproductive Health.”
Critics say Ballot Measure 106 is a backdoor ban on abortion, that would take away access to health care from more than 350,000 Oregonians. Hons says he’s seen the devastating impact of restrictions on reproductive health care. In the Rio Grande Valley, one of the poorest regions in the nation, he says patients are traveling hundreds of miles, crossing state lines and waiting weeks to get an abortion. Hons says the barriers often have a disproportionate impact on communities of color.
Hons will be joined by Multnomah County Commissioner Dr. Sharon Meieran [my- RAN], who practices emergency medicine and has served as Medical Director for the Oregon Foundation for Reproductive Health.
Volcano Threat
Four volcanos in Oregon rate as “very high threat,” according to new ratings from government scientists. The four are Crater Lake, Mount Hood, Newberry Volcano and Three Sisters.
But they weren’t the top threats. The U.S. Geological Survey rated Hawaii’s Kilauea as the most dangerous in the country. Others in the top five are Mount Saint Helens and Mount Rainier in Washington, Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano, and California’s Mount Shasta.
They are among the “big 18” dangerous volcanos among the nation’s 161 volcanos.
The last time the government released threat levels was in 2005. They base the levels on what’s happening inside the volcanos, and how close they are to people.
Butane Hash Oil Explosion
A 26 year old man survived with more than fifty percent of his body burned, after a reported drug lab explosion in Linn County.
Emergency workers brought badly injured Lebanon resident Nicholas Helms to Oregon Health Sciences University after the loud explosion rocked a trailer on River Drive. Narcotics investigators say they found evidence of an illegal butane hash oil lab, which they seized along with cash, firearms and marijuana.
Portland Stabbing Victim
Police say 28 year old Tyler Chism from Portland is the man an officer found dead this morning, near Northwest 3rd Avenue and Northwest Everett Street.
An investigator from the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office found Chism died from a stabbing, so portland police are calling it a homicide investigation.
At this time, detectives do not believe there is an immediate danger to the community. But Detectives with the Portland Police Bureau's Homicide Detail continue to investigate this murder, and are asking anyone with information that could help, to contact them.
- KBOO