Category: News & Current Events

Report from MLK Day Action Against Wells Fargo

by Eliana Machuca On Martin Luther King Day, those arrested on the November 17th National Day of Action against the banks participated in a rally and march, raising awareness of the fact that Wells Fargo profits off of tax payers through bailout funds as well as through its investments in the private prison industry. Members…

Sleep Is A Human Right

by Shawn Fleek On the evening of January 31st, an overnight sleep-in is scheduled outside of City Hall in Portland, to raise awareness of the city’s camping ban and to attempt to overturn the ban. The following morning at 8:30 AM, a rally will be held on the same topic. Though these actions are not…

Healthcare Cascadian Style – Notes from the Occupy Portland Health Fair

by illona trogub With one-third of Americans suffering from one of the big seven treatment-needing diseases and one-sixth of Americans being uninsured, corporate healthcare in this country is not working. As the saying goes, “Prevention is the best medicine”. However, there’s not much money to be made by Big Insurance and Big Pharma if their…

From Oakland, to All of Occupy

By Vargus Pike & Adam Rothstein January 28th was a day blackened by the dark armor of riot police clear across the North American continent. In Oakland, the efforts of Occupy protesters to build a community center in a long abandoned convention hall were blocked by brutal repression at the hands of law enforcement. Over…

God and Country Inc.

Supreme Court Recognizes Privilege of Religious Institutions over Labor Law. By Gene Ogorodov The Supreme Court made a ruling on the second landmark First Amendment case in three years—Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC. On 11 January 2012, the Court’s unanimous decision on this case has further secured the rights of corporations hitherto…

Observations on the Portland Local Candidate’s Forum

By Vargus Pike Members of the Green Party and the Oregon Progressive Party in conjunction with members of Occupy Portland held a local candidates forum Friday January 27th. The event, in a room above the People’s Co-op on SE 21st Avenue, was an opportunity for Portland mayoral candidates and city council candidates to meet, greet…

FERPA, higher education and Oregon’s Project ALDER

by Kris Alman U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has called No Child Left Behind (NCLB) a “slow motion train wreck.” [1] Certain aspects of Governor Kitzhaber’s education reforms, under the Oregon Education Investment Board, seem destined to accelerate the train along the path to impending disaster. The Oregonian Editorial Board sees Governor Kitzhaber’s health…

Power/Empowerment: The Voice of the People

by Jenni Miller On January 28th at 7pm, Playback Theater of Portland will be hosting a public performance entitled Power & Empowerment: The Voice of the People. This performance is designed to bring people together to share their personal stories around this topic. With regards to our current political and economic climate Playback Theater is…

A Night at the Portland Candidate Forum

by Simon Travis When I showed up at the “Portland Candidate Forum” on January 19th, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It was held at St. Philip Neri Church on SE Division and 16th. The League of Women Voters of Portland, and the Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Coalition along with many other co-sponsors organized the…