Why the Rate

Up on the roof
Turkey on the roof/Linda Watkins When this old world starts getting me down And people are just too much for me to face I climb way up to the top of the stairs And all my cares just drift right into space - The Drifters (Gerry Goffin/Carole King) Picture by Linda Watkins, taken in the hills north of Sheridan, Oregon.

Filling the gap
Bruce Hanna There are a number of candidates, and some variety of candidates, in the running for governor of Oregon next year. But there’s a vacancy: While Democrats have a couple of major names (John Kitzhaber, Bill Bradbury) who logically appeal to the mainstream of that party, Republicans have had in the running only candidates (Alley [...]

Closing ranks
Two years ago, Oregon saw a seriously contested primary contest in its U.S. Senate race (Republican Gordon Smith was defending) between two Democrats, House Speaker Jeff Merkley and activist Steve Novick – they were competitive and the outcome was not foreordained. Partway through, leadership of the Democratic U. S. Senate committee weighed in, making clear [...]

Where a tax increase is coming from
The last Washington legislative session was something remarkable: Facing a time of tax revenue shortfalls, a heavily Democratic state legislature opted to slice state government, in a big way, rather than raise taxes. (Their counterparts in Oregon chose otherwise.) In the next Washington session, however, making cuts sufficient to balance the books likely won’t be realistic. [...]

A religious charter
This one looks just about ready to blow up. The Nampa Classical Academy is an Idaho charter school, running grades 1-9, which emphasizes, to a great extent, a traditional “classical” education – they note, “very strong in phonics, classical literature, grammar, composition, mathematics, “modern” sciences, history, geography, and rhetorical analysis and writing.” It’s an interesting approach, but [...]