Category: In the News

A new tool for battling wildfires

With the return of wet weather and, in particular, periods of heavy rainfall this week, it’s quite likely that most people aren’t thinking about the threat of Oregon wildfires right now. But the state received good news this week when U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep.

Housing rehab grant funds nearly double

ONTARIO — A Rural Development Investment Grant has been renewed for Community in Action, but this time, it is about double what it has been in recent years. The grants, which are used for housing rehabilitation, have previously been $64,000, said Barb Higinbotham, executive director of Community in Action. The

Senator Jeff Merkley to hold town halls in Coquille, Port Orford

COQUILLE — Senator Jeff Merkley is holding town halls this week, with two of them scheduled on the South Coast. According to an announcement from Merkley’s office, the Coos County Town Hall is being held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, in the small auditorium at the Coquille Community Center,

Trending / Butterfly Highways: Congressional action to help Monarchs

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley (D) has joined Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Tom Carper (D-DE), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) to introduce new, bipartisan legislation to help states create pollinator-friendly habitats along roads and highways. The legislation would help address the steep decline the Monarch butterfly and other pollinator populations, which poses

Merkley intros bill to protect students from worthless degrees

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8) on Thursday introduced the Protecting Students from Worthless Degrees Act of 2019 in the Senate and the House. This legislation would close a loophole that allows for-profit colleges to take federal financial aid dollars for students to attend

Senators Wyden and Merkley warn against JUNK HEALTH CARE PLANS…

U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley today called the Trump administration’s promotion of junk health care plans offered on HealthCare.gov.  In a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Oregon senators joined with

Wyden and Merkley introduce house-passed Violence Against Women Act

Oregon’s U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined all of their Senate Democratic colleagues on Nov. 13 in introducing the Senate companion to the House-passed Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA). The bill, which would reauthorize VAWA through 2024, preserves advancements made in previous reauthorizations and includes a number

Oregon senators urge changes to USDA hemp rules

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., as authors of the legislation that legalized hemp production nationwide, on Wednesday asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make several changes as it develops its final rule for the U.S. Domestic Hemp Production Program.  Wyden and Merkley, in a

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