The United States has one of the most convoluted visa application processes in the world. Petitioning for a visa and entrance into the country can take months, and sometimes the application isn’t even approved. Portland resident and Oregon constituent Erika Kushtan recognizes firsthand the difficulty
With too many hoops and unnecessary obstacles in the way for veterans in crisis to receive help, Mr. Dan Davis called the Veterans Administration (VA) and the FCC with a recommendation to simplify the suicide hotline telephone number. Under the former system, military veterans seeking help and suicide prevention assistance
Despite working in the cybersecurity industry and having knowledge about identity theft, Mark Ertle wasn’t able to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft himself. When Ertle filed his taxes a few years ago, he found out that his refund had already been given out to a criminal who filed
In the summer of 2015, Allison Johnson was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic melanoma with metastases to the liver, gallbladder, and lymph nodes – she was advised that she had about six months to live. Despite living with a terminal illness, she was denied Social Security Disability, without which she
For over 20 years Oregonian Troy Bachmann has been running businesses in Mexico exporting produce, and one day he discovered that employees had been stealing from him. He reported it to officials and in turn, Bachmann was arrested. He was accused of not paying his employees and faced an eight
Due to a massive rainstorm in December 2015, the Wheeler Post Office was forced to shut down, leaving the community unable to send or receive mail. The only option for residents was to go to the post office in Nehalem, but it proved too inefficient as the community could only
During the summer of 2013, Pacific Pipeline Connector company (PPC) performed a series of environmental impact studies and appraisals on Steve Prien’s property in Malin, Oregon. The company was interested in purchasing the land for a natural gas pipeline going from Malin to Coos Bay for the Jordan Cove export
When Echanis Distributing, a beer, wine, and water distributor in Ontario, Oregon, was approaching the verge of bankruptcy, the office of Jeff Merkley acted quickly to help save the company. Echanis Distributing is close to 65 years old and employs about 15 people whose livelihoods were in jeopardy when the
During the federal government shutdown in October of 2013, the sediment buildup in the Port of Astoria was three feet short of being a serious problem. If not for Jeff Merkley, the port might have needed to apply draft restrictions eliminating the Port’s ability to accommodate bulk carriers, resulting in
If Paul Regelin hadn’t obtained a medical waiver before April 6, 2011, he would have lost his job. Mr. Regelin was a commercial truck driver and as a diabetic, he needed to obtain a medical waiver from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to maintain an Oregon Commercial Driver’s
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