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COVID RAMPANT AT SNAKE RIVER PRISON: More than 1 in 8 inmates at Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Ore., have tested positive for the coronavirus, state data shows. Out of approximately 2,900 inmates, 394 have tested positive for the virus. Another 405 have tested negative, meaning the facility hovers near a 50% positivity rate among those tested. On Sept. 22, the Oregon Department of Corrections announced a man incarcerated at Snake River had died the previous day after testing positive. He was in his 80s. The facility has now been the site of three of seven COVID-19-related deaths of Oregon prisoners. Of the approximately 900 employees at Snake River, 139—or 15%—have tested positive for the virus. "Institutions continue to clean and disinfect numerous times a day," DOC said in a statement Tuesday. "If an [adult in custody] becomes ill and exhibits flu-like symptoms, then [state and federal] guidance for supportive care are followed."
MOST OREGON RENTERS ARE IN DISTRESS: Fifty-three percent of Oregon tenants say they paid their monthly rent during the pandemic by cutting back on food and medication, according to a survey conducted this month by Portland State University and the Community Alliance of Tenants. More than 1 in 3 of the 460 Oregon renters surveyed have failed to pay their full rent during the pandemic and cannot afford to pay what they still owe. The survey results were released as part of an effort to lobby for more renter protections, including an extension of the moratorium on evictions, which expires Sept. 30. Gov. Kate Brown has said she doesn't expect to call a special session until after the election, so any extension of the eviction moratorium in the next week would have to come from her. "The governor is continuing to have conversations with community leaders and stakeholders," says Brown spokesman Charles Boyle, "to look at options surrounding a moratorium for evictions for renters."
LAWMAKER FILES ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST UNION LOBBYIST: State Rep. Daniel Bonham (R-The Dalles) filed an ethics complaint Sept. 2 against Jeff Anderson, a lobbyist for United Food and Commercial Workers Local Union 55, over Anderson's comments to the NW Labor Press about whether employees who get COVID-19 should automatically receive workers' compensation benefits. That's a divisive issue in Salem ("Virus Proof," WW, July 29, 2020), and the union, which represents grocery workers, says it's a key issue for its members. Bonham says Anderson "clearly implied that UFCW's political contributions in the 2020 election cycle would be tied to whether legislators signed a letter expressing support for one of the organization's top legislative priorities." That could violate Oregon ethics laws against trading campaign contributions for influence. Anderson says he was merely describing what the priorities for the union would be. "Suggesting that a union can't describe its legislative agenda is a baseless complaint," he tells WW. "Rep. Bonham knows it's baseless because if it did have merit, he himself would be in violation of taking money from a number of organizations that very explicitly telegraph their expectations of legislators: Koch Industries, the gun lobby, and the financial sector, to name a few." The complaint is under preliminary review by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission.
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: WW's coverage of right-wing extremism was named the best in the nation last week by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. Former WW reporter Katie Shepherd received the award for her coverage of an assault committed by a violent right-wing brawler, Tusitala "Tiny" Toese. Last February, Shepherd revealed that prosecutors had dropped a case against Toese, even though they had a witness, a cooperating victim and a confession. Her reporting led to one of the first guilty pleas by a right-wing extremist in Oregon in the past decade. Shepherd was hired last year by The Washington Post. Her prize headlines several honors for WW at the AAN Awards, including runner-up prizes for health care coverage, long-form news story, special publication and innovation.