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Why Is an Anti-Abortion Measure on the Ballot in America’s Most Pro-Choice State?

This isn’t an endorsement issue—those choices will be revealed next month. Instead, what follows is a primer on the issues that Oregonians face this November.

Measure 103 Will Ban Grocery Taxes. What Else Will it Do?

Oregon businesses are asking voters to change the state constitution to prohibit city, county and state governments from ever taxing groceries.

Why is Nike Co- Founder Phil Knight Backing Both Colin Kaepernick and Republican Nominee For Governor Knute Buehler?

Earlier this month, Phil Knight, co-founder and chairman emeritus of Nike, gave GOP nominee for governor Knute Buehler $1 million. That is in addition to the $500,000 he gave Buehler ’s campaign last year.

Why Does Housing In the ‘Burbs Depend on Portland Voters?

From the vantage point of Portland, Measure 26-199 looks like a slam dunk. The regional planning agency Metro aims to bite into the area’s housing shortage by raising $653 million in property taxes and using the money to build as many as 3,900 new units of affordable housing in three counties: Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas.

Don’t Utilities Already Do the Things the Portland Clean Energy Measure Proposes to Do?

Measure 26-201 would place a 1 percent surcharge on the business license tax paid by Portland retailers with sales of more than $500,000 in the city and more than $1 billion nationwide. Companies that could be taxed include behemoths like Walmart and Comcast, but also less obvious stores, like REI.

Who Is Not on the Oregon Ballot But Has the Most at Stake This November?

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. He won’t be up for re-election until 2020, but the final two years of his first term will be shaped by what happens this fall.

Who is Paying For the Attack Ads on Gov. Kate Brown?

For much of 2018, Oregon television viewers have been fed a steady diet of ads highlighting the failure of state government policies—and blaming Gov. Kate Brown. A shadowy group called Priority Oregon paid for the ads.

In the Historic Portland City Council Contest, Why Are So Many African-American Politicians Lining Up Behind the Candidate Who Trails By 25 points?

Black elected officials from across the state. State Sens. Lew Frederick (D-Portland), Jackie Winters (R-Salem) and James Manning (D-Eugene) have endorsed Smith; so have former Sens. Margaret Carter and Avel Gordly (both D-Portland), two of the first black women to serve in the state Capitol.

Why is the GOP Nominee for Governor Supporting a Ballot Measure That Would Help Deport Undocumented Immigrants?

When Republican nominee for governor Knute Buehler declared his support for Measure 105, which would repeal Oregon’s 31-year-old sanctuary law, he aligned his campaign with one of the most controversial, far-right political groups in the state.

Supporters of Measure 104 Say it’s About Fiscal Discipline, But What’s the Real Issue?

Measure 104 would amend the constitution to apply the three-fifths requirement to include any attempt to legislatively raise revenue by boosting fees or reducing or killing existing tax breaks.

Willamette Week

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