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energy & nuclear 07-Jul-2015 11:41

Video: Baldock 1.75-megawatt Solar Station - Wilsonville Oregon

From the open publishing newswire: Baldock Solar Highway Project - In January 2012, PGE and the Oregon Department of Transportation brought their second joint solar highway project online — the nation's largest solar highway project!

With farm fields on one side and a safety rest area on the other, the Baldock Solar Highway Project is a 1.75-megawatt solar array at the Baldock Safety Rest Area, south of Wilsonville on Interstate 5. The 6,994 panel array sits on approximately seven acres at the northbound rest area, producing about 1.97 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy annually.

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corporate dominance | environment 07-Jul-2015 11:40

Tallest trees in Eastmoreland could be cut down ; Three 150 foot Sequoias

From the open publishing newswire: These are the tallest trees in Eastmoreland, and probably the oldest. (based on my Google Earth canopy height survey project). I measured the foremost of the 3 giants, at 153- 154 ft with inclinometer from 4 different angles. This matches the Google Earth 3D model of 147 -150 ft. They are approx. 60 feet ins spread, and range from 78 to 83 inches DBH, diameter. No trees in Eastmoreland match or exceed 150 feet, based on my survey. You have to go out 1 to 2 miles radius to find taller trees than this in South East Portland.

Neighbors have raised $50,000 to protect the giant trees, but this only delays their harvest. Neighbors are trying to raise an additional $900,000 to to puchase the property from the developer and possibly turn it into a small park or green space.

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government | human & civil rights 07-Jul-2015 11:37

Open Meeting Laws & Portland Human Rights Commission - violations mentioned

From the open publishing newswire: This is an out-take video clip from the public comment & discussion from the last Portland Human Rights Commission Meeting (July 1st 2015) The out take centers around my concern (mentioned during public comment) of the HRC staff's lack of following of the Public Meeting Laws and not providing community access to their meeting minutes or announcing their proposed agenda and meetings times.

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actions & protests | anti-racism 24-Jun-2015 23:04

COUNTER RALLY IN SALEM SHERIFF ARPAIO 6/27/15

From the open publishing newswire: Demo to counter the presence of AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio
PCUN and Accion Politica PCUNIsta invite you to a counter-rally we are organizing against Sheriff Joe Arpaio who will be the feature speaker for a fundraiser hosted by the Oregon Republican Party and sponsored by OFIR in front of the Capitol this Saturday at 3 p.m.

Among other topics, Arpaio will be talking in support English Only and E-Verify.

For those who don't know who Sheriff Arpaio is, looking him up. He is " The Anti-Immigrant".

See you there at the State Capital Water Fountain at 2:30.
Questions: 503-302-6549 |  http://www.pcun.org

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environment | forest defense 17-Jun-2015 22:37

Float the Pipe! June 19-20

From the open publishing newswire: To help publicize the proposed LNG pipeline in SW Oregon, the Cascadia Forest Defenders and are doing a publicity float starting at where the pipeline is proposed to cross the South Umpqua River.
Cascadia Forest Defenders launches "Float the Pipe", a floating protest of the Pacific Connector LNG pipeline, at the precise location the pipe would cross the South Umpqua river.

With the fight against the LNG pipeline and export terminal heating up in Oregon, CFD has decided to lead a flotilla of activists down a threatenend stretch of the South Umpqua. They will stretch a banner across the point where the pipeline would be bored underneath the river, then set off on their 12 mile, 2 day float through the waters that would flow downstream of the pipe. They will document the watershed they see along the way.

What: Press conference at the launch of Float the Pipe

Who: Cascadia Forest Defenders and friends

When: Friday, June 19 at 10am

Where: The proposed location that the pipeline would cross underneath the South Umpqua river. Just south of the Rivers West South Umpqua campground, 1-5 exit #112, on the east side of I-5. We will be putting boats in the water on Booth Ranch Rd. Myrtle, OR 97457

Why: To protest the Pacific Connector Pipeline and Jordan Cove energy terminal and to get to know a threatened section of the South Umpqua river.

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government | human & civil rights 17-Jun-2015 00:00

Final decisions had been made about adding more exceptions to the "Sidewalk Management"

From the open publishing newswire: Commissioner Novick (and members of City Council):

We were quite disturbed to receive information from your aide Bryan Hockaday that final decisions had been made about adding more exceptions to the "Sidewalk Management Ordinance" without broad public input, and particularly without apparent outreach to actual homeless persons who might be affected by the decision.
Portland Copwatch contacted you on January 26th after learning that the Portland Business Alliance was asking for a large number of new "homeless-free zones." (That email is attached, below.) In that letter we recommended that decisions about adding exclusions should be considered publicly, perhaps by the oversight committee that was required when the SMO was adopted but which was disbanded in 2012. Yet now we've read in the Portland Mercury that outreach was done to a small number of homeless advocacy organizations and the decision was made behind closed doors.

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human & civil rights | police / legal 14-Jun-2015 11:26

Police Body Cameras - Two Bills now in Salem | HB 2571 and HB 2704

From the open publishing newswire: The goings-on in Salem are hard to follow.
Those organizations (like police associations and district attorneys, for instance) who have paid lobbyists hanging out in our state house all the time have a huge advantage over ordinary folks.

So it's not a surprise, in many ways, that (for instance) SB 871, which was supposed to include a provision for an independent prosecutor when a police officer kills a civilian, was gutted of that provision and now only talks about having an agency not involved in the killing take lead in the investigation:
 https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2015R1/Measures/Overview/sb871

On Monday, two bills relating to recording the police will be going back to the House floor to reconcile amendments made in the Senate. One is very beneficial to the public and in particular to copwatchers: It makes an exception to the "interception of communications" law for those taping police interactions in public places, it is HB 2704.

 https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2015R1/Measures/Overview/HB2704

It passed the house 51-8 the first time and the senate 23-6. Portland had been unique in allowing such recording because of a policy in place after Joe Anybody sued the cops in 2008.
 http://www.portlandcopwatch.org/ppr46web.pdf

The other bill is something that may be futile to try derailing, but goes against even Portland Copwatch's neutral stance on the issue of police body cameras. HB 2571 has provisions in it that will severely limit the abiilty of local jurisdictions to set their own rules on how to use the body cameras [...]

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community building | human & civil rights 14-Jun-2015 11:00

Video: Portland Human Rights Commission Meeting June 3 2015

From the open publishing newswire: The monthly meeting of the Portland Human Rights Commission.
Video is here: https://youtu.be/GjV0xDYx\_7o (2 hrs 30 mins)
This meeting is open to the public.

Portland Human Rights Commission Meeting June 3 2015

Public Meeting held on the first Wednesday of every month at 4:00 PM in downtown Portland.

The Portland Human Rights Commission [PHRC] website is here:
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/oehr/6

Archives of previous portland Human Rights Commission meetings and more information are available on my website here:
http://www.joeanybody.com/id4.html

An ~ Out Take "public comment" video clip from this meeting is here:
http://youtu.be/M7S0qz8XT5U

This June HRC meeting video is also on Archive (dot) org where you can watch it or download it:
https://archive.org/details/HumanRightsCommissionJune32015

The June proposed agenda was never posted by the HRC, I have a pdf copy that you can download here:
http://www.joeanybody.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/hrcagenda6.3.15.pdf

Last months meeting 5/6/15 was posted on portland indymedia here:
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2015/05/429929.shtml

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Updated 6.12 6.19 09-Jun-2015 19:22

The Shortwave Report 6/05/15 Listen Globally!

From the open publishing newswire:

Updated Post: 6.12.15 | 6.19.15
A weekly 30 minute review of international news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio and the internet.

This week's show features stories from Radio Deutsche-Welle, Radio Havana Cuba, NHK World Radio Japan, and Sputnik Radio.

The latest Shortwave Report (June 5) is up at the website http://www.outfarpress.com/shortwave.shtml in 3 forms- (new) HIGHEST QUALITY (160kb)(33MB), broadcast quality (13MB), and quickdownload or streaming form (6MB) (28:59) Links at page bottom.

Dan Roberts
Shortwave Report-
www.outfarpress.com
YouthSpeaksOut!-
www.youthspeaksout.net

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labor | neighborhood news 07-Jun-2015 08:30

Food Front Cooperative Grocery Workers Vote Again To Unionize

From the open publishing newswire: On June 2, 2015, Food Front Cooperative Grocery Workers voted to rejoin United Food and Commmercial Workers Union, Local 555.
After a 6 month organizing effort, Food Front Cooperative Grocery workers voted to rejoin UFCW, Local 555. Out of a possible 91workers eligible to vote, 75 workers voted and 64 workers voted for the union. An over 80 per cent voter turn out resulted in a 85 per cent union vote.

Food Front workers had previously been a union shop for a ten year time period. In August of 2007, Food Front workers voted to decertify and ended their association with UFCW. The discussion that appeared on Portland Indy Media about the decertification is archived at:
portland.indymedia.org/en/2007/07/362674.shtml\?discuss

The unionization effort follows a controversial 7 months for the cooperative which began last November with the public airing of staff discontents in the Northwest Examiner neighborhood newspaper.  http://nwexaminer.com/co-op-crash

The subsequent coop owners concerns about the financial stability of the coop, led to the resignation of the Board of Directors chair person, the retirement of the general manager, and the use of an interim general manager from the National Cooperative Grocer consulting group. [...]

"The bottom line is that we wish to be respected, heard, treated equally and most of all supported," said Kira Davis, a store worker. "I believe that creating our union can help strengthen us. As a union, we will empower everyone through education, communication and action."

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labor | political theory 30-May-2015 11:52

Political Disobedience

From the open publishing newswire: "Crisis children" can't find a job despite study, four foreign languages and four hundred applications. They are the house cleaners, hair stylists and nurses without their own health insurance who earn one-thousandth what atop manager rakes in. Youth unemployment has reached unbearable levels in Greece and Spain. The top one percent of Americans earns a quarter of the total income and owns half of all securities and national wealth.

POLITICAL DISOBEDIENCE
Rage Grows with its Challenges [...]

THE IDIOTS WITHDRAW INTO THEIR SHELLS
The danger is withdrawal into the private, not falling voter turnout [...]

[translated from the German on the Internet.]

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Updated 5.8 - 5.14 - 5.22 - 5.29 02-May-2015 13:24

The Shortwave Report 05/01/15 Listen Globally!

From the open publishing newswire:

Updated Post: 5.8.15 | 5.14.15 | 5.22.15 | 5.29.15
A weekly 30 minute review of international news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio and the internet. With times, frequencies, and websites for listening at home. 3 files- Highest quality broadcast, regular broadcast, and slow-modem streaming. Radio Deutsche-Welle, Radio Havana Cuba, Sputnik Radio, and NHK World Radio Japan.

The latest Shortwave Report (April 3) is up at the website http://www.outfarpress.com/shortwave.shtml in 3 forms- (new) HIGHEST QUALITY (160kb)(33MB), broadcast quality (13MB), and quickdownload or streaming form (6MB) (28:59) Links at page bottom [...]

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actions & protests | community building 01-May-2015 11:05

MAY DAY 2015

From the open publishing newswire:
GATHER 2:00pm

RALLY 3:00pm

MARCH 4:30pm


Don't Shoot PDX has an event planned at 2pm outside PSU Smith Memorial Ctr

South Park Blocks Map: Google Map

Post your pictures, first hand stories and videos on indymedia!

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