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☆ Oregon Is Recriminalizing Drugs. Here’s What Portland Learned.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Mike Baker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Oregon embarked on a landmark plan three years ago to decriminalize hard drugs, it wagered that a focus on treatment over punishment would create a new model for drug policy around the country. But after a deluge of overdose deaths and frequent chaos in the streets of Portland, Gov. Tina Kotek signed into law on Monday a measure to restore criminal penalties for drug possession. The rollback has supporters among a wide range of public officials, including Mayor Ted Wheeler of Portland, who found himself presiding over a series of crises since taking office in 2016. He has battled in court to ban daytime camping and tried to establish mass shelter locations (known in Portland as TASS sites) for those without housing.

Persons: Tina Kotek, Ted Wheeler, Wheeler Organizations: Oregon, Gov Locations: Portland

☆ Fentanyl crisis in Oregon: 90-day state of emergency declared in downtown Portland
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Amy Simonson | Lauren Mascarenhas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Oregon leaders joined forces to declare a 90-day state of emergency in downtown Portland, funneling resources into the city’s deadly fentanyl crisis. Oregon voters passed Measure 110 in 2020, which decriminalized some use of hard-drugs, including fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid. The measure has received criticism, as opioid overdose deaths steadily climbed since. Opioid overdose deaths in the state increased from 280 in 2019 to 956 in 2022, according to the state’s data. Experts say reversing the trends in overdose deaths really depends on broader access to and use of treatments for opioid use disorder.

Persons: Tina Kotek, Jessica Vega Pederson, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, ” Kotek, ”, “, ” Pederson Organizations: CNN, Oregon, Oregon Gov, Portland Mayor, US Centers of Disease Control, CDC, Portland Central City Task Force, Portland Police Bureau, Oregon State Police Locations: Portland, Multnomah, Portland’s Central City, Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Several elected leaders in Oregon declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for downtown Portland over the public health and public safety crisis fueled by fentanyl. The declaration is a recommendation from a governor-established task force that met for several months last year to determine ways to rejuvenate downtown Portland. The effort also extends the Portland Police Bureau’s partnership with Oregon State Police to jointly patrol downtown streets for fentanyl sales. At the state level, Oregon lawmakers have introduced a new bill that would undo a key part of the state’s drug decriminalization law. Public opinion has soured on it as public drug use has become more visible because of growing homelessness.

Persons: Tina Kotek, Ted Wheeler, Jessica Vega Pederson, ” Kotek, Mike Myers, Nathan Reynolds, Kotek, Joe Biden, Xi Jinping Organizations: Oregon Gov, Staff, Portland, Portland’s Community Safety Division, state’s, Resilience, Emergency Management, Portland Police, Oregon State Police Locations: PORTLAND, Oregon, Portland, Multnomah, Portland’s, Narcan, China, America, Mexico, U.S

☆ Residents alarmed as shoplifting incidents trigger store departures: ‘As a community we can’t allow this to continue’
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-30 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

“Having Target here helped revitalize East Harlem with hundreds of new jobs, customers and more services to our area. Courtesy Lou MartinsThe retail industry said it is grappling with a particular type of store theft that is more dangerous than petty shoplifting, called “organized retail crime” or ORC. The East River Plaza shopping center in New York City's East Harlem neighborhood. “The East Harlem store could have been doing very high volume in sales but still losing money because of theft,” Cohen said. The Target store in NYC's East Harlem is set to close in October.

Persons: Lou Martins, “ I’ve, ”, Martins, Maria Gonzalez Arrieta, “ We’ve, ” Lou Martins, Alex Abreu, Abreu, “, ” Abreu, it’s, We’ve, Tom Wickman, ” Wickman, “ Abuelitas, ” Xavier Santiago, Santiago Xavier, Santiago, I’ve, Mark Cohen, ” Cohen, Venkatesh Shankar, ” Shankar, Fatih Aktas, Ted Wheeler, ” – CNN’s Matt Egan Organizations: New, New York CNN, Costco, 118th, Target, eBay, Facebook, ”, East Harlem, Blumfeld, The New York Times, New York Police, Walgreens, Business, US Chamber of Commerce, “, Commerce, Community Board, East, Community, Columbia, Texas, Mays Business School, Anadolu Agency, Blumenfeld, CNN, Portland Police Bureau Locations: New York, Manhattan —, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, Target, Plaza, Harlem, Aldi, Burlington, Pleasant Avenue, East Harlem, NYC's East Harlem, River, Portland

☆ Texas and Portland, Oregon, politicians take to Twitter to argue over why Walmart is closing stores
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Walmart has said its closing stores this year for many reasons and hasn't called out retail crime. Mayor Ted Wheeler replied on Monday, referring to "dozens of Walmart stores that have closed in Texas in recent years." "The retail industry is changing and retail theft is a national issue," he added. They say that the problem isn't individual shoplifters but organized retail crime that involves multiple thieves taking large quantities of goods from stores. Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told CNBC in December that Walmart would close stores and raise prices unless theft at its stores slowed down.

☆ Nike temporarily closed a celebrated Portland store because of ongoing theft
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The store has been a point of pride for Nike and the Northeast Portland community since it opened. The Portland Nike store closure comes as large retailers are warning about the proliferation of stolen goods on online marketplaces like Amazon, Craigslist, eBay and Facebook. In November, KGW, the Portland NBC affiliate, said the Nike store reported 437 shoplifting cases to police since 2019, second only to a Portland Target store, which had 650. Matthew Kish/InsiderThe now-closed Portland store has been a point of pride for Nike, its employees, and the Northeast Portland community since it opened in June 1984. While the Nike store is at least temporarily closed, it hasn't been abandoned.

☆ What Guns Did to My Childhood
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Mitchell S. Jackson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

Isn’t a part of childhood feeling insecure and divining ways to resolve those feelings or else abide them? From Mitchell S. JacksonThe presence of gangs — mind you, a predictable symptom of poverty and neglect — led to the prevalence of guns that shaped much of the normal childhood maturing around me as a kid. It surprises me little to none that Black boys are the likeliest to die by guns. These guns alter their lives in significant ways, not in the least by nullifying the childhood grace of feeling the greatest distance from death. Amen, I’ve never had to sit him down for a stern talk on guns or the violence and grieving they reap.

☆ Elon Musk persuaded Twitter's top sales executive to stay after she and other senior leaders quit, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk persuaded a top Twitter executive to stay after she resigned, Bloomberg reported. Reports said Robin Wheeler had quit, but she tweeted later on Thursday "I'm still here." Robin Wheeler, Twitter's head of advertising sales, on Wednesday moderated a Q&A with Musk called "Advertising & the Future." The following day, The New York Times reported Wheeler had left Twitter. After Twitter's chief information security officer, chief privacy officer and chief compliance officer quit, the Federal Trade Commission said in a statement to the Washington Post it was "tracking the developments at Twitter with deep concern."

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