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☆ The US Air Force's newest fighter jet just showed off a new way to fire missiles
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Stefano D'Urso | The Aviationist | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In November, F-15EX fighter jets fired missiles from their new weapon stations for the first time. The new outer wing weapon stations increase the F-15EX's payload over that of its predecessor. This Operational Flight Program Combined Test Force mission was the first Air Force test flight to validate the weapons could be fired effectively and safely from those stations. Now, the new pylons are equipped with two LAU-128 missile rails each, adding four missile stations to the payload. An F-15EX takes flight for the first time out of Eglin Air Force Base in April 2021.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., was briefly hospitalized Friday night after she and her husband were hit by a car in Portland, according to her spokesperson. Natalie Crofts, Bonamici's communications director, said in a statement shared to Twitter that the incident occurred as the lawmaker and her husband, Michael Simon, were walking across a street after leaving an event. A woman turned into Bonamici and her husband "at low speed and knocked them down," according to Portland police. Bonamici was treated at a hospital for a concussion and laceration to her head while Simon was treated for minor injuries, Crofts said. The lawmaker is a leader on the Education and Labor Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human services.

Northern California braced for more downpours as southern and central regions of the state got a break Wednesday from torrential rains and prepared for another strong system just days away. At least 17 people have died since late last week in these California storms that show few signs of slowing up. Josh Edelson / AFP - Getty ImagesThe heaviest rains Wednesday were expected to fall on northern and coastal regions of the state. A major system is forecast to hit almost all of coastal California, from the Oregon border to Los Angeles late Friday afternoon or evening. Santa Cruz County has been told to brace for between 3 to 6 inches of rain Friday, Saturday and Sunday, according to Hart.

☆ Former teacher who wore MAGA hat to school was protected by First Amendment, court rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

VANCOUVER, Wash. — The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of a former teacher in Vancouver, Washington, concluding that his wearing a hat supporting former President Donald Trump to school was protected speech under the First Amendment. Court documents show that science teacher Eric Dodge brought the “Make America Great Again” baseball cap with him to an Evergreen Public Schools building twice before the 2019-2020 school year. Wy’east Middle School Principal Caroline Garret allegedly told him to use better judgment. Dodge said he was “verbally attacked” by Garret and other school employees after bringing the hat again, and that retaliation amounted to a violation of his First Amendment rights. Michael McFarland, a lawyer representing the school district and Gomes, said his clients are happy with the ruling.

☆ Hiking has become a nationwide New Year's Day tradition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Just 380 people participated in the initial First Day Hike in 1992 at the nearly 7,000-acre Blue Hills Reservation just south of Boston. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in First Day Hikes at hundreds of parks in all 50 states. The late Patrick Flynn, the former supervisor at Blue Hills, came up with the original plan. In 2012, First Day Hikes went nationwide when the National Association of State Park Directors endorsed the idea. Elijah Bristow State Park near Eugene is even offering a first day horseback ride.

The Buffalo Airport, which has been closed since Dec. 23, was expected to reopen on Wednesday morning, according to a tweet. A little more than 1,400 energy customers in New York state were without power Wednesday morning — amounting to only 0.02% of the state — according to PowerOutage.us. Storms to batter the West CoastMeanwhile, a total of five separate storm systems will impact the West through next Monday. Oregon State Parks announced emergency closures for Ecola and Cape Meares because of high winds and the potential for falling trees. Colusa and Mendocino counties had 650 and just over 700 power outages as of Wednesday morning, respectively, according to PowerOutage.us.

☆ Crews work to restore running water, power to quake-rattled northern California
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] CalTrans workers assess damage to a bridge after a strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern California, in Rio Dell, California, U.S. December 20, 2022. Property inspections also continued a day after the quake, with at least 30 homes and a grocery store declared structurally unsafe from quake damage, officials said. Most of the damage occurred in the hard-hit town of Rio Dell, whose 3,400 residents remained without running water on Wednesday, the county sheriff's office reported. The cities of Eureka and Rio Dell have done likewise. On Tuesday night, California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Humboldt County to support emergency response efforts there.

☆ Unsealed Nike employee surveys described a 'boys' club' culture where women were called 'honey' and 'females couldn't possibly play in the sandbox'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Insider on Tuesday first reported on unsealed employee surveys that rocked the company in 2018. On Tuesday, Insider first reported on the never-before-seen employee surveys that played a key role in bringing the allegations to light and prompting Nike's ongoing work to become more inclusive. In several multi-page surveys, female employees said the behavior contributed to an "overarching" theme of "normalized negative, manipulative and sexist behavior" at the company. "When I received this questionnaire, I asked several of my female coworkers what they thought of working at Nike," one female employee wrote in a survey. An attorney for plaintiffs in an ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit against Nike said the surveys show problematic behavior at the company wasn't isolated.

☆ Nike employees described 'sloppy drunk' men, witnessing oral sex, and requests to 'dress sexier' at work in newly unsealed surveys
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

In early 2018, female Nike employees were fed up with the company's response to claims of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, so they anonymously surveyed each other about their experiences at the company. A third wrote that she caught a male executive receiving oral sex from a lower-ranking female in the campus gym. But four former Nike employees familiar with the collection of the surveys told Insider closer to 100 were collected. "Maybe if you dressed nicer I would be on time," one female Nike worker said she was told by a male Nike executive. "Kept it to myself because of who he is at the company," wrote the person who was told to "show some skin."

☆ As climate change makes wildfires worse, FEMA faced with calls to change
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Sharon Bernstein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Building at the bottom of a hill would keep the station from experiencing the worst fires, which tend to run uphill. But Mayor Chris Rogers says the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied funding in part due to rules designed to protect infrastructure harmed in storms from flood damage, saying the proposed new location was in a flood zone. Devastating fires in Santa Rosa and communities elsewhere in California led survivors to press for changes in the way the agency handles wildfires. In Santa Rosa, a midsized city about 55 miles north of San Francisco, the Tubbs Fire in 2017 raced through established suburban areas, jumping six lanes of highway, destroying homes. But without help from FEMA, it has taken a while to put together rebuilding resources, Rogers said.

Bayer still faces several other state lawsuits over PCBs. The company said in a statement that it did not admit liability as part of the Oregon settlement, and would continued to defend the remaining cases. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum called the settlement a "huge win" that would give the state resources to clean up PCBs. The lawsuits against Bayer stem from PCBs manufactured by U.S. seeds and pesticide company Monsanto, which Bayer acquired for $63 billion in 2018. Some of those cases have gone to trial and resulted in jury verdicts against Bayer totaling $543 million, which the company is appealing.

☆ Oregon governor lifts death sentences for 17 inmates facing execution
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Brendan O'Brien | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 14 (Reuters) - Oregon Governor Kate Brown, who leaves office at the beginning of the year, has commuted the death sentences of all 17 inmates facing capital punishment in the state, leaving them to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. The Democrat said she decided to use her executive clemency powers to commute the sentences because she believes capital punishment is immoral. Legal and ethical questions have swirled around capital punishment in the United States in recent years as states have found it difficult to procure drugs to carry out the death penalty. Nine years later, the state's department of corrections closed its death row and reassigned condemned inmates to special or general population housing units. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and policy changes, the number of executions in 2021 fell to 11, the fewest since 1988.

☆ 'Firmageddon': Researchers find 1.1 million acres of dead trees in Oregon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

“We’re seeing forms of stress in all of our species of trees,” said Christine Buhl, a forest entomologist with the Oregon Department of Forestry. Trained observers peer outside both sides of the plane, looking for noticeable damage to trees. “You definitely have to have a stomach of steel.”This year, the aerial observation program flew over about 69 million acres of Washington and Oregon forest in about 246 hours. Oregon’s average temperatures have risen about 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895, according to a 2021 state climate assessment delivered to the state’s Legislature. “It was the combination of the high temperatures in the afternoon with the sun boring down,” said Chris Still, a professor in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University.

My wife and I are fortunate enough to travel around the country in our 21-foot teardrop trailer. While there are many benefits to living like nomads and traveling back and forth across the U.S., we were leery when we began our first cross-country trip. As a same-sex couple, the seismic political and cultural divide that has been rapidly spreading since the 2016 presidential election made us fearful about traveling through ultra-conservative Southern states. The author's teardrop trailer on a lavender farm in Northern California. I have long believed love overcomes hate, and our teardrop trailer travels remind me that there are good people everywhere, even in those places where you least expect them to be.

☆ A McDonald's franchisee is accused of asking 100 teens to work too many hours or late shifts. Restaurants are recruiting younger workers during ongoing labor shortage.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

13 McDonald's restaurants in Pennsylvania violated child labor laws, according to a federal probe. The franchisee, Santonastasso Enterprises LLC, was accused of assigning shifts to 14- and 15-year-old workers that violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. "Employers who hire young workers must understand and comply with federal child labor laws or face costly consequences." McDonald's and Burger King restaurant operators have advertised work to teens as young as 14. Teens 14 to 15 years old can work in restaurants and quick-service businesses during non-school hours, up to three hours on school days, and up to 18 hours on a school week.

☆ Portland store is reportedly selling psychedelic mushrooms – but they're not legal in Oregon yet: 'They're breaking all sorts of laws over there'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Portland herbal shop is selling magic mushrooms to locals in spite of state laws, KPTV reports. Shroom House offers 'Penis Envy,' 'Albino Golden Teacher,' 'Knobby Tops,' and more in the selection, Willamette Week says. Although the process sounds lengthy, a reporter from Willamette Week said they were able to order fungi about five minutes after submitting the documents. Shroom House reportedly has a variety of mushrooms to choose from – including "Knobby Tops," "Penis Envy," and "Albino Golden Teacher." Nothing in Measure 109 or any other law allows the sale of psilocybin mushrooms today or in the future," Chapman said.

A human skull was found near Interstate 5 in northern Oregon, authorities said Wednesday. The discovery Monday morning was reported by members of an Oregon Department of Corrections cleanup crew, Oregon State Police said in a statement. The find, near Keizer, a northern suburb of Salem, was initially reported as a suspicious object. State police, which took the item for investigation, described it as a skull inside a "small" backpack. The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office will try to determine the identity of the remains, they said.

☆ Nike scores critical win in sweeping gender discrimination lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A judge has denied a motion to make a gender discrimination lawsuit against Nike a class action. Federal magistrate judge Jolie A. Russo denied a motion to convert the lawsuit into a class action late Tuesday. Nike and plaintiffs have 14 days to file written objections to the rulings, then another 14 days to respond to objections. The ruling to deny class certification also will be reviewed by another federal judge. In its motion against class certification, Nike's attorneys said they would move for summary judgment after the judge ruled on the motion for class certification, essentially meaning they'd ask a judge to decide the case.

☆ EXCLUSIVE Stonepeak Partners eyes as much as $20 bln for North America infrastructure fund -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Chibuike Oguh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The fundraising plans underscore strong demand from investors for infrastructure assets, whose inflation-linked cash flows provide a shield from soaring prices. The predecessor fund, Stonepeak Infrastructure Fund IV, returned 1.08 times its investors' money as of the end of June this year, according to the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (PERS), which had made a $500 million commitment. The prior $7.2 billion Stonepeak Infrastructure Fund III, which was raised in 2018, had returned 1.59 times its investors' money, PERS data showed. The core fund aims to invest in infrastructure assets that provide inflation-linked profits stemming from long-term contracts. The New York-based firm has about $52 billion in assets under management spread across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.

☆ Exclusive: Buyout firm EnCap eyes first oil and gas production fund in five years - sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( David French | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Houston-based EnCap has approached investors in its previous funds to gauge their interest in participating in the new launch, the four sources said. It would be EnCap's 12th flagship fund and it could be officially marketed to investors early in 2023, the sources added. Many private equity investors have fallen out of love with the oil and gas sector as easy-to-drill acreage is becoming scarcer and more expensive for private equity firms. EnCap has sought to attract ESG-minded investors through EnCap Energy Transition Fund II, its second fund dedicated to helping companies transition to clean energy for which it is currently seeking $2 billion, according to a separate source. EnCap is also raising its fifth fund for its pipeline infrastructure affiliate, EnCap Flatrock Midstream, seeking $3 billion.

For decades doctors have been telling their patients that high levels of HDL, otherwise known as “good cholesterol,” could protect them from heart disease. But a new study suggests that having a lot of so-called good cholesterol doesn’t mean a lower risk of heart attacks. The new findings surprised the researchers, who originally designed their study to understand how cholesterol levels in Black and white middle-aged adults without heart disease affected their future risks. Previous research on "good" cholesterol and heart disease consisted of mostly white adults. Low HDL levels were associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease in white participants, but not Black participants.

☆ Nike employees had a gender pay gap of $11,000, newly unsealed court documents allege. The company says the number is erroneous and it's achieved pay parity.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The claim was made in a sweeping gender discrimination lawsuit filed in 2018. The alleged pay gap had been sealed in court records. The alleged pay gap was unsealed on Wednesday after a successful court challenge by Insider, the Oregonian, and the Portland Business Journal. Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the alleged pay gap. In an April 2022 court filing, an expert witness for Nike criticized the methodology plaintiffs used to determine the alleged pay gap.

☆ Oregon Measure 114 on gun control gives hope for curbing gun deaths
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Ari Davis | Lisa Geller | Ari Davis Is A Policy Adviser At The Johns Hopkins Center For Gun Violence Solutions At The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School Of Public Health. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

A lot has changed since 2014, especially as it pertains to gun violence: The gun epidemic has gotten significantly worse. Despite heroic efforts by advocates and some lawmakers, the number of gun deaths set new records last year as many states weakened their gun laws through permitless carry and stand-your-ground legislation. Firearm purchaser licensing, as contained in the ballot measure, is one of the most effective policies at reducing gun deaths. Before the Oregon measure, only nine states, plus Washington, D.C., have had such a law. The intransigence of lawmakers in the face of record gun deaths has cost countless American lives, but it has not yet cost those lawmakers their careers.

Nov 10 (Reuters) - Democrat Tina Kotek won a tough three-way race to become the next governor of Oregon, the Associated Press projected on Thursday, enabling Democrats to extend nearly four decades of control over the Oregon governorship. Official returns from Tuesday's election showed Kotek winning 47.1% of the vote to 43.5% for Republican Christine Drazan. The last time a Republican was elected governor was in 1982, and Kotek was always favored to succeed Democratic governor Kate Brown, who could not run again due to term limits. With the polls tightening late in the race, President Joe Biden visited Oregon in mid-October to campaign with Kotek, a former state legislator. In Michigan, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer was re-elected and voters flipped the state House and Senate from Republican to Democratic control.

☆ Live Election Results: Oregon State Legislature
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Polls close in the state at 8 p.m. local time. Given the state has multiple timezones, the first polls close at 10 p.m. EST and the last polls close at 11 p.m. EST. It symobilizes the 2022 Election. Given the state has multiple timezones, the first polls close at 10 p.m. EST and the last polls close at 11 p.m. EST. Oregon House of Representatives election results:Oregon Senate election results:

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