Photo: City Of Vancouver VANCOUVER, Wash. — The City of Vancouver has identified a $43 million dollar biennial budget shortfall.  In response, the city has announced a community survey.  They plan on calling citizens throughout the summer to try and get as many opinions as possible about the best ways to deal with the shortfall.  The city is hoping people will answer their phones when they call and participate. Meanwhile, The City of Vancouver is also entertaining some new, potential revenue sources.  One is a commercial parking tax, another is a retail tax.  And a tax ..read more

Wyden in Portland WASHINGTON, D.C. — Kayla Mosquiz describes some of the abuse she endured while she was a young teenager at facilities in what’s called the troubled teen industry. “I was physically restrained. That was nothing new after two years of living in these facilities. And then, there’s also another type of restraint, which is the chemical restraint, where they will pull your pants down and inject you.” Teresa Payne described losing her daughter, Monique, who was in a youth residential treatment facility.  “The last words I ever heard her say, Mom, my face is covered in blood. St ..read more

Credit: MGN WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has preserved access to a medication used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. last year. It’s the court’s first abortion decision since conservative justices overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago. The justices ruled Thursday abortion opponents lacked the legal right to sue over the federal Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the medication, mifepristone, and the FDA’s subsequent actions to ease access to it. The case had threatened to restrict access to mifepristone across the country, including in states where abortion remain ..read more

Credit: MGN COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Food authorities in Denmark have recalled three types of spicy instant noodle products imported from South Korea over possible risks for “acute poisoning.” The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration said children and teenagers are daring each other on social media to eat “a strong bowl of noodle soup” containing capsaicin, an active ingredient in chile peppers but also a chemical that can be a neurotoxin and a health hazard. Spicy food challenges have been around for years. In September, a Massachusetts teen with a congenital heart defect who participa ..read more

Credit: MGN WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump is making a triumphant return to Capitol Hill to meet with House and Senate Republicans for the first time since the Jan. 6, 2021 attack. GOP lawmakers find themselves newly energized and reinvigorated by Trump’s bid to retake the White House. This is despite the federal charges against Trump for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and his recent guilty verdict in an unrelated hush money trial. He is expected to visit House and then Senate Republican campaign headquarters near the Capitol to discuss party priorities. It’s his first as the party’s ..read more

Portland, Ore. – Former Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt has died. He was 83 years old. Goldschmidt was Portland’s youngest Mayor when he was elected in 1972. He also served in President Jimmy Carter’s administration as Transportation Secretary. Goldschmidt’s political career ended in scandal when he was forced to confess to statutory rape of a 14-year-old neighbor girl. Kerry Tymchuk, the Executive Director of the Oregon Historical Society, says ultimately Goldschmidt won’t be remembered for his Political work. “The overall legacy is forever tarnished by his own actions, by the crimes he comm ..read more

Courtesy: KGW NEWBERG, Ore. — After parents protested, the Newberg Dundee School Board announced that Superintendent Stephen Phillips will go on medical leave for the next two months. Former Superintendent Paula Radich will serve as interim chief, which she’s volunteered to do for free. Phillips and other district leaders waited until late May to tell the board it’s overspent its budget by millions of dollars. Lisa Joyce tells the school board that’s unacceptable. “We have no confidence in the top three and we hope to see them leave,” she said.   New resident Lucas Morgan said, “My s ..read more

Nurses and supporters rally outside Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland on May 15th. PORTLAND, Ore. — Nurses from Oregon Providence Hospitals at 6 different locations around the state say unless something drastic changes over the next few days, they will have no choice but to strike for 3 days starting Tuesday June 18th.  At issue seems to be many of the same concerns that have driven other nurse walkouts in recent years.  They say they are simply overworked, underpaid and understaffed.  Nurses claim their nurse to patient ratio is simply too high. Providence says ..read more

Photo by Javier Romo A hand-made titanium mountain bike was stolen at the Vancouver VA Recovery House in May from Marine Corps combat veteran Javier Romo.  Fellow Marine Cameron Carr says the bike was really important to Romo and he spent a lot of hours working on it.  That helped him in his recovery effort.  Vets at the Recovery Center are suffering from things like  PTSD, TBI, toxic exposure, and substance abuse.   Carr decided to start a Go Fund Me to get a new bike for Javier, and to accept donations of bicycles and helmets.   So far they‘ve gotten e ..read more

Credit: MGN WASHINGTON (AP) — Less-expensive gas likely slowed U.S. consumer inflation in May. But when the government reports the latest monthly price data Wednesday, Wall Street traders and Federal Reserve officials will be paying particularly close attention to an index that excludes volatile food and energy costs. These so-called “core” prices are expected to have risen 0.3% from April to May, the same as in the previous month. Compared with a year earlier, core inflation is expected to have dipped. Even as overall inflation moderates, such necessities as groceries, rent and health care ar ..read more