Free Republic

A well-funded environmentalist group played a key role in the push to remove dams in the Pacific Northwest’s Klamath River ahead of premature deaths of thousands of salmon. American Rivers — an organization that has received millions of dollars from left-of-center environmentalist grantmaking organizations in recent years — was “the orchestrator of the Klamath dams removal project,” according to Siskiyou News, a local outlet in Northern California. The drawdowns of several reservoirs pursuant to the scheduled removal of four dams in the river preceded the deaths of “hundreds of thousands” of young salmon in the waterway, according to Oregon Public...

A constitutional battle is shaping up over whether the U.S. government can force the owners and top employees of small businesses to send their addresses and photo IDs to federal financial crime investigators. The Biden administration has appealed a decision by a federal judge in Alabama, who ruled this month the Corporate Transparency Act exceeded the powers granted to Congress by the Constitution. The government says the information collected from small businesses will ferret out shell companies and help law and intelligence officers foil human smugglers, drug traffickers and terrorists. The appeal has a good chance because courts rarely strike...

War on food is spreading in U.S. through land-use restrictions, geoengineering and waves of propaganda Remember, it really is all about depopulation The World Economic Forum warned us several years ago that its ultimate goal was to destroy the middle class. How else would you explain their slogan: “You will own nothing and learn to like it“? This mantra is playing out in real time in the state of Oregon, and other states, in various forms which we will get into in this article. Small farmers are under attack in the Beaver State, which has begun shutting down family farms...

The inner windshield of a Boeing jet flown by Alaska Airlines cracked as the plane came in for a landing in Oregon on Sunday, according to KPTV. The incident represents the latest in a slew of issues involving Boeing jets. The Alaska Airlines flight was traveling from Washington, D.C., to Portland International Airport on Sunday when crew members noticed a crack on the inner windshield. Following the incident, the airline released a statement, writing: “The crew followed their checklists and the aircraft continued safely to its destination as scheduled." The New York Post reported that the airline said its fleet...

...A large number of young hatchery-raised salmon that were released into the Klamath River recently were killed when they passed through a tunnel near the base of the Iron Gate Dam on the river...

A bill that aims to push back against a rise in book bans in Oregon school districts has passed the Senate. Senate Bill 1583 says that "that a school official cannot prohibit materials because the materials concern a class of people identified in our education anti-discrimination laws. In other words, you cannot ban a book because the book involves folks from marginalized communities," according to bill sponsor Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Portland. "If you are not allowing kids to have books, and you are telling them what books they have to read or what books they can't read, you are basically...

An undocumented man wanted in Oregon for rape is now in federal custody after the Martin County Sheriff’s Office says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) initially declined to hold him. The Martin County Sheriff’s Office says they were legally required to release 26-year-old Juan Jose-Sebastian from jail, even though they knew he was wanted in Oregon for rape charges. After Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Rep. Brian Mast got involved, the sheriff’s office was given the legal authority to rearrest Jose-Sebastian. Investigators say this all started over two weeks ago when deputies arrested Juan Jose-Sebastian, an undocumented Guatemalan immigrant...

Chinese gangs have set up thousands of illicit weed farms across the US as they begin to challenge Mexican cartels for supremacy as America's cannabis kingpins. Authorities in Oklahoma, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Maine have all been battling a surge in Chinese weed farms, with some thought to be linked to criminal gangs known as 'triads'. The spread is seemingly uncontainable, with police in Penobscot County, Maine, last week arresting three Chinese nationals at a weed farm and seizing 40 pounds of the drug alongside $4,700 in cash. It is thought to be one of around 270 illegal weed...

Oregon lawmakers passed a bill to recriminalize certain drugs The bill now heads to the desk of Democrat Gov. Tina Kote who declared a state of emergency weeks ago over the fentanyl crisis in Portland Oregon saw 1,268 fentanyl-related deaths from 2019 to 2023 Oregon lawmakers passed a bill to recriminalize possession of drugs weeks after Gov. Tina Kotek declared state of emergency over the fentanyl crisis in Portland. A bill recriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs was passed by the Oregon Legislature on Friday. The bill reverses a key part of the state's drug decriminalization law, which...

An amendment introduced to the Oregon legislature Thursday would criminalize drug use on public transit. The Oregon Transit Association and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757 are seeking to amend Senate Bill 1553 to create a misdemeanor charge for people who use illicit drugs while riding public transit. The charge of interfering with public transportation would apply to a person who “while in or on a public transit vehicle or public transit station, knowingly ingests, inhales, injects, or otherwise consumes a controlled substance that is not lawfully possessed by the person,” the amendment reads.

A Fremont Vietnamese restaurant has closed its doors due to a neighbor’s complaints about the restaurant’s smell. Pho Gabo, which operates three locations in the Portland area, has closed its Fremont and Northeast 73rd location indefinitely due to “the city’s and the neighborhood’s complaints about the smell of the food that we grill and the foods that we serve customers,” according to a sign posted to the restaurant’s door. Willamette Week reports that the restaurant has been hit with complaints since September 2022, five years after the restaurant opened. A presumed neighbor has been filing complaints with the city about...

Eugene mayoral candidate Douglas Barr, a FOOD for Lane County driver, has lived in the community for decades. A resident of the Bethel district, Barr, 59, has been involved in various community organizations. In 2020, he ran for city council in Ward 7, where he lost to incumbent Claire Syrett. Barr is also a convicted felon, he shared with the Daily Emerald. Upon further review, the Emerald found that in 1984 at age 19, Barr was involved in a self-described hate crime — referred to as “gay bashing” by the prosecution. Barr and three other men were charged of the...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom backed the controversial proposal to remove four Klamath River hydroelectric dams along the California-Oregon border. Now, the same fish he swore to protect could be killed in the process. The dams had been breached on claims that it would help salmon migrate, but the Klamath River is now full of destroyed spawning salmon beds and pollution including decomposed algae, organic deposition, chemicals, and fine silt which is killing its ecosystem, according to a report from the California Globe. Additionally, dead endangered steelhead trout and other species have been rising to the surface of the Klamath River,...

SALEM, Ore. (KATU) — Oregon lawmakers on a joint committee on Tuesday voted to move a bill that would make possession of drugs a crime again to the House for a vote. The bill would effectively change voter-approved Measure 110. The bill has an emergency clause, which means if it makes it through both houses of the Legislature and the governor signs it, it becomes law immediately. But the new criminal charge for drug possession would take effect Sept. 1, giving the Department of Justice a chance to implement it. If it becomes law, people openly using illegal drugs on...

They purposefully made a disaster and are leaving taxpayers and the locals to clean up their mess

If 10 million cubic yards of sediment were to settle in the river, we’d see the equivalent of six lanes of freeway piled eight feet deep for nearly 100 miles. There are 192 river miles below the lowest dam, Iron Gate. In total, the river is approximately 250 miles long. For most of February, turbidity levels in the Klamath River hovered around 500 to 1,000 units over a stretch of at least 100 miles, according to U.S. Geological Survey measurements.2 These turbidity levels are 10 to 20 times what juvenile salmon can survive, according to a 2001 research report by...

It's a common sight on the streets of downtown Portland, Oregon: people in front of stores, trendy restaurants and hotels, on sidewalks, corners, and benches, crouched over torch lighters held up to sheets of tinfoil or meth pipes. Some drape blankets over their heads, or duck behind concrete barriers. Others don’t try to hide. "All summer long, we were right out in the open. You didn't have to be paranoid anymore, you didn't have to be worried about the cops," said John Hood, a 61-year-old drug addict living on the streets of Oregon’s most populous city. Hood spoke to Reuters...

The owner asked to remain anonymous for fear of being targeted by activists ... A Seattle, Washington restaurant owner .. has lost faith in city leadership after his business suffered what he claims is its 23rd break-in since the "defund the police" movement started three years ago. "I have lost all faith in the city of Seattle, SPD, Council members, and state elected officials ... The owner of the establishment asked to remain anonymous over fear that activists would target him ... he was previously inundated with a slew of negative Yelp reviews after speaking out against the crime crisis...

KGW has a policy of thoroughly screening all content for standards and accuracy before broadcast, but failed to uphold it, the station said.A television station in Portland, Oregon, apologized Friday for inadvertently showing a racist image during a program aimed at highlighting positive stories. KGW-TV displayed the image Thursday evening during “The Good Stuff,” which includes a “Throwback Thursday” segment sharing “cheesy, silly, or memorable” photos submitted by viewers. “The image, seemingly from the 1950s, depicted children throwing balls towards a sign prominently displaying (a racial slur),” the station said Friday in a statement posted to its website. “We understand...

Let’s face facts; some people are getting richer off the removal of the Klamath River dams. Glen Spain member [formerly] of Klamath River Renewal Corp. ‘KRRC’ board and fisherman’s advocate said “Economics Not Salmon Is the Reason PacifiCorp is Removing the Dams” It is now estimated by some experts that the total direct cost for the Klamath River dam removal project, will reach $800-million dollars, not the $450-million cost estimate projected over tens years ago. And then we have the costs related to the liabilities that are already arising from what is seen by many as an ill-fated project. According...