Oregon
Will Oregon fund arts organizations left in the lurch last year?
![Will Oregon fund arts organizations left in the lurch last year?](https://www.oregonlive.com/resizer/x4P4yzhHygZRIltXms5IvIj1hCk=/1280x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/advancelocal/WV3ZJFWNLFAD5PINMFYYMWYIPM.jpg)
A stream of state officials and people involved in cultural organizations testified in Salem Thursday about how the arts bolster the economy and enrich lives across the state.
According to Rep. Janelle Bynum, who chairs the House Committee On Economic Development and Small Business, all 20 people scheduled to testify Thursday at the hearing planned to testify in support of House Bill 4124, which would fund cultural groups in Oregon, many of which missed out on expected funding from the Oregon Legislature in 2023.
So many people wanted to testify in support of the bill, however, that the hearing was carried over to next Tuesday.
“The arts are about healing,” said Sen. Deb Patterson, who represents south and west Salem, Monmouth and Independence. “We need to make this investment to heal our arts communities and let the arts help us learn to heal each other and heal our communities.”
The bill would allocate $27,414,113.59 to cultural organizations across the state.
The state’s “anchor arts organizations,” called “major venues” in the bill, would get a total of $5,918,747. Those venues are the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the High Desert Museum, the Portland Art Museum, Portland Opera, Portland Center Stage, Oregon Ballet Theatre and the Oregon Symphony. The funding would include $379,750 for the High Desert Museum, $743,298 for the Portland Art Museum, $949,375 for the Oregon Symphony and $2,555,175 for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
Cultural Resources Economic Fund venues, a list vetted by the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon, would receive $7,880,293.
The Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon is a non-partisan nonprofit arts advocacy group. In 2023, Oregon didn’t fully fund the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon’s list of projects for the first time since the organization began putting forth such a list in 2013. Only two out of 16 projects were funded last year and lawmakers and cultural leaders are hoping to make up the difference this session.
Read more: Oregon arts organizations struggle as audiences are slow to return and money dries up
On the list this year are those 14 left-out projects, including $455,690 for Friends of Oregon Caves and Chateau, $500,000 for Painted Sky Center for the Arts and $2,000,000 more for the High Desert Museum, specifically to construct a new wing of the museum.
The bill also includes $13,465,000 to develop and implement a grant program for Oregon cultural organizations still struggling in the wake of COVID-19.
“Arts do the things that we want our main streets and our communities to have available to them,” said Rep. Rob Nosse, one of the sponsors of the bill who represents parts of Northeast and Southeast Portland.
“We also know that these things frankly touch the hearts and minds of people. It’s one of the good things about humanity,” he added.
“If we don’t stand up for this sector right now,” Nosse said, “we are really at risk of losing something that’s very valuable for this state.”
Testimony in support of the bill will resume on Tuesday.
— Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052; lacker@oregonian.com; @lizzzyacker
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Oregon
Former Oregon Ducks guard Jermaine Couisnard signs with New Orleans Pelicans: Reports
![Former Oregon Ducks guard Jermaine Couisnard signs with New Orleans Pelicans: Reports](https://www.oregonlive.com/resizer/v2/QDHJSGNMGRAHDGWPB275G3RT4E.jpg?auth=62e61941afe6780192e8e85428de025c54af2f6ae73c32fa76e5465056653c46&width=1280&quality=90)
Former Oregon Ducks guard Jermaine Couisnard will get his shot at NBA Summer League.
After going undrafted in the 2024 NBA Draft, Couisnard signed a summer league contract with the New Orleans Pelicans, according to multiple reports Friday.
Couisnard averaged 16.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists in his final season at Oregon, his sixth in college basketball. Prior to his two seasons at Oregon, Couisnard played four seasons at South Carolina.
The 25-year-old will have a chance to audition for either an NBA or international contract at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas July 12-22.
Couisnard’s former Oregon teammate, N’Faly Dante, also went undrafted and signed a two-way deal with the Houston Rockets on Thursday.
— Ryan Clarke covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten Conference for The Oregonian and co-hosts the Soccer Made in Portland and Ducks Confidential podcasts. He can be reached at rclarke@oregonian.com or @RyanTClarke.
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Oregon
Oregon Ethics Commission nixes investigation into Gov. Kotek, First Lady
![Oregon Ethics Commission nixes investigation into Gov. Kotek, First Lady](https://www.koin.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2022/05/AP22138123310236.jpg?w=1280)
The commission said its analysis would be different if Aimee Kotek Wilson received a salary or other private benefits
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Oregon Government Ethics Commission has decided against launching a full investigation into complaints concerning Gov. Tina Kotek and her wife, Aimee Kotek Wilson.
At a meeting on Friday, the agency examined the preliminary report on the case involving a potential Office of the First Spouse before determining that the governor did not violate any ethics laws — including those on conflicts of interest or nepotism.
“We note that had the Governor unilaterally decided to provide the First Lady with a salary or other private benefits, the above analysis would be different,” the commission wrote in its preliminary review. “The analysis would also be different if there was any suggestion that the public duties of the First Lady could financially benefit a private business with which the First Lady was associated.”
In late March, news broke that Kotek Wilson had an office in the governor’s base of operations at the state library and an on-loan staffer from the Department of Administration Services. With a master’s degree in social work, the First Lady was also known to attend official meetings regarding behavioral health.
The following week, the governor clarified that her wife was solely an “unpaid volunteer with both lived and professional experience.” Kotek also announced she had asked the Ethics Commission for guidance on a potential Office of the First Spouse, but the commission later said it couldn’t advise her because of its plans to review complaints on the same matter.
Subsequently, the governor abandoned plans to create the First Lady’s office.
“After listening to and reflecting on the concerns of Oregonians who have contacted my office, as well as the advice of staff, I want to be clear about next steps: There will not be an Office of the First Spouse,” Kotek said.
The announcement came after her office released several emails from senior staff members who abruptly left their positions earlier in the year. In one email, Kotek’s former Chief of Staff Andrea Cooper said she was “asked not to attend” a meeting where events were added to Kotek Wilson’s calendar.
Oregon
U.S. Supreme Court sides with Oregon city, allows ban on homeless people sleeping outdoors • Maine Morning Star
![U.S. Supreme Court sides with Oregon city, allows ban on homeless people sleeping outdoors • Maine Morning Star](https://mainemorningstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/homeless.jpeg)
The U.S. Supreme Court Friday sided with a local ordinance in Oregon that effectively bans homeless people from sleeping outdoors, and local governments will be allowed to enforce those laws.
In a 6-3 decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the opinion that the enforcement of those local laws that regulate camping on public property does not constitute the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
“Homelessness is complex. Its causes are many. So may be the public policy responses required to address it,” he wrote. “The Constitution’s Eighth Amendment serves many important functions, but it does not authorize federal judges to wrest those rights and responsibilities from the American people and in their place dictate this Nation’s homelessness policy.”
The case originated in Grants Pass, a city in Oregon that argues its ordinance is a solution to the city’s homelessness crisis, which includes fines and potential jail time for repeat offenders who camp or sleep outdoors.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissent arguing that the ordinance targets the status of being homeless and is therefore a violation of the Eighth Amendment.
“Grants Pass’s Ordinances criminalize being homeless,” she wrote. “The Ordinances’ purpose, text, and enforcement confirm that they target status, not conduct. For someone with no available shelter, the only way to comply with the Ordinances is to leave Grants Pass altogether.”
During oral arguments, the justices seemed split over ideological lines, with the conservative justices siding with the town in Oregon, arguing that policies and ordinances around homelessness are complex, and should be left up to local elected representatives rather than the courts.
The liberal justices criticized the city’s argument that homelessness is not a status protected under the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. The liberal justices argued the Grants Pass ordinance criminalized the status of being homeless.
The Biden administration took the middle ground in the case, and U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler offered partial support.
“It’s the municipality’s determination, certainly in the first instance with a great deal of flexibility, how to address the question of homelessness,” he said during oral arguments in late April.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
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