Crazy OR News - April 29th

Added: 2026-04-30

[00:00:02][music] >> Good evening from the News Radio 1120 and 93.7 FM KBNW studios. I'm Bill London. Hi. I do the wake-up call 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Monday through Friday mornings along with Mandy Beemer. You can stream us worldwide at kbnw.com or well, you don't even have to go worldwide. Well, we stream right down the block. You can just go down there and listen to it where of course I do the crazy Oregon news every freaking day.

[00:00:35]Now, that said, tonight's crazy Oregon news brought to you once again by Innovative Law Group in particular Alan Thayer, master barrister or he would be if he was overseas. Here he's an attorney. One of the things that he specializes in is estates. So, you know, it's a fun thing about Oregon.

[00:01:00]You make money, you get taxed on it all your life here in Oregon and then you die and Oregon says, "Hey, you know, there's a tax for that, too."

[00:01:10]Yeah, it's called the death tax, literally. So, they don't figure that well, your family or your friends, your relatives deserve that. That's the state's money by golly so that well, we can continue to have schools that are the worst in the nation.

[00:01:29]Without getting too political about it.

[00:01:31]So, if you're putting your estate together and you're looking for an expert to do it, then think Innovative Law Group because Alan and his new partner Clark have come up with a plan to help you reduce or even eliminate the Oregon death tax. Oregon's only one of 12 states that has it and it also happens to be well, the greediest death tax. They they want to take more of it.

[00:02:00]And you know, it's just something that you look at it and go, "Why should they get it?"

[00:02:08]Good question.

[00:02:09]And Alan can answer that for you. And he also has a number of ways that you can set up your estate so Oregon either doesn't get any of it or gets a whole lot less. He has a seven-step approach called the Innovative Legacy Guide. And there's a number of different parts to it. And it all depends on your needs whether you're looking for just an essential protection plan, maybe the wealth preservation process if you have a larger estate. Um, they even have the young family blueprint and my favorite is the family harmony method because well, we know how everybody gets along with their family members, which is why you only see many of them on Thanksgiving. Anyway, if you want to find out more, it's very easy to do. You can just email Alan at think ilg.com.

[00:03:04]That is Innovative Law Group thinkilg.com [email protected] and see how they can maybe save you money when you won't be thinking of it at the time.

[00:03:20]All right, crazy Oregon news. So, Oregon retail employment was hit by the pandemic and it hit everywhere. And retail employment then rebounded. And once again, it's plummeting and there is no COVID this time. Retail employment started faltering about 3 years ago and is now down nearly 6% compared to what it was in 2019.

[00:03:47]That according to state figures. Now, retail jobs are down nationally, too by about 1%. So, a big part of the national downward trend is what you would expect it to be. That's namely e-commerce. However, Oregon as always has its own special way of doing things.

[00:04:08]So, many parts of the state economy have lagged the nation's this past decade.

[00:04:14]Job and population growth here in Oregon is stagnant. Home building is slow.

[00:04:20]Manufacturing employment is down sharply. Office vacancies are high.

[00:04:26]Recent polling shows that Oregonians as well are increasingly pessimistic about their economic opportunities with concerns rising about the cost of living and inflation. And that's of course constraining consumer spending and consequently Oregon retail employment.

[00:04:47]Now, something that may have a little bit to do with this.

[00:04:52]So, Oregonians in their peak earning years when they can contribute most to the state's economy are moving out of the state faster than their 30 to 50-year-old peers are actually moving in. This finding is based on the most recent available data from the US Census.

[00:05:12]And that was released those numbers back in January. So, Oregon relies more heavily on income taxes than most other states. So, it suffers more from this outflow.

[00:05:25]That according to EcoNorthwest researcher Aditya Gadkari. Uh, she says the exodus of workers in their prime earning years means less revenue for the state. Gadkari says, quote, "We're losing the ability of our jurisdictions to provide high levels of services."

[00:05:46]Well, I don't know that I would go so far as to say high level of services, but we definitely pay for it.

[00:05:53]Anyway, the largest influx of new Oregon residents are actually young adults, either college age or very earlier in their early in their careers. Typically, they earn far less than those that are leaving. Now, Lane County, home to the University of Oregon and Benton County, the home of Oregon State, have seen growth in what they refer to as adult teens or early 20s. And Oregon's on the other end, aging population, those in their 60s, is well documented with deaths outnumbering births over the last 5 years. So, you may ask yourself, well, why is that?

[00:06:38]Why are these people when they enter their high earning years, why are they leaving?

[00:06:43]Well, according again to EcoNorthwest, they have more job opportunities to make more money out of Oregon.

[00:06:54]We don't have affordable housing.

[00:06:57]And the state of education in the state, those same people in their 30s to 50s are the ones that well, at least in their 30s, are the ones that are having kids and they don't want to send them to Oregon's public schools, which are some of the worst in the nation. All of that plays a role on who moves in and who moves out. Many don't want to move here for the exact same problems. Now, affordable housing remains a persistent and huge problem in Oregon with the house to are the cost of housing far outstripping gains in household income over the last 20 years. That according to Federal Reserve economic data. Former state economist Mark McMullen says, quote, "The places people are moving to are much less expensive than where they're moving from." And where they're moving from?

[00:07:50]Oregon.

[00:07:52]So, Governor Tina Kotek happily signed a Senate Bill 1501 redirecting almost 400 million taxpayer dollars to renovate the Moda Center for the sole purpose of keeping the Portland Trail Blazers in Portland.

[00:08:11]Now, along with that, Portland's Mayor Keith Wilson pledged $120 million coming from the city's climate tax and another $14 million annually for the next 20 years in operating costs for the Moda Center.

[00:08:30]Multnomah County Chair says, "Oh, yeah, Multnomah County will throw in another $88 million."

[00:08:37]And you've got to ask yourself, are you kidding?

[00:08:41]Now, Portland City Council may bulk at redirecting money out of the climate fund to pay for the project that is receiving not one penny from new Blazer owner, billionaire Tom Dunden.

[00:08:57]Now, the fact that he has zero money in this game, absolutely none, is unique. As a matter of fact, that would make the Portland Trail Blazers and its owner Tom Dunden the only team in the NBA with an arena that they have no skin in the game on.

[00:09:22]Now, we've gone through this before on crazy Oregon news here with Rick Dancer.

[00:09:27]This is considered to be this arrangement that the state of Oregon has set up is literally been called the worst arena deal in NBA history. Every other team has had some sort of skin in the game whether they're building a new arena or they're uh rebuilding an old one.

[00:09:49]They've all had skin in the game.

[00:09:53]Not in Oregon because we do things differently here. And by the way, you may be asking, "Well, where is all that Oregon tax money coming from?" Well, according to Governor Kotek, you know, all those millionaires that play for the Portland Trail Blazers, well, they're going to redirect their taxes towards this project and other employees of the Moda Center. So, they're saying, "Yeah, these these are going to be the people that are actually paying the taxes on this."

[00:10:21]Okay, those people are already paying taxes here in Oregon. And where is that money going? It is going directly to the general fund. What is the general fund actually fund? Oh, you know, things like education, health and human services, mental health care, and also the salaries of every employee of the state of Oregon. So, literally what they're doing is they're taking that chunk out of the giant slush fund that is the general fund and they're just taking it out and saying, "Well, those are the people that are paying for it." Okay, so who's going to backfill the hole that's going to be coming for the general fund for this particular project?

[00:11:11]Inquiring minds want to know. Oh, that'll be you.

[00:11:17]So, radical environmentalists are looking for your signature in the Eugene area. Yes, the activists are currently canvassing Eugene to put a brand new climate tax on the November ballot. The first of its kind happened in Portland.

[00:11:34]And while that tax is supposed to go to climate initiatives, Portland, of course, is considering dipping into it as an upgrade to the Moda Center, as we just told you, to keep the Trail Blazers in Portland. Which, of course, is such a green project with people driving their cars to the games and opposing teams flying in on private jets. But all those carbon neutral hot dogs, chef's kiss.

[00:12:00]At a minimum, they're going to have to collect about 8,700 valid signatures.

[00:12:05]So, the tax would be on Eugene residents or Eugene businesses. It would confiscate 2% of gross profits from retail sales in the city on companies that gross a billion dollars a year worldwide, but bring in at least $500,000 locally. So, think of things like Home Depot, Fred Meyer and Kroger, Safeway, Albertsons grocery stores. And just like the cat tax here in Oregon, guess who will pay for that?

[00:12:44]In the end, it'd be you.

[00:12:47]All right, we have been following the story of PeaceHealth and the change that PeaceHealth wants to make here in Oregon dealing with Eugene emergency physicians. They want them gone to bring in Apollo MD. Well, Monday was the start to the trial over who actually will control emergency room care in Lane County. And it is the first major test of what's considered to be the nation's toughest law limiting corporate influence in medicine. Now, in federal court in Eugene Monday, lawyers squared off over PeaceHealth's plan to replace Eugene emergency physicians, which is the local group that staffed PeaceHealth's emergency room over the last 35 years. And they want a new setup involving out-of-state Apollo MD to improve outcomes in their notoriously slow emergency room.

[00:13:48]So, here's the gist of the legal contest. Senate Bill 951 was just recently enacted as a matter of fact by the last legi- in the last legislative session. And it strengthens the state's long-standing ban on the so-called corporate practice of medicine.

[00:14:06]What it's really meant to do is to keep medical decisions in the hands of licensed physicians, not corporation executives or outside management companies. So, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 951 to shut down a common workaround that companies would use to put a physician's name on the practice, but still pull the strings behind the scenes.

[00:14:32]In those arrangements, the doctor appears to be in charge, but key decisions are often driven by the companies. Sort of like a shell game.

[00:14:41]Well, US District Judge Mustafa Kasubhai told the court that in dealing with the new law, he is going to have to sort out what, quote, "legislation is intended or not intended to accomplish in this particular case."

[00:14:56]So, in Monday's arguments, the plaintiffs argued the planned transition is not only illegal under state law, but it's being pushed through too quickly by PeaceHealth to be safe. Apollo MD would provide ER doctors at Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend in Springfield, PeaceHealth Harbor Medical Center in Florence, and also the Cottage Grove Community Medical Center. Todd Johnson, an attorney for the plaintiffs, claims that Apollo MD, through its administrative rule, is effectively controlling medical decisions behind the scenes. And if that's happening, they're arguing, that would be a violation of Senate Bill 951. And that it would be corporations taking care of the medical practice. Well, they also warned that replacing more than 40 local emergency physicians all at once at once would disrupt care regardless of who replaces them. And they want the court to also pause the transition and keep the current doctors in case while the case moves forward or in place.

[00:16:07]Well, lawyers for PeaceHealth and Apollo MD argued the concerns raised by the local doctors are based on speculative or worst-case scenarios, not evidence that the law is actually being violated.

[00:16:21]They say, by the way, they already have more doctors lined up to walk into the emergency room today than EEP has in its entire group. And their argument came down to a point about Senate Bill 951.

[00:16:39]And that is it does not ban companies from supporting medical practice, it only bans them from controlling patient care. And they said there's no proof that's happening here because they've created Lane Emergency Physicians, that's run by an actual physician. Jason Pop, an attorney for medical for Apollo MD, said the company's role is going to be limited to administrative support, while the physician-led group, Lane Emergency Physicians, will actually make the clinical decisions. So, Oregon business and industries, along with employers, labor unions, and trade associations have filed a lawsuit. They are challenging the validity of former Governor Kate Brown's executive order, the Oregon Climate Protection Program, which is projected to increase energy costs for state residents and businesses by over $5 billion over the next decade.

[00:17:46]And they say because it was created by executive order rather than statute, the program is going to handle billions of dollars with no direct legislative oversight.

[00:18:00]Although you can say that Oregon agencies, like say ODOT, have been doing the same thing even though they were supposed to have legislative oversight, uh the legislature just said, "Hey, you you take care of that. It's okay. You You just You You do that." All right, your crazy Oregon news brought to you, as always, by Innovative Law Group. If you're looking to protect your estate on that day when you pass into the great beyond, check them out.

[00:18:35]Send an email to [email protected] and find out how he can save your estate and your family a lot of money on that sad day that, well, you decide to tootle off into the great blue yonder. All right, your crazy Oregon news is done.

[00:18:55]And now it's time for Rick to roll out some sort of facsimile of real.

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