The crazy mixed up world of “free” electricity where the homeless get arrested and Tesla owners get subsidies By Dr. Eric Fruits, Econ Minute Blog, Oregon In Portland, OR, Street Roots reports that a homeless former social worker with muscular dystrophy was hit with a misdemeanor theft charge for charging […]

By Josh Lehner Oregon Office of Economic Analysis Blog What follows is a mostly graphical update on the landscape of jobs across Oregon. As mentioned in the previous post on the state more broadly, Oregon is near full-throttle rates of growth. This acceleration has largely come from the pick-up in […]

Miller Nash LLP, Oregon and Washington Law Firm Implications for Businesses as Oregon Attorney General Fights for More Detailed Data Breach Notifications, and Increased Involvement in Data Breach Situations As reported in an interview with The Privacy Advisor, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is seeking the following three changes to […]

By NFIB Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner is distributing a plan for increased local government control to municipalities around the state with the hope that they will pass resolutions of support. His plan, which he calls the “Turnaround Agenda,” calls for legislators in Springfield to pass legislation authorizing “home rule” communities […]

By Oregon Tax News, There is much debate about tax reform in Congress and one idea is to eliminate 1031 capital gain exchanges. This idea would have terrible consequences. Any American business owner will tell you that overhauling the tax code is long overdue. If you ask these same business […]

By Economist Dr. Eric Fruits, Econinternational President Obama announced a new initiative to train military veterans for careers in the solar industry. The new Solar Ready Vets Program, would help military veterans learn new skills needed to work in the solar industry after they leave the armed forces. The solar […]

By Oregon Brewers Guild The Oregon Brewers Guild announced that Oregonians bought 585,000 barrels of beer produced in Oregon in 2014, a 14.3 percent increase over 2013. Oregon continues to lead the U.S. in the percentage of dollars spent on craft beer. Oregon’s breweries crafted 1,641,000 barrels of beer during […]

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden  introduced a bipartisan bill to send the message that our country should only accept trade deals that will boost middle-class U.S. families and advance Oregon values. The bicameral bill includes unprecedented new provisions to improve transparency, boost Congressional oversight and require stronger […]

By U.S. Chamber of Commerce By 2022, over half of all employers will be at risk of paying the 40% excise tax on high-value health plans (“Cadillac Tax”). One notable category of employers is colleges, John Rosenberg writes at The Fiscal Times: Now, as the scheduled 2018 implementation of the […]

By Oregon Prosperity Project, Bumpy Roads Ahead: Why Oregon’s Transportation Infrastructure has a Rocky Future Did you know that there are over 71,500 miles of roads in Oregon? That’s a lot of miles; in fact, if they were stretched out into a straight line, they would go around the equator […]