General

I'm sure we all remember School House Rock's production of How a Bill Becomes a Law. It was cute, catchy, and an easy way for government teachers to keep students engaged.

But times have changed. So here's Mark Fiore, Putlizer-prize winning cartoonist, with an updated version of the lesson; here's How a Bill Becomes a Law -- ALEC-style:

Over the past week since the Supreme Court ruled that the Affordable Care Act will stand, we've been running reactions and responses from Oregonians about what the policy means to them.

From a diverse group of people with diverse interests, lifestyles, and priorities, there was at least one common sentiment: The Affordable Care Act improves our lives.

These stories include:

Big congrats are due to Oregonian columnist David Sarasohn, who just won the Casey Medals Award for Opinion Writing. He won the award for his (unfortunately) long-running series about childhood hunger.

Here’s what the award committee said about his work:

Sarasohn put a human face on a shocking statistic and illustrated the real social cost of hunger. The judges praised his columns for their many “stick in your stomach” lines; such as, “If your stock goes down, it may come back up. If you lose your job, you may get another. But if you spend fourth grade wondering if it’s time for lunch yet, you never get that back."

As we’ve mentioned, Rep. Dennis Richardson has exploited the state’s public records system to get his hands on at least half a million email addresses, which he’s used to send out his conservative political screeds. (Including this latest one about the Estate Tax.)