Opinion
4A
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Other Views
Congress
eyes ways
to support
local news
n the past five months, Congress has responded
to the coronavirus public health crisis with sev-
eral emergency relief measures, including the
stimulus checks sent to individuals and households,
payroll protections to small businesses, expanded
unemployment payments, fee waivers for borrowing
against 401(k) plans and more.
Now,
Congress
will get the
DEAN RIDINGS
opportu-
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPERS
nity to pass
a relief mea-
sure that
protects your access to trustworthy local news, helps
grow local businesses through ads placed in local
news media and rewards you for subscribing to a
newspaper like this one.
The Local Journalism Sustainability Act, intro-
duced July 16, is a bipartisan bill that provides for
tax credits for subscribing to a local newspaper, pay-
roll credit for paying journalists who provide local
news and credit for advertising in local newspapers
and local media.
This act responds to the insidious way the pan-
demic has deeply damaged American communi-
ties in a malevolent cycle. It forced the shuttering
of many local businesses that stopped advertising
in their local paper. Newspapers, which have seen
their revenues plummet, responded by laying off
the people who bring the news or dropping the days
they publish. That threatens the access to vital news
by people in the community who themselves may be
out of a job temporarily or permanently and can no
longer afford newspaper subscriptions.
Here’s how the Local Journalism Sustainability
Act would help everyone caught in this vicious
circle:
• Credit for advertising in local newspapers and
local media. Businesses with fewer than 1,000
employees would be eligible for a five-year nonre-
fundable tax credit to spend on advertising in local
newspapers or local radio or television stations.
The credit, up to $5,000 in the first year and $2,500
in each of the next four years, would cover 80% of
advertising costs in the first year and 50% annually
thereafter.
• Credit for local newspaper subscriptions. The
act provides for a nonrefundable tax credit of up to
$250 per year to help cover the costs of subscriptions
to local newspapers, in print or digital form, that pri-
marily produce content related to news and current
events. The credit would cover 80% of subscription
costs in the first year, and 50% thereafter.
• Payroll credit for journalists. This five-year
refundable tax credit could be used by local newspa-
pers on compensation of its journalists up to $50,000
a year. The credit would cover 50% of compensa-
tion, up to $50,000, in the first year and 30% of com-
pensation, up to $50,000, in each of the subsequent
four years.
This simple yet comprehensive legislation helps
the three keys to trustworthy, fair and accurate local
journalism: citizens, business owners and journal-
ists. T
his is an urgently needed assist with a strictly
limited time frame responding to an unprecedented
public health and economic crisis.
Please contact the office of your local U.S. rep-
resentative to ask them to support your local busi-
nesses, your local news media and your access to
the trustworthy local news that only your commu-
nity newspaper provides by co-sponsoring the Local
Journalism Sustainability Act.
To see how to contact these legislators by
email, phone or mail, just go to www.usa.gov/
elected-officials.
I
About the Author
Dean Ridings is CEO of America’s Newspapers,
an alliance of local newspapers and related estab-
lishments committed to explaining, defending and
advancing the vital role of newspapers in democracy
and civil life.
My Voice
Kids need to go back to school
wake up. Uhh. Another day of dis-
tance learning.
This has been annoying. You
might not believe that, but maybe I
can convince you that it is. Let me tell
you my routine. Wake up. Go to my
meeting. This lasted TWO HOURS.
Now it’s ten o’clock. Do math, I need
I
CARSON
YANCEY
SUMMERVILLE
to ask Mom about a question. Mom
is helping someone else. Do the rest
of my math. Mom is still helping
someone else. Walk a mile down
the hill to the bus and the other mile
up the hill to get our lunch from the
school (okay that wasn’t so bad).
Research something and do a flip-
grid on it (that wasn’t bad either). Do
spelling. Get interrupted. Do lan-
guage, get distracted and scolded
to get on task. Mark everything off
my list. Yay — but it’s 5 o’clock. Do
chores, go to bed. (Yes, I ate dinner.)
Wake up and do this all over again.
Now that I have hopefully got you
wanting to read my article, let me tell
you what I think: Kids should go to
school like they used to.
My first main point is that online
schooling is annoying to students.
Students get to see their friends but
can’t talk to them; it is basically tor-
ture. Like if you are working out-
side in the middle of the day, the sun
is baking you alive, and a few yards
away is your aboveground pool that
you can’t get in because you have
to dig this deep hole for something
silly that you can’t even remember.
And teachers can’t give proper les-
sons. There are so many distractions
when trying to do your work and in
meetings siblings are interrupting
you, watching a show, or just making
noise. There are many distractions
outside as well as inside. Also people
don’t have unlimited devices. There
are four kids in my family. So we
need four devices for us to work on.
One more thing is that people with
special needs can’t get the help they
need.
My second main point is that par-
ents can’t always help their kids.
Sometimes they are busy on a phone
call or doing chores.
Parents also need their devices,
so if a parent needs to work on their
phone and a kid does also, then that
is a problem. A parent might have a
kid who needs special education and
could not help them. There is one
really bad thing that could happen.
Someone’s mom or dad might have
to quit work to help their child and
then no one could get money in that
family.
My third main point is what hap-
pens if the electricity or internet stops
working? I’ll tell you, computers need
electricity and the internet; without
that we could not do meetings or
online work. There is one exception.
If the internet is down or the elec-
tricity is out, you could work on a
phone if it has data. There are two
problems with this. One: If the elec-
tricity went out, phones could only
work for a little bit because phones
would need to charge. Two: Phones
have tiny screens; even the iPhone 11
doesn’t have a good enough screen to
do school work on.
My final main point is the corona-
virus does not affect younger people
as much as older people. Studies
show that very few kids have died
from the coronavirus. So I think we
should go to school because it will
improve kids’ emotional state as well
as help them with the coronavirus.
Kids can get the coronavirus, not die
from it.
Please find a reasonable way to
reopen schools in the fall. Thank you
for listening.
About the Author
Carson Yancey is a student at
Imbler Elementary School. He lives in
Summerville and will be in the sixth
grade in the fall.
Contact your public officials
President Donald Trump: The White
House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washing-
ton, D.C. 20500; 202-456-1414; fax 202-
456-2461; to send comments, go to www.
whitehouse.gov/contact.
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley: D.C. office:
313 Hart Senate Office Building, U.S.
Senate, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-
3753; fax 202-228-3997. Portland office:
One World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon
St. Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; 503-
326-3386; fax 503-326-2900. Pendleton
office: 310 S.E. Second St. Suite 105,
Pendleton 97801; 541-278-1129; merkley.
senate.gov.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden: D.C. office: 221
Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washing-
ton, D.C., 20510; 202-224-5244; fax 202-
228-2717. La Grande office: 105 Fir St., No.
210, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-7691;
fax, 541-963-0885; wyden.senate.gov.
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (2nd District):
D.C. office: 2182 Rayburn Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20515, 202-225-6730;
fax 202-225-5774. La Grande office: 1211
Washington Ave., La Grande, OR 97850;
541-624-2400, fax, 541-624-2402; walden.
house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 254 State
Capitol, Salem, OR 97310; 503-378-3111;
www.governor.oregon.gov.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias
Read: oregon.treasurer@ost.state.or.us;
350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100, Salem OR
97301-3896; 503-378-4000.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen F.
Rosenblum: Justice Building, Salem, OR
97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
State Sen. William S. Hansell (29th
District/Athena): Salem office: 900
Court St. NE., S-423, Salem, OR 97301;
503-986-1729. Website: www.oregonleg-
islature.gov/ hansell. Email: sen.billhan-
sell@oregonlegislature. gov.
State Rep. Greg Barreto (58th
District/ Cove): Salem office: 900 Court
St. NE., H-384, Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-
1458. Website: www.oregonlegislature.
gov/barreto. Email: rep.gregbarreto@
oregonlegislature.gov.
State Rep. Greg Smith (57th Dis-
trict): Salem office: 900 Court St. NE.,
H-482, Salem, OR, 97301; 503-986-1457.
Heppner office: P.O. Box 219, Heppner,
OR 97836; 541-676-5154; Website: www.
oregonlegislature.gov/smithg. Email: rep.
gregsmith@oregonlegislature.gov.
Oregon Legislature: Legislative
documents and information are available
online at www.leg.state.or.us.
City of La Grande: Mayor Steve Cle-
ments, City Manager Robert Strope; P.O.
Box 670, La Grande, OR 97850; 541-962-
1309; fax 541-963-3333.
Union County Commissioners:
Donna Beverage, Matt Scarfo and Paul
Anderes; 1106 K Ave., La Grande, OR
97850; 541-963-1001; fax 541-963-1079.
Wallowa County Commissioners:
John Hillock,Todd Nash and Susan Rob-
erts; 101 S. River St., Room 202, Enter-
prise, OR 97828; 541-426-4543, ext. 11.