Page 2
The
April 13, 2016
in
Week Review
Lowest Jobless Since 1976
Oregon’s unemployment rate
dropped to a record low of 4.5
percent in March, the lowest point
since comparable records began in
1976. A year ago, Oregon’s un-
employment rate was 5.7 percent.
Rent Freeze Demanded
A large group of protesters dis-
rupted a meeting of the Mult-
nomah
County
commission
Thursday to demand that the local
governing panel declare a housing
disaster and immediately enact a
one-year rent freeze and eviction
moratorium. The commission
took no action on the proposal by
Portland Tenants United.
Glass Maker Adds Controls
Bullseye glass, the southeast Port-
land company believed to be one
of the sources of heavy metals
detected in the city’s air, indicat-
ed in a letter released Monday by
the Oregon Department of Envi-
ronmental Quality that it will start
using cadmium again after install- NFL’S Will Smith Killed
ing a pollution control device in a Former New Orleans Saints player
Will Smith was killed Sunday night
controlled furnace.
in a case of road-rage by a Hum-
Student had Zest for Life
vee-driving man who rear-ended
Her zest for life was contagious his Mercedes and then shot him in
and it’s what friends of 18-year- the back and side, according to a
old Haruka Weiser are trying to police warrant. Smith, 34, was be-
focus on as they struggle with loved by fans for helping the Saints
grief over her murder. The first- win the 2009 Super Bowl.
year student at University of Tex-
as in Austin was found dead on Navy Accommodates Portland
the school’s campus last Tuesday. After Portland Mayor Charlie
She was a native of Portland and Hales refused to travel to Mis-
attended the Arts and Communi- sissippi to commission the USS
cations Magnet Academy in Bea- Portland because of the state’s
new anti-gay law, the Navy Tues-
verton.
day announced the commission-
ing will take place in Portland.
The law signed by the Mississippi
governor earlier this month al-
lows churches, religious charities
and privately held businesses to
decline services to people whose
lifestyles violate their religious
beliefs.
Neal, Iverson to Naismith
Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iver-
son will be inducted into the 2016
Naismith Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame later this year, offi-
cials announced last week. Iver-
son was an 11-time NBA All-Star
and O’Neal was a four-time NBA
Champion in 19 years in the NBA.
Arts Tax Due and
Many Confused
Paying it isn’t as easy as it seems
C ervante p ope
t he p ortland o bserver
We get it; statistically speak-
ing, Portland is one of the biggest
creative hubs in the United States.
That isn’t news to anyone, but the
Portland Arts Tax is, to some.
The goal of the tax is to provide
an artistic outlet for young kids in
schools by bringing art teachers
into 70 elementary schools across
six Portland school districts, as
well as supporting the city’s artis-
tic organizations.
The measure first popped up on
by
a ballot back in November 2012
and to date has raised a combined
$24 million for the Regional Arts
and Culture Council and Portland
area schools. Yet, four years lat-
er, residents are still either unin-
formed of the Arts Tax, or unin-
formed on how to pay it.
Aware of this issue, Elders in
Action has sought to help those
perplexed by the process by break-
ing down the details and providing
a streamlined outline of the tax’s
C ontinued on p age 4
Established 1970 USPS 959 680
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211
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