Top takeaways from final debate in Oregon governor’s race

Cami Mondeaux

October 20, 08:00 AM October 20, 08:12 AM

The three candidates in Oregon’s race for governor met for their final televised debate on Wednesday, clashing on key issues such as education and homelessness as each of them sought to set themselves apart in the consequential election.

Although Oregon typically leans Democratic in its statewide races and leaves little room for surprises, the governor’s race has been deemed a toss-up by election forecasters after third-party candidate former state Sen. Betsy Johnson entered the ring. Johnson, a onetime Democrat, has shaken up the race by threatening to split the electorate between herself and Democratic candidate Tina Kotek, giving Republican contender Christine Drazan a path to victory.

MIDTERM ELECTIONS 2022: HERE ARE THE ISSUES OREGON VOTERS CARE ABOUT THE MOST

Drazan has had a surprisingly strong performance in the polls so far, prompting Republican groups to pour money into the race to score an upset victory.

Here are the top takeaways from Wednesday’s debate:

Candidates’ experience in state politics both a weapon and hindrance

All three candidates have some experience working for the state government in Oregon, offering them talking points to tout their policy achievements while also giving their opponents fodder to attack their political records.

Kotek, the former House speaker in the Oregon legislature, was knocked by her opponents for the increase in crime rates that occurred while she was in office, with Johnson accusing the Democrat of prioritizing “almost everything before she prioritized homelessness.” Kotek fired back by blaming Drazan, a former representative in the Oregon House, for delaying a bill that would allocate $100 million toward homelessness by staging a walkout during the 2020 legislative session.

Drazan and Kotek engaged in several heated exchanges, frequently accusing the other of lying about their voting records and policy stances. Both Johnson and Drazan accused Kotek of being the “original defund-the-police candidate” and walking with “rioters” during racial justice protests in the summer of 2020, prompting Kotek to decry her opponents for misrepresenting her record.

Johnson adamant about staying in race despite risking Republican victory

The trio acknowledged the unusual circumstances surrounding their three-way race, conceding it could result in some partisan advantages for the winning party.

Johnson was previously a Democrat before leaving the party last year to run for governor, noting voters shouldn’t have to choose between a “left-wing liberal promising more of the same or a right-wing Trump apologist.” Despite trailing in the polls and threatening to split the vote, Johnson has refused to drop out — remaining adamant she could still win.

Johnson criticized Kotek for introducing policies that “spoiled” the Democratic Party, arguing her leadership was too far to the left. Kotek responded by warning that Johnson’s presence in the race would increase the chance for a Republican win, noting that “we don’t need to take a hard right turn to put our state back on track.”

Candidates point to policing reform to crack down on crime

Crime has emerged as a focal point in the governor’s race, as both Johnson and Drazan have spent much of the midterm cycle knocking Kotek for rising crime and homelessness rates in the state, which have reached record-breaking levels this year.

Kotek proposed increasing the number of sworn officers in the state and providing more training for local police departments to train recruits. Drazan agreed, contending cities have experienced higher rates of crime because of a shrinking police force — vowing to ensure the state police department is fully funded.

Johnson touted her record while she served in the state legislature, noting the Oregon State Police had adequate funding while she was in office. However, she said, Democrats limited the effectiveness of police departments by passing legislation that restricted police tactics and enforced consequences for misconduct — policies that Kotek and Drazan both supported.

Bowser suggests migrants being ‘tricked’ on to buses to DC

Cami Mondeaux

July 18, 09:18 AM July 18, 09:18 AM

Mayor Muriel Bowser criticized the migrant buses heading to Washington, D.C., stating asylum-seekers are currently being "tricked" into touring absent from their intended locations.

Hundreds of individuals launched from Border Patrol custody after illegally crossing the southern border have opted to just take buses to the nation’s cash under initiatives rolled out by the governors of Arizona and Texas, according to point out officers. Even so, various of these migrants argue they ended up persuaded to choose the excursion under fake pretenses and that they have been promised support in the district only to be confronted with homelessness as soon as they arrived.

DC DEMOCRATS BEG FOR Assist AS BORDER STATES BUS MIGRANTS TO BIDEN'S Backyard

“This is a really substantial difficulty. We have known as on the federal authorities to perform throughout state strains to reduce persons from definitely being tricked into acquiring on buses. We assume they are mainly asylum-seekers or going to last locations that are not Washington, D.C.,” Bowser explained to CBS News on Sunday. “But I fear that they are remaining tricked into nationwide bus trips when their final locations are sites all more than the United States.”

The inflow of migrants has only exacerbated the homelessness disaster in Washington, Bowser reported, leaving a number of corporations scrambling as shelters fill up. Buses from Arizona and Texas have been transporting migrants to the nation’s funds for months, with much more envisioned in the coming months.

Aid groups have struggled to retain up with the soaring quantities, main a lot of migrants to sleep on the ground outdoors of the city's Union Station just after buses dropped them off. Businesses have lamented there aren’t plenty of assets to answer.

“DC, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) location local community businesses and volunteers have shown up time and all over again to assist our neighbors but we do not have the resources that the federal government does,” said Madhvi Bahl, a spokesperson for Sanctuary DMV and Absolutely free Them All VA.

Bahl, alongside with dozens of other aid teams in the area, has named on Bowser and President Joe Biden to offer more resources to treatment for those people who have been transported to Washington, D.C.

“We’re performing anything regionally that we can. ... We’re often wanting for the federal governing administration to be a partner, and I have to say that in coming out of this pandemic, almost everything that the federal authorities was able to do to assist towns like ours to hold folks housed with American Rescue System pounds, with creating sure we’re stopping evictions … has been pretty useful,” Bowser claimed.

Bowser has sought to tackle the increasing fee of homelessness, building it a single of her top priorities in workplace. The selection of displaced folks dwelling in Washington, D.C., achieved its most affordable stage in 17 many years, falling virtually 17% considering that the mayor enacted a approach to fight homelessness in 2015, according to an estimate unveiled in April.

About 4,440 people today were homeless in the district as of January, a approximately 14% decline from the calendar year before and the most affordable number on history since 2005. Despite the slide in quantities, the district is rated No. 1 for the highest fees of youth poverty and homelessness, according to a report from WalletHub.

Report: California has most serious housing deficit in the country

Madison Hirneisen | The Heart Square

July 15, 07:53 AM July 15, 07:53 AM

(The Centre Sq.) – California has the most critical housing underproduction in the country, achieving a deficit of just about 980,000 houses, in accordance to a new report launched Thursday.

The research, introduced by Up for Growth, found that 47 states, the District of Columbia and 169 out of 309 metropolitan spots have a housing deficit. Nationwide, the study located that housing underproduction has arrived at 3.79 million units – up from 1.65 million models in 2012.

At the condition level, California potential customers the country in housing underproduction, with the report estimating the point out has a deficit of 978,000 households – an enhance of 82% because 2012. The point out with the second-highest deficit is Texas at 322,000 residences and Florida at 289,000 houses.

“With the country 3.8 million residences shorter of conference housing demands, the U.S. is in an excessive state of housing underproduction,” Mike Kingsella, CEO of Up for Progress, mentioned in a assertion. “Housing affordability is foundational for making and sustaining healthier regional economies, and offers persons and households with the balance required to invest in on their own and their communities.”

The report notes that the explanations for housing deficits nationwide can be one of a kind to selected areas. “In Detroit, underproduction is driven by uninhabitable models, when in Sacramento, a lack of housing is driving the shortage,” the report suggests.

California’s crippling housing scarcity and disaster has caught the notice of the Legislature, and many lawmakers have launched bills in latest several years to make it less difficult to develop households in the point out.

One this sort of bill, Senate Invoice 9, took influence January 1 and makes it a lot easier for property owners to subdivide an existing great deal. Below the legislation, up to four models can be created on a single-relatives zoned parcel.

Lawmakers have also introduced several housing actions this year to handle the state’s shortage. A single evaluate authored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks would enable housing to be built in “underutilized professional sites” – which includes parts zoned for workplace, retail and parking – although one more measure by Assemblymember Laura Friedman would eradicate expensive parking mandates around important transit stops.

“California’s shortages of very affordable housing and our escalating homelessness troubles have turn into a humanitarian disaster, and we have to take care of them with that feeling of urgency,” Wicks, D-Oakland, who serves as chair of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Neighborhood Improvement, stated in a statement in April.

If California closed its housing hole, “home prices and rents would mature 20% more little by little than if the position quo ongoing unchecked,” the report estimates.

To address housing underproduction, the report lays out a framework that prioritizes the generation of residences in areas with “high economic mobility, entry to work and current infrastructure.” It also pinpoints the 3 major motorists of housing underproduction nationwide – insufficient availability, uninhabitable units and lacking homes, which refers to the boost of extra unrelated persons picking out to dwell alongside one another, stopping new homes from forming.

The examine also identifies housing affordability as “an growing countrywide crisis” that not only contributes to increased fees of cost-burdened renters but larger charges of homelessness as properly. The report states that “the nation’s highest rates of houselessness are in the Washington DC-Boston corridor, the West Coast, and Hawaii, all parts with significant-priced, source constrained housing markets.”

California has the greatest fee of homeless men and women in the country, with above 161,500 dealing with homelessness on any supplied working day, according to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

“We’ve extensive recognized a person of the main drivers of our region’s homelessness disaster is the lack of affordable housing,” Maria Salinas of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce explained in a statement. “Eliminating barriers which inhibit financial equity, specially with something as integral as housing, is critical to our economic recovery and will ensure the dignity and well-becoming of all of L.A.’s communities and communities all around the globe."

Enjoy: Olympic medalist and product recounts beating by LA homeless male

Luke Gentile

July 11, 01:12 PM July 11, 01:22 PM

Olympic medalist and model Kim Glass was savagely attacked by a Los Angeles homeless guy this weekend, leaving the volleyball star with ugly deal with accidents.

"As I was leaving lunch, I was outside, and I was indicating goodbye to a buddy, and this homeless male ran up," Glass, 37, recalled in a viral online video posted to social media.

"He experienced something in his hand," she mentioned. "He was outside the house of the motor vehicle, in the street, and he just, like, seemed at me with some quite hateful eyes."

SEE IT: SNOOP DOGG BLAZES BIDEN WITH 'SLEEPY JOE OG' Hashish

Glass turned to inform a mate that she believed the homeless man could be harmful when she had her face smashed in, the 2008 Olympic silver medalist explained.

"Before I realized it, a large metallic bolt, like, pipe hit me," she said. "It took place so quickly, he virtually flung it from the road."

In the video, the correct aspect of Glass's encounter is totally swollen.

The product is not able to open up her eye, and a large gash on her nose is seen bleeding in the footage.

The homelessness disaster and rising violence in Los Angeles have achieved a breaking position for quite a few in the town, in accordance to a report.

Much more than 700,000 folks have signed an exertion to recall Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon, a Democrat.

Critics of Gascon have mentioned their disdain for his "tender on crime" stance.

Violent crime in the metropolis has risen 8% in the final year, and complete arrests have absent down by just about 12%, in accordance to information from the Los Angeles Police Section.

Right here are the US towns and states screening universal primary cash flow ideas

Asher Notheis

June 09, 11:58 AM June 09, 11:58 AM

Several metropolitan areas in the United States are applying universal basic income strategies for diverse demographics in 2022.

Most of the options are not permanent and will run for only a several months, even though some have a extended lifespan. All of the plans will be confined to precise demographic teams and will only enable a specific quantity of people in the specified town or point out to take part.

None of the programs will supply plenty of cash to enable folks to give up working, but they are expected to give individuals a little bit of enable in the present point out of the overall economy.

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND

The town of Annapolis is debating a proposed $800,000 pilot plan that would give $500 a month to 100 households. The prepare would be funded with funds that the city received from the American Rescue Strategy Act, federal funds allocated through a pandemic relief bill that need to be expended over the subsequent two several years, in accordance to the Capital Gazette.

The application would be modeled on an initiative in Stockton, California, which has revealed that families use the funds for food and housing, stated Democratic Alderman DaJuan Gay from Ward 6 of the town. Two other Democrats, Aldermen Rob Savidge of Ward 7 and Ross Arnett of Ward 8, mentioned they supported the idea in idea as a software to cut down profits inequity, but they had considerations about the extensive-time period funding of the software.

VOTERS SAY They're Ok WITH THESE Adjustments TO Take care of SOCIAL Protection

CALIFORNIA

State Sen. Dave Cortese (D-CA) is seeking to move a bill in California that will give homeless students in the condition $1,000 just about every month for 5 months in 2023. A overall of 15,000 higher school seniors will be qualified to choose component in the proposed prepare, which Cortese claims has been "transferring along and passing with flying shades," in accordance to San Jose Highlight.

If the invoice is signed into regulation, students will will need to fill out possibly a student help or California Dream Act software and must be in the 12th quality when implementing for the plan.

MINNEAPOLIS

Minneapolis families who are enrolled in the city's Assured Essential Money Method can count on to obtain $500 just about every month for the upcoming two years. They will be allowed to commit the money as they see match and will not have to count on a check out-in system from the city's federal government on how they are paying the money.

Only 200 people had been chosen for this method, and the to start with round of payments will get started this thirty day period. In addition to living in one particular of nine ZIP code places and currently being at least 18 a long time old, suitable members were being needed to exhibit that their yearly earnings is at or under 50% of the location median money for the metropolis and that they had been harm economically by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ITHACA, NEW YORK

Beginning in June, the Ithaca Confirmed Earnings plan will give 110 randomly chosen unpaid caregivers and their people $450 every single thirty day period for the following 12 months. The metropolis defines caregivers as "grown ups who shell out significant unpaid time caring for an aging or disabled grownup or a youngster."

Apps for the approach were held in December 2021 and were only offered for Ithaca people whose income was below 80% of the area’s median cash flow. On the other hand, if members moved out of the metropolis or if their money degree grew, they could go on to be integrated in the application.

"We’re in the midst of yet another Excellent Despair, which necessitates bold, New Deal-form investments in our folks," the plan's website page browse. "Even prior to COVID-19 hit, wealth and cash flow inequality were at historic highs. People who have been operating two and three jobs could not find the money for essential necessities. Nearly 40% of Individuals could not find the money for a $400 emergency."