Vote YES for the Unemployed Rally in Ashland

No More Tax Breaks for Big Banks: Oregonians Protest US Bank’s Opposition to Ballot Measures 66 & 67

Ashland, OR – Over 60 unemployed people will hold a rally where they will urge Oregonians to vote YES for tax fairness. They will also deliver a petition with over 1,000 signatures, protesting US Bank’s opposition to Ballot Measures 66 & 67.  The rally will be held in front of US Bank at 30 North 2nd Street Ashland, OR at 9 am Tuesday, January 19. Tax Fairness Oregon is coordinating this effort with Southern Oregon Jobs With Justice, Western Regional Advocacy Project, Sisters Of The Road, and Street Roots.

Measure 66 eliminates income taxes on the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits received last year, providing a break for over 270,000 Oregonians who were unemployed in 2009. At the same time, a YES vote on both ballot measures will maintain critical services that these citizens need more than ever by protecting job training programs and career centers, health care services, temporary assistance for families in need, and affordable daycare programs for those underemployed or unemployed.

However, US Bank is opposing these efforts. US Bank is a member and PAC contributor to the Oregon Bankers Association – the banking industry’s lobbying arm. This association has donated $150,000 to opponents of the tax fairness measures.  “I am voting YES for tax fairness. It is simple – if the big banks win, out-of-work Oregonians will lose,” said Demus Martinez, an unemployed firefighter from Madras.

James Amos, an unemployed heating and cooling tech from Talent, said, “I think it is wrong that the very folks who took billions of our taxpayer dollars for their bailout, are now spending big bucks so that corporations doing business in Oregon don’t have to pay more than $10 a year in taxes, while schools have to deal with shortened school years and oversized classes.“

US Bank is the issuer of the ReliaCard, a “prepaid Visa” card through which out-of-work Oregonians receive their unemployment benefits. As a result, hundreds of thousands of US Bank’s unemployed customers would get a tax cut if Oregonians vote YES for tax fairness. Instead of helping their hardest hit customers, US Bank is actively organizing against their interests.

“I am angry. It’s out-of-work Oregonians who deserve a tax cut, not the big banks and their well-heeled CEOs,” said Valerie Wallace, an underemployed educator from Beaverton.

First Amendment Forum in Ashland focuses on shield law for journalists

The pros and cons of a federal shield law for journalists will be explored during the annual Thomas W. Pyle First Amendment Forum, set for 7 p.m. Jan. 11 in the Rogue River Room of the Stevenson Union at Southern Oregon University in Ashland.

The forum’s keynote speaker is Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The RCFP is a voluntary, unincorporated association of reporters and news editors dedicated to protecting the First Amendment interests of the news media. Based in Arlington, Va., the RCFP has provided research, guidance and representation in major press cases in state and federal courts for 36 years.

Before assuming her position as its director in January 2000, Dalglish was a media lawyer for almost five years in a Minneapolis law firm and, from 1980 to 1993, was a reporter and editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Joining Dalglish will be Celina Montoya and Kim Wetzel, representing the Medill Innocence Project at Northwestern University. The project gives undergraduate students firsthand experience in investigating wrongful convictions. Montoya, who worked on the project while an undergraduate, has worked as a reporter for KSTX, the National Public Radio affiliate, in San Antonio, Texas. She now is program director for Literacy San Antonio, Inc., a project of the Junior League of San Antonio Inc.

Kimberly Wetzel is a graduate of SOU who participated in the Innocence Project while earning her master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern in 2005. Wetzel is a former reporter for the Contra Costa Times and Oakland Tribune in California. She lives in San Francisco.

The Thomas W. Pyle First Amendment Forum is produced by the SOU Department of Communication with a grant from the Ashland Daily Tidings and additional funding from Southern Oregon Public Television, KMVU-DT 26 and Cary and Gail Jones.

December 5 Photos

As part of the global days of action against the new World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial, people from across Northwest converged in downtown Portland to speak out against the proposed expansion of failed “free trade” policies and to demand the prioritization of human needs over corporate greed. Location: Portland, Oregon

Vogel Park Rally – November 28, 2009

Images from Citizens For Peace and Justice anti-war rally.  November 28, 2009

 

Photos Credit: Ivend Holen

Meet Democracy Now!s AMY GOODMAN

There is an exclusive opportunity to meet and greet Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman on Sunday, November 22 in Ashland, Oregon. Amy Goodman, host of the news program Democracy Now! will be giving a lecture and book signing on the Southern Oregon University campus, part of a national speeking tour to mark DN!’s 13th anniversary and introduce her new book, “Breaking The Sound Barrier.”

Prior to her lecture, Goodman will be available for an up close and personal meet and greet for a small group to support KSKQ LP 94.9 FM, Ashland’s community radio station. KSKQ is offering tickets for this even the lecture and KSKQ membership for $100. KSKQ currently runs Democracy Now! three times a day during weekdays at 6 am, 8 am and 6 pm.

The lecture and book signing will be 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm at the Music Recital Hall on the Southern Oregon University campus. The exclusive meet and greet will be at 6:00 pm in the Choir Room (MUS231) in the SOU Music Building.

Tickets for the meet and greet and lecture can be purchased from KSKQ on their website www.kskq.org, or at the KSKQ studio, 330 East Hersey St. For more information call 541-482-3999.

Photos from Ashland Fire

Photos from the fast moving fire that has torched 30-50 acres on the southern edge of Ashland

around 10 am on Sept. 21, 2009

from Siskiyou blvd. and Tolman Creek around 12:30 pm

around 12:30 pm.

Ashland ceremony to recall bombings

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom plans two events to commemorate the 64th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

A ceremony is planned at 8 a.m. Thursday on the Plaza in downtown Ashland, with the lighting of a memorial candle in remembrance of the victims of the bombings.

There will be a moment of silence at 8:15, marking the exact time the bomb was detonated by the U.S. above the city of Hiroshima. A reading of the 1981 proclamation designating Ashland as a nuclear-free zone will follow.

After the ceremony, the public will be invited to wander “Nuclear Alley” until 7 p.m. Built by WILPF members, the alley is a large canvas and wood structure created to teach about the history of nuclear weapons and their impact on local and international communities.

On Sunday, the date of the bombing of Nagasaki, there will be a ceremony at 3 p.m. at the Japanese Garden in Lithia Park, Ashland. Local activists will float sunflowers, the symbol of the nuclear-free movement, down Ashland Creek.

For more information, contact Keri Seidel at keri.seidel@hotmail.com or 488-9148.

Roseburg’s Charlie Company soldiers arrive in Iraq | The News-Review – NRtoday.com

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Images from Mystic Garden Party

Here are some of the images from the Mystic Garden Party on July 26, 2009.

Community Radio National Call-In Day – July 20th

Join people from across the country to tell Congress to open up the airwaves for more community media!!!

TAKE ACTION – Tell your Congressional Representative to support HR 1147

1. Look up your Congressional Representative at Congress.org

2. Find out if they have already supported the Local Community Radio Act.
See a list of cosponsors at govtrack.us and search for Bill number HR 1147.

3. Call the Congressional Switchboard at: (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Representative’s office.

If your representative is not a cosponsor tell he/she to support expanding Low Power FM all across the country and cosponsor the bill.

If your representative is a cosponsor ask him/her to reach out to Congressional Leadership to let them know that this is an important priority around the country.

Background:

In 2000, the FCC established Low Power FM radio service and the same year Congress acted to limit LPFM, pending the results of an interference study. This study was released in 2003, after an expenditure of $2.2 million in taxpayer dollars, and proved that LPFM would not provide interference to existing stations. There are currently over 800 LPFM stations operated by schools, churches, civic groups, and other nonprofit organizations across the country. However, it’s time, as the authors of this study and the FCC recommended, to expand LPFM to its intended service parameters. The Local Community Radio Act (HR 1147/S592) would expand Low Power FM radio stations and open the airwaves