Salem-News.com Silverton articles Page 5

Only a Handful of Oregonians Pay the Estate Tax, Study Shows

"Given the challenges now facing our country that require substantial new investments, today's report makes the case for Congress to maintain this important revenue source that applies only to extremely wealthy households"- OCPP's Chuck Sheketoff

(SILVERTON, Ore.) - Only a handful of Oregonians are subject to the federal estate tax, and their ranks will shrink further next year, according to a study released today.

Only 111 Oregon estates paid the federal tax in 2007, according to Citizens for Tax Justice's analysis of Internal Revenue Service data. The estate tax is typically paid in the year following the death, and preliminary data from the state's Public Health Division shows that there were 30,415 deaths in Oregon in 2006.

Thus, just four out of every 1,000 deaths in Oregon triggered the federal estate tax, according to the Washington, D.C.-based research institute. The ratio was 13 per 1,000 in 2000, before cuts to the estate tax were enacted in 2001 under the Bush Administration.

Fired Up and Ready to Go End Poverty

Invest in the Public Good Through Fair Budget and Tax Policies. The state's revenue shortfall threatens critical public structures. This revenue problem must be met with a revenue solution, not cuts to vital public services.

(SILVERTON, Ore.) - The morning after the election, I watched a video of Barack Obama telling how, on a rainy morning last June, Edith Childs of Greenwood, South Carolina, energized a room full of people with her chant, "Fired up! Ready to go!" The chant became a signature of the Obama campaign.

With the chant still echoing in my head, I turned to a blog post by an advocate I've admired for years, John Bouman, president of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Noting that "the State of Poverty is America's most populated state -- 37 million people," the Shriver Center recommended a 12-point plan to confront poverty.

Silverton: Home of Nation`s First Transgender Mayor (VIDEO)

Stu Rasmussen won the election for mayor of this rural Oregon town by a landslide.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Another Oregon mayor is making headlines, but for some reason nobody is going after Stu Rasmussen for posing in a low cut top. America's first transgender mayor joins the former Mayor of Arlington, Oregon, Carmen Kontur Gronquist, who was blasted over bathing suit photos on MySpace earlier this year, in the ranks of unexpected and offbeat NW media celebrities.

A very familiar face around Silverton, Stu is no stranger to politics. The last time Mayor Rasmussen held office, he wore men's clothing. He won't be wearing a suit and tie to work though, this mayor is into ladies fashions and make up. Rasmussen says he is the candidate who will help Silverton keep its small town feel, even if his personal approach reflects the latest surgical technology.

Appearing on "Good Morning America", Rasmussen said that the town went through the transition with him, and it wasn't always easy. "Obviously, it was shocking to them," he told ABC.

NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch Can be Viewed at OMSI

Oregon Astronaut Don Pettit of Silverton will be onboard.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - On Friday, November 14th, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will offer space exploration enthusiasts a front-row seat to watch Oregon astronaut Don Pettit launch into space aboard NASA's space shuttle Endeavour STS-126.

Oregon Astronaut Don Pettit Will be Aboard Next Space Shuttle Mission

Don Petit was selected to join NASA in 1996.

(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) - Astronaut Donald Pettit, who was born in Silverton, Oregon, will make his second journey into orbit on space shuttle Endeavour's mission to the International Space Station. Endeavour is targeted to launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 14th, at 7:55 PM EST.

Pettit is one of seven astronauts who will fly on the shuttle mission designated STS-126. The shuttle will deliver equipment and supplies necessary to double the station crew size from three to six in May 2009.

During the 15-day flight, astronauts will service the station's two Solar Alpha Rotary Joints. The starboard joint has been in limited use since September 2007.

Marion County DA Statement on Police Officer Involved Shooting

Prosecutors explain the details in a recent shooting that has been the subject of much speculation.

(SALEM, Ore.) - A Marion County Grand Jury Thursday unanimously found that the police officer shooting of Andrew James Hanlon, which occurred on June 30th 2008, was a lawful use of deadly physical force.

Data and Common Sense Be Damned

The Oregon Center for Public Policy's Charles Sheketoff discusses economists, twisted logic and timber payments.

(SILVERTON, Ore.) - The Cascade Policy Institute's most recent paper assessing states' spending levels reminds me of an old joke about an economist, a doctor and a lawyer stuck in a deep hole. The doctor couldn't operate his way out. The lawyer couldn't argue his way out. But the economist had a solution, or so he said. "Assume we have a ladder. . . ."

Economic models are only as good as the assumptions on which they rest, and sometimes economists are so blinded by their ideologies that they don't notice when their models produce meaningless fantasies. The study by economists Eric Fruits and Randall Pozdena, published by the Cascade Policy Institute, is a good example. Their study predicts spending levels for states and compares their predictions with actual spending data.

Odd results for some states, however, reveal that the authors' zeal to show somehow that Oregon and other states spend too much led them to use false assumptions, bad math, or both.

Low-Income Advocates Support Whitehouse on Climate Change

The OCPP says that without adequate protections such as those proposed by the Whitehouse amendment, carbon emissions controls could increase the hardship faced by low-income families,

(SILVERTON, Ore.) - Legislation proposed by Rhode Island U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse capping carbon emissions can protect low-income Oregonians while fighting global warming, advocates told Oregon's U.S. Senators Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden today in a letter presented prior to a vote on the issue.

The letter from the Oregon Center for Public Policy urged the Oregon senators to support the Whitehouse amendment to the Climate Security Act of 2008. Also known as Lieberman-Warner, the Climate Security Act would cap carbon emissions.

Because Facts Matter, OCPP Regrets and Corrects Error

In the interest of transparency and because facts matter, we are disclosing the error and correcting all OCPP materials containing the mistake.

(SILVERTON, Ore.) - We take great care in presenting unassailable facts. Thus, it is with regret that we report that, when updating a fact we released last August, we uncovered a methodological error in our original calculations.

Underscore the `Us` in Sustainability

Like this year's delayed spring, Oregon's growing embrace of sustainability offers both great hope and frustration.

(SILVERTON, Ore.) - In 1962, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring exposed the environmental damage caused by the pesticide DDT and inspired many to seek new modes of living in harmony with nature.

From its early countercultural roots, sustainability has spread far and achieved much, from Portland's strong bicycle culture, to the emerging local foods movement, to the creation of the Oregon Sustainability Board.