PORTLAND, Ore.- Oregon K-12 students have until April 1 to apply for transfers to public schools that opted into the state’s new open enrollment law.

School boards and districts had until March 1, 2012 to decide whether or not they would accept new students from outside their district based on the recent open enrollment policy put into place by the legislature.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Developers have received almost $350 million in assistance over the years in the form of low-interest or free loans from the Portland Housing Bureau for affordable housing units.

Almost the entire Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) loan portfolio was lent below inflation rates. Similar deals won’t be found at traditional lenders such as banks or credit unions, and for good reason

SALEM, Ore.- House members voted Wednesday to send a bill exempting the Facebook social media giant from centralized state taxation to the governor’s office for final approval.

The media giant, based in Palo Alto, California, operates a data center in the central Oregon city of Prineville.

SALEM, Ore.- Rising health care costs have become a source of constant strain for municipal budgets throughout the United States, and Oregon is no exception.

As a result, the Public Employees’ Benefit Board (PEBB) has created a Health Engagement Model (HEM) program, intended to encourage participants to adopt and maintain more healthful behavior by focusing on issues such as weight management and quitting tobacco.

SALEM, Ore.- Two legislators want to bring control of federal railroad lands back into the hands of the state with a new bill proposed for February’s session.

State Senators Fred Girod, R-Lyons, and Jason Atkinson, R-Central Point, have proposed a bill requesting that the federal government give “full management authority” of the Oregon and California Railroad grant lands to the state government

PORTLAND, Ore. – Over the last decade Portland’s redevelopment agency has loaned developers, private companies and organizations $125 million, over half of which was below the annual inflation rate.

You won’t find many similar deals from banks or credit unions, and for good reason. Lending below the inflation rate is essentially paying someone to borrow your money, something Portland Development Commission (PDC) spokesman Shawn Uhlman calls a “mischaracterization.”

HILLSBORO, Ore.- The Washington County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the delay of an increase in county residents’ Countywide Transportation Development Tax (TDT).

The tax, passed by voters in November 2008, replaced the county’s previous Traffic Impact Fee (TIF). The new TDT law increased the tax rate from its previous TIF rate, in addition to clarifying and updating procedures.

PORTLAND, Ore.- In a room filled with library supporters, Multnomah County Commissioners approved a proposal to put a library services levy on the May ballot for county residents.

The levy would provide temporary three years of funding but, upon its passage, demands that county commissioners place a proposal creating a permanent library taxing district on the ballot for voters in November.

OREGON CITY, Ore.- The battle against a light rail system in Clackamas County continued this week with the filing of a petition which would require a public vote on any financing of such a project.

The measure would require a countywide vote on any money used toward the construction, design, financing, or operation of a public rail transit system in the county.

SALEM, Ore. – Testifying before the Oregon Board of Forestry on Thursday, Governor John Kitzhaber challenged the Board to better meet the state’s goals for the economy, the community, and for conservation.

Kitzhaber told the Board that the state forest must not be managed in a vacuum, but it must be viewed in the context of the entire forest landscape, which includes federally and privately owned forests.