Not So Fast Says Oregon Supreme Court
The Oregon Supreme Court late Monday halted a rural judge’s order earlier in the day that had tossed out statewide coronavirus restrictions imposed by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown. Baker County Circuit Judge Matthew Shirtcliff had ruled that Brown erred by not seeking the Legislature’s approval to extend the stay-at-home orders beyond a 28-day limit. The Supreme Court’s ruling stays Shirtcliff’s decision pending review by all the high court justices. In a statement, Brown praised the Supreme Court action. The lower court judge had issued his opinion in response to a lawsuit filed earlier this month by 10 churches around Oregon that argued the state’s social distancing directives were unconstitutional.
Primary Day
Today is primary day for Oregon up for grabs is the second highest position in the state. There are 3 democrats vying for the seat in the primary. Current secretary of state Bev Clarno was acting as the interim secretary after Republican Dennis Richardson died in office in 2019. All three candidates are state senators, Kim Thatcher is a civil rights attorney from Kaiser, Mark Hass is an account manager for Cappelli Miles advertising firm and Jamie McLeod-Skinner is an attorney that does natural resource consulting. Lane community college is also looking for a 121 million dollar bond measure that will cover a lot of infrastructure work, but LCC Florence Dean Russ Pierson says that work will free up other funds for Florence.
“If we have bond monies to do the kind of construction things, the enhancements, the upgrades, that means there are more operational funds for programs like the Florence Center.”
The hopes with the bond measure is that it will provide opportunity for seismic upgrades, technology upgrades for classrooms and allow for the college to offer a new mobile manufacturing lab that would come to Florence to provide classes. Ballots can be turned into the justice center before 8 pm this evening.
Deferral Extended
The City of Florence went through a number of proposals in last night’s council meeting including the extending of Ordinance no. 6 series 2020 which will allow for additional deferral time for certain system development charges. The waiving of water and sewer hooks up have been in place for two years now and encourages the building of Accessory Dwelling Units to provide additional housing within the Florence City Limits.
Modified Campground Openings
Lane County will begin opening campgrounds on Thursday with some modifications. Under the current COVID-19 guidelines showers will remain closed and interaction between campsites will be restricted. This includes the Archie Knowles campground just east of Mapleton. Reservations are now being allowed at lanecountyor.gov/parks.
New Coronavirus Cases
There were 62 more new cases of the Coronavirus in Oregon reported by the Oregon Health Authority. That includes one new reporting for Lane County bringing the county’s total to 65 confirmed cases. One new death is reported, that of a 69 year old Marion County man who was diagnosed Saturday and died the same day. OHA says the man suffered from underlying health conditions.
