After Extreme Heat Deaths, Oregon Steps Up Push To Protect People : NPR npr.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from npr.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Kristian Foden-Vencil
Originally published on July 3, 2021 2:09 pm
A series of three vigils were held around Oregon on Saturday in memory of Sebastian Francisco Perez, a 38-year-old farm worker who died during a June heat wave that brought temperatures above 115 in the Willamette Valley.
Perez had been moving irrigation lines at Ernst Farms and Nursery in St. Paul when workers noticed he was missing. They found him unconscious and couldn’t revive him.
Vigils were organized in Hermiston, St. Paul and Portland, outside the honorary Guatemalan Consulate.
At the vigil in Portland, scores of people chanted his name and called for Oregon’s occupational safety agency, OSHA, to adopt emergency rules to deal with the heat.
Series Of Vigils Held For 38-Year-Old Farm Worker In Oregon Who Died During The Heat Wave ijpr.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ijpr.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Reyna Lopez, PCUN, Executive Director, reynalopez@pcun.org
Farmworker Death Related to Heat-Illness
Amidst Oregon Heat Wave
while Oregon OSHA fails to adopt emergency rules ahead of the heatwave.
WOODBURN, Ore. As people across the state looked for ways to cool down during the record-breaking heatwave, farmworkers continued to work in the fields despite the unsafe conditions. The failure to adopt emergency rules ahead of the heatwave, as well as wildfire season, by Oregon OSHA has left outdoor workers’ health and livelihood at the discretion of their employers. Unfortunately, the lack of rules has resulted in a work-related heat death of a farmworker on Saturday, June 26th on a farm in St. Paul.
by Tim Gruver, The Center Square | June 02, 2021 08:00 AM Print this article
Oregon has no limits on how much money one person can spend on its elections. Voters and state lawmakers agree that needs to change.
Last fall, Oregonians voted to allow state lawmakers to pass statewide campaign finance reform. To date, political campaigns in the state report contributions and expenditures to the Secretary of State. Historically, spending limits have been up to local officials to decide.
Cities like Portland passed campaign finance limits of their own in 2018, limiting individual and political action committee (PAC) donations to $508. In Portland, unions and business groups are banned from throwing money into candidate races, but small donor committees have free rein. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was sued for breaking those rules last fall after he allegedly donated $150,000 to his own 2020 reelection campaign.