Pamplin Media Group May 03 2021
Readers sound off on congressional action supporting labor unions, Sen. Ginny Burdick s retirement and drug prices.
Our faith traditions compel us to advocate for the dignity of all workers, for their right to have a voice in the workplace about conditions affecting their well-being.
In Portland and across the United States, we have seen American heroes in grocery stores, post offices and hospitals. During COVID-19, more became essential workers and many had to risk their lives going to work in unsafe conditions.
We stood with workers at a local hospital as they spent the year trying to negotiate fair and safe working conditions. We were with fledgling fast-food unions, with hospital support workers seeking fair pay and safe working conditions, with Amazon employees demanding the right to take bathroom breaks, and letter carriers resisting the efforts of the Postal Service to slow the delivery of vote-by-mail ballots.
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Murmurs: Group Aims to Decriminalize Ayahuasca In other news: City lowers speed limit in East Portland. Used vending machines in Southeast Portland. (Mick Hangland-Skill) Updated 5:24 AM
GROUP AIMS TO DECRIMINALIZE AYAHUASCA: A new advocacy group, the Plant Medicine Healing Alliance, is bringing an ambitious proposal to Portland City Hall: It wants to decriminalize the cultivation, possession and use of plant and fungi medicines, the most well-known one being ayahuasca. Nathan Howard of East Fork Cultivars is one of the organizers. Howard says people “are finding very deep healing through plants that aren’t protected in the same way that we’ll soon have for psilocybin therapy” the use of psychedelic mushrooms approved by Oregon voters last fall. Howard tells
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Sen. Ginny Burdick Will Step Down After Session She has served in the Legislature for 25 years. Sen. Ginny Burdick in 2019. (Justin Katigbak) Updated 8:33 PM State Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland), who has served a quarter century in the Oregon Legislature, will step down after this legislative session, she tells
WW. Burdick’s name was among 76 political appointments announced by Gov. Kate Brown last week. Brown appointed Burdick to the Pacific Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council. Burdick cannot hold a seat on the council while serving in the Legislature.