Oregon Governor Extends Coronavirus State of Emergency Until July

That’s two months from now.

Oregon Democratic Governor Kate Brown announced that she is extending the state’s state of emergency declaration until the month of July, ostensibly maintaining a stay-at-home order for the next two months.

Brown is saying that she’ll have the ability to revoke the state of emergency before its planned July 6th expiration date. The original state of emergency order was enacted on March 8th, and would’ve expired on May 7th without an extension.

“Extending the state of emergency declaration allows those orders to stay in effect, however the governor can still lift her orders as the COVID-19 situation warrants,” explained the governor’s office in a press release. “Our efforts to move forward with safely reopening Oregon will be gradual, incremental, and based on science and data.”

Some restrictions are being lifted under the updated emergency order, most notably allowing hospitals to perform non-urgent medical procedures. However, rules prohibiting large gatherings and the closure of businesses will stay in place unless Brown revokes her order.

Although the expiration date of Brown’s state of emergency order is now one of the latest in the country, Oregon’s coronavirus situation isn’t as severe as the other western states. Just over 100 people have died of the disease as of Sunday morning, whereas 830 have died in neighboring Washington.

May 4, 2020 0

FBI TO ASSIST IN PORTLAND AS CITY BRACES FOR ANTIFA ATTACKS ON PATRIOT RALLY

Far-left calling for violence this weekend

AUGUST 14, 2019

Portland, Ore., is gearing up for a set of dueling rallies this weekend that is expected to bring an informal coalition of right-wing groups — some of which have been decried as white nationalists and white supremacists — and so-called anti-fascists, who have violently opposed these right-wing demonstrators.

Portland’s so-called “Antifa” members have issued an online call to followers to turn out to “defend Portland from a far-Right attack.”

Portland’s Rose City Antifa, the nation’s oldest active anti-fascist group, said violence against right-wing demonstrators is “exactly what should happen when the far-right attempts to invade our town.”

Portland leaders are planning a major law enforcement presence on the heels of similar rallies in June and last summer that turned violent, and the recent hate-driven shooting in El Paso, Texas. None of the city’s nearly 1,000 police officers will have the day off, and Portland will get help from the Oregon State Police and the FBI. Mayor Ted Wheeler has said he may ask Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, to call up the Oregon National Guard.

Experts who track right-wing militias and hate groups warn that the mix of people heading to Portland also came together for a Unite the Right rally in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, which ended when a participant rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring 19.

A 5K race scheduled for Saturday was moved to avoid any violence, and an Irish bar that’s a city institution canceled an amateur boxing event that expected 500 spectators. Other businesses plan to close on one of the last weekends of the city’s peak tourist season.

One rally is being organized by a member of the controversial Proud Boys. Others are expected to include members of the American Guard, the Three Percenters, the Oathkeepers and the Daily Stormers.

Video of the 30-second attack grabbed national attention and further turned the focus on Portland as a new battleground in a divisive America.

Joe Biggs, an organizer of Saturday’s rally, said the attack on Ngo made him decide to hold the event with the goal of getting Antifa declared a domestic terrorist organization. Biggs said those coming to Portland have been told not to bring weapons or start fights, but they will defend themselves if attacked.

Biggs toned down his online rhetoric after the El Paso shootings and urged followers coming to Portland to keep a cool head. He said he is not racist — he has a toddler daughter with his Guyanese wife — but wants to show the world the violent tactics of Antifa.

“That group of Antifa there in Portland needs to be exposed for who they are,” Biggs said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “And guess what? They should be scared.”

Last month, President Trump said he was considering declaring Antifa a terrorist organization, equating it with the MS-13 street gang. Trump’s tweet came days after Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced non-binding legislation that would designate the group as a domestic terrorist organization.

Portland’s City Hall has been evacuated twice because of bomb threats after the June 29 skirmishes, and Wheeler, the mayor, has been pilloried by critics who incorrectly said he told police to stand down while anti-fascists went after right-wing demonstrators.

Police have noted the violence in June was limited to a small area of downtown Portland despite three different demonstrations that lasted more than five hours, with hundreds of people constantly on the move. They also made two arrests last week in a May Day assault on an Antifa member that became a rallying cry for the city’s far-left.

August 14, 2019 0

‘Come heavily armed’: Showdown in Oregon as governor sends police to round up Republican lawmakers

CAP

A Republican state senator in Oregon told police to show up ready for a fight if they moved to enforce Democrat Governor Kate Brown’s order to compel attendance for a contentious vote on climate-change legislation.

Democrats have a supermajority in the state legislature, but cannot approve a bill that would impose carbon caps in the name of combating climate change without at least the presence of Republican lawmakers. After days of heated debate, the GOP chose to boycott the vote, prompting Governor Brown to authorize Oregon State Police to round up the senators and force them to participate.

Oregon Republican Senator Brian Boquist was having none of it, telling a reporter in response to the governor’s threat that he would not be a political prisoner, and said the state troopers should prepare for a shootout.

CAP

Oregon state senator @BrianBoquistGOP said if R's walk out to stop a vote on Cap and Trade and @OregonGovBrown sends state police to bring him back, they should be single and well armed. Your take? pic.twitter.com/Fcu8NXXl8h

— Pat Dooris (@PatDooris) June 19, 2019

Boquist previously warned the governor that “hell is coming to visit you personally” if she issued the order to police. Some Republican lawmakers have reportedly left the state altogether.

Governor Brown released a statement on Thursday denouncing the GOP walkout and explained her decision to compel a quorum, or the minimum number of senators required for votes to go forward in the Oregon State Capitol.

“The Senate Democrats have requested the assistance of the Oregon State Police to bring back their colleagues to finish the work they committed to push forward” Brown said. “As the executive of the agency, I am authorizing the State Police to fulfill the Senate Democrats’ request.”

Brown added it was “absolutely unacceptable” that the lawmakers would “turn their backs on their constituents.”

The bill, which remains stalled due to the Republican walkout, would have implemented a cap and trade program to limit carbon emissions in the state, and allow companies to exchange emission “allowances.”

Oregon GOP Representative Carl Wilson said the bill would “punish” Oregon’s workers for the “reckless” environmental policies of other countries, while Republican Senate Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. argued it would only represent “Portland and the environmental community, not rural Oregonians.”

Tensions between the coastal and inland communities are not new in Oregon. Back in 2016, land rights activists occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in protest at the federal government’s mistreatment of landowners. Nevada ranchers Ammon and Ryan Bundy led the group that took over the refuge, kicking off a 40-day standoff with Oregon and federal police.

That incident culminated in the arrest of dozens of activists, some charged with federal crimes, as well as the death of activist Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum, who was shot at an Oregon State Police roadblock.

June 21, 2019 0