A proposal to divert money from the Oregon Department of Transportation would put tourism folks in charge and should win adoption by the Legislature The Oregonian Editorial Board http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveoregedb/index.html

The Legislature should unanimously approve Senate Bill 1548, the Fair Employment Opportunity Act. The act would make it unlawful to post job announcements with the "unemployed need not apply" language that is becoming increasingly common. This winnowing tactic -- driven by the lazy expedience of employers faced with a high number of applications -- is unfair and discriminatory. Letters to the editor http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveoreglet/index.html

If you had some of the world's brightest entrepreneurial lights eager to plunk down in your back yard, why would you let them get away? The Oregonian Editorial Board http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveoregedb/index.html

Rep. Earl Blumenauer recently pointed the mayoral candidates in the right direction The Oregonian Editorial Board http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveoregedb/index.html

As we look back on recent incidents of youth and gang violence, we are alarmed by the violence affecting so many of our young people, both psychologically and physically. But we are also alarmed by an accompanying phenomenon -- a "blame the victim" mentality that some in our community use to casually dismiss this violence as a product of bad choices. A cursory glance through the comments section of The Oregonian when there is a piece about a young victim of violence, or a brief listen on talk radio programs, turns up all too many examples of unacceptable callousness toward young people under siege in our community. Guest Columnist http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveguestop/index.html

Ceiridwen Terrill: Wolves attack and/or kill so few people that the issue barely warrants mention. And how many wolves have humans killed? It's no contest. And yet Roger Ebert had this to say after screening "The Grey:" "When I learned of Sarah Palin hunting wolves from a helicopter, my sensibilities were tested, but after this film, I was prepared to call in more helicopters." Really, Roger? Guest Columnist http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveguestop/index.html

James Paulson and Bob Tackett: For Oregon, and the nation as a whole, the skills gap is in the middle -- that is jobs that require training beyond high school but not a four-year degree. This is precisely the type of training supported by our regional and national workforce development system. Today, about 49 percent of Oregon's jobs are in middle-skill occupations, but only about 43 percent of the state's workers are likely to have the skills for these jobs. Guest Columnist http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveguestop/index.html

The speed and intensity of the outrage that swept the nation last week over Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s politically motivated defunding of Planned Parenthood points up anew the unprecedented power of social media. Yet that is no replacement... Edward Hershey http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/edhershey/index.html

As I began reading betsy Hammond's article Saturday, I said to myself, "I know this problem starts at a very young age." Then, there it was "kindergartners . . . first-graders". As a K/1 teacher in the metro area, I... Laurel Morris http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/laurel_morris/index.html

The local affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure may not recover from last week's political firestorm over Planned Parenthood, not without months of crisis control and outreach. Susan Nielsen, The Oregonian http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/Susan%20Nielsen/index.html

You know a state is headed for rock bottom when its lawmakers seriously propose balancing its budget on the backs of victims of violent crime. The Oregonian Editorial Board http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveoregedb/index.html

Doug Robertson and Tony Hyde: Federal forest management has been paralyzed for 20 years, but Democratic Reps. Peter DeFazio, Kurt Schrader and Republican Greg Walden propose to break the gridlock in western Oregon, rescuing county finances and creating thousands of jobs with their proposed O&C Trust, Conservation and Jobs Act. Instead of mills closing and being torn down, as has been occurring for two decades, mill owners would have assurances of a sufficiently stable timber supply to justify investments in new plants and equipment. Guest Columnist http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveguestop/index.html

David Olen Cross: Oregonians should call or email their state senator and representative and ask them to support and pass HB4052, legislation requiring all state of Oregon government agencies to use the U.S. E-Verify system. Then if a state job becomes available, a qualified person with authorization to work in the country will be first in line for that job. Guest Columnist http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveguestop/index.html

Louis Hyman: Policymakers in the late 1960s and early'70s confused the cause of prosperity (good jobs) with its symptom (homeownership). And for 40 years, we kept doing the same -- finding new ways to funnel money into housing, while doing little to put it into small-business growth. Syndicated columns http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveoregsyc/index.html

Steve Buckstein: he 22 states that do not require workers to join a union and pay union dues have enjoyed, as a group, more rapid employment and income growth, better job preservation, and faster recoveries from recession. Oregon is not one of those states, yet. Here, policy makers tried to pull us out of the most recent recession through greater state spending, funded by the Measure 66 and 67 tax increases. New research confirms that a better approach is for Oregon to remove a key barrier to private sector initiative and job creation by enacting a so-called "right-to-work" law. Guest Columnist http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveguestop/index.html

Hayley Hutt: The 2010 Klamath Agreements, to be ratified by Sen. Jeff Merkley's Senate Bill 1851 are believed to limit irrigation withdrawals to "reasonable amounts," eliminate "toxic algae blooms that poison the river" and implement "an effective drought plan." There is no mention of cost. If it sounds too good to be true, that is because it is. Guest Columnist http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveguestop/index.html

George F. Will: Sugar Bear -- few call him Robert Lewis Jackson -- was a precocious lawbreaker. His first arrest, "for GTA" (grand theft auto), he explains, involved a 1959 Chevy El Camino. He pulled off the freeway, into a gas station, and climbed down from the vehicle. The police who apprehended him there were startled. He was almost 5. Syndicated columns http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveoregsyc/index.html

While I was in the military, I did not have a say when it came to physical fitness tests, drug tests and mental health evaluations. They were required, and we just did them. There was no overtime whatsoever, no questions asked. You were required to make up the time, usually at the end of the day or over the workweek. Why should it be any different for a public employee? Letters to the editor http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveoreglet/index.html

Leonard Pitts Jr.: Soul Train was something especially for us. We knew it from the Afro Sheen commercials (where else on television did they advertise Afro Sheen?), from the fashions the dancers wore and from the way Don Cornelius took our slang and gave it back to us, stylized and made somehow profound by his cool announcer's baritone. Syndicated columns http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveoregsyc/index.html

Roger Alfred and Andrea Durbin: The rate of return on Oregon's air, water and landscape is both anecdotal (e.g., clean water flowing from your tap, flocks of tourists visiting Crater Lake) and numerical. It's estimated that every $1 of the state's general fund invested in natural resource agencies results in $376 of economic activity for Oregon. That ratio is staggering: 376-to-1. Guest Columnist http://connect.oregonlive.com/user/oliveguestop/index.html