Date: 02/19/2015 03:59 AM
AP-OR–1st NewsMinute/256
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – On her first day in office, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown urged a quick settlement to a dispute between dockworkers and their employers that has hamstrung international trade through West Coast seaports. The labor dispute has tied up 29 ports that handle around $1 trillion in trade annually. Dozens of ships are anchored up and down the West Coast as they wait for dock space.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Maritime companies are making their case for a new labor contract directly to West Coast dockworkers, hoping the rank-and-file will pressure union negotiators to reach a deal that would let billions of dollars of cargo now stuck at West Coast ports flow freely again. Employers distributed letters at major ports from Los Angeles to Washington state that detailed what they called their last, best and final contract offer.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – New Oregon Gov. Kate Brown will not serve the full four years that Gov. Jonn Kitzhaber was elected to. Instead, the state constitution calls for a special election that will come in November 2016. Brown has not yet said whether she will seek a full term.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Come July 1, the state of Oregon will be looking for 5,000 volunteers to take a new tax for a test spin. It would be a road tax based on mileage driven, not on gallons of gasoline purchased. The state Department of Transportation has been trying for years to find a replacement for the traditional gasoline tax to pay for construction and repairs.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.
