Prospective homebuyers in Oregon can continue to send “love letters” to win over sellers in a competitive housing market.

A federal judge on Wednesday permanently blocked a ban on the personal messages some buyers write to sweeten their offers on homes. The Oregon Legislature had approved the ban last year, saying such letters could aid sellers in illegally choosing buyers based on factors like race, color, religion, sex or sexual orientation, which would violate federal fair housing laws.

The Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative public…

Oregon’s “Zoom towns” are continuing to see growth. Find out which cities grew the most here.

Author: Brandon Sawyer (Portland Business Journal)

PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon’s best known and largest city grew 5% between 2016 and 2021, slightly more than the state overall at 4.7%.

However, Portland’s population declined slightly at the end of that five-year span, falling by 0.9% in 2021 to 658,773, according to certified estimates as of July 1, prepared by Portland State University’s Population Research Center.

Migration toward the suburbs and so-called “Zoom towns” may have contributed to slowing growth in the urban center recently. Oregon cities with 5,000 or more residents in 2021 that enjoyed the most growth of late…

Agility Robotics, a Corvallis-based company that makes robots that walk like a person, reported $150 million in new investment Friday, a whopping sum the company hopes will accelerate the arrival of robots in the workplace.

Using technology originally developed at Oregon State University, Agility has developed robots that walk on two legs, climb stairs, carry and stack objects, and operate indoors and out. The company said its most advanced robot will begin working for customers later in 2022.

“Unprecedented consumer and corporate…

The chance of measurable snow on the floor of the Willamette Valley goes down considerably by April. Snow in the hills? Sure. But it is “very rare” for snow to fall down to the valley floor, as it did April 11, 2022, the National Weather Service said.

In much of the Portland/Vancouver metro area, this is the latest measurable snow in the spring. Here is the record report from the Portland weather service office for Monday’s snow:

For PORTLAND AIRPORT (1941-2022), this snow was…

** Most ever in the month of April,…

Katherine Holden, assistant principal of Ashland Middle School, has been named the national assistant principal of the year in recognition of how she helped creatively and cheerfully guide her school through the aftermath of 2020′s home-destroying wildfires.

Holden said in a statement that she considers it “my mission to do everything I can to create a school environment where students feel safe and staff feel supported so they can be their best and have fun teaching and learning.”

“As…

The Oregon Legislature will again consider giving the state’s drivers the option to pump their own gas.

House Bill 4151, filed ahead of the legislative session that begins Feb. 1, would allow gas stations to offer self-service pumps alongside pumps staffed by a station attendant.

Oregon is one of only two states in the U.S. that don’t allow self-service gas pumps, although the state relaxed those rules for some rural counties in 2015, allowing customers to pump their…

Oregon’s unemployment rates are continuing to decline – MSA and food service employment rebounding to pre-pandemic levels. Read more here.

Oregon’s unemployment rate was 4.1% in December, edging down from 4.2% in November, according to the state Employment Department.

This was the 20th consecutive month of declines in Oregon’s unemployment rate.

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped from 4.2% in November to 3.9% in December.

Nonfarm payroll employment in Oregon rose by 8,200 in December, following a revised gain of 9,200 jobs in November.

Throughout 2021, monthly job gains averaged 8,900. In December, gains were largest in leisure and hospitality (+2,600 jobs), health care and social assistance (+1,200), manufacturing (+900), and professional and business services (+900). None of the major industries had a big drop in jobs during December.

Oregon’s graduation rate for the class of 2021 edged slightly above its 2019 level, buoyed by large gains among Black students and students with disabilities.

The new statewide rate of 81% represents a gain of 3 percentage points from four years ago as well as a gain of about half a percentage point from when Oregon last handed out pre-pandemic diplomas, in 2019.

However, it also marks a decrease of 2 percentage points from 2020, when the state

The historic Santiam Ski Lodge is getting a glow up! Read more about the transformation here.

ByDamian Fagan

Located just west of the Hoodoo Ski Bowl at Santiam Pass, the historic Santiam Pass Ski Lodge is garnering the attention it deserves. Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from July 1939 to February 1940, the lodge has stood empty and deserted since 1986, except for some periodic maintenance by the U.S. Forest Service and wandering rodents. But restoration efforts now underway are breathing new life into the structure, which is listed on the Federal Register of Historic Places and which Restore…