Dr. Robert Bentley is a Portland ophthalmologist with more than 30 years of experience.
As a physician and practicing ophthalmological eye surgeon with more than 33 years of clinical experience, I ll be among the first to tell you how important a different profession, that of optometry, is for overall eye health care. Optometrists perform valuable services, including routine eye exams and prescriptions for eyeglasses and contacts.
But optometrists are not medical doctors; they are not physicians. They do not have years of medical school education and post-med school residency or surgical training. Nor do optometrists have the direct clinical experience that helps ophthalmologists like me manage and avoid difficult, or even life-threatening, patient safety situations.
April 03 2021
Dave Coburn: Their oath of office swears them to upholding the constitution and doing their duty.
I have spent the last year as a frontline grocery worker during this pandemic, and I always showed up to work and met my responsibilities to my coworkers, my friends and my family.
I believe our state lawmakers should do the same, and I support legislation that would impose consequences on legislators who walk out when the Legislature is in session.
It is particularly frustrating to see walkouts this year, as so many of my friends, family and coworkers have desperately needed elements of COVID-19 relief. It feels beyond childish to walk away, rather than work with others to improve bills, or vote against them.
April 02 2021
Eric Fruits, Ph.D. is vice president of Research at Cascade Policy Institute and an adjunct professor at Portland State University, where he teaches courses in urban economics and regulation.
We re in the waning days of the pandemic, and it s time to take action to return to normal. About one-quarter of the state s population has been vaccinated or received a first dose.
If the state keeps the current rate of vaccination, we should achieve herd immunity by early July. This also coincides with Independence Day, as well as some of Oregon s best weather. Let s make the Fourth of July the day Oregon celebrates our independence from the pandemic a summer of street fairs, block parties, dining out, and get-togethers. That gives us a little more than three months to get ready. And like any big celebration, there s a lot to do.
April 02 2021
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie of Northeast Portland is a minister in the United Church of Christ.
Portland has been home most of my life. Our family moved here when I was 10. At 18, I joined the Burnside Community Council board, kicking off a life in social services and ministry that has covered three decades and six Portland mayors.
All these years, I ve been in a lover s quarrel with Portland, demanding more housing and attention to civil rights to make Portland a better home for all.
At 52, like many Portlanders, I m dismayed where we are as a city and wondering if Portland, with all the Rose City has to offer, will become the new Eden, or are we on a path to becoming the new Gotham. You might be surprised to learn I m still hopeful about our future.
There s no escape from plastic.
Look around your kitchen, walk around your favorite park or beach and you ll likely find yourself in the presence of plastic pollution.
The United States produces enough plastic waste every 15 hours to fill Cowboys Stadium, the largest football stadium in the country. We eat about a credit card s worth of plastic every week because microplastics are so omnipresent in our environment. If our waste patterns continue, by 2050 the oceans could have more plastic than fish.
How did it get this way? It s not because people have been clamoring for more plastic in our lives. In fact, it s become nearly impossible to avoid plastic in packaging and consumer products.