Former school superintendent, nurse from King City tapped for vacant House District 26 seat
After nearly a month without representation in the Oregon House, Oregonians in Clackamas, Washington and Yamhill counties have a new state representative: former nurse and school district superintendent Sue Rieke Smith.
Rieke Smith, of King City, will begin immediately in the Oregon Legislature following her appointment Friday in a 10-1 vote at a joint session of the three county commissions. She fills the seat vacated by former state Rep. Courtney Neron, a Democrat, who was appointed in early May to the Oregon Senate after the death of state Sen. Aaron Woods, also a Democrat, who represented the three counties.
Oregon law requires county commissioners within a legislative district boundary to appoint a new representative within 30 days of an unexpected vacancy. The appointee must be from the same political party as the outgoing legislator.
Rieke Smith's appointment to represent the more than 70,000 Oregonians in the district of mostly non affiliated voters lasts until January 2027, but she has the option of running for the seat in 2026 for a full two-year term.
'I'm a third-generation Oregonian, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. I assure you that if I'm selected, this Oregonian is ready to go to work,' Rieke Smith told commissioners Friday in her opening remarks.
Prior to her appointment, she spent 25 years as a teacher, administrator and superintendent in public schools in Springfield and Tigard-Tualatin. She retired as superintendent of Tigard-Tualatin schools in 2024 after six years leading the district, among the largest in Oregon. The departure came amid growing strife over student behavior and tardiness.
Before working in education, Rieke Smith was a travel nurse and public health professional, working in intensive care units. She's a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University, in Tacoma, Washington, and holds a doctorate in educational leadership and policy from the University of Oregon.
Rieke Smith was one of three candidates nominated by the Oregon Democratic Party. Other nominees included Chelsea King, executive director of the Wilsonville-based nonprofit Oregon Health and Education Collaborative, and Mary Pettenger, a professor of politics, policy and administration at Western Oregon University.
At the joint session of the county commissions, Rieke Smith answered questions about her positions on issues related to public education, senior citizens, civil liberties, housing, public safety and the justice system.
She expressed support for several bills currently being considered in the current legislative session. Among them was Senate Bill 974, which would hasten housing efforts and ease some residential development and land use regulations. In response to concerns about a bill lawmakers are considering that would extend unemployment benefits to striking workers, Senate Bill 916, Rieke Smith said she recognized workers' right to strike and acknowledged potential challenges the bill could pose, vowing to seek further information about the bill's fiscal impact.
'I will not be a flamethrower, I will not engage in name-calling or finger-pointing or demonizing at someone's position,' she said in her closing remarks at the Friday meeting. 'I will be intellectually curious and seek to understand and reach across the aisle to make better policy for all.'
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Politico
4 minutes ago
- Politico
How the NJ-bred head of Young Democrats of America views the youth vote
Good Friday morning! HABBA HUBBUB — The saga over the United States attorney for the District of New Jersey continues. 'Donald J. Trump is the 47th President. Pam Bondi is the Attorney General. And I am now the Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey,' Alina Habba wrote on Thursday evening, days after federal judges sought to replace her as the state's U.S. attorney. The Trump administration believes it has found a workaround to keep Habba in the role. That involves 'President Donald Trump withdrawing Habba's nomination to permanently take the post,' POLITICO's Ry Rivard and Kyle Cheney report. 'Then, Attorney General Pam Bondi would appoint Habba as First Assistant U.S. Attorney — typically the second-ranking official in the office. Because the U.S. attorney's post is vacant, Habba would automatically fill the role on a temporary basis; she can't simultaneously be the president's nominee and serve as acting in this way.' But that's not the end of the story. The judges earlier this week selected Desiree Leigh Grace, a longtime career prosecutor, to succeed Habba. In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Grace said she planned to assume the role of interim U.S. attorney at the request of the judges. FOR THE YOUTHS — The head of the New Jersey Young Democrats is taking her experience national. Fatima Heyward — who was elected president of the Young Democrats of America over the weekend — has led the state group since 2019. Now, she is the first New Jerseyan to be elected president of the national youth organization. Heyward spoke to Playbook about her goals for the YDA and how she views youth engagement ahead of this year's race for governor. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. I saw this research from Pew that came out this week about party affiliation. It said the youngest group of adults are fairly evenly split between the two parties, but their predecessors were more Democratic on balance. And there's also conversation about young men in particular who are less Democratic leaning. What are your thoughts on that? That is a great concern, to be honest. But I'm going to start by saying that I am a very proud Democrat. That does not mean that there are not things that need to continue to improve within our party so we can truly affect that change that we wish to see. … One of the key things that I believe that we should continue to strengthen and have a very high focus on is not only the fact that we are reaching people, but what our messaging actually looks like. And we have to make sure that we are simplifying it and that we are concise and we are clear in regards to what is happening … and making sure that it is connecting for people in regards to how it's directly impacting them. There's a lot of conversation among the Democratic Party about ushering in this new generation of leadership. What's your perspective on younger Democrats primarying incumbents? I personally believe that everyone is going to have a different feeling about this, but as of right now, we need to make sure that we are unified and that we are on the same page. So whoever would like to run has every right to run. If you want to challenge a particular person, that is on your own accord. But when it comes to the way that we are operating, we have to make sure that we are a united front and that we are providing a space where everybody feels as though that they can run, and everyone has a fair chance at being able to run. And that should be decided by the people. Earlier this year, we saw that turnout in the Newark school board elections for 16- and 17-year-olds was low. I'd like to hear what you thought contributed to that, and what the path forward looks like. I think that first and foremost, we're already headed in the right direction. The fact that that's even something that we're able to do, and was historic that happened, is something that should be celebrated. Now, going beyond that, we have to make sure that people are actually fully informed. … One of the key things I want to highlight right now is that we have to go beyond just people who are already in these circles, who are already staying kept abreast of what is happening in the political spaces. We have to reach people that are not typically a part of these conversations or as engaged as they should be. I truly believe that we are intentional in the way that we are reaching out to people and the way that we're collaborating with other organizations that have been doing the work for so long as well, that are deeply embedded in the ground. We're going to continue to see more and more turnout. Youth turnout in New Jersey gubernatorial races has hovered around 20 percent in recent years. How do you get that percentage up? It really does go back to what I was saying. We have to truly reach people. But beyond that, I believe that we should be creating a space for young people. If we want to see a higher turnout, if we want to see more engagement, we need to make sure that we have a proper hub that is inclusive, where young people can come, they can shine a light on the skills they already have. They can hone in on the skills that they want to continue to develop, and that they have the backing of an organization that's going to do everything in their power to make sure that they are positioned where they need to be positioned so they can make that impact. And what I am getting to at this point is, that is Young Democrats of America. We should be the hub, and we should be at the forefront of the youth movement when it comes to preparing our young leaders. FEEDBACK? Reach me at mfernandez@ WHERE'S MURPHY? In Colorado for the National Governors Association summer meeting. Acting Gov. Tahesha Way has no public schedule. QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'The alphabet never made sense to me.' — Part-time Municipal Court of the Township of Edison Judge Gary M. Price, to a police officer who asked him to recite a portion of the English alphabet while investigating a one-car crash on July 5, 2024, per a complaint filed against him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY — Saturday for Steve Oroho, Verlina Reynolds-Jackson. Sunday for Dalin Hackley, Mike Porch, Ed Farmer, Samantha Maltzman, David Adinaro MORNING MONEY: CAPITAL RISK — POLITICO's flagship financial newsletter has a new Friday edition built for the economic era we're living in: one shaped by political volatility, disruption and a wave of policy decisions with sector-wide consequences. Each week, Morning Money: Capital Risk brings sharp reporting and analysis on how political risk is moving markets and how investors are adapting. Want to know how health care regulation, tariffs or court rulings could ripple through the economy? Start here. WHAT TRENTON MADE RACE FOR GOV — Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill will choose Dale Caldwell, the president of a college in Warren County, to be her running mate in the race for governor, according to two people familiar with the selection. Caldwell has served as president of Centenary University since 2023. Caldwell is also pastor of Covenant United Methodist Church in Plainfield, which can help Sherrill make inroads with Black faith leaders. Sherrill's opponent, Republican Jack Ciattarelli, named his lieutenant governor pick earlier this week: Morris County Sheriff Jim Gannon. UNDER INVESTIGATION — A virtual meeting of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission on Thursday was interrupted by a 'Zoom bomb' of pornographic, racist and antisemitic images and audio. Attorney General Matt Platkin told your host that the incident is being investigated by the Division of Criminal Justice. 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Create clean energy here in NJ | Opinion' TRUMP ERA IMMIGRATION WATCH — 'Union County leader says defunct jail will not be used for immigration enforcement,' by the New Jersey Globe's Zach Blackburn: 'Amid fears from activists that Union County's defunct jail could be used for migrant detention if sold, the county's manager said Thursday that the property will not be used for immigration law enforcement. Edward Oatman, the Union County manager, said in a release that county officials are still in the beginning phases of selling the jail. He said that while no official proposals have been submitted, officials have heard 'a wide range of ideas from various sectors' about potential uses for the property. He said the county did receive one request for a detention-related purpose, but ensured the county would not go in that direction. … In his statement, Oatman said any buyer for the property will have to contractually agree not to use the facility for immigration detention or any similar purpose.' — 'NJ congressmen to inspect immigrant detention site at military base' REDISTRICTING REDUX — 'Democrats Have Few Tools to Counter G.O.P. Redistricting,' by The New York Times' Nick Corasaniti and Laurel Rosenhall: 'With Republicans in Texas planning to redraw more favorable congressional maps this summer, as the party vies to maintain control of Congress next year, national Democratic leaders are vowing to use every tool at their disposal to counter what they see as a nakedly partisan power grab. 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Yahoo
5 minutes ago
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Making gas cans great again: White House asks for redesign after years of user frustration
The White House is trying to make gas cans fill great again. In a July 24 letter, the EPA has asked gas can manufacturers to redesign their much-maligned products to fix a long-standing problem: "People hate 'em," said Florida-based eBay gas can reseller Steven Watt, 63. "It's all about the spout." Federal regulations implemented in 2009 required portable gas cans for lawnmowers, chainsaws, ATVs and stranded vehicles to have special vents to stop vapors from escaping, contributing to ozone pollution. But many modern designs are often infuriatingly ineffective at actually filling tanks because the vents work so poorly. Instead of stopping vapors from flowing out the complicated spouts and relief valves, instead frustrated users often cause gasoline spills, which some critics say are far worse than a tiny amount of vapor escaping from an older design. Gas cans regulations developed to protect kids, reduce emissions Other regulations require the cans to be child-resistant and limit the risk of flash fires, and the EPA can't change those. But the EPA said manufacturers should figure out how to make their gas cans work both safely and effectively. Trump has sought a similar change to low-flow bathroom fixtures as part efforts to roll back regulations he considers anti-consumer and of dubious environmental benefit. "Part of powering the great American comeback means ensuring manufacturers have the clarity and encouragement to deliver products Americans want," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. "The confusion surrounding gas cans has been a frustration for years. We are proud to address this issue head on. Moving forward, Americans should have gas cans that are compliant, but most importantly, that are effective and consumer friendly," he said. Looking for alternatives The vapor-emissions regulations were first developed by regulators who noted that the approximately 80 million gas cans in the United States were a surprising source of air pollution: Emissions from a single old-style can could be 60 times higher than from a car's gas tank if both were left open side-by-side. But the new rules left many people looking for alternatives. Now, for the same price as new, Watt sells used "pre ban" cans ‒ those made before the regulations phased in in 2009 ‒ sourcing them from flea markets and recycling centers. He recently sold three of them to a man in Michigan for $300, although most of that was actually the shipping cost. Watt said he's always surprised by what people want to buy. But each year, he makes sure to stock up before hurricane season begins. He planned to pick up 50 used cans from a recycling center later in the day. "I sell a lot of stuff that's a mystery to me. I mean, it's not a collectible," he said of the old-style gas cans. "But I know that people who buy used ones like them." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Make gas cans great again: White House pushes for changes
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
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ICE moves to shackle some 180,000 immigrants with GPS ankle monitors
ICE moves to shackle some 180,000 immigrants with GPS ankle monitors U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has directed personnel to sharply increase the number of immigrants they shackle with GPS-enabled ankle monitors, as the Trump administration widens surveillance of people it is targeting for deportation, according to an internal ICE document reviewed by The Washington Post. In a June 9 memo, ICE ordered staff to place ankle monitors on all people enrolled in the agency's Alternatives to Detention program 'whenever possible.' About 183,000 adult migrants are enrolled in ATD and had previously consented to some form of tracking or mandatory check-ins while they waited for their immigration cases to be resolved. Currently, just 24,000 of these individuals wear ankle monitors. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. One exception would be pregnant women, who would be required to wear wrist-worn tracking devices, Dawnisha M. Helland, an acting assistant director in the management of non-detained immigrants, wrote in the letter. 'If the alien is not being arrested at the time of reporting, escalate their supervision level to GPS ankle monitors whenever possible and increase reporting requirements,' Helland wrote. The new ankle monitor guidance, which has not been previously reported, marks a significant expansion of a 20-year-old surveillance practice steeped in controversy. While tracking devices are cheaper and arguably more humane than detention, immigrants and their advocates have long criticized the government's use of the bulky black ankle bands, which they say are physically uncomfortable, impose a social stigma and invade the privacy of the people wearing them, many of whom have no criminal record or history of missed court appointments. 'This will be a tool used to extend the reach of the government from just the folks it can manage to put in physical detention to an additional hundreds of thousands more that it can surveil,' said Laura Rivera, a senior staff attorney at Just Futures, a nonprofit group that has done research on ICE tracking technologies. 'It's designed to turn their own communities and homes into digital cages.' In an interview, ICE spokeswoman Emily Covington did not comment on the memo but said that the administration is using ankle monitors as an 'enforcement tool' to ensure compliance with immigration laws and that 'more accountability shouldn't come as a surprise.' She said ICE still makes decisions on a case-by-case basis and officers still have discretion over which participants require tracking technology. The expansion will drive business to Geo Group, the Boca Raton, Florida-based private prison conglomerate that previously employed at least two of Trump's top immigration officials and donated over $1.5 million to the president's 2024 campaign and inaugural committee. The tracking program is entirely run by BI Inc., a subsidiary of Geo that got its start in the 1970s by selling a device farmers used to monitor their cattle. However, in one sign of ICE's widening ambitions, agency officials recently began looking for additional technology vendors because BI's capacity may not be able to meet the agency's full needs, said a person briefed on the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose them. Geo did not respond to numerous requests for comment. An ICE spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the agency has a long-standing relationship with Geo and is 'leveraging existing vendors who have proven track records.' The new policy has taken many by surprise. One day last week, about 50 migrants huddled in a room at an ICE field office in Chantilly, Virginia, waiting to be outfitted with tracking devices. 'Everybody in here needs to either wear hardware or be detained,' one ICE official said, according to Megan Brody, an immigration attorney who was there with her client. Paola, 29, was told to report to BI's office in Manassas, Virginia, last month, where one of the contractor's employees told her she had to wear an ankle monitor due to 'new laws,' she said. Paola, a mother of two who said she fled Honduras four years ago because of an abusive husband, said she has attended all of her court appearances and complied with her mandatory mobile app check-ins for the time she's spent waiting for her asylum case to be processed. 'Maybe they've taken these drastic steps because many people don't show up to court or change addresses without reporting,' said Paola, who spoke to The Post on the condition that only her middle name be used because she is afraid of retribution by government officials. 'But some of us do everything right and still get treated the same.' ICE requires most undocumented immigrants to attend court hearings or periodically check in at field offices while their cases are being processed, though the frequency varies depending on a range of factors. An analysis of federal data by the American Immigration Council, an immigrant rights group, found that 83 percent of non-detained immigrants with completed or pending removal cases attended all of their court hearings from 2008 to 2018. A small portion of immigrants who are awaiting final resolution on their immigration proceedings are enrolled in ATD, which requires them to wear a tracking device or perform virtual check-ins using an app, as well as meeting in person with case managers in their home or a BI office. Enrollments in ATD peaked at 378,000 during the surge in border crossings under President Joe Biden and have declined since then. ICE says it considers a range of factors when deciding whether and how to track each immigrant - including criminal history, compliance history, caregiver concerns and medical concerns - but usually does not explain why any individual is put into ATD. Since the program launched in 2004, some participants have claimed they were unfairly subjected to surveillance despite complying diligently with the terms of their release and posing no threat to their communities. 'There were individuals that should have not been in the program and should have been released on their own recognizance,' said Hector Equihua, who worked as a San Diego-based case manager at BI for two years ending in 2018 and learned about the lives of the participants he oversaw from their case files, phone calls and in-person visits with them. Of the people the government monitors under ADT, the vast majority, or 84 percent, are required only to check in virtually to a mobile app called SmartLINK, which uses facial recognition to confirm their identity and GPS to confirm their location at the time of their check-in, according to BI's website and ICE data as of July 12. Ankle bracelets are used on just 13 percent of ATD participants but have been the only immigrant-monitoring technology to grow in use under the Trump administration, adding 4,165 new people since January. Wearing one of the devices, which are made at BI's factory in Boulder, Colorado, is like having a deck of playing cards strapped to your ankle. At six ounces, it's about the same weight as an iPhone. The devices are prone to glitches, have poor battery life, and sometimes leave bruises or rashes on the people who wear them, according to interviews with former BI employees and ATD participants. Michael Langa, a South African immigrant who had to wear an ankle bracelet for eight months in 2019 after he overstayed his visa, said the metal band also came with a psychological burden. 'It makes you feel like you are really a bad person,' Langa said. 'It really gets into your psyche and really damages your soul.' He said his case is still active but he no longer wears a tracking device. All of the people wearing ankle monitors are assigned a BI case manager and given a geographic area they cannot leave, which could be as small as a few-mile radius or as wide as several states. Case managers get an alert any time the person leaves this area, if the device is tampered with or if its battery runs out, at which point the case managers typically call the participant and warn them they may be violating the terms of their release. They may also escalate the matter to ICE. In the past, people who complied with the program were generally moved to less restrictive tracking and less frequent check-ins, a federal watchdog found in 2022. Now, according to interviews with some immigrants and their lawyers, the Trump administration appears to be reversing that policy: Participants who are fully compliant are being moved to more restrictive forms of tracking with little explanation. 'Why are people any more of a flight risk now?' asked Annelise Araujo, a Boston immigration attorney who says she represents several people who were outfitted with ankle monitors. 'People who have lived in the same community, in the same home, in the same job for 20 years?' Geo Group, ICE's largest contractor, is already benefiting from Trump's immigration crackdown. ICE has signed contracts to expand or reopen several Geo detention centers and to fund deportation flights on Geo's air carrier. This month, the agency issued BI a one-year extension on its immigrant-monitoring contract - bypassing a planned competitive bidding process that was expected to open the program to multiple new vendors. Tom Homan, Trump's border czar, previously earned consulting fees working for the division of Geo that oversees immigrant monitoring, part of a pattern of revolving-door arrangements that includes several former ICE officials who obtained jobs in the detention industry, The Post reported earlier this year. A White House spokeswoman said Homan recuses himself from all discussions of government contracts. Geo told investors it has ramped up production of ankle monitors and is prepared to potentially track millions of immigrants. 'We have taken several important steps to be prepared to meet that opportunity, and we are very well positioned,' David Donahue, Geo's chief executive, said on a call with analysts in May. Because each ATD participant generates about $3.70 in revenue per day, a rapid expansion could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue per year, said Joe Gomes, a financial analyst at Noble Capital Markets. An ICE spokeswoman said Congress did not allocate any money for ATD in Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill, though the text of the bill says it does include funding for 'information technology investments to support enforcement and removal operations.' Despite Geo's preparations, there are questions about whether the company can meet the ballooning demand. For years, BI has limited its need for manufacturing by recycling old ankle monitors from one participant to the next, according to former employees. Much of its supply of the devices is old and in poor condition. In addition to rapidly producing new devices, BI would have to quickly increase its staff of case managers, or employees tasked with ensuring immigrants are complying with ATD. With each case manager already overseeing as many as 300 participants at once, they are already stretched thin, with little time to attend to individual requests, according to a 2022 investigation by the Guardian. Perhaps because of these constraints, ICE recently asked Geo to hire one or more subcontractors to help scale up the monitoring program, according to the person briefed on the agency's discussions. ATD may grow to include a variety of tracking devices and software tools other than ankle monitors, depending on what technologies ICE can purchase in a short time frame, the person said. Covington, the ICE spokeswoman, declined to comment on any plans to expand the program. When Paola, the Honduran mother of two, got home from the BI office in June, her 6-year-old son asked her about the black box he noticed strapped around her ankle. She told him it was nothing serious - knowing she couldn't tell him the truth. If she loses her asylum case, she knows, the ankle monitor 'makes it easier for them to find me and deport me.' - - - Marianne LeVine, Ence Morse and Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report. Related Content Hulk Hogan was a well-known Trump supporter. Their ties go back 40 years. Mendelson reaches deal with Commanders on RFK site amid growing pressure Amy Sherald cancels major Smithsonian show over 'censorship' Solve the daily Crossword
