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COUNTY AUDITOR LAUNCHES INVESTIGATION INTO AMR CONTRACT: Multnomah County Auditor Jennifer McGuirk has launched an investigation into the county’s contract with its ambulance provider, American Medical Response, citing public complaints and WW’s report at wweek.com last month that the county had declined to fine the company despite its poor performance. AMR has been failing to meet on-time performance standards for over a year, blaming an industrywide shortage of paramedics. McGuirk asked County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson whether the county knew, prior to WW’s report, of a highly publicized hit-and-run in which the victim died shortly after an ambulance arrived late. Vega Pederson said the county indeed knew. Yet it hasn’t fined AMR. The county’s contract with AMR runs until 2028. At the direction of the auditor, County Ombudsperson Cheryl Taylor told the chair in an email last week that she was looking into the contract: “I will mainly look at the parts of the contract that relate to response times and the remedies available to the county when there is a material breach of the contract, such as the ongoing failure of AMR to meet the response time requirements. There are valid questions around these issues, and the public has an interest in the answers to those questions.”
RAT GONE BUT PAMPLIN FINANCIAL WOES CONTINUE: The International Union of Operating Engineers has removed the 12-foot inflatable rat from outside R.B. Pamplin Corp.’s headquarters in Milwaukie. Scabby the Rat was installed to protest the alleged nonpayment of contractual benefits. But others are seeking payment from various Pamplin Corp. affiliates. The Oregon Department of Revenue filed a $101,000 tax lien against Pamplin Communications in late May for unpaid corporate activity taxes from 2021. Meanwhile, Pamplin Real Properties, which owns the Milwaukie headquarters, owes the Clackamas County assessor $179,000 in property taxes on the building. In early June, the county agreed to buy the property for $11 million for use as a health clinic. Selling to an outside buyer is an unusual move for Pamplin Corp. and its affiliates, which have recently sold $50 million of company property to the company’s own pension fund in a series of highly controversial transactions. Concerned pensioners hope that the U.S. Department of Labor, which regulates corporate pension plans, is looking out for their interests. Department of Labor spokesman Mike Petersen says his agency is doing just that. “When the administration learns about irresponsible investment practices that may endanger [pension] benefits, we take it very seriously and will do everything within our authorities to protect workers and their families,” Petersen says, adding, however, “As a matter of policy, DOL will not confirm or deny the existence of an ongoing investigation.” A Pamplin representative declined to comment.
ONE LAWMAKER REFUSES TO CRIMINALIZE FENTANYL POSSESSION: When the Oregon Legislature voted last week to criminalize possession of small amounts of fentanyl, the hyperpowered opioid that kills more people under 50 than even cancer, there was one dissenter: Rep. Farrah Chaichi (D-Beaverton). It was a bold position, bucking every other member of her caucus. In a letter to the clerk of the House, Chaichi, 37, said she reviewed testimony “really trying to get to yes,” but couldn’t because the bill marked a return to the war on drugs, which was an abysmal failure. “This bill has been referred to as another tool in the toolbox, but like so many tools in the War on Drugs, this is another hammer,” Chaichi wrote. Supporters say the bill fixed a blind spot in Oregon law: Without it, there is no misdemeanor charge for fentanyl possession, as there is for all other illicit drugs. And Measure 110, the 2020 referendum that decriminalized small amounts of some hard drugs, makes no mention of fentanyl. Chaichi, who works at a Portland law firm, is an iconoclast, even for Oregon. She sponsored the controversial Oregon Right to Rest Act, which would have decriminalized camping in public places and allowed homeless people to sue if harassed.
MURDERS DOWN SLIGHTLY IN PORTLAND: Portland’s homicide numbers were slightly down as of May, mirroring national trends. There were 36 homicides in the first five months of this year, compared to 39 during the same period in 2022. At a routine press briefing Tuesday, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt highlighted more reasons for optimism that the recent wave of violence in Portland may be receding. The city has seen a 14% decline in homicides with guns. Gresham had an even sharper decline, from seven homicides to one. Schmidt noted, however, that his office has responded to more homicides so far this month than it did in June of last year. There were three in the past week alone, including a case in which a son allegedly beat his mother to death with a baseball bat. Schmidt said his office is partnering with Oregon Health & Science University to form a commission to review recent murders and what could have been done to stop them. “It’s the same kind of health approach and methodology that led to seat belts in cars,” he says. Here’s one thing the commission might find: Cheap guns have proliferated on Portland’s streets. “It’s a downward spiral,” Schmidt says. “The more that people are in fear and are actually in jeopardy, the more people want to get guns.”
WEED FROM TWO FARMS RECALLED OVER NEW FUNGUS TEST: The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission recalled batches of cannabis from two farms June 22 because the weed tested positive for aspergillus, a common fungus that grows everywhere in natural environments. Despite outcry from the industry, which argued new testing rules would eliminate organic weed in Oregon and wreak havoc on farmers, the agency implemented the rules March 1 (“Fungus Among Us,” WW, April 19). This week’s recall of seven batches of weed from a farm owned by the cannabis giant Nectar and one batch from Eugene farm Rebel Spirits was met with fury. “We fear these regulations will destroy the very things that make Oregon’s cannabis so special,” says Jesse Bontecou, executive director of the Cannabis Industry Alliance of Oregon. The OLCC said in a statement that tests indicated the strains—sold in an estimated 75 dispensaries across the state—could “pose a risk to public health and safety.” However, no cases of illness from ingesting cannabis with aspergillus have been identified in Oregon.