Elizabeth Miller

Education institutions around the country are starting to limit technology usage in schools.

Adding up contracts connected to construction projects and money for instruction and services, PPS spending has spiked in recent years.

On Thursday, Portland State University leaders announced the proposed closure of two programs, as well as reductions in staff across seven departments. The cuts are part of the university’s plan to make up a $35 million deficit.

Summer reaching the Santa Fe River brings hummingbirds, which flit through streaks of sunlight over the water, green bodies turning white in the light.

The leader of Portland Community College is stepping down. Adrien Bennings has served as PCC president since 2022 and still had two years left on her contract.

Introduction Firearm injuries and fatalities adversely affect individual and community health and are important public health issues. Identifying factors that protect against firearm violence and related harms is needed. We aimed to identify neighbourhoods with lower-than-expected and higher-than-expected firearm injuries and fatalities based on social vulnerability and their differing structural and social characteristics.Methods We used Gun Violence Archive data from the RISE Lab Firearm Injury Data Hub to estimate firearm injury and fatality counts between 2015 and 2020 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We used a negative binomial regression model to estimate the relationship between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s social vulnerability index and firearm injuries and fatalities, and the residual percentile method to identify neighbourhoods with lower (resilient) and higher (at-risk) counts than expected based on social vulnerability. T-tests were used to compare resilient and at-risk neighbourhoods for 158 US Census American Community Survey demographic, socioeconomic, housing and transportation variables.Results Resilient neighbourhoods (n=19, bottom quartile residuals) had lower rates of firearm injuries and fatalities (p=0.0002) compared with at-risk neighbourhoods (n=19, top quartile residuals). Resilient and at-risk neighbourhoods differed for 2 (per cent male never married and female widowed) of the variables included in the analyses.Conclusions Some neighbourhoods, despite facing risk factors, experienced fewer firearm injuries and fatalities than would be expected based on neighbourhood social vulnerability. Existing sources of secondary data on neighbourhoods may fail to adequately capture potential factors that prevent against firearm violence and to measure resilience in thriving neighbourhoods. Future community-engaged studies are needed to understand and measure neighbourhood-level protective factors.

While more measures passed than failed, results from Tuesday’s primary election show some Oregon voters rejected many new taxes.

The statewide picture for tax measures was a mixed bag during the primary election.

It’s almost the end of the school year. And for Oregon kids completing their first year of school, there’s a new diploma.

Oregon school districts are still figuring out how to run schools on limited budgets and with tight rules from state leaders.