PORTLAND, Oregon, July 13 -- Adrian Dominican Sisters issued the following news: The Adrian Dominican Congregation received Honorable Mention from the Catholic Press Association (CPA) for Best Free-standing Video Depicting Religious Life. The announcement was made during the CPA's virtual awards banquet at the end of its virtual Catholic Media Conference, originally scheduled for June 29-July 2, 2020, in Portland, Oregon. The video, Bringing Love: Espiritu Santo Fe y Alegria School, focused o  more

PORTLAND, Oregon, July 17 -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued the following news release: The Oregon chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Oregon) condemned the Trump Administration for sending in federal law enforcement into Portland in order to suppress Oregonians advocating for justice at Black Lives Matter protests. Federal law enforcement is utilizing unmarked vehicles to detain protesters. Further, federal law enforcement has repeatedly fired upon pea  more

WASHINGTON, July 11 -- The Food and Water Watch issued the following statement by Action Senior Attorney Tarah Heinzen: Food and meat processing facilities across the country have become hotspots of COVID-19 outbreaks. One recent case is the Tillamook-owned Columbia River Processing Plant in Morrow County, Oregon, where 22 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed among the facility's creamery workers and their families. * * * "This outbreak underscores the troubling link between the factory farm  more

PORTLAND, Oregon, July 13 -- The Mercy Corps issued the following statement on behalf of the Syria INGO Regional Forum, NGO Forum, Syrian Networks League, and Syrian NGO Alliance: The United Nations Security Council resolution that ensures humanitarian aid reaches millions of people in Syria lapsed as the reauthorization deadline passed, marking a bleak moment in the Council's 75-year history. For the people of northwest Syria, after more than nine years of conflict, multiple displacements and   more

PORTLAND, Oregon, July 13 -- The Mercy Corps issued the following statement on behalf of the Syrian INGO Regional Forum, NGO Forum, Syrian Networks League, and Syrian NGO Alliance: We are deeply concerned that the United Nations Security Council has voted to scale back humanitarian assistance to millions of acutely vulnerable people in Syria, just as the first case of COVID-19 is confirmed in Idlib. The UN's assistance cross-border has enabled life-saving assistance to reach over four million p  more

WASHINGTON, July 16 -- The Military Officers Association of America issued the following news: Explore the wonders of nature without ever leaving home. These digital tours and web cams bring the best of National Parks, Marine Sanctuaries, and preserves to you. The National Park Foundation offers an array of digital tours and webcams, including a 360-degree video tour of Crater Lake National Park in Oregon or this live ocean webcam that takes you deep beneath the sea at Channel Islands National  more

PORTLAND, Oregon, July 17 -- The National Psoriasis Foundation issued the following news release: The National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF) has appointed April W. Armstrong, MD, MPH, of Los Angeles California the new Medical Board Chair. Dr. Armstrong succeeds outgoing Medical Board Chair, Dr. Abby Van Voorhees. Establishing her relationship with the NPF in 2013, Dr. Armstrong served two terms in the past and was a current member of the medical board when appointed Chair. In her new role, Dr. Ar  more

PORTLAND, Oregon, July 17 -- The Northwest Evaluation Association issued the following news release: NWEA, a not-for-profit assessment provider, announced that its award-winning early reading assessment - MAP(R) Reading Fluency(TM) - will now include measures from the innovative new Lexile(R) Framework for Oral Reading. Developed by MetaMetrics(R), the new framework provides a powerful data point for educators moving the needle in student literacy. The Lexile Framework for Oral Reading measure  more

PORTLAND, Oregon, July 15 -- The Northwest Evaluation Association issued the following news release: As education leaders face the challenges of reopening schools after the unprecedented disruption of COVID-19, NWEA is releasing state and federal policy recommendations for mitigating learning losses and reimagining a learning environment where students can thrive. The policy brief, Assessment and Accountability in a Post-Coronavirus World, discusses the opportunity for lawmakers to explore how  more

SAN DIEGO, California, July 17 -- The Southern Border Communities Coalition, a program of Alliance San Diego, issued the following joint news release: With a mandate to escalate tensions and use force against protesters in Portland and other cities, border agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are taking their abusive practices across the nation in a move to normalize their presence and push to become the national police force they aspire to be. On July 11, one protester was sho  more

PORTLAND, Oregon, July 17 -- Vet Voice Foundation issued the following statement by Army Veteran Kate Hoit: "Many veterans turn to the beauty and serenity of our nation's public lands to help ease the transition from the military to civilian life. "Like so many Americans, veterans have a strong connection to our public lands and believe protecting them is our patriotic duty. "Unfortunately, the Trump administration fails to recognize the importance of these special places and is allowing oi  more

EUGENE, Oregon, July 17 -- The Western Environmental Law Center issued the following news release on July 16: A federal judge late yesterday reinstated the Bureau of Land Management's 2016 methane waste rule, aimed at protecting people and the climate from methane waste and pollution from oil and gas extraction on public lands. The ruling is the third defeat for the Trump administration's efforts to suspend, delay or repeal the rule. The rule requires oil and gas companies operating on public   more

EUGENE, Oregon, July 14 -- The Western Environmental Law Center issued the following news release: Citing breathtaking levels of overreach, conservation, fishing, and paddling advocates filed a complaint in federal court challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) final rule effectively sidelining the role the states and the public have long played in permitting decisions affecting clean water. "With this rule change, the Trump administration has given corporations the green light   more

EUGENE, Oregon, July 16 -- The Western Environmental Law Center issued the following news release: The Trump administration finalized its proposal to gut more than 40 years of settled environmental law. The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released the final text of a sweeping rule which will eviscerate core components of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a crucial safeguard for communities' clean air, clean water, and health, as well as imperiled species and wild   more