Laurel Brauns

Thanks from writing in Mickey.

"Fifty years ago, nearly a third of U.S. workers belonged to a union. Today, it's one in 10."
https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/02…

The point I was trying to make is that unions are a lot less powerful than they once were and over the years corporations have had the ability to convince lawmakers to pass laws that make it harder for unions to organize. Why aren't there unions for fast food workers, Amazon workers, Walmart workers?

The list I wrote out was not intended to be exclusive. And I was not trying to insult the unions that currently exist or the labor movement in general, but to paint a picture that underscores that the labor movement has indeed lost a lot of power over the last half century. The article was not meant to be a long history of the labor movement, but I did want to put unions in some kind of historical context.

Of course I would be interested in your perspective on unions and it would be great to be able to interview you when we do a longer article on the topic in the future. Please feel free to email me with your contact information.

Dear Mickey,
Thanks for that comment. You are right, that got edited out for print and I want to put it back in for the online version. This article will be updated shortly...

Hey Jennifer
I emailed them to Lynnelle Morgan. Since you were talking about the same business, I assumed you were in communication. I have updated the article with the complaints embedded.

Thank you all for your comments. Jenny, I understand your concerns. It is unfortunate that this is going down the way it is, because these reports are based on allegations from the OLCC to OSHA. As we stated in the article, everyone on this list is innocent until proven guilty, but it is public information and something we felt like we needed to report on. I've emailed the full spreadsheet to Jenny, and if anyone else would like a copy, please let me know. I'm about to post this story to our FB and Twitter feeds, so please feel free to share your concerns there as well.

Hey Mickey. Basically they just expanded on their written complaints to the DA to me during this interview and then I wrote them up in greater detail in this article: Body cams, police disciplinary records, alleged racial harassment in his office, and non-unanimous jury verdicts. We didn't include the last two because of space and because they need some explaining, as well as the other side of the story from District Attorney John Hummel. We're meeting with him next week. Thanks for writing in!

Hey Clancey
I apologize, I did not unlist the video before sending out the article in the newsletter. I hope you have a chance to check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t90Zhf0-0Q…

Thank you all for your comments on this article. Some of you brought up the need for more balance in the story. We have contacted representatives for Verizon Wireless specifically for past articles and will continue to follow up with them until we hear back about 5G. We will also reach out to T-Mobile and AT&T. All three companies provide service in Central Oregon and will be a part of the plan to install this new infrastructure here.

Some of you also mentioned the desire for more research outside of http://EMFscientists.org. The scientists listed on that site have collectively published more than 2,000 reports, but not all of them are available on that site. That site has the intent of demonstrating those scientists stand behind the need for more EMF research. Most scientists who have signed the letter have other peer-reviewed journal articles which you can find using Google Scholar. Digging deeper into this research reveals it goes beyond rats. https://bioinitiative.org/

As with anything related to science and human health, the truth may lie somewhere on the spectrum. It is the duty of journalists to explore these topics and help to start a healthy public debate, and probe both corporations and scientists to defend or revise their positions based on peer-reviewed studies. Because the science of the topic is quite dense, I chose to focus more on the movement itself and reasons behind it, rather than the specific scientific action of how and why EMFs might be harmful.

A common demand that many cities and activist groups have made to these companies is to provide scientific evidence that EMFs do not cause harm to human health. The companies themselves are currently working on this. Paul Bacon, who heads the "Stop Cell Towers at Schools" group in Bend is working directly with a radio frequency exposure expert hired by Verizon to defend its proposal to place a cell tower near another school in Bend on Butler Market Road. Bacon has asked this representative to refute his collection of peer-reviewed studies demonstrating RFs are harmful. The Source will provide an update when Verizon responds.