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THE LARS LARSON SHOW                         Honestly Provocative.

Lars LarsonLars got his start in radio at age 16 spinning records (remember 45s?) and reading news, sports and weather (twice an hour) on KTIL (The Mighty 1590) from a little cinderblock building on the edge of a cow pasture in Tillamook, Oregon (75 miles West of Portland, Oregon).

 

36 years later, he’s only moved 75 miles east to Portland and light years to “the Right”. Emmy and Peabody award winner Lars Larson brings nearly four decades of experience as a radio and television journalist to the microphone for six hours of the best talk radio in America. Six hours of daily prep keep The Lars Larson Show on top of the news and top-of-mind for listeners across the country.

 

Along the way, Lars has worked for more than a dozen radio stations and five television stations. Today, Lars holds down the fort from 12pm – 4pm on Radio Northwest flagship FM NEWS 101 KXL. His local talk show airs on seventeen stations in the Pacific Northwest (and earns him the biggest local talk radio audience in the region).

 

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For Once, I'm On The Same Page With Politifact.


I've been saying for quite some time that the schools in Portland spend between $14,000-$15,000 per student per year.

Well someone else made the same claim, and Politifact did some fact checking. Here's what they came up with:

The best historical numbers we have are state figures that show that Portland Public Schools in 2010-11 spent $11,830 per pupil. (The same report shows capital outlay per student was about $400, and $777 statewide.)

Now, let’s go back to Portland Public Schools’ 2012-13 adopted budget. If you add together salaries, benefits, materials and services -- in other words, take out debt, capital and contingencies-- you get nearly $542 million. Divide that by the number of students and we end up at $11,459 per student. Again, we think that’s pretty close to $12,000.

With debt and capital -- the way McIntire and some others think is more accurate -- the number would be more than $12,000. It would be anywhere from $13,200 (without contingency and ending fund balance) to $14,100 (if those categories are included) to $15,000 (if he is correctly adding education service district costs to the budget).

I've never been a huge fan of Politifact, but, today, we're on the same page.

It's Probably OK To Release Sex Offenders From Prison Early...Right?


Consider the timing. This year, a lot of liberal lawmakers and the governor have been arguing that Oregon locks up criminals longer than necessary.  

They’re proposing cuts to the length of prison sentences. And then along comes Adam Lee Brown, convicted sexual criminal and abuser of 9 young children. Good old liberal Oregon convicted him of attempted murder, rape and 41 other charges, sentenced him to 16 years in prison, and he only served 11 years of that.  

Oregon’s parole board turned this monster loose on society and on Sunday he went to a hamburger stand and tried to molest, stab and strangle a ten year old boy. Here is an excerpt from CBS News and the AP:


Oregon police said they arrested Adam Lee Brown at a Portland restaurant where he allegedly pulled a 10-year-old boy in the bathroom, attempted to sexually assault him and then stabbed him several times. Brown was already on parole for trying to infect children with HIV nearly 20 years ago.

Officers said the boy would have died without immediate care. His injuries from the Sunday attack were severe enough to require surgery.

Police said the suspect pulled the 10-year-old boy into a Wendy's bathroom and locked the door on Sunday. After the boy fought back, Portland police said Brown stabbed him.

A Wendy's employee opened the locked door and Brown shoved the 10-year-old out of the bathroom, but locked himself inside and told arriving officers that he had a gun. Police evacuated the fast-food restaurant and brought in crisis negotiators.

After the two-hour standoff, Brown surrendered. Police found a knife, but no gun.

Is anyone really surprised? The real surprise is that so many folks in law enforcement and the legislature want to cut down the prison sentences for garbage like Brown.  

The guy has HIV infection in his blood and he’s tried to infect kids with the same disease that Oregon officials hoped would kill him in prison before his sentence ran out. 

It’s long past time for this state to start giving true life sentences to people like Brown and stop caring about the cost.  

Justice may not be cheap, but the alternative is costly in ways that no amount of taxes can pay back.

It Makes Sense In Mexico, But Not America?


Mexico held an election yesterday and, unlike the United States, they required photo ID of voters.  

This came up over the weekend as we were having dinner with a friend who used to live in Mexico, married to a Mexican national.  The place we had dinner in is owned by a young man and his wife and she’s from Mexico. She expressed surprise that in America you don’t have to show ID to vote. In Oregon and Washington you can, but in Mexico, voters must show identification and it’s checked against a registry at the polling place that includes a photo of the voter.  

In America, a president who has had his own problems with identification and citizenship questions, has ordered his justice department to fight states who want to identify voters. Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder say making Americans show ID would discriminate against the poor. Our friend’s comment, the poorest people in a country like Mexico can show ID to vote, but poor people in America can’t afford it.  

Like a lot of things coming out of Washington D.C. these days, it doesn't make much sense.  

An Historic Day For America


President Obama’s health care law has been found to be constitutional. But it comes at a price for the President. 

Barack Obama promised explicitly not to raise taxes on Americans who made less than a quarter of a million dollars a year. But now, the signature legislation of the President’s term will require tens of millions of Americans to pay thousands of dollars in health care insurance premiums as a tax.  

That violates the president’s promise and, as far as im concerned, it violates the liberty of Americans. At the same time, the supreme court ruled that the part of the law that expands Medicaid is unconstitutional. Which means that 30 million folks who thought they would be covered won’t be.  

Now the president has to decide if he’s willing to defend one of the biggest tax increases on average folks that any President has ever imposed. All after promising not to increase taxes; as he put it, not one dime.  

If you call that a victory, then lets see how he explains it to voters in the next five months.  The polls say that a majority of Americans already don’t like ObamaCare. Now what will they say when they find out it comes with thousands in taxes.

Lars Takes Tri Met Driver To Task.


I'll admit that a lot of the time, I'm critical of Tri Met employees. I think they're overpaid for the job that they're asked to do, and their benefits package is much too large.

Tri Met drivers have a pretty easy job. They drive their bus or train to the designated stops, and make sure people pay their fare, or have a pass. When people want to get off, the driver makes sure that they get off at the stop they asked for. They're not responsible for making sure that people get off the right stop, or anything beyond making sure that the rider(s) aren't making a scene.

School bus drivers are responsible for making sure every child on their bus gets on and off the bus at the correct stop, and making sure they get to school and home safely. All on top of working seasonally, as well as working bad split shifts.

Why do Tri Met workers make, on average, double what these drivers make? It makes no sense to me.

On the show today, I received a call from a Tri Met worker who wanted to explain to me why they deserve the pay that they receive.

Lets just say that it didn't end well for him...

The School of The Future. It Already Exists.


Oregon public schools are in crisis. Districts are cutting teachers, art and music programs, and even closing schools. All of this due to budget cuts, and all of this affecting your child's education. 

What if there was a new way? A better way? Well, there is, and it's called Oregon Connection Academy. This is an online school based in Scio, Oregon that hosts students from all around the state. They offer K-12 classes, and a host of great opportunities.

They just said goodbye to their largest graduating class yet; 175 students. I had a chance to speak with Laura Dillon, a teacher at this academy, about this revolutionary education.
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