Calendar Thu., Nov. 30, 2017

A recently awarded, two-year, $175,000 grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust’s Equitable Education portfolio will help drive Central Oregon Community College’s (COCC) efforts to enhance college preparedness programs and promote college success for regional Latino and Native American high school students. COCC’s college preparation programs have sought to raise graduation rates by reaching out to regional high school students and mentoring them to stay on the educational path. The Equitable Education grant will restart existing programs beginning in January of 2018. The college’s existing Latino College Preparation Program, or “Avanza,” will add service to Madras and Culver high schools. The existing Native American College Preparation Program, or “The Good Road,” will restart its involvement at Redmond High School, Madras High School and the Roots Alternative Education Program at Warm Springs. The grant creates a new half-time coordinator position. Additionally, two multi-day summer symposiums—“Ganas” for Latino students and “STRIVE” for Native American students—where high school students stay at the Bend campus and get a feel for college life while developing academic and leadership skills, will continue for one summer each.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Health Authority misspent millions of dollars by providing Medicaid benefits to people who were ineligible, according to a results of a new audit made public Wednesday. The audit from Secretary of State Dennis Richardson’s office completed a month ago found that 115,000 Medicaid recipients had not had their eligibility evaluated within the one-year federal time limit. Of those, nearly 50,000 were found to be ineligible for the benefits that were paid for them. Oregon’s annual $9.3 billion Medicaid program provides health care coverage to low-income adults, children, pregnant women, elderly adults and people with disabilities. The number of Oregonians who rely on the program soared from 600,000 to a million following passage of the Affordable Care Act, and the health authority has had trouble keeping track of eligibility and overpayments.

(OPB) A Wasco County judge heard oral arguments Wednesday about whether a regional jail is violating Oregon’s sanctuary state law. Several Wasco County residents have sued the Northern Oregon Regional Corrections Facilities, arguing the jail, known as NOROCR, is violating Oregon law because it houses detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The plaintiffs in the case want the Judge John Wolf to determine NORCOR is in violation of state law and to force the jail to end its contract with ICE. State law prohibits state or local resources from “apprehending and detecting” people whose only offense is being in the country illegally. Wolf said he will rule in the case before Christmas.