Weekly Hot News Podcast, February 14, 2022

The quarterly State Economic Forecast was released on Wednesday, February 9th, and showed another record level of income for Oregon. Net General Fund and Lottery revenues are up a combined $1.173 billion since the December forecast, a robust growth of 4 percent in just three months. Also since that previous forecast, the projected personal kicker has almost doubled to $964.2 million and the projected corporate kicker has grown by over 150 percent to $633.8 million. With the state being just a third of the way through the 2021-23 biennial budget period, those numbers are expected to grow significantly in future forecasts. Our Featured Event is a visit from Hops mascot Barley to Eastwood Elementary! Barley served as a VIP Community Greeter at the school on Wednesday, February 2nd. Through the Community Greeter program, which was started in 2017 by local organization Just Create Community, volunteers visit the school once a week to offer a friendly hello to students and inspire them in their education. On the first Wednesday of each month, they host VIP greeters like Mayor Steve Callaway, Police Chief Coleman, Fire Chief Downey, and, on this day - Barley! Over the years, Just Create Community has also offered programs like Community Readers - both in person and virtual - and Intergenerational After-School Cursive, and has held several community drives to raise resources for Eastwood. Look for information on their new Pen Pal project with Ms. Costa’s 6th grade class in an upcoming edition of Hot News. www.hsd.k12.or.us