For 21 long months, the Mt. Hood Community College Faculty Association has been bargaining with the college administration to reach a new contract after the previous working contract expired in August 2022. Finally, on Feb. 28, the full-time faculty members voted to approve a new contract that would increase their salaries and bring benefits up to par with those of other local community colleges. Exact details on the tentative deal are not yet available. The bargaining proces

Portland, the city of bridges, may be seeing a significant, brand-new span in its waters within the next 10 years. Planning is under way for the Interstate 5 Bridge, which is one of the two that cross the Columbia River to connect Portland with Vancouver, Washington, and its suburbs, to be completely replaced soon. Some estimates put the start of construction as soon as 2025, to be concluded around 2032. The six-lane, twin-span drawbridge serves an important role in the local

Portlanders will lose use of one of their eight downtown bridges for an extended time, as early as 2027, for the complete reconstruction of the Burnside Bridge. Currently, all of the downtown Willamette River vehicular bridges (excepting the transit-specific Tillikum Bridge) are at risk of being rendered unusable in the event of a major earthquake. So, Multnomah County has decided to fix this problem. The Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge project aims to, as its name suggests,

This issue’s special section is on the “State of the College” (timed along with the presidential State of the Union speech on March 7) – so we needed to gauge student’s feelings on Mt. Hood Community College and how they can improve. We approached this task with a two-pronged approach: one through a survey published in the last issue of The Advocate, and another by interviewing people on campus. In the former, 77% of respondents said that the college is generally doing a good

Photo by Courtney Vaughn / Portland Mercury A political melee of sorts has descended upon Portland, as the city braces itself for a tumultuous mayoral race in 2024 that will shape its destiny. Where rain-soaked streets echo with the cries of the disenfranchised, the stakes have never been higher as local government – the bedrock of civic life – stands at the forefront of addressing our most pressing issues. So far, five candidates have announced their entry for the Nov. 5 may

Photo by Ken Perez On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, ASMHCC hosted a wonderful, love-filled event in the Student Union building. Appropriately named the “Heartbeat Retreat,” the event saw a massive turnout of students with a line wrapped around the building. Two ASMHCC members made smoothies for the crowd and gave away 70 reusable cups. There was a beautiful backdrop for students to get photos with our school’s mascot, Barney the St. Bernard, as well as a table for making friendsh

The Associated Students of Mt. Hood Community College – ASMHCC, the student government body – is recruiting “energetic, enthusiastic and motivated” students to become leaders and inspire positive change across MHCC during the 2024-25 academic year. If this opportunity appeals to you, look no further, but do not delay! One critical deadline arrives this coming Sunday, Feb. 11. Here we offer a concise rundown of the processes and requirements of joining the student government t

Often, we don’t realize how important we are. Many of us may think and feel that we are not very interesting to the world around us. We forget that all of us are connected by the technology systems we use. One person clicking on a phishing email can give malicious actors a door into that individual’s computer. From that computer, those actors can try to find and exploit other vulnerabilities in the network, jumping to other computers and, possibly, to servers. The vulnerabil

Image sourced from friendsofpsr.com The rise of fentanyl addiction and related deaths is undeniably noticeable, and has personally affected many of us. Within the houseless communities and party scene, fentanyl deaths are leading killers. Various other street drugs are showing up laced with fentanyl, which can easily lead to overdose and death at worst, and feed addiction, at best. Now, Portland Fire & Rescue (the city’s fire department) has added a narrowly targeted response

Photo by Metro Blue Lake Regional Park in Fairview has been closed since Sept. 15 of last year to provide much-needed renovations to its grounds and facilities. However, ongoing closures may be soon coming to an end, with the Metro agency stating it expects to wrap up work sometime by spring of this year. Visitors should see a lot of improvements when the park fully reopens to the public, including upgrades to the aging, unsafe fishing pier and new water and sewer systems to

Photos by the NTSB On Jan. 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 departed from Portland International Airport, headed to Ontario, California. However, mere minutes into its journey, the wall of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft suddenly blew out, leaving a gaping hole. The cabin rapidly depressurized, causing loose items including phones to fly outside and emergency oxygen masks to drop above the passengers’ heads. The plane swiftly made a U-turn, passing over Mt. Hood Community College

Photos by Kane Finders Big changes may be coming to Mt. Hood Community College over the next five years – if there’s money available to make them. On Jan. 11 and 12, the campus community was invited to a series of Gresham campus facilities planning sessions, hosted by Charles George, head of Facilities for MHCC, and Mark Stoller of Opsis Architecture. The two laid out five-year concepts for Mt. Hood, soliciting feedback (during both Zoom and in-person forums) to prepare to pr

Image sourced from FAFSA The time has come to update your FAFSA information once again and this year you may notice some important changes, on top of the delay. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, has been updated for this year making changes to all facets of the application. With the new rollout, students can expect applying for aid to be made easier and many more may find new eligibility or higher funds available to them. This new update was originally p

MHCC Weather Alerts The winter season brings the increased possibility of snow and ice, and inclement weather may force MHCC to close the campus and/or cancel or delay all classes during the day. Thankfully Mt. Hood has several ways to communicate these changes to students and staff. One is the RAVE alert system, which sends out emergency notices by text and email. To check and designate your RAVE preferences, go through the my.mhcc.edu portal – look for it in the gray “Quick

Mt. Hood students could see their per-credit Student Activities Fee increase by 50 cents for the 2024-25 academic year, after the move was endorsed by the college’s student government body. At the Nov. 22 meeting of the Associated Students of Mt. Hood Community College (ASMHCC) the seven student representatives present voted unanimously to recommend that the SAF be increased by nearly 12%, from $4.25 to $4.75 per credit. One of the reasons given for the proposed increase is r

Image from AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite On Dec. 1, George Santos, Republican U.S. representative for New York’s 3rd congressional district, was expelled from Congress 333 days into his tumultuous first term in office. This followed an investigation by the House Committee on Ethics that found that the lawmaker misused campaign funds. Its report found that Santos stole thousands of dollars in campaign funds to spend on personal debt, spa treatments, luxury products, and purch

Image from John Bazemore / Pool via AP file The world is mourning the recent death of Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady of the U.S and married for 77 years to former President Jimmy Carter. The 96-year-old dedicated her life to public service, leaving a long and important history of commitment to serious social issues and causes. Rosalynn and Jimmy’s long history together goes back, even before their marriage, to 1927 when she was born. In the small town of Plains, Geor

Photo by Helena Chalmers Making films is something I’ve always dreamed of doing. Up until this year, I had effectively shoved that dream into a closet and wrote it off as impractical, just a hobby, and nothing more than a silly dream. I spent most of my young adult life searching for a practical career that would satiate that dream, and I found no luck. Every “good” job I found eventually made me sick, and the stress and demands of the job were never worth the salary. Then I

The Executive Board of the Associated Students of Mt. Hood Community College (ASMHCC – the student body government representing all students) covered a laid-back agenda when it met on Nov. 29. Photo by Kane Finders The sole action item up for a vote was the proposed spending of $791 to help fund prizes for a student survey being issued in Winter Term by the college’s Textbook Affordability Task Force Committee. The affordability team helps the college on their path to adopt m

Photo by Brooke Herbert / The Oregonian A new holiday attraction is coming to downtown Portland this winter season. “Woodsy Winter Village” is planned to be Portland’s newest pop-up outdoor ice-skating rink and holiday marketplace, as reported by The Oregonian. The City of Portland is organizing the location in hopes to bring more people downtown and revitalize the city during the holiday season. The attraction is set to be open on Dec. 16 and run through Jan. 28. That means