Randy Stapilus

2 weeks ago | oregoncapitalchronicle.com | Randy Stapilus |Julia Shumway

Oregon has a big and (relatively) new kind of business it doesn’t really know how to deal with. It should start soon to figure that out. This new sector consists of its mass of data centers, more of which are likely to pop up in coming years. But the state has no overall strategy for dealing with them. It should, because data centers, economically significant and technically important as they are, are a business unlike any other.

2 weeks ago | idahopress.com | Randy Stapilus

The risk-taking culture of gambling gets a lot of attention these days far from the floors of any casino: Not only in business — where a willingness to take a risk is an ordinary part of life, at least to a point — but in many other sectors, including government. Zero risk-taking can lead to stagnation, but too much of it can lead to catastrophe, and the trick is in navigating the difference.

3 weeks ago | idahostatejournal.com | Randy Stapilus

Tony Park, who died earlier this month at 90, through his long public life came across as cheerful, friendly, almost easygoing; watch him over time and you saw someone who could laugh without strain and accept setbacks as they came. Not, you might say, the kind of personality type you’d usually expect as a stereotype state attorney general. Which he was, in fact, at the time when I first came to Idaho about a half-century ago.

3 weeks ago | oregoncapitalchronicle.com | Randy Stapilus |Julia Shumway

If you were to imagine local places in this country that obstruct federal law, you might guess that map would look different depending on what kind of administration — Republican or Democratic, liberal or conservative — is in power in Washington. The Trump administration delivered a comprehensive list of more than 500 such places last week. And for Oregon, at least, it doesn’t look the way you would expect.

3 weeks ago | yahoo.com | Randy Stapilus

The Alvord Desert outside Burns in Harney County is one of the driest places in Oregon. The county made it onto a list of sanctuary jurisdictions. (Laura Tesler/Oregon Capital Chronicle)If you were to imagine local places in this country that obstruct federal law, you might guess that map would look different depending on what kind of administration — Republican or Democratic, liberal or conservative — is in power in Washington.