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One of Oregon state government’s most experienced law enforcement professionals will permanently lead the state’s top research and funding agency for criminal justice issues, Gov. Tina Kotek said.
As the political prospects for Republicans worsen ahead of November’s midterm elections, the GOP is increasingly playing defense over its yearslong grip on state governments. That’s particularly true for gubernatorial elections, as Democrats could win a majority of governorships for the first time since 2010…
WASHINGTON — The number of women in the U.S. Senate is unlikely to increase and may decline following the November midterm elections, though there are still opportunities for candidates to make history in the upper chamber. Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics, said on a…
The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority Monday appeared broadly sympathetic to fossil fuel companies’ argument that allowing two Colorado local governments to sue them over climate change in state court would be a “recipe for chaos.” Attorneys for both sides in Suncor v. Boulder, along with the Trump…
WASHINGTON — Democrats are more motivated to vote in November’s midterm elections than Republicans, potentially giving the party an advantage to flip at least one chamber of Congress, according to a poll released Tuesday by the nonpartisan health organization KFF. Democratic candidates also held an edge with voter…
Environmental advocates are seeking volunteers to help collect research on how Oregon’s roads are impacting wildlife. Environment Oregon, a conservation nonprofit with affiliates across 29 other states, is recruiting volunteers for its 2026 Roadside Wildlife Count Oct. 17 to 25 to help track any wildlife dead or alive…
President Donald Trump wants to sharply curtail mail ballots. He’s called them “inherently corrupt” and baselessly condemned them as a major source of fraud. But with Republicans falling behind in the polls, the president is now urging his supporters to vote in the midterm elections any way they can, including by…
State Rep. Paul Evans was arrested this weekend and is accused of driving drunk and damaging a stop sign in Independence, Polk County Circuit Court records show.
The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that an attorney representing a Multnomah County man whom jurors saw shackled outside of a courtroom during his criminal trial should have sought a mistrial, expanding defendants’ right to not be seen with restraints before conviction. In a 68-page decision last week with one justice…
WASHINGTON — Democrats expect they’ll gain a majority of seats in the U.S. House following November’s midterm elections, giving the party a platform to serve as a check on the president’s power. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene said during an interview Monday that curbing the war in Iran…
A court battle that began when conservative-led states sued to block protections for transgender people has ended in a rollback of protections for people with disabilities — a result disability advocates have feared for months. At the end of August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services joined the handful…
Michelle Caswell still recalls the nights when her boss prayed beside her bed, kneeling so close she could feel his warm breath on her face and she worried he’d try to kiss her. Caswell was 31, working and living at 5Rock Ranch, a Christian ministry that promises refuge and spiritual guidance for single mothers, “the
The result of the quick back-and-forth and rebuttals during the hour-long debate left multiple misleading or untrue claims unchallenged on live television.
A city councilor and a wealth adviser both concerned about the cost of living in their district will compete against each other in November to represent the Springfield area in the Oregon House of Representatives. After more than 13 years in office, Democratic incumbent Rep. John Lively announced his retirement from…
When Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin declared in September that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could serve warrants on individuals at polling places this fall, officials in Denver, a liberal city where roughly 14% of residents are foreign-born, quickly sued. “Every day we find new things to be…
WASHINGTON — This summer, arrests of immigrants in the United States soared to the highest levels since President Donald Trump returned to office. An unprecedented increase in cooperation between local and state law enforcement and federal immigration officers through collaborations known as 287(g) agreements helped…
Editor’s note: This story is part of Gen Z at the Ballot Box, a collaboration between States Newsroom and The 19th. Brenna Vandergeest was a teenager when her grandmother told her about Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court case that ended the federal right to an abortion. She said it lit a…
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and her repeat challenger state Sen. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, exchanged their fiercest swipes yet at one another on Thursday in their first televised debate.
A political action committee focused on electing Oregon Republicans to the statehouse is spending hundreds of thousands on a controversial canvassing company Elon Musk hired two years ago to target voters in swing districts. The Bring Balance Back to Salem PAC, whose largest contributors include Nike cofounder Phil…
One question people inside and outside Oregon ask about this year’s governor’s race is: Has incumbent Tina Kotek, who won four years ago, lost any of her then-successful coalition of voters and interests? The basic answer has been no, but it has to come with an asterisk, which is the Oregon Education Association…
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek led a group of four other governors in calling on the federal government to delay new Medicaid rules set to go into effect Jan. 1.
County and local district attorneys oversaw higher state prison admissions during election years than in other years during the height of the nation’s “tough on crime” era, according to a new study from Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law. State prison admissions were about 3% higher in years when…
WASHINGTON — U.S. senators departed Capitol Hill on Wednesday night for their campaign break, leaving numerous policy disputes unresolved. The chamber won’t return until Nov. 9 for the five-week lame-duck session, when party leaders will have to decide which bills they want to negotiate during what could be the final…
Computer chip company Nvidia paused its AI ambassador program that, in an agreement with Oregon, was meant to promote AI lessons in schools, college campuses.
The poll shows Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan with a slim lead over Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek, though it was within the survey’s margin of error.
As more polls and strategists indicate Democrats could take over congressional majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in January, some anti-abortion advocates fear such a change could be the most serious threat to Hyde’s future since the party nearly repealed the amendment in 2022.
A federal grand jury indicted 10 noncitizens for unlawfully voting in Minnesota, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Wednesday, highlighting the administration’s effort to keep election security a top issue, in line with President Donald Trump’s longstanding unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. The indictments…
President Donald Trump is tapping $20 million in Homeland Security funding to pay for TV ads that heavily feature him ahead of the midterm elections, Democrats said Tuesday as the promos critics call propaganda come under bipartisan attack. The Trump administration recently moved the funds into a U.S. Customs and…
A committee of Democratic and Republican lawmakers is meeting to discuss the costs and benefits of Oregon joining a West Coast carbon market.
Oregonians ranked maintaining and preserving highways and bridges and improving safety as the top priorities they think the Oregon Department of Transportation should focus on as it looks to resolve a $200 million budget gap in the 2027-29 budget cycle. Between August and September, the group Gov. Tina Kotek tasked…
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration must spend the $810 million that it said last week it planned to cancel, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. The congressional watchdog’s decision contends the White House budget office doesn’t hold the ability to claw back…
Oregonians should be cautious before purchasing health insurance coverage through misleading “self-funded” or “limited partner” plans that can result in high out-of-pocket costs and unexpected medical bills, state insurance regulators said.
WASHINGTON — The three news organizations that President Donald Trump barred from entering the White House grounds earlier this month have asked a federal judge to ensure their reporters continue to have access after a temporary restraining order expires in early October. Attorneys for CNN, MS Now and Politico filed…
ALBANY — Pet tinctures and topicals are the most popular products sold at Oregon CBD Company, a small business located at the junction of the Willamette Valley town’s busiest roads. Pet owners use them to treat their pets’ anxiety or pain — and in some cases they use similar products to treat their own. Those
Five weeks before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s sprawling effort to identify and remove noncitizen voters hasn’t produced the kind of large purges that could meaningfully affect the midterm elections. Even a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision giving states access to a supercharged Department of Homeland…
A data center proposed on 100 acres of BLM land near Hermiston would be the first on federal public land in Oregon and one of a dozen proposed in six western states.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has, once again, infuriated lawmakers from both political parties by using a controversial maneuver to cancel funding previously approved by Congress. The $810 million in the “pocket rescission” would have gone to refugee assistance programs at the Department of Health and Human…
To ensure they do not lose any of their federal food assistance benefits, Oregonians should respond today to mailed notices from state officials seeking more information to verify their income, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services.
The U.S. Department of Education’s suspension this year of a comprehensive monitoring process puts billions of K-12 dollars at heightened risk of undetected waste, fraud and abuse, according to a new report by the nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office. The congressional watchdog’s report also raised…
The Oregon Department of Transportation, which maintains the St. Johns, Fremont and Marquam bridges, has studied suicide prevention efforts but says they are too expensive to implement.
Oregon made history this summer, and not the celebratory kind. It’s a wakeup call: The system is broken and fixing it requires new thinking. Over 2.5 million acres burned — more than any in recorded history, and 92% are on public lands. In the last decade, almost all catastrophic wildfire originated on public lands…
An appeals panel Friday seemed inclined to agree that more than 100 Venezuelan men the Trump administration sent to a brutal prison in El Salvador are entitled to due process hearings to challenge their removal, which was made under an archaic 18th-century wartime law.
A Republican county commissioner who ushered in Google data center development in The Dalles is accusing his opponent of being a champion of data center tax breaks.
Political analysts don’t expect any of Oregon’s six congressional seats to change hands in the November election. The Cook Political Report, which analyzes congressional elections and campaigns, marked all but Eastern Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District as solid Democratic districts. The 2nd Congressional District…
If you’re a candidate complaining about an opponent’s stance on an issue, it helps to have a firm and visible position on it yourself. The subject of artificial intelligence is bedeviling congressional candidates on that basis across the country, and the best example might be in Oregon’s 4th Congressional District…
A popular 92-foot waterfall formerly at risk of being closed to the public is closer to becoming a new state recreation area after the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission signed off on buying two Marion County properties. Visitors have been able to visit the privately owned Abiqua Falls, about 40 minutes southeast…
Oregon lawmakers took action earlier this year to regulate the use of an increasingly bipartisan focus of anti-surveillance advocates nationwide: Flock cameras. Now, they could be on the verge of outlawing the technology altogether. The push for more legislation in 2027 comes as reports of the technology’s misuse have…
WASHINGTON — Government investigators Thursday released a report that found the Department of Homeland Security wasted more than $20 million in federal funding in its rapid expansion of immigration detention, including warehouse purchases strongly opposed in numerous U.S. communities. The nonpartisan Government…
WASHINGTON — U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly early Thursday issued an order that temporarily blocks President Donald Trump’s ban of three news organizations from the White House. Kelly, in the eight-page order, said that the White House must “immediately return, reinstate, and restore the White House ‘hard…
Results from the latest statewide assessment tests show student proficiency in reading, writing and math slowly inching up from pandemic lows.
WASHINGTON — A vast and growing network of artificial intelligence-driven Flock cameras could violate constitutional privacy rights, U.S. senators on a Judiciary Committee subcommittee said during a Wednesday hearing. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, the chair of the Crime and Counterterrorism Subcommittee, said the…
“Congress, do your job.” That was a repeated refrain at this summer’s convention of the nonpartisan League of Women Voters in Columbus, Ohio. Whether Republican, Democrat, Independent or every member with an affiliation in between, there was serious concern regarding our U.S. checks and balances. You may love or…
Tens of thousands of Americans continue to lose access to food assistance each month, even as Congress debates slowing down major cuts to federal food stamps. New data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows more than 330,000 Americans lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP…
Oregon’s prospective foster and adoptive parents do not need to commit to affirming a child’s potential LGBTQ+ identity to serve as caregivers in the wake of a recent federal court ruling that has narrowed child welfare officials’ ability to determine inclusive placements.
State regulators have backed off pursuing sizable fee increases on Oregon’s magic mushroom businesses after dire warnings from the legal psilocybin industry that it would buckle under the added costs. The Oregon Health Authority announced Tuesday that it would not adopt proposed rules that would have doubled the…
The watchdog Citizens’ Utility Board called the agreement with Pacific Power “the strongest from a for-profit electric utility yet” under Oregon’s POWER Act.
Oregon’s wildfires haven’t gotten their due this year. They’ve made some headlines and generated some discussion, but they deserve more. The condition of Oregon may depend on their getting it. By some measures, Oregon has been the number one state this year for wildfires. While fire season won’t be over for another…
SEATTLE — A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday tossed the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Washington seeking the state’s voter rolls, in line with many rulings across the country. This marks the 25th case that the U.S. Department of Justice has lost in its push to access sensitive voter information. The…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump faces a “big decision” to make a deal with Iran or “annihilate” the country, he told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. During a 37-minute speech to his international counterparts including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in New York City, Trump asked, “Will a deal…
Oregon does not need to presume transgender women should be housed in women’s prisons and may continue to make case-by-case placement decisions that have allowed most of them to remain in custody with men, a federal appeals court ruled.
The Trump administration’s top wildlife official issued a directive last week that expands a recent rollback of endangered species protections much further than the feds had told the public. Individuals and industries may kill endangered animals in the course of logging projects, developments and other activities, it…
WASHINGTON — Diesel prices hit a record average of $6.51 a gallon Monday, and some in President Donald Trump’s own party are breaking their support for the ongoing war in Iran that has driven fuel prices to staggering levels in the United States and across the globe. Already House Republicans locked in tight races as
Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery may move forward with a merger under the conditions that they boost film production, support displaced workers and preserve competition among cable channels over the next five years, 12 Democratic-led states and the attorneys representing the companies agreed in a court settlement…
As Oregon officials begin to send ballots out for the upcoming November election, the state’s top elections officer is encouraging voters to verify whether their election-related mail comes from an official source. Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read’s office recommended in a recent press release that Oregonians…
The three news organizations that President Donald Trump has barred from entering the White House filed a lawsuit against the administration on Monday.
Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi tapped Bradford last July to serve as Oregon’s U.S. attorney, following his 18-year career with the U.S Department of Justice tackling cases over issues such as white-collar and cyber crime.
WASHINGTON — The rare 2026 issue that draws huge support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress is the same one that’s mobilized many Americans: restrictions on giant data centers. The House has overwhelmingly passed legislation forcing state regulators to consider requirements that data centers absorb the cost of…
Oregon has one of the largest gaps in the country between its highway and bridge maintenance needs and what it spends on addressing them, according to a national study. Oregon is falling behind on transportation maintenance, with the state transportation department facing a $200 million shortfall in the 2027-29 budget…
Neighbors across the Colville Tribes communities in Washington state knew Matilda Bob’s log home as the “rainbow house,” for its brightly painted exterior. Now it’s gone. Sparked by a lightning strike in mid-July, the Kaiser Canyon Fire destroyed Bob’s home and 42 other houses on the Colville Reservation, along with…
Voting rights groups and Democratic officials are looking to defend against what they see as possible election interference from the Trump administration ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, now that they’ve won a major battle over mail ballots. Common Cause, a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization, announced a…
A date that Pacific Northwest train riders and advocates have long awaited is finally nigh. Amtrak’s sleek, amenity-packed new trains will debut on the Cascades intercity route on Sept. 30. Amtrak leaders previewed the launch of commercial service of the “Airo” fleet in an event streamed live on YouTube Thursday…
Just four years ago, after Oregon’s new congressional district map was set, the state was home to a group of strongly contested races for the U.S. House. By any reasonable measure, the Oregon general election ballot of 2022 showed safe seats for three of the state’s six districts — northwest District 1 Democratic…
The state for years has failed to meet its constitutional requirements to provide defense counsel to those who need it when they face criminal charges, but new state data suggests that trend could be changing.
WASHINGTON — The White House Thursday withdrew the nomination of Richard “Lance” Schroyer to lead the agency the president tasked with carrying out his mass deportation campaign, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, had yet to have his confirmation hearing before the…
About 170 Oregon households requested replacements to their federal food benefits this summer after they had to evacuate their homes because of a wildfire this summer, according to data the Capital Chronicle obtained from the Oregon Department of Human Services. This summer marked Oregon’s most expensive and vast…
In its latest effort to overhaul federal homelessness funding, the Trump administration is proposing to provide more money to localities that prioritize treatment-first policies such as sober living, more cooperation with law enforcement and more temporary and transitional housing. It’s a reversal from a decade-long…
In honor of Immunization Awareness Month, the federal government used a new presidential executive order to continue its assault on childhood immunizations. It was surprising and dangerous to hear the same claims used to scare and confuse parents for years now being used to justify changes to national vaccine policy…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House departed Wednesday for a seven-week campaign break after spending less than two weeks in session during August and September. The extended “district work period” is intended to give incumbents from both political parties time to meet with constituents and fundraise back home before voting…
Oregon has lost much of the progress it had made toward its transportation greenhouse gas emissions goal, according to a new progress forecast. More than a decade after state agencies set a goal to reduce transportation emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, Oregon is now projected to achieve only about a 10%…
Oregon’s Medicaid program overpaid up to $4.1 million to local healthcare organizations across the state after state officials failed to account for hundreds of duplicate identification codes for enrollees, according to a new state audit.
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve raised interest rates Wednesday for the first time in three years as inflation continues to dog the economy, largely driven by soaring gas and fuel oil prices while the war in Iran drags on. The central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee voted 12-0 to increase its benchmark interest…
The committee posted a 20-page report of “preliminary learnings and questions” the public can comment on through Oct. 24.
The result is in line with an earlier poll, but the Republican’s 2-point lead is less than the margin of error.
The Trump administration will comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s order this week blocking new restrictions on mail voting for this year’s elections, but President Donald Trump was right to attack the ruling, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a wide-ranging White House press conference Tuesday. Concerns…
WASHINGTON — FBI Director Kash Patel sidestepped questions about FBI agents at polling places in the midterm elections at a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday that also featured a tense exchange between GOP Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. With the November midterm elections fast…
WASHINGTON — Three former U.S. Education Department secretaries and the union representing agency workers on Tuesday urged the department’s top watchdog to investigate the cost and impact of mass firings last year. Former U.S. Education Secretaries Arne Duncan and John B. King Jr., who led the department during the…
Oregon has recently been placing foster children with their relatives rather than with an unrelated family at rates higher than the nationwide average, according to a recent state report. For three months this year, the state’s child welfare agency exceeded the national average of 39% of children receiving initial…
Declining birth rates mean fewer students. And that means more districts grappling with whether to close or merge schools. “The big shrink” is how Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab, described what is happening nationally. “When there are fewer young people, obviously it’s going to…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday kept in place a lower court’s order blocking President Donald Trump’s embattled plan to place new restrictions on mail ballots for this year’s midterm elections. The unsigned, one-paragraph order upheld a Massachusetts federal court’s injunction on a U.S. Postal Service rule until…
The Democratic Party of Oregon on Monday kicked off a new “No Trump in Oregon” tour in the state’s most populous city, doubling down on its efforts to tie Republican gubernatorial nominee Christine Drazan, a state senator from Canby, to the Trump administration.
Two Oregon tribes will receive nearly $10 million in federal funding to build more affordable housing, Oregon’s two Democratic senators announced. The Warm Springs Housing Authority and the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians will each receive $5 million to build affordable housing for tribal members. The…
States, cities and counties filed a pair of lawsuits Monday challenging new federal rules that will allow immigrants’ use of safety net resources to be taken into account for green cards and other applications to stay in or enter the country.
WASHINGTON — Both chambers of Congress return to Capitol Hill this week for a brief session before heading back to the campaign trail until mid-November. The House will be in for one week and the Senate for three, giving Republicans little time to enact any laws or confirm nominees before voters decide whether to give
Editor’s note: This story discusses psychosis and mental health. If you or someone you know may be experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting “988” or chatting online at http://988lifeline.org/. When Mindy Gale’s child reached middle school, she noticed a shift…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tried to maintain power following his loss in the 2020 election by exerting pressure on state election officials to, in some cases, “find” the votes. Loyalist Republicans in Congress then attempted to deny Joe Biden the Oval Office when lawmakers gathered to certify the Electoral…
Federal, state and local officials joined thousands of family members in lower Manhattan Friday to honor the victims of 9/11 and celebrate those who responded, 25 years after the terrorist attack that shocked the world and changed how Americans view the vulnerability of their nation, and even each other. The event…
Powerful U.S. officials past and present faced families, survivors and first responders Friday at ceremonies to honor the 25th anniversary of the day 2,977 Americans died in terrorist attacks in Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania. At the Pentagon, Condoleezza Rice, who was serving at the time under President George…
President Donald Trump has, at times, justified his campaign against mail-in voting in explicitly partisan terms, claiming Republicans’ electoral chances hinge on whether the practice is allowed. A new analysis from a Democratic-aligned voting rights group, shared first with States Newsroom, shows he may be right…
Over the past four years, voters from Bend to Clackamas County have been inundated with TV ads and piles of campaign mail reflecting that they lived in one of the most competitive congressional districts in the country. This year, as Democratic Rep. Janelle Bynum eyes reelection in a much friendlier environment for…
President Donald Trump and Republicans wrapped up their two-day midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, on Thursday night, urging voters to ensure the party has another two years with unified control of government. Speakers, many vying for seats in Congress, insisted Democrats regaining power would be disastrous for the…