A state board fired the head of Oregon’s state public defense agency Thursday, just eight months into his tenure and amid an ongoing public defender shortage that has left hundreds of Oregonians waiting for legal representation. It was the second time in the past week that the Public Defense Services[Read More…]
Around Oregon
After a decade of work, Wyden seizes opening to advance climate change funding
The moment for U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden came after a decade of politics and patience, seasoned with science. The U.S. Senate on a Sunday afternoon in early August passed what has been described as the country’s largest investment in efficient energy. Wyden had nursed along his Clean Energy for America[Read More…]
Christine Drazan, Republican candidate for governor, pledges attention to rural Oregon
Christine Drazan, Republican nominee for Oregon governor, brought her campaign to Malheur County on Tuesday, Aug. 16, getting a warm welcome from local leaders.
Political center calls Oregon governor’s race a toss-up
The University of Virginia’s nonpartisan Center for Politics this week called the Oregon governor’s race a toss-up, despite the state’s leaning toward Democrats in recent decades.
Betsy Johnson hired petition circulators from Craigslist to qualify for Oregon governor race
Betsy Johnson has counted on her “Betsy Brigades,” groups of volunteers circulating petitions, to gather the nearly 24,000 signatures she needs as a nonaffiliated gubernatorial candidate to make it on the November ballot. But she also paid a Washington-based signature gathering firm more than $200,000 to collect signatures for her[Read More…]
Oregon schools lean heavily on emergency teachers, including untrained ones
Struggling with staffing shortages exacerbated by the pandemic, Oregon schools leaned heavily last year on teachers who received emergency licenses from the state. During the 2021-22 school year, districts employed 438 emergency licensed teachers, up from 181 the year prior and a low of 134 five years ago, according to[Read More…]
Bentz joins Republican calls to investigate FBI after Trump home searched
Oregon’s sole Republican in Congress joined others in his party in calling for a congressional investigation into the FBI for executing a search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s Florida resort. The FBI searched Trump’s home on Monday as part of an investigation into potential mishandling of classified documents, according[Read More…]
Wyden projects drug savings for 20,000 Oregon seniors, braces for industry fight
Prescription help for thousands of Oregonians may be coming soon after an all-night session of the U.S. Senate and consideration of a novel-length piece of legislation. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, bleary-eyed after the marathon session in Washington, D.C., briefed Oregon reporters Monday on the impacts of the Inflation Reduction[Read More…]
U.S. Senate passes major health, tax and climate bill after all-night session
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate, along party lines, passed a sweeping energy, health care, climate and tax package Sunday afternoon, following an overnight marathon of votes that resulted in just a handful of notable changes to the legislation. The 755-page bill was passed after Vice President Kamala Harris broke a 50-50 tie[Read More…]
State forester rescinds wildfire risk map in response to outcry
On Thursday afternoon, just five weeks after publishing a wildfire risk map, the state Forestry Department axed it. That move follows a chorus of complaints from Republican state lawmakers and residents in southern and eastern Oregon who said the roll out of the map was clumsily handled and led to[Read More…]