SPECIAL REPORT: Ray Rau left the job as Nyssa police chief with a reputation for innovation and strong policing. His new job in Tillamook left him convicted of criminal conduct, spending days in jail and giving up his badge.
Special Reports
ODOT stalls explaining intentions over reload center as confusing accounts emerge
Internal records of the Oregon Department of Transportation show the state was going to stand firm against giving any more money immediately to the Treasure Valley Reload Center project. But a top official said privately to project leaders, “Don’t worry about the money.”
Ukraine war triggered short term, local wheat acreage boost
A recent agriculture census showed over a five-year period the amount of wheat grown locally climbed, due in part to the inability of Ukraine to ship its crop because of a Russian invasion.
Census details local farm consolidation, drop in onion, sugar beet acreage
A recent census from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows the number of farms in Malheur County declined between 2017 and 2022.
Ontario officials balk, stall on school superintendent’s evaluation records
SPECIAL REPORT: Records for the near-perfect evaluation of Ontario School District Superintendent Nikki Albisu are either missing or destroyed. Meanwhile, a top district official who reports to Albisu provided conflicting explanations over the past month for what records were destroyed and why.
Cartel tentacles reach into Malheur County, fueling meth trafficking, authorities say
Court records detail how cartel-fueled drug trafficking has embroiled several generations of an Ontario family and funneled dangerous drugs into the region.
Inequity, mismanagement beleaguer Oregon’s early learning agency, employees say
Records allege “racist environment” and deep divisions over child care governance at the state’s early learning agency.
Smith reports $1 million annual household income – but some sources aren’t clear
Greg Smith formed a consulting business at the same time he entered the Oregon House. He recently reported his annual household income has topped $1 million. A new ethics disclosure requirement may reveal more about where that money comes from.
Behind schedule, over budget, state-backed rail projects costing $70 million sit idle
AROUND OREGON: Two freight-to-rail centers in the Willamette Valley and eastern Oregon have failed to fulfill a single promise of boosting agricultural exports and reducing emissions
Ontario School District can’t document who decided 2 schools should close
While Ontario School District leaders have touted a plan to shift all students in each grade into the same building, the district’s administrators have been less candid about a plan to close Cairo and Pioneer Elementary Schools.