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Oregon News
POLITICS
Editorial: A bargain-basement fine for Fagan’s broken ethics
The Oregonian Editorial Board
The trust betrayed by former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan can’t be restored with a fine. The only “closure” the public needs is a commitment from Fagan that she will never seek public office again.
But it’s still profoundly disappointing that the Oregon Government Ethics Commission would let Fagan off so easily after concluding that the longtime politician used her public office for financial gain.
While Fagan maintained – and still does – that she did not use her office for personal gain, the outrageousness of such conduct by the state’s second-highest elected official was clear to the public.
It was less clear, apparently, to the ethics commission staff and board, based on a meeting earlier this month.
The order also credits Fagan for calling ethics commission staff, among others, prior to accepting the contract. However, it does not mention that Fagan also disregarded specific advice from the commission ethics investigator to seek a written opinion, telling the investigator she was “reluctant to do so due to it being a public record.”
It notes that Fagan recused herself from overseeing the audit once she accepted the consulting contract. But it does not mention that the cannabis audit conducted by her office was nearly complete by that time. Nor does it mention the stream of emails in 2021 between Fagan and Cazares about the audit, prior to work beginning, discussing its scope or that Fagan incorporated some of Cazares’ suggestions in her own input. It also does not mention that Fagan urged her auditors to interview Cazares, who was deeply critical of the state’s cannabis management.
And it paints Fagan’s contact with Connecticut lieutenant governor on behalf of the cannabis company, Veriede Holdings, in the most generous way possible.
Commissioners should recognize how deeply Fagan’s behavior eroded the public’s faith in government. Their failure to take such conduct seriously just makes it worse.
State Republican leader frustrated with a lack of transparency in transportation talks
KPIC | By Vasili Varlamos
As lawmakers are working towards a transportation funding package, some State Republicans are voicing frustration with the process.
According to a report from The Oregonian, a small group of lawmakers from both sides has privately negotiated a transportation funding package for weeks. The report adds that some State Republicans are quietly showing a willingness to work with Democrats.
"I can't speak for those caucus members that have made the decision to participate in that but I can tell you that it is a faulty process," said Rep. Drazan. "If you have to go behind closed doors and you have to make a deal in secret, this building absolutely is failed. Oregonians are failed by a process like that."
The need for transportation funding is dire across the state. A 2024 report from ODOT revealed the percentage of roads classified as "good" has reached its lowest point since 2001.
Bill to limit corporate investment in Oregon healthcare passes key committee
KLCC | By Rebecca Hansen-White
A bill to sharply limit corporate decision making in clinics and ban most healthcare noncompete agreements in Oregon cleared a key legislative committee Thursday.
The bill, SB 951, is supported by many physicians, as well as a few Eugene area lawmakers, who hope it will prevent future corporate takeovers.
Opinion: Oregon must refocus Medicaid on those who most need help
Oregon Live | By Guest Columnist Ed Diehl
With the release of a Congressional proposal to significantly cut or change funding to states for Medicaid, we can – and must – refocus Medicaid spending on those who most need our help: low-income seniors, children and people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These are the Oregonians with the fewest options for health care and the least capacity to advocate for themselves. They deserve our compassion, our protection and our public investment.
Tension Builds as Portland City Council Tries to Balance a Fragile Budget
Willamette Week | By Tyler Brown
In a pair of tense meetings this week, the Portland City Council tore into a $7.8 billion spending plan by Mayor Keith Wilson that leans on one-time patches, optimistic forecasts, and painful service cuts to keep the lights on. The proposed budget closes gaps in transportation, parks, housing and internal operations, but councilors made it clear: They may pass Wilson’s budget, but not without a tug of war at the margins.
Portland’s proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget attempts to address widespread shortfalls through a combination of service cuts, internal restructuring, and temporary fixes, some of which depend on funding that hasn’t been secured. As the council prepares for a final budget vote on May 21, tensions are rising over who will bear the brunt of the cuts and what services Portlanders can expect to remain intact.
Racing Commission Abruptly Reverses Policy That Reduced Disclosure of Revenue Sources
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
The Oregon Racing Commission has resumed its long-standing practice of publicly disclosing the specific sources of revenue on which the agency depends.
The commission abruptly reversed course at its May 15 meeting, less than 24 hours after the Oregon Journalism Project reported on the new policy.
Fearing federal cuts, Liberty House seeks state money to advocate for abused children
Salem Reporter | By Abbey McDonald
Last year, Liberty House leaders expanded their work supporting abused children by opening a center in Woodburn to better serve rural communities.
The state-mandated and nationally accredited Children’s Advocacy Center is turning to Oregon lawmakers with a funding request for the first time since opening in 1999. They’re asking for $5 million in one-time funding over two years with SB 1013. “At this moment, we risk losing everything we have worked for twenty-six years to build,” Kelley said in written testimony March 11 supporting the bill. Liberty House, which serves all of Marion and Polk counties, is one of 24 Children’s Advocacy Centers throughout the state. When child abuse is reported to the Department of Human Services or law enforcement, the child is brought to Liberty House within a day or two.
Oregon governor signs almost 50 new bills into law this week
KGW | By Amy Xiaoshi DePaola
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed around 40 bills into law this week, including 25 on Wednesday. On Monday, most of those included making changes to various data sharing and submission requirements between agencies.
Wednesday's bills include a variety of topics, including how to deal with abandoned vessels and firefighting foam containing PFAS, as well as what information a law agency can share with federal immigration authorities.
Oregon lawmakers reconsider out-of-state foster care and restraint guidelines
KGW | By Evan Watson
Oregon lawmakers are considering major changes to the state's foster care system, including a proposed bill that would once again allow Oregon to send children out of state for housing and treatment — just six years after Oregon stopped the practice because of abuse.
Gov. Tina Kotek has said she supports House Bill 3835 as a way to improve youth access to behavioral healthcare. The bill's opponents, including former foster youth Sheila McGonigal, said it's a regressive measure that winds back the clock.
Former Damascus mayor appointed to fill Clackamas County board seat
Oregon Live | By Noelle Crombie
The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners on Monday chose former Damascus Mayor Diana Helm to fill the vacancy left by Melissa Fireside who resigned amid felony theft allegations.
Commissioners Ben West, Paul Savas and Martha Schrader voted for Helm, 64, to win the $130,213-a-year-post. Chair Craig Roberts was the lone no vote.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Oregon's landmark bottle redemption law may change due to concerns over drugs and homelessness
The Associated Press | By Claire Rush
After more than five decades, Oregon's first-in-the-nation “bottle bill” — now replicated in nine other states — faces a potential overhaul, with lawmakers considering new time restrictions on bottle redemption sites that some say have become magnets for drugs and homelessness.
In an op-ed for The Oregonian/OregonLive last year, Jonathan Polonsky, president and CEO of the Plaid Pantry chain of convenience stores, wrote that fentanyl was selling for less than $1 a pill and “a small number of cans add up to enough to buy drugs.”
Oregon cracks down on online child exploitation as sextortion cases surge
Fox12 News | By Ezra Kaplan
A nationwide crackdown on child exploitation led to the arrest of more than 200 people this month—including three suspects in Oregon. Now, investigators are offering a closer look at how local authorities are ramping up efforts to combat these crimes as reports of sextortion continue to rise.
Until last year, Oregon’s task force had just five full-time staff members sorting through the growing pile of online reports. But with $2.7 million in state funding, the team has quadrupled in size—reducing their case review backlog from two months to just 24 hours.
The expanded staff includes not only investigators, but also digital forensic experts who play a crucial role in building cases.
Behind The Oregonian/OregonLive’s headlines about a trucker licensing scheme: Beat Check podcast
Oregon Live | By Therese Bottomly
Watchdog reporter Ted Sickinger joined Editor Therese Bottomly on this episode of “Beat Check with The Oregonian” to talk about his extraordinary reporting into Skyline CDL School, which operated in Oregon and Washington.
Through public records and interviews, Sickinger found that regulators in Washington’s motor vehicle licensing division determined that Skyline CDL School, operating in that state, was more likely than not making cash payments to make sure students would pass the licensing test.
TriMet considers adding gates to stop fare evasion as it faces $74 million deficit
KATU | By Victor Park
TriMet is ramping up efforts to combat fare evasion as it seeks to restore pre-pandemic ridership levels on its buses and trains.
The transit agency has identified a significant increase in fare evasion, prompting the introduction of new technology to control access at train stations.
Oregon overdose deaths have gone down, but they’re still high
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
The decrease in overdose deaths follows a nationwide trend of declining overdose deaths. In 2024, there were about 80,400 drug overdose deaths in the country — 26.9% fewer than the 110,000 overdose deaths in 2023, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While strengthened substance use treatment infrastructure, naloxone distribution and education, prevention programs and changes in fentanyl supply are contributing to the decrease in overdose deaths, Oregon’s overdose deaths rates are still too high, Oregon Public Health state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger said in a news release.
Substance use and overdose deaths remain a public health crisis in Oregon. The 1,480 overdose deaths in Oregon in 2024 were still more than overdose deaths rates during the pre-pandemic years.
Homelessness continues to rise in Portland area even as increased services help thousands
Oregon Live | By Lillian Mongeau Hughes
The number of homeless people in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas counties is higher than ever, according to the latest numbers from the national biannual homelessness count.
Known as the point-in-time count, the federally mandated census takes place every other year and is focused on creating a snapshot of who is homeless on one night in January. It is broadly understood to be an undercount, but officials still view the data as useful in identifying national trends and making comparisons between jurisdictions.
Surveyors identified 12,034 homeless people in the tri-county region this January, with 87% of them residing in Multnomah County, according to the preliminary data. More than half of those counted – 7,038 people – were unsheltered.
That’s the highest total since the count began in 2007, according to historical data. And the increase has happened despite all three counties sheltering and housing thousands more people every year.
5 people arrested in undercover Washington County child predator sting
Oregon Live
Five people were arrested Thursday when the Washington County Sheriff’s Office conducted a child predator sting.
Investigators posed as children on dating apps, social media sites and other places online. People offered to meet up for sex with these fake profiles who they believed to be a child. When the people showed up to the meetings, they were arrested.
ECONOMY
More than half of Oregonians cannot afford their cost of living: ALICE report
KOIN | By Aimee Plante
A concerning report has revealed that hundreds of thousands of Oregonians cannot afford the state’s current cost of living.
According to the recent ALICE report, more than 737,000 Oregon households are just one car repair or medical bill away from being unable to cover their most basic needs.
In the report, experts calculated the minimum cost of household necessities such as housing, child care, food, transportation, healthcare, and technology — including taxes. This is referred to as the Household Survival Budget.
In 2023, the average family of four in Oregon needed an annual income of $88,560 to meet their basic needs. These needs include $1,383 for housing, $1,504 for childcare, and $1,402 for food.
However, the 50% area median income for those living in Oregon was $48,100 in 2023.
This report also comes shortly after Portland State University shared their latest statewide homelessness report finding a 24% increase in Oregon’s sheltered homeless population between January 2023 and January 2024.
The increase was likely Oregon’s largest on record, according to the state’s point-in-time count records, which date back to 2007.
In Salem speech, top U.S. business lobby group lays out data on tariff harm in Oregon
Salem Reporter | By Rachel Alexander
Reversing tariffs and carving out exemptions for small businesses and essential goods are a top priority of America’s largest business lobby group, an executive told a group of Salem business leaders Monday.
Chris Eyler, vice president of congressional and public affairs with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, spoke during a lunch Monday put on by the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce at the Salem Convention Center, addressing several hundred local business and government officials.
The U.S. Chamber is considered one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the U.S. and plays a major role influencing government policy on business and labor issues through meeting with legislators, litigation and other work. It has historically been a reliable supporter of Republican politicians, but in recent years has clashed with some wings of the party more over trade and immigration policy.
Eyler, who is a lobbyist representing western U.S. states, spent the bulk of his presentation laying out the negative impacts of tariffs on American small businesses and Oregon in particular.
After big pandemic spike, Oregon liquor sales are starting to fade
Oregon Live | By Mike Rogoway
Oregon liquor sales have dipped in each of the past two years and are on track for a steeper decline in 2025, mirroring a national trend toward moderation that may extend beyond alcohol.
Liquor sales totaled about $818 million statewide last year, according to data from the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission. That’s down about 2.5% from peak Oregon liquor sales in 2022, which capped a decade of robust growth.
Chipmaker TSMC is booming, but its factory near Portland is at a low point
Oregon Live | By Mike Rogoway
Sales at the factory in Camas fell by more than 30% in 2024. TSMC Washington slipped into the red for the first time in many years, reporting a $32 million loss.
TSMC Washington is suffering from a cyclical downturn in demand for chips made with older technology, the same issue that has undermined aging factories Microchip Technology and Onsemi operate in nearby Gresham.
Tolling delay on I-5 bridge could mean higher rates for Oregon, Washington drivers
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Jerry Cornfield
Tolling on the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River will start a year later than planned — but drivers traveling between Washington and Oregon may pay a little more than originally forecast as a result.
Tolling in both directions on the existing bridge will be one of the first things the public experiences once construction of a replacement bridge gets underway. It is also a critical source of funding to help cover the cost of the project, which could range from $5 billion to $7.5 billion.
HOUSING
Chaotic administration of Portland anti-displacement policy leaves affordable apartments vacant
Oregon Live | By Jonathan Bach
A housing policy that prioritizes people displaced from North and Northeast Portland and their descendants for newly constructed, publicly subsidized housing is leaving affordable rentals empty for months.
That’s because the city program’s waitlist, opened in 2017, has grown unwieldy over time. Of the thousands of people on the list, many don‘t respond when called or don‘t qualify for that particular unit — based on information, like household size or income, that city officials long failed to collect up front.
Yet affordable housing developers must call, person by person, to offer the chance to move in.
The empty units come at a cost to affordable housing operators already struggling to make ends meet, prompting even true believers in the program to say it needs a fix.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Oregon nonprofit sues to recover critical federal humanities funding
KGW | By Libby Dowsett
An Oregon humanities group is suing the federal government, demanding it reinstate grant funding to help local communities.
Oregon Humanities and the Federation of State Humanities Councils filed the suit Thursday against DOGE and the National Endowment for the Humanities, also known as the NEH.
The NEH terminated grant funding for state and local humanities councils in April, which employees say immediately affected their services.
Fears over Columbia Basin dams, hydroelectricity grow as agencies lose hundreds of employees
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Alex Baumhardt
Grand Coulee Dam is among the most powerful energy-generating dams on earth. It’s the bedrock of the federal Columbia River Power System — a network of 31 dams supplying more than half of the hydropower in the Northwest. Grand Coulee alone, overseen by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, generates one-quarter of that.
But critical operations at the dam are going understaffed following President Donald Trump’s orders, executed by the Office of Personnel Management, to cut probationary federal employees, freeze new hiring at federal agencies and offer incentives to get employees to retire and resign early. It’s a problem at several agencies that oversee the system, which have lost hundreds of employees and could collectively lose hundreds more by fall, and it has regional electric utilities concerned about the safety, reliability and future of the region’s power transmission.
Scientists on alert for massive undersea volcano eruption near Oregon
USA Today | By Elizabeth Weise
A volcano eruption near Oregon is brewing — but don't panic about Axial Seamount.
The undersea volcano has been attracting attention for months as scientists prepare for an eruption they expect sometime in 2025. But because the top of the volcano is 4,500 feet below the ocean’s surface, it poses no danger to people.
National News
Joe Biden diagnosed with a ‘more aggressive form’ of prostate cancer
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Jane Norman
Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with “a more aggressive form” of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his office on Sunday.
The statement said Biden, 82, last week was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. “On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade group 5) with metastasis to the bone,” the statement said.
NRA takes gun rights battle to the Supreme Court for 18,20-year-olds
National News Desk
The National Rifle Association is turning to the Supreme Court to overturn laws barring 18-20-year-olds from purchasing guns.
The Executive Director of the NRA-ILA argues, “Americans 18 years of age and older are considered adults who can vote, enter into contracts, marry, and enlist and fight for our country. Those same adults are also guaranteed the right to defend themselves through the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The NRA is asking the Supreme Court to take up this critical case to safeguard the constitutional rights of adults under 21.”
Will President Trump use Oregon National Guard in immigration crackdown?
OPB | By Bryce Dole
The Trump administration is seeking the help of state and federal officers as it pushes to deport large numbers of migrants in the country without legal status.
The Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, asked the Defense Department for 20,000 National Guard members to assist with immigration enforcement, according to the New York Times. This comes a week after President Trump made a similar request to DHS.
It’s not clear whether state National Guard members would be involved in efforts to round up migrants.
So far, Gov. Tina Kotek and the Oregon Military Department say the federal government has not asked for help in the form of state national guard resources.
Walmart may pass along price increases due to tariffs, Trump team acknowledges
Associated Press
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged that Walmart, the largest U.S. retailer, may pass along some of the costs from President Donald Trump’s tariffs to its shoppers through higher prices.
Bessent described his call with the company’s CEO a day after Trump warned Walmart to avoid raising prices from the tariffs at all and vowed to keep a close watch on what it does.
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