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Oregon News
POLITICS
A Veteran GOP Lawmaker Sided With Democrats on Transportation. Why?
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
As Gov. Tina Kotek works toward a special legislative ses sion to mitigate nearly 500 layoffs looming at the Oregon Department of Transportation, some observers are still trying to understand the failure of House Bill 2025.
That bill, in the works for a year, would have raised $15 billion in new transportation funding over the next decade. And in the session’s waning days, few lawmakers played a bigger role in the drama around the bill than state Rep. Kevin Mannix (R-Salem), one of the most wily and experienced elected officials in Oregon politics over the past four decades.
Mannix voted no three times on HB 2025 in committee before abruptly announcing the day before the session’s end (when the bill was on its way to the House floor) that he’d broken with Republicans and switched his vote to yes.
It ultimately didn’t matter. Democrats had hoped they could rely on the three-fifths supermajorities they hold in both legislative chambers to pass HB 2025. (The Oregon Constitution requires a supermajority to pass new taxes.) But with Rep. Hoa Nguyen (D-East Portland) mostly unavailable due to cancer treatment and Sen. Mark Meek (D-Gladstone) opposed to the bill, Democrats desperately needed to find Republican votes. That was a tall order, given GOP leadership’s stated belief that ODOT’s budget should be cut rather than increased.
Mannix’s reversal came, he says, because Democrats trimmed the new taxes enough for his taste. But others point to the timing of his reversal, just days after lawmakers approved a $100 million earmark to deepen the shipping channel in the Port of Coos Bay.
A group including former state Rep. Brian Clem (D-Salem) proposes to build a multibillion-dollar container port there and to ship goods by rail to and from Eugene.
Mannix is a vocal supporter of the Coos Bay project and previously an investor in companies that could benefit from its construction. He says he no longer has a stake in one of the companies he formed—Coos Bay Marine Terminals LLC—but he’s still actively involved in rail-related companies that hope to provide container traffic to the Coos Bay-to-Eugene rail line.
Mannix acknowledges he’s long been a booster of state investment in the Coos Bay project. “I think the state should be more visionary when it comes to Coos Bay,” he says. But he adamantly denies that he traded his vote in exchange for the $100 million for the project.
“While I support the appropriation, I was not engaged in any discussion with leadership about it,” Mannix says. “My willingness to vote yes [on HB 2025] had absolutely nothing to do with Coos Bay.”
Scott Moore, the chief of staff to House Speaker Julie Fahey (D-Eugene) supports that account. “The speaker had many conversations about HB 2025 with legislators, including Rep. Mannix, who is a member of the joint committee,” Moore says. “For the record, he never once mentioned Coos Bay to her.”
Yet the end result was that a project important to Mannix got a massive financial boost just three days before he switched his vote—and the size of the Coos Bay earmark came as a surprise to many, even the House member who represents Coos Bay.
5 things to know about why an Oregon lawmaker’s road will be fixed with wildfire recovery money
The Oregonian | By Hillary Borrud
A powerful lawmaker from the Oregon coast will see the road to his home just outside Lincoln City repaired using federal wildfire recovery money after he advocated for the project from his position as a lawmaker in public meetings, emails and conversations with state officials.
Earlier this week, The Oregonian/OregonLive published an investigation into how Rep. David Gomberg exerted his position and access as a legislator to urge state housing leaders to clear hurdles raised by lower-level employees who repeatedly questioned whether the project to repair roads in his subdivision qualified for funding.
Gomberg’s house is on the main road to be fixed by the project and his wife applied for the money in her capacity as a board member for their homeowners association, which represents about four dozen properties.
The rural subdivision where they live was partially burned during the 2020 Labor Day fires that engulfed communities in western Oregon and the Cascades. The roads in the subdivision were used by heavy equipment during the cleanup and rebuilding process. It’s not unusual for legislators to contact state officials for updates on projects in their districts.
Gomberg said he owed it to his constituents — including his neighbors in Highland Estates — to employ his sway as a lawmaker to urge state agencies to approve road funding.
Oregon DOJ says public officials exploited nonprofit to cash in on Amazon data centers, reap millions for themselves
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
The Oregon Department of Justice says officials in Morrow County bought a fiber-optic business from a local nonprofit at a lowball price, improperly capitalizing on Amazon’s booming data center business in the small community and generating a windfall for themselves.
“You have people in this situation who knew that this company was undervalued and sold it to themselves and misled folks for personal gain,” said Attorney General Dan Rayfield.
A civil complaint filed Tuesday accuses eight people, including four former officials in Morrow County and a state legislator, Rep. Greg Smith, of exploiting a nonprofit called Inland Development Corp., which was founded at the beginning of the century to provide internet access to rural schools, hospitals and government offices.
Workers tasked with cleaning Oregon’s highways lose their jobs after transportation package fails
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Nearly all of the people responsible for cleaning 272,000 pounds of garbage off Oregon highways have lost their jobs after lawmakers failed to pass a transportation spending package.
Interstate Business Solutions, a highway cleanup company that primarily hires formerly incarcerated individuals, veterans and people facing homelessness, laid off 40 of its Oregon employees Friday.
Coinbase strikes back with lawsuit against Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Naguneri
The U.S.-based digital exchange Coinbase took a major legal shot at Gov. Tina Kotek following allegations from Oregon officials that America’s largest crypto marketplace drained billions of dollars from everyday investors by failing to adequately assess risky assets.
At the center of the unfolding court saga is a lack of clarity from officials over why the state chose two law firms representing the state in an April lawsuit against the company.
The firms and their employees collectively donated thousands of dollars to Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s campaign, and his Department of Justice appointed them to take the reins of the case.
Former information officer implicated in latest ethics ruling for Oregon bourbon scandal
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
The Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission’s former Chief Information Officer, Boba Subasic, “used his position and his access to confidential OLCC information” to obtain rare bottles of liquor, officials found.
Officials reverse course on inner tubes rule for new Oregon boating fee law
Statesman Journal | By Zach Urness
Oregon boating officials reversed course and clarified that people floating in two inner tubes tied together won't need a Waterway Access Permit after all.
The clarification, issued July 15, came on the heels of an uproar created by passage of House Bill 2982, which was signed into law by Gov. Tina Kotek and goes into effect Jan. 1, 2026.
One Thing Has Changed in Portland City Hall: The Socialists Are Setting the Agenda
Willamette Week | By Sophie Peel
Councilor Angelita Morillo asserts that a better Portland is possible.
It’s a catchphrase used often by the Portland chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, to which Morillo belongs. By “better,” this is what the DSA means:
Free garbage pickup. Fareless buses and trains. Government-run grocery stores with price control. A downtown where some of the office towers are replaced by subsidized housing. If anybody in those apartments faces eviction, they’re provided an attorney. The residents of those buildings drop their kids off at tuition-free preschools and go to work at jobs with a higher starting wage.
Who pays for all this? Any resident with a high income. What’s high? The DSA won’t put a number on it, but judging by recent ballot initiatives they’ve crafted, it could start at $200,000 a year.
“We essentially have to redesign our entire economy right now,” says Morillo, who represents District 3, which covers Southeast Portland, on the Portland City Council.
Whether they realize it or not, this is the future many Portlanders voted for last fall.
Oregon’s most populous county joins 2 big lawsuits against Trump administration
The Oregonian | By Austin De Dios
Multnomah County has piled onto a wave of local governments opposing Trump administration threats to cut federal funding due to immigration and diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The county stands to lose around $126 million in federal dollars if President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting those initiatives fully come into effect, officials said Thursday.
Portland parks director resigns, will receive six-figure severance
The Oregonian | By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
Adena Long, the director of Portland Parks & Recreation, has resigned from her job, weeks after she was placed on administrative leave for undisclosed reasons.
The city agreed to pay her more than $140,000 to step down, according to officials.
2026 ELECTION
Oregon Rep. Jami Cate announces run for state Senate
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Julia Shumway
Republican state Rep. Jami Cate, a farmer from Linn County, announced Wednesday that she plans to run for the Oregon Senate.
Cate, R-Lebanon, seeks to fill the 6th Senate District seat now held by Sen. Cedric Hayden, R-Fall Creek. Hayden is one of four Republican senators barred from running for reelection in 2026 because of their participation in the longest quorum-denying walkout in state history, a 2023 Republican protest over Democratic bills on abortion, transgender health care and guns.
“Rural Oregon deserves a voice that fights for our farms, forests, and freedoms,” Cate said in a statement. “As your state representative, I’ve stood firm against overregulation and Portland-driven agendas, advocating for wildfire recovery, agriculture and accountable governance.”
Cate, 38, is a lifelong Lebanon resident, Oregon State University graduate and fifth-generation seed farmer from rural Linn County, which touts itself as the grass seed capital of the world. Voters first elected her to the House in 2020.
Linn County was one of the regions devastated by the 2020 wildfires, which burned more than 1 million acres and destroyed thousands of homes. Much of Cate’s focus over the past few years has been on wildfire recovery, including passing bills to exempt from income taxes legal damages for the 2020 Labor Day fires and reset property taxes for survivors who rebuilt their homes.
Cate has early endorsements from former Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod, R-Stayton, and former House Republican Leader Vikki Breese-Iverson, R-Prineville, as well as several other rural lawmakers and local leaders.
So far, eleven people have indicated through state campaign finance filings that they’ll run for the Senate, which elects half of its 30 members to four-year terms every two years.
That includes two of Cate’s Republican peers from the House — state Rep. Jeff Helfrich, R-Hood River, plans to run for the 26th Senate District in the Columbia River Gorge now represented by Senate Republican Leader Daniel Bonham, and Tracy Cramer, who narrowly lost reelection to a Woodburn-based House seat in 2024, updated paperwork last week to indicate a run for the 11th Senate District now represented by Sen. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer. Bonham and Thatcher, like Hayden, cannot run for reelection because of their participation in the 2023 walkout.
ECONOMY
Oregon sheds another 4,300 jobs; unemployment rate creeps up again
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
Oregon lost another 4,300 jobs in June, more than double the number of jobs lost the prior month.
It’s the latest worrisome sign for the state’s sagging labor market and the near-term outlook is poor, with thousands of Intel layoffs taking effect later this summer.
New WNBA franchise brings new jobs and business for the community
KATU | By Vasili Varlamos
The Portland Fire, Portland's newest professional sports franchise, will soon bring a whole new season of excitement to the Moda Center and its surrounding businesses.
With the WNBA season taking place in the summer, restaurants, bars, and other businesses near the Moda Center are expecting busier days in the near future.
Intel’s retreat is unlike anything it’s done before in Oregon
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
Over the five decades Intel has operated in Oregon, its local footprint had moved in just one direction: Upward.
From a single factory in Aloha that opened in 1976, the chipmaker grew into the state’s largest corporate employer and one of Oregon’s primary economic engines. Intel spent billions of dollars every year to equip its Hillsboro factories and brought top scientists from around the globe to Oregon to develop the world’s most advanced computer chips.
Intel would sometimes cut jobs during fallow periods but it backfilled them almost immediately. As recently as last year, the company was touting a massive expansion that could add thousands more Oregon jobs.
Instead, Intel has embarked on an unprecedented and sustained campaign to shrink its business in response to a series of technical and financial crises. And Oregon is bearing the brunt of the pain, with Intel making the deepest cuts to its local workforce ever.
Intel has eliminated at least 5,400 Oregon jobs since August – including 2,400 layoffs in just the past week. The company’s local workforce appears to have fallen under 18,000, the lowest point in more than a decade. Sources inside Intel say there are more cuts to come in the weeks ahead.
Many of those who lost their jobs worked in technical fields in an industry that pays an average wage of $180,000 a year. Those were great jobs and helped buoy the whole state, but most won’t find similar work locally.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Parent detained by immigration authorities in Beaverton school parking lot
The Oregonian | By Yesenia Amaro
One of the latest immigration arrests in Oregon took place Tuesday outside a Beaverton preschool, and it appears to be the first in the state to have happened on school grounds.
Transgender asylum seeker released from ICE custody following order from federal judge in Oregon
Associated Press
A transgender asylum seeker from Mexico has been released from an immigration detention facility in Washington state, where she was held for over a month after her arrest at an Oregon immigration court, attorneys said Tuesday.
ICE lawyer denies ‘race for the border’ as Oregon detainees transferred to Tacoma
The Oregonian | By Maxine Bernstein
Lawyers for a 22-year-old Mexican citizen arrested two weeks ago at the ICE field office in Eugene didn’t file a challenge fast enough before officers drove the man across the Oregon border to the federal detention center in Tacoma.
EDUCATION
Oregon schools may lose $73M as a result of federal grant cuts
KOBI
Oregon schools could lose more than $73 million in federal funding following significant grant reductions announced by the U.S. Department of Education. The cuts are part of a broader move by the Trump administration, which is withholding nearly $7 billion nationwide across multiple education grant programs.
HEALTH CARE
Oregon Health Authority committee floats cap on commercial health insurance payments to hospitals
The Oregonian | By Kristine de Leon
Faced with surging hospital costs and mounting pressure on household budgets, Oregon officials are mulling a hard cap on commercial insurance payments to hospitals in hopes of controlling costs.
The idea is already in practice for public employees’ health plans in Oregon. Now, state health officials are exploring whether this model could help address broader affordability concerns in the commercial health insurance market — including plans people get through employers or the health care marketplace.
Oregon Hospitals Are Bracing for Medicaid Cuts That Will Hit Harder Here Than in Most States
Willamette Week | By Khushboo Rathore
When President Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law on July 4, every hospital CEO in Oregon got heartburn. That’s because the bill focused heavily on cuts to Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans called the Oregon Health Plan here.
Oregon to receive $10M in settlement with 8 opioid makers
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Oregon will receive $10.1 million for drug prevention and treatment services as part of a nationwide settlement with eight opioid manufacturers.
Opioid manufacturing companies including Mylan, Hikma, Amneal, Apotex, Indivior, Sun, Alvogen and Zydus agreed to pay a total of $720 million to Oregon and eight other states.
NATURAL RESOURCES & WILDFIRE
Gov. Tina Kotek declares wildfire state of emergency in Oregon
KGW | By Luisa Anderson
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency on Wednesday due to the "imminent threat of wildfire," her office said in a news release.
Grand Ronde tribe outraged as Oregon officials vote to reconsider fishing agreement
The Oregonian | By Jamie Hale
Oregon wildlife officials voted last week to reconsider a hunting and fishing agreement with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde — the latest twist in an ongoing conflict between state agencies and area tribes.
The Oregon Fish & Wildlife Commission voted 4-2 Friday to revisit its memorandum of agreement with the Grand Ronde tribe, a five-year agreement signed in 2023 that allows the tribe to issue its own hunting and fishing licenses to tribal members for subsistence and ceremonial harvest throughout a broad swath of Northwest Oregon, from the Cascade Mountains to the Oregon coast.
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