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Oregon News
POLITICS
New director of Oregon Youth Authority appointed by Gov. Tina Kotek
Statesman Journal | By Isabel Funk
Gov. Tina Kotek on July 30 appointed the former director of the Colorado State Board of Parole as the new director of the Oregon Youth Authority, months after the agency's previous director was fired amid a series of lawsuits and reports that allegations of abuse were not being properly investigated.
Michael Tessean will assume the role of OYA director Aug. 18, pending approval by the Oregon Senate.
Preschool for All’s Director Owns a Provider That Collected $833,494 From the State to Serve Just Nine Children
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
Last week, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read released results of an Audits Division investigation that found four preschools squandered hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars meant to provide child care to at-need families.
The “wasteful” spending that auditors identified at Preschool Promise, a state-funded program, was the result of those four providers collecting funding for dozens of preschool slots while reporting chronically low enrollment—sometimes as few as one or two children a year.
The state investigation, primarily focused on the years 2021 to 2024, did not identify the four providers by name. But public records obtained by WW show that one of the four providers that auditors flagged matches the financials provided by a preschool owned by the official who now oversees Multnomah County’s universal preschool program, Preschool for All.
That person is Leslee Barnes, director of Multnomah County’s Preschool & Early Learning Division.
State Corporation Division records show Barnes is the registered agent of Village Childcare Enterprises LLC, located in North Portland. She owns the preschool, but says her family currently operates it. In state filings, she is listed as a member and registered agent of the LLC.
Village Childcare reported to the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care that it collected $833,494 in state dollars for the 2020–21 school year through the 2022–23 school year, ostensibly to fund 63 Preschool Promise seats. In fact, DELC data shows Village Childcare enrolled just nine children during that time.
Oregon Department of Corrections pledges to overhaul prison health care
The Oregonian | By Ted Sickinger
The Oregon Department of Corrections plans to comprehensively restructure its troubled health services unit to improve health care for inmates and working conditions for staff, agency officials announced Tuesday.
The pledge comes after years of mismanagement in the unit that bred a toxic work atmosphere among medical providers and substandard care for inmates suffering from ailments of all kinds, from asthma to genital herpes, cancer to traumatic head injuries.
Oregon sues Trump administration over Planned Parenthood funding
Statesman Journal | By Anastasia Mason
The Oregon Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on July 29 against the Trump administration, challenging the constitutionality of a provision in the federal budget reconciliation act that would stop Planned Parenthood from receiving federal Medicaid funds.
The lawsuit — the 35th filed this year by Oregon against the Trump administration — said states are being burdened by either having to cover the cost of Planned Parenthood services or deal with the long-term consequences of losing their services.
Oregon, other Democratic states secure 40-day pause on Head Start immigration requirements
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
A group of Democratic states that sued the federal government over an unprecedented shift in federal policy to bar thousands of immigrants without permanent legal status from accessing community benefits like child care and pre-K won’t be subject to those changes until early September.
Some GOP constituents call him a RINO. Other Oregonians are starting to trust him.
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Backstabber. Leftist. RINO — short for “Republican in name only.” These are just a few of the labels given to Rep. Cyrus Javadi on his Facebook posts.
The Tillamook Republican is in his second term in the Oregon House of Representatives, representing a politically split region along the north coast. While Columbia and Tillamook counties lean Republican, Clatsop County leans Democratic.
TRANSPORTATION
I-5 Bridge projects advance as Metro approves another $1.9B in program spending
KOIN 6 | By Jashayla Pettigrew
Stakeholders behind the Interstate 5 Bridge replacement have committed to spending another $1.9 billion on the program.
On Thursday, July 24, the Oregon Metro Council approved a resolution allocating additional funding to three phases of the project — including two new ones. Funding for the pre-existing phase of the program, which entails pre-construction engineering and “right-of-way” acquisition, has now increased from $103 million to more than $554 million.
HOUSING
In Oregon’s busiest eviction court, hundreds face losing their homes each month
The Oregonian | By Lillian Mongeau Hughes, Jonathan Bach
For the past year, about 800 to 1,100 people have faced eviction proceedings in Multnomah County each month, about half of the state’s monthly total, according to data from Portland State University’s Evicted in Oregon tracker. That makes the eviction courts in downtown Portland and east Multnomah County the busiest in Oregon.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Mexican national accused of trafficking large amount of fentanyl, heroin in Oregon
KPTV
A Mexican national unlawfully living in Salem has been charged with trafficking drugs in Oregon, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office - District of Oregon.
Gildardo Rivera Garcia, 45, has been charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and heroin.
As part of a drug trafficking and fatal fentanyl overdose investigation, investigators served a federal search warrant on July 27 at Garcia’s home in Salem.
The City and County Are Gridlocked Over Public Safety Responsibilities at the Central Library
Willamette Week | By Seychelle Marks-Bienen
The fight looks a lot like the yearslong battle between the city and county over who is supposed to do what about homelessness.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
New Trail Blazers arena? Portland business execs, former players press case to keep team in Rip City
The Oregonian | By Jonathan Bach
A coalition that cuts across Oregon’s captains of industry and former Portland Trail Blazers are pushing Gov. Tina Kotek and Mayor Keith Wilson to heed NBA Commissioner Adam Silver when he says Rip City “likely needs a new arena” to keep the team here.
The newly formed group, calling itself Rip City Forever, said it will bankroll a group of subject matter experts to examine the cost, size and location of a new venue. It struck a partnership with the Oregon Community Foundation to accept donations for feasibility studies on renovating or replacing Moda Center and its other advocacy.
National News
Trump’s EPA wants to rescind milestone ‘endangerment finding’ used to fight climate change
Associated Press
President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday proposed revoking a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change.
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