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Oregon News
POLITICS
‘I will fight’: Oregon gov. responds to Trump admin. deadline to end sanctuary policies
KPTV
Last week, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Gov. Tina Kotek warning that Oregon has been designated a “sanctuary jurisdiction” under a Trump administration executive order and could face federal consequences if it does not change course. Now, the governor is responding.
Governor Kotek’s press secretary sent the following response to FOX 12 on Monday: “The Governor’s office is reviewing the letter. Oregon’s state sanctuary law, which was passed with strong bipartisan support in 1987 and strengthened in 2021, does not obstruct the federal government’s immigration efforts. As the Oregon Department of Justice sanctuary guidance states: Oregon stands for the safety, dignity, and human rights of all Oregonians.”
Additionally, Gov. Kotek sent a short statement: “I will fight for the safety and prosperity of every Oregonian, from recent immigrants to people who have been here for generations. Threats like this undermine our values and our right to govern ourselves. We will not be bullied into doing the federal government’s job of immigration enforcement.”
Six Oregon Tribes Blast Kotek’s Office and Out-of-State Tribes
Willamette Week | By Nigel Jaquiss
In the wake of Gov. Tina Kotek’s decision earlier this month not to veto a controversial $45 million appropriation to Willamette Falls Trust to buy land at the falls in West Linn, six Oregon tribes have collectively expressed widespread dissatisfaction to the governor about her office’s handling of tribal relations—and the involvement of tribes from outside of Oregon.
Why Oregon’s Governor Had to Intervene on Pumpkin Patches
Willamette Week | By Khushboo Rathore
The latest rulemaking dispute is part of long-standing tensions over land use.
Oregon already sued Trump 36 times this presidency. And there’s more to come.
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
As of Aug. 15 — less than eight months into Donald Trump’s second presidency — the state of Oregon has filed 36 lawsuits against his administration.
That’s an average of five lawsuits filed each month since Trump took office in January, and it’s nearly six times as many as the state filed during the first year of his initial term in 2017.
Trump administration seeks Oregon elections data
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Dirk VanderHart
The Trump administration is asking Oregon to turn over elections data — some of it sensitive — and to prove the state is doing enough to ensure ineligible people don’t vote.
In a pair of requests sent to Secretary of State Tobias Read in July, the U.S. Department of Justice asked for a wide range of information, from details of people who’ve been deemed ineligible to vote to a roster of state elections officials.
The inquiries are the latest sign of federal interest in how Oregon elections are carried out. They came as the Trump administration made similar demands in states across the country, in what federal officials described as an effort to battle voter fraud.
The overtures haven’t been well received in Oregon. Read, a Democrat who is the state’s top elections official, has already rejected one of the requests, noting the state — not the federal government — is charged with administering elections.
Read expects to respond to another in coming days. He said in an interview Wednesday he’s not inclined to offer up any more information than is legally required.
“I find it very hard to take these requests as sincere,” Read said. “I think they all fit into the effort that I see from the Trump administration to justify their attempts to intrude in state elections. To justify conspiracy theories that they’ve been peddling and their supporters have been peddling.”
TRANSPORTATION
ODOT to repair notorious 'bump' on Highway 26 near Oregon Coast
KATU | By Bobby Corser
ODOT will begin the process of repairing the ‘bump’ on Highway 26 near the Oregon Coast today. The bump at milepost 13, four miles East of Necanicum, has been blamed for several crashes and cars suffering damage as motorists have driven to and from the Oregon Coast.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
‘Like motherhood thrown at you:’ 26-year-old to care for teenage brother, family business after dad’s deportation
The Oregonian | By Yesenia Amaro
Alondra Sotelo García stood in the warm morning light, hose in hand, watering the colorful petunias her dad had neatly planted in front of his Newberg home.
It was just after 8 a.m. last Monday. The 26-year-old was already checking items off her to-do list at the start of another long week, one that would be unlike any other.
Sotelo García’s dad, Moises Sotelo, didn’t get to see the flowers bloom red, pink, purple and white. Federal immigration agents arrested the undocumented immigrant in June and deported him to Mexico the following month. A well-known business owner who had serviced Oregon vineyards for about 30 years, his arrest stirred outrage among industry insiders.
Sotelo García is the one picking up the pieces.
The cost of an ambulance ride in this Portland-area county is about to double
The Oregonian | By Austin De Dios
The cost of calling an ambulance in Clackamas County is about to more than double.
Those changes come after the county renegotiated its contract with emergency medical giant American Medical Response, which also serves Washington and Multnomah counties. The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners approved the skyrocketing prices July 31 as part of a new 10-year contract with the ambulance provider.
HOMELESSNESS
Grants Pass to provide 150 camping spaces, $60k in services after disability rights suit
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
A southern Oregon city that gained national attention for its practice of punishing homeless people for camping outside has agreed to provide at least 150 spaces for individuals to do so after a lawsuit alleged its practices discriminated against disabled individuals.
EDUCATION
Oregon’s community colleges want to train teachers. State’s universities say ‘not so fast’
The Oregonian | By Julia Silverman
An early stage proposal by a consortium of Oregon community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees for aspiring elementary school educators is drawing significant pushback from colleges and universities that already prepare teachers.
NATURAL RESOURCES & WILDFIRE
‘We are sinking’: Oregon timber counties flail, awaiting Congress to renew key funding
OPB | By April Ehrlich
A budget crisis a century in the making is coming to a head as Oregon’s rural counties wait on Congress to approve funding they’ve long relied on.
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