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Oregon News
TRANSPORTATION
Cherriots will delay implementation of payroll tax, form committee with businesses
Statesman Journal | By Bill Poehler
The board of Cherriots decided Oct. 23 to form a committee that includes members of the business community and delay implementation of a payroll tax on businesses in Salem and Keizer.
The board was considering adding a .7% payroll tax on businesses that would have raised approximately $39.4 million per year and be used to expand service throughout the district.
TriMet considers public input ahead of service cuts
KGW | By Celine Stevens
Service cuts are coming to TriMet, with some even starting as soon as next month. However, the reductions won't stop there, due to what TriMet described as a growing budget gap.
The agency has been hosting open houses across the metro area, giving riders a chance to learn about the changes and share feedback on the bus and MAX service cuts.
The earliest impacts will begin at the end of November, affecting certain lines by reducing how often buses arrive during lower ridership times.
Mark Miller, a TriMet spokesperson, explained how they got in this position.
"Between 2019 and 2024, we saw the operating costs per vehicle for providing transit service rise by more than 50%," he said. "We're actually seeing less revenue from riders now than we were several years ago, and state and federal funding haven't kept pace."
He said more money is also now being spent on personnel costs, fuel and parts due to inflation and other economic factors that are out of TriMet's control.
“It's just a factor of that state and federal funding hasn't increased enough to make up for the increase that we've seen in our operating costs," he said.
A Pledge Signed by Peacock Reopens a Rift on the Portland City Council Even as Details Remain Vague
Willamette Week | By Sophie Peel
Progressive councilors say the attempted troop deployment in Portland by the Trump administration is part of a continuum with Israel’s actions in Gaza. Their centrist counterparts disagree.
TRUMP ADMIN VS. OREGON
9th Circuit agrees to broader review of Oregon National Guard deployment: What happens next?
The Oregonian | By Maxine Bernstein
A larger pool of judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will review whether to uphold a lower court’s order that bars President Donald Trump from sending Oregon National Guard troops to Portland.
Portland mother detained at Canadian border released after 4 months in immigration detention
The Oregonian | By Yesenia Amaro
Jackie Merlos, a Portland resident who was detained by immigration authorities for four months, has been released from the immigration detention center in Tacoma and will be able to reunite with her children, members of Oregon’s congressional delegation announced late Monday.
‘This community is not the enemy’: Hillsboro teachers form neighborhood ICE watch
OPB | By Holly Bartholomew
Federal immigration officials arrested a parent near Eastwood Elementary School last Monday. Teachers and parents have been patrolling the neighborhood every morning since.
Increased ICE presence takes a toll on Oregon’s Latino businesses
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
But in recent months, the family’s businesses — and Latino-owned businesses throughout Oregon — are experiencing increasing threats, declining customers and more fear in their communities. In response, Latino business owners are finding ways to make their customers and employees feel safe despite the growing presence of federal immigration agents in the state.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Man dies after jail cell beating in Clackamas County, sheriff’s office confirms
The Oregonian | By Noelle Crombie
A 26-year-old man held on misdemeanor charges at the Clackamas County Jail was allegedly beaten by his cellmate this month and later died, the sheriff’s office announced late Monday.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Oregon-based health insurer to eliminate 325 additional jobs amid mounting financial pressures
The Oregonian | By Kristine de Leon
PacificSource, an Oregon-based nonprofit health insurance company, announced that it will eliminate 325 jobs as part of an effort to reduce costs and steady its finances amid rising health care expenses and ongoing Medicaid funding challenges.
Wells Fargo will lay off 444 more Oregon workers
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
Wells Fargo plans to lay off another 444 workers in Hillsboro and Salem on Dec. 26, the day after Christmas.
With the latest cuts, announced Tuesday, Wells Fargo will have laid off more than 1,200 Oregon employees since last December.
Portland City Council Gets a Lesson in Tax Compression, Courtesy of Big Pink
Willamette Week | By Anthony Effinger
In most American cities, property taxes are less complicated than particle physics, or string theory. The same is true in Portland, but just barely.
But the current City Council may be the first one ever to ask administrators to come explain it, according to Multnomah County Assessor Mike Vaughn. He and John Botaitis, the county’s head of appraisals, answered an invitation by City Councilor Olivia Clark to do so on Oct. 16.
In an interview, Clark said she arranged the session to bring “greater sensitivity” to downtown businesses. “It’s really important,” she said, “that people understand how local government is funded if we’re going to pay for the programs that people want throughout the city.”
Nike CEO marks first year with cultural reset and focus on sports
The Oregonian | By Matthew Kish
Elliott Hill, a popular Nike lifer who came out of retirement last year to serve as CEO, is laser focused on getting the company back on track, starting with rebooting a culture that employees in recent years frequently described as transactional and scripted.
NATURAL RESOURCES & WILDFIRE
11 ways Trump administration is reshaping public lands in Oregon
Statesman Journal | By Rose Shimberg
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has sought to change public land management in the United States through actions aimed at shrinking the federal government and reducing environmental regulations.
In Oregon, the goals include boosting timber harvest, expediting geothermal projects and reducing or relocating staff working on public lands. Funding cuts and a slew of regulatory changes are already having an impact on the state, including at nonprofits focused on preservation and maintaining trails. Other changes are already affecting public awareness of projects taking place in the state.
Here are 11 of the Trump administration's most significant policy changes for Oregon's outdoors.
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