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Oregon News
PacifiCorp reaches $150M settlement with 1,434 victims of 2020 Labor Day Fires
Statesman Journal | By Zach Urness
PacifiCorp reached a $150 million settlement with 1,434 victims of the 2020 Labor Day Fires, the company announced on Nov. 19.
TRANSPORTATION
LTD invested $30 million in electric buses 6 years ago. They’re being phased out.
Lookout Eugene-Springfield | By Michael Zhang
In 2019, Lane Transit District signed a contract to buy 30 electric buses from New Flyer of America, a Winnipeg, Manitoba-based company. Six years later, amid myriad operational problems, the agency is going back to diesel buses. Less than half of the original electric fleet will remain.
Opinion: Oregon faces dead end if Republicans lead transportation conversation
BikePortland | Opinion by Jonathan Maus
Republicans want Oregonians to believe that Governor Kotek and the Democrats are acting like dictators. They’ve even adopted a “No Queens” battle cry. But beyond the aforementioned facts about how Republicans were intimately involved in early negotiations, the clearest example of Republican party influence is HB 3991 itself. Far from the behemoth it’s being made out to be, the bill is an anemic, heavily-compromised, bare-bones package of tax and fee increases that will cost the average Oregonian about $144 more per year than they pay today. HB 3991 also raises just 35% of the revenue Democrats initially sought.
The bill is so small in fact, that Democrats lost significant support from the large coalition of progressive transportation advocacy groups they typically count on. In the end, because Democratic party leaders mistakenly assumed Republicans would negotiate in good faith, the only Oregonians who love the transportation bill are the ones whose jobs it saved. On the flip side, Republicans have launched a massive, misleading PR campaign to excite their base in advance of next year’s general election — a campaign that blames complicated problems on a progressive government bogeyman they would rather destroy than debate.
If early returns are any indication, No Tax Oregon will likely succeed in their signature-gathering effort and ODOT’s future will be on the ballot next November. If we don’t see more Democrats and other progressive leaders stand up, shape the narrative in their favor, and expose bad-faith Republicans, Oregon’s transportation future will be a dead end.
TriMet announces dozens of layoffs, spending cuts due to projected budget shortfall
KOIN 6 | By Aimee Plante
TriMet is cutting costs and laying off staff to make up for a budget gap they had been working to fix for months.
On Wednesday, the transit agency announced it would decrease spending by $17.7 million and eliminate 68 positions. More than half of these positions were vacant, but 26 non-union employees were laid off.
POLITICS
Gov. Kotek orders state agencies to move faster on clean energy projects, electrification
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Alex Baumhardt
In her latest order, Kotek said agencies will create policies guided by the latest Oregon Energy Strategy, which prioritizes deployment of more solar, wind, geothermal and wave energy projects, energy storage projects, and energy efficiency policies. Those policies include cash incentives that make it more affordable to replace gas cars, buses, furnaces and appliances with electric ones, electrify heating and cooling systems and make homes and businesses more energy-efficient and comfortable in hot or cold weather.
Leadership problems at Oregon’s labor watchdog leave workers in the lurch, audit finds
The Oregonian | By Carlos Fuentes
Longstanding mismanagement at the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has weakened its enforcement of workplace protections and civil rights laws, according to an audit released Thursday by the Secretary of State’s Office.
100 Oregon National Guard troops still mobilized despite Kotek hearing otherwise
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Julia Shumway
Half of the Oregon National Guard troops who have been waiting more than seven weeks for legal battles to play out over the deployment of federalized troops to Portland remain mobilized, despite Gov. Tina Kotek saying Wednesday that they would all be sent home.
State approves $7.5M million for Oregon Planned Parenthood to backfill lost Medicaid funds
Statesman Journal | By Isabel Funk
While Oregon Democrats supported approval of the emergency funding, House Republican Leader Lucetta Elmer, R-McMinnville, criticized the allocation.
“Given the availability and access to other clinics that provide reproductive health care services and Oregon’s strained financial climate, using emergency funding for Planned Parenthood is neither urgent nor necessary,” Elmer said in a statement. “We need to stop the political posturing and get back to listening to what Oregonians want – and use their tax dollars accordingly.”
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek celebrates new gun law’s passage
OPB | By Bryce Dole
On paper, Oregon already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. The debate over the new law highlighted the ongoing tensions over how to prevent gun deaths that have surged in Oregon in recent years.
Democrats argue that such restrictions can prevent bloodshed. The majority party passed the bill over the opposition of Republicans who say it risks punishing law-abiding gun owners while also failing to tackle the state’s mental health problems that often lead to fatal shootings.
Senator Suzanne Weber Advocates for Family Court Reform at National Conference in Washington, D.C.
Tillamook County Pioneer
Senator Suzanne Weber (R-Tillamook) represented Oregon on the national stage last week, addressing lawmakers, mental health experts, and reform advocates at the Family Court Violence and Reform Conference hosted by Dr. Bandy X. Lee, a nationally recognized forensic psychiatrist and violence prevention expert.
Following scandal, this Oregon sewer board will move its subsidiary from Hawaii to Arizona
The Oregonian | By Jamie Goldberg
It’s official: Washington County’s embattled sewer agency will trade Hawaiian beaches for Arizona desert by the end of 2026.
Portland housing director resigns after being placed on leave by mayor
OPB | By Alex Zielinski
The head of Portland’s housing department has resigned after abruptly being placed on leave by Mayor Keith Wilson.
City Council Passes AI Software Ban for Landlords as Hard Feelings Fester Between Councilors
Willamette Week | By Sophie Peel
The Portland City Council approved a controversial ordinance Wednesday evening that bans the use of algorithmic software to set rents.
HEALTH CARE
Oregon flags 3 health insurers, a hospital group and a clinic for unexplained surge in costs
The Oregonian | By Kristine de Leon
Oregon health officials say five health care organizations allowed medical spending to rise far beyond what the state considers reasonable. The Oregon Health Authority found that St. Charles Health System in Bend, The Corvallis Clinic, and insurers PacificSource, UnitedHealthcare and Moda Health all exceeded the state’s 3.4% cost-growth limit in 2023.
“Actually, That’s Your Responsibility:” In State Mental Health Proposal, Counties See a Trap
Willamette Week | By Andrew Schwartz
Well over a year and a half into an effort to revamp the state’s “backbone” system for funding and delivering behavioral health care, counties are still balking at the Oregon Health Authority’s pitch.
EDUCATION
Oregon students on track to graduate reaches record high, but poor attendance persists
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Alex Baumhardt
New data from the Oregon Department of Education shows high rates of chronic absenteeism continue since students returned to school from pandemic closures.
‘OPB Politics Now’: Oregon education report card - budget woes, enrollment issues and Trump effect
OPB | By Lauren Dake, Elizabeth Miller, Tiffany Camhi, Andrew Theen
On this week’s episode of “OPB Politics Now,” reporters Lauren Dake, Ellizabeth Miller and Tiffany Camhi discuss some major education issues facing Oregon’s K-12 system and higher education world.
TRUMP ADMIN VS. OREGON
Some Oregon cities, but not all, are turning off plate-scanning cameras over ICE fears
The Oregonian | By Zane Sparling
A handful of Oregon towns have turned off a powerful surveillance tool that scans and catalogs license plate data over fears the data will be used to arrest immigrants or invade people’s privacy.
In Washington County, however, Sheriff Caprice Massey assured residents the data, harvested using a brand of digital camera called Flock, is securely stored and being used to crack down on organized shoplifting rings.
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