|
Some colleges scrap diversity questions from admissions essays. Will it change how students talk about themselves?
Northwest News Network
The U.S. Department of Education told schools in February to get rid of what it called “racial preferences” when admitting students, citing a Supreme Court ruling that eliminated affirmative action in 2023.
Leaders from universities across the nation said they don’t admit students based on race or ethnicity, but some universities have since changed or removed prompts that referenced diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. Schools that changed their prompts have cited various reasons for doing so.
The University of Washington is one of at least 19 colleges that changed essay prompts this year, according to the college counseling firm, College Transitions. UW removed a question this year that asked how a student might add to the school’s diversity.
Oregon News
2026 ELECTION
Capital Chatter: Governor’s race may be a rematch
Oregon Capital Insider | Opinion by Dick Hughes
A probable Drazan-Kotek rematch had been an underlying theme of the 2025 Legislature. Kotek had burnished her labor-union credentials and stuck to her core issues: housing and homelessness, behavioral health, and education. Meanwhile, Drazan and Republicans had outmaneuvered the Democrats on such key issues as transportation.
Heading into this year’s legislative session, I would have expected a compromise on transportation funding that A) included sufficient tax or fee increases to avert layoffs at the Oregon Department of Transportation, and B) allowed Republicans – i.e., potential gubernatorial candidate Drazan – to declare victory by limiting the size of those increases.
That didn’t happen.
Democrats overreached.
Drazan and her Republican colleagues mostly held tight.
By seeking an expansive, expensive transportation package that would please all their constituencies, did Democrats set themselves up to lose the governorship next year?
In her announcement on Thursday, Kotek trumpeted all the good things she has done.
She has been consistent. She has much to show. She has also stumbled.
Come November 2026, voters still will be thinking about Democrats’ hiking the gas tax and transportation fees during Kotek’s poorly managed special legislative session this fall.
That special session likely will be for naught. Opponents apparently have collected sufficient petition signatures to place the transportation taxes and fees on the Nov. 3, 2026, statewide ballot, blocking their implementation in the meantime.
That’s the same ballot on which Kotek will be seeking reelection, given that she seems assured to win the Democratic primary in May. (As of Thursday afternoon, four little-known Democrats had filed to run for governor.)
“Performing a feat rarely accomplished in modern Oregon electoral history, opponents of the legislature’s high-profile transportation tax bill have successfully used primarily volunteers to gather the necessary signatures to refer the action to the voters,” respected lobbyist and former legislator Rick Metzger wrote in his “Political Center” newsletter this week.
“Interestingly, Democrats successfully cited their focus on affordability as the key to recent election victories in New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. In Oregon, Republicans flipped the script, using affordability to upend the Democrats’ tax plan.”
History and polling indicate that Oregonians will trounce the tax and fee increases at the polls. Disenchantment crosses party lines, which creates a conundrum for public employee unions and other Kotek supporters.
If they spend heavily to support Kotek’s transportation taxes and fees, they have less to invest in her reelection campaign, not to mention other Democratic races. Either way, Republicans win.
POLITICS
As Oregon Mulls Private Equity Hospice Merger, Lawmakers Hear of Grim Financial Logic
Willamette Week | By Andrew Schwartz
Hospice is a realm of medicine concerned not with curing patients, but helping them end their lives with comfort, meaning and dignity. But, with a major transaction under consideration, Oregon lawmakers got a reminder last month that the hospice business model has imperatives of its own.
Oregon lawmakers to grapple with economic confusion
Oregon Capital Chronicle | Opinion by Randy Stapilus
In coming weeks, Oregon legislators will begin to consider what adjustments should be made to the state’s two-year budget and revenue picture. Much of the attention has gone to transportation funding, and the likely ballot issue which may alter it. But the economic and funding issues lurking in the coming year are broader.
Oregon’s Plan for Fixing Its Mental Health System: Build More Beds, Get More Workers
Willamette Week | By Andrew Schwartz
Officials say they’ve noticed a tangible difference when new treatment capacity comes on line. But a 2024 study commissioned by Gov. Tina Kotek found that far more must be done.
PPS Moves Forward With Building for Center for Black Student Excellence
Willamette Week | By Joanna Hou
The Portland School Board on Tuesday night approved a formal home for the Center for Black Student Excellence, unanimously authorizing the superintendent to move forward with the purchase of the One North development in Albina.
US Coast Guard returns rescue helicopter to Newport
OPB | By Dirk VanderHart
This comes after a judge last month ordered the Coast Guard to return the helicopter immediately while a lawsuit challenging its abrupt removal proceeds.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Oregon's semiconductor sector shines in NSF visit
OSU Today | By Theresa Hogue
Because of the statewide importance of drawing funding for semiconductor research, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and State Senator Bruce Starr also attended the event.
Ashland Community Hospital to shut birth center, sparking outcry
Jefferson Public Radio | By Justin Higginbottom
Asante will be shuttering birthing services at its Ashland hospital this spring. Staff say the closure is a loss to the region.
HOUSING
Portland’s Housing Authority Sits On 955 Empty Apartments
Willamette Week | By Sophie Peel
Home Forward, the city of Portland’s housing authority, is sitting on 956 empty affordable apartment units, according to a Nov. 7 vacancy report the agency provided to WW last month.
Meanwhile, as units sit unoccupied, 7,500 people are living unsheltered on Portland’s streets every night, according to the most recent data from Multnomah County.
Portland housing authority reverses planned rent hikes at two buildings as apartments sit empty
The Oregonian | By Jonathan Bach
Tenants at a Northwest Portland affordable housing complex successfully demanded the local housing authority and its contracted property manager reverse planned rent hikes that were scheduled to take effect next year as more than half the building’s units remain empty.
HOMELESSNESS & DRUGS
With homelessness rising, new federal rules could benefit states that take tougher approaches
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Robbie Sequeira
As the housing shortage pushes more Americans into homelessness for the first time, the Trump administration wants to focus federal housing aid on mental health treatment and enforcement against street homelessness, rather than on finding people permanent homes as quickly as possible.
The administration’s new plan to tie federal housing aid to work requirements and drug treatment could be a boon to states such as Alabama, Florida and Wyoming that already are pursuing that strategy. But for many other states — and nonprofit providers across the country — the rules represent a sudden pivot from past expectations. In California, the new federal funding priorities face a direct conflict with state law.
St. Johns residents demand relocation of day center amid crime and safety concerns
KATU | By Shelby Slaughter
Residents and business owners are calling for action in the St.Johns neighborhood. This comes as a new online petition is making its rounds online, asking leaders to move the location of the North Portland Day Center.
Funding cuts halt Portland-ODOT partnership for homeless camp removal
KATU | By Jennifer Singh
It's been five months since the Oregon Department of Transportation cut ties with the city of Portland’s Impact Reduction Program due to funding constraints. This means ODOT no longer pays for the program to remove campsites on ODOT property within city limits.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
TriMet passenger accused of threatening security with pocketknife
KOIN 6 | By Aimee Plante
A man is in custody after he refused to get off a TriMet train and threatened a security officer with a pocketknife, according to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.
NATURAL RESOURCES & WILDFIRE
Oregon, Wasco County reach $3.5M deal for Rowena Fire cleanup
KOIN 6 | By Michaela Bourgeois
Nearly six months after the Rowena Fire devastated communities in the Columbia River Gorge, a new funding agreement aims to clear debris as residents recover.
TRUMP ADMIN VS. OREGON
Oregon’s Rookie Attorney General Is Making His Living Suing Donald Trump
Willamette Week / Oregon Journalism Project
“It feels absolutely wild to me to be in this moment,” says Dan Rayfield.
From the moment Attorney General Dan Rayfield took office in January, the Oregon Department of Justice has been engaged in a nearly full-time battle with President Donald Trump’s administration.
Rayfield, 46, a Democrat from Corvallis, came to the job after 10 years in the Oregon House. He rose quickly in the Legislature, serving two terms as co-chair of the budget-writing Joint Committee on Ways and Means, and in his final term, he succeeded Gov. Tina Kotek as House speaker.
Job postings hint at possible ICE detention center in Portland
KOIN 6 | By Jenna Deml
On Tuesday, job postings began circulating online hinting that the federal government may open a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Portland.
Jobs were posted by Acuity International seeking a warden, assistant warden, security manager and others.
All of the requirements mentioned in the postings pertain to operations within an ICE detention facility with the location designated as Portland, Ore.
Meanwhile, postings for the positions on Indeed list the location at 7000 NE Airport Way or Portland International Airport.
Gresham woman pleads guilty to arson outside ICE building in June
KATU | By Jeff Kirsch
A Gresham woman was sentenced to 10 days in jail, 200 hours of community service, and five years supervised probation after pleading guilty to 2nd degree arson on Wednesday.
| 
