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Gas prices rise again, national average hovers just below $4 per gallon
KGW
The rising cost of gasoline slowed a bit last week. The national retail average for a gallon of regular gas rose by just a few cents over a seven-day stretch.
As Washington gets an income tax, the fight to overturn it begins
Washington State Standard | By Jerry Cornfield
Opponents are teeing up lawsuits and ballot measures as Gov. Bob Ferguson prepares to sign the legislation Monday.
Oregon News
POLITICS
‘It’s grassroots up’: Oregon leaders speak during No Kings Rally events around Portland
KOIN 6 | By Ariel Salk
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek was among those in attendance at the No Kings Rally at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland on Saturday morning, joined by union members. She spoke to the crowd about what she described as Trump’s attacks on democratic institutions, the rule of law and the most vulnerable members of our community.
Washington charges drivers for buying studded tires. Why doesn’t Oregon?
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Oregon drivers have until April 1 to remove studded tires on their car if they want to avoid a $165 fee, but the cost of the damage they leave is usually greater.
Portland weighs monthly transportation fees to raise $47M a year for road repairs
KATU | By Jennifer Singh
City Council is set to discuss two new fees to help fund its Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and critical street maintenance this week.
According to the city, existing funding sources, such as the local 10-cent per gallon gas tax, are declining and are no longer reliable funding sources.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
New Census Data Shows Oregon Is Losing Residents in Their Prime Earning Years—Due in Part to Costly Housing
Willamette Week | By Kushboo Rathore
Oregonians in their peak earning years–when they can contribute most to the state’s economy—are moving out of the state faster than their 30-to-50-year-old peers are moving in.
Here are Oregon’s highest-income counties — and those that earn the least
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
Oregon Employment Department economist Molly Hendrickson collected 2024 income figures from all over the state for a report this month that shows wide disparities in income based on geography. The Portland area fares best in aggregate, while incomes in eastern and southern Oregon are considerably lower.
That’s not surprising given the economic gap between rural and urban Oregon. But Hendrickson’s report helps explain some of the underlying factors behind the disparities.
High incomes aren’t only the result of higher wages. Wealthy Oregonians also tend to have higher income from investments.
Readers Respond to the Evolution of Multnomah County’s Budget
Willamette Week
“If those services are important we should be doing them in-house with full accountability. Throwing money at nonprofits for essential services is just outsourcing.”
EDUCATION
Furlough days: They’re not just for Portland schools
OPB | By Elizabeth Miller
At least four Oregon school districts have implemented furlough days to cut costs and prevent staff layoffs. Are short school years the future for Oregon students?
DRUGS
Oregon researchers document a new risk of fentanyl use: life-threatening burns
OPB | By Amelia Templeton
Earlier this month, Dr. Mark Thomas treated a patient who suffered a devastating accident while smoking fentanyl.
The patient fell asleep, caught themselves on fire, and was brought to the Oregon Burn Center at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, where Thomas is a surgeon.
They didn’t survive.
In the span of just a week and a half, Thomas performed surgery on two other people who burned themselves badly while smoking illicit drugs.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Police arrest 3 at Portland ICE facility, say demonstrators damaged and vandalized building
The Oregonian | By Sami Edge
Portland police arrested three people Saturday night at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland after they say protesters vandalized the facility, damaged its gate and threw rocks at local officers.
He signed deportation papers immediately. ICE detained him for 3 months in at least 5 different facilities
The Oregonian | By Yesenia Amaro
Julio Palma is still getting used to being back in Chile – far away from Tualatin where he, his wife and the couple’s four daughters, including their U.S. citizen baby, had made their home for almost three years.
Palma had actually hoped to return much earlier.
In fact, Palma’s family beat him back to Bulnes, a small city in central Chile, because federal immigration authorities held him in at least five separate detention centers for nearly three months after he signed voluntary deportation papers in early December.
“On the first day … they told me it would be seven days,” Palma said from Chile.
He is among an unknown number of people who have agreed to leave the U.S. after their immigration arrests only to languish in detention for weeks and months with little explanation to the detainees or their families.
2026 ELECTIONS
Readers respond: Oregon voters need different representation
The Oregonian | Letter to the Editor
Wow! What a wake-up call from recent reporting in The Oregonian/OregonLive. Stories showed that gas prices leapt nearly a dollar a gallon in the past month; Oregon ranks as the fifth least affordable state with the skyrocketing costs of essentials, and Gov. Tina Kotek has not acted on the request to veto House Bill 4177, which would undermine Oregon’s public meetings law meant to keep officials from making decisions in secret.
I also found that when I signed a petition to put the new gas and transportation tax bill on the November ballot, I was deceived; legislators have moved the issue to the May election, because it helps the clowns we keep electing.
Oh, and that light we see at the end of this tunnel? It’s the Oregon PERS Express. The unfunded liability of our public employee retirement system is coming so fast, it will functionally bankrupt the state. Now that the PERS unfunded liability is getting closer to $30 billion, what great ideas do the current politicians have to fix that problem? It seems as though they will undermine public meetings law to keep their deliberations secret.
We, the voters, need to rethink our voting habits and whom we keep sending to Salem to represent us.
What would a 'yes' or 'no' vote on Oregon gas tax do? What to know
Statesman Journal | By Anastasia Mason
Oregon voters will be asked to approve or reject increases to the gas tax, payroll tax and title and registration fees in the May 19 election.
Brittany Jones discusses plan to unseat Gov. Tina Kotek in May’s Democratic primary
KOIN 6 | By Ken Boddie
Unseating a powerful incumbent is one of the hardest things to do in politics. However, Army reserve veteran and progressive activist Brittany Jones is trying to do just that.
Jones is challenging Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek in May’s Democratic primary.
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