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Oregon News
POLITICS
Oregon agencies made $2.5 billion in accounting errors, report says
Statesman Journal | By Anastasia Mason
Oregon agencies made $2.5 billion in unintentional accounting errors in 2025, up $700 million from 2024 but lower than the previous two years.
Accounting errors are not the same as incorrectly spent funds.
The Keeping Oregon Accountable report for the 2025 fiscal year detailed the state's financial statements and federal compliance. Future reports will include updates on performance and IT audits, Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read said.
Portland’s own study said the Moda Center needed $500M in repairs — so why are the Trail Blazers asking for more?
The Oregonian | By Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
Two years ago, as Portland officials worked to finalize plans to acquire ownership of the Moda Center from the Trail Blazers, the city commissioned a study to determine how much it would cost to keep the aging arena functioning over the next 20 years.
The figure that came back: Just over $500 million, according to a copy of the May 2024 report obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive through a public records request.
That amount is substantially less than the projected $600 million price tag now at the center of a public financing deal deemed essential to keep the NBA franchise from leaving town, which does not include millions more in annual operating costs pledged by Mayor Keith Wilson.
Adding that yearly contribution, plus the interest paid on state bonds that would help finance the overall effort, could push the total taxpayer cost beyond $880 million.
A low-income housing program is pouring big money into housing many Oregonians can’t afford
OPB | By Tony Schick
On any given night, thousands of people sleep on the streets in Portland. They seek shelter in tents, bushes and overpasses in a city that has struggled with one of the worst housing crises in the country.
Portland, like many cities, has raced to increase its supply of affordable housing by turning to a federal program that’s existed since the 1980s: the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. It provides up to $15 billion worth of tax credits a year nationally to help developers build apartments. Portland supplemented the federal construction money with local dollars, creating incentives that were hard to turn down.
But to meet the affordability requirements, all the developers needed to do in most cases was put rents within reach of someone earning 60% of median income, an earnings threshold that equates to about $75,000 annually for a family of four. It turns out that this amount of rent is now close to what the typical Portland landlord charges without any subsidy.
The result of the federal tax credit has been a glut of apartments costing renters on the order of about $1,400 a month for a one-bedroom. That’s a manageable outlay for a family making $75,000 but nearly half the monthly income of someone who earns $35,000 at the local minimum wage.
Nearly 2,000 of Portland’s subsidized units sat vacant and unused at last count, as The Oregonian and Willamette Week have reported. The same situation has repeated from Seattle to the San Francisco Bay Area to Denver.
Economists and other academic researchers have been warning for decades that this was precisely the sort of problem that the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit was likely to create.
Oregon voters won’t get chance to reinstate tax breaks in November after Republican-led effort fails
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Shaanth Nanguneri
Oregonians won’t have the chance to vote on whether to replicate federal tax breaks for car loan interest and business assets on their state taxes after a referendum campaign led by conservative anti-tax operatives fizzled out.
Oregon Gov. Kotek sends chief of staff to head troubled state transportation agency
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Mia Maldonado
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has appointed her chief of staff to temporarily lead the state’s transportation agency.
Hillsboro erupts over data centers: ‘I feel betrayed’
The Oregonian | By Mike Rogoway
Hillsboro residents blasted their civic leaders Tuesday night, furious over the city’s failure to rein in a data center industry they say is gobbling up tax breaks, energy and land.
“I feel betrayed and dismissed by a portion of our city’s leaders,” said Hillsboro resident Mike McTernan, one of three dozen who testified against data centers over nearly two hours at a city council meeting Tuesday night.
Environmentally, socially and economically, McTernan said Hillsboro has allowed data centers to exploit the city while getting little in return. He faulted the city council for accommodating the tech industry instead of standing up to it.
"You see a groundswell of people who disapprove of your decisions,” McTernan said.
The city council held a work session Tuesday night to consider a “pause” on new data center construction in Hillsboro — the first time any Oregon jurisdiction has contemplated that step. Exhausted after nearly two hours of hostile public testimony, though, the council put off consideration and called a special meeting to resume discussion on June 9.
After years of complacency, public sentiment in Hillsboro turned sharply against data centers this spring. That mirrors national discontent over data centers’ use of power and water and fears that artificial intelligence will take jobs.
SAIF names interim president after CEO's sudden resignation
Statesman Journal | By Whitney Woodworth
The State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation (SAIF) named Ian Williams as its interim president after the sudden resignation of former CEO Chip Terhune amid a sexual harassment investigation.
CRIME & PUBLIC SAFETY
Man who raped and killed 5-year-old Oregon girl denied parole
The Oregonian | By Noelle Crombie
The Oregon Board of Parole on Wednesday rejected the bid for release by a man who raped and killed a 5-year-old Douglas County girl in 2010.
In handing down the murder sentence, a Circuit Court judge said Wallace posed a public safety risk so significant that he should never be released.
In 2021, then-Gov. Kate Brown commuted Wallace’s sentence among a group of other prisoners convicted of crimes as juveniles, allowing them to seek parole after 15 years.
Accused serial killer Jesse Calhoun pleads 'not guilty' to fifth murder charge
KATU | By Shelby Slaughter
Accused serial killer Jesse Calhoun pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a fifth charge of second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Ashley Real, as prosecutors seek to consolidate five homicide cases into a single trial.
HOMELESSNESS
Year-over-year homelessness declines, but not in Oregon
Oregon Capital Chronicle | By Robbie Sequeria
Oregon reported a 19% increase in the rate of homeless individuals between 2024 and 2025, with more than 23,000 people counted as homeless in January 2025.
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