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Electric vehicle sales up in Oregon thanks to incentives, report says
More Oregonians than ever are buying electric cars and the state is poised to see a major influx, in part because of friendly state and federal policies, according to a new report by the Oregon Department of Energy. Almost 70,000 electric vehicles are registered in Oregon, up from 38,000 in 2021, analysts wrote in a […]
Feds giving Oregon another $26 million for internet access
A southern Oregon tribe and providers serving rural swaths of the coast and Willamette Valley are among the latest recipients of federal grants from the Biden administration’s $90 billion investment in broadband internet access. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last week it was devoting about $26 million to projects in Oregon. The lion’s share […]
An Oregon town is buying surrounding forests to confront wildfires
This story was originally published by Columbia Insight. With a population of just 400 people, Butte Falls is a speck in an ocean of remote timberland, much of it burned. The community is tucked into a vast forest of pine and fir about 35 miles from the California border. Outside town, snow-capped Mount McLoughlin towers […]
Wyden aims to pursue federal legislation to curb gun violence
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden plans to pursue federal legislation to reduce the surge in gun violence. Oregon’s senior senator discussed the problem on Friday with experts at Oregon Health & Science University’s South Waterfront campus in Portland. The meeting included experts involved with a federally funded OHSU and Portland State University research project studying strategies […]
Democrats seek Republican support for 988 suicide hotline tax
Democrats are seeking Republican support for a bill funding a suicide prevention hotline that requires bipartisan approval. So far, it only has Democratic support, and Democrats no longer control three-fifths of the Legislature. They need at least a three-fifths vote to pass a new tax. House Bill 2757 would permanently fund 988, a new behavioral […]
Chicken industry officials host tour of mega chicken facility as part of a lobbying effort
BROWNSVILLE – Donning plastic booties and coveralls, about 30 state lawmakers, agency officials and industry executives gathered in a control room on Randy Hiday’s chicken farm in Linn County. The room, equipped with temperature and other monitors, looked into a 600-foot-long steel barn housing about 48,000 fuzzy chicks. Hiday, who runs the largest broiler chicken […]
Heat pump programs to protect vulnerable Oregonians from extreme heat not yet rolled out
After the 2021 heat dome left more than 100 dead in Oregon, state Democrats committed millions of dollars to help residents and landlords install heat pumps, the climate-friendly alternative to air conditioners and furnaces. Then-Gov. Kate Brown signed Senate Bill 1536 into law in March 2022. The law created $27 million in financial assistance and […]
Lawmakers, again, consider allowing self-pumping gas stations statewide
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is once again trying to give Oregonians the power to pump their own gasoline. House Bill 2426 would allow for self-service gas pumps. But it would require gas stations in some counties to keep attendants for drivers who might need help filling up — and to protect those jobs. […]
State officials consider water restrictions in Klamath, Harney basins
Two Oregon regions grappling with water shortages could soon have new groundwater restrictions as a mega-drought continues to parch the U.S. West. The Oregon Water Resources Department may create new critical groundwater areas in Harney Basin in eastern Oregon and the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon, according to agency spokesperson Alyssa Rash. The decision would […]
Oregon Supreme Court denies request to enact gun control measure
The Oregon Supreme Court denied a request by Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to allow Measure 114 to go into effect in a ruling on Thursday. The decision means legal challenges to the gun-control measure will move forward and all parts of the law will remain paused. In a press release Thursday, the state’s high court […]
FBI investigating abortion-related attacks in Oregon, nationwide
The FBI is offering a $25,000 reward for tips about three arsons in Oregon last summer against an anti-abortion group and centers. The attacks occurred between May and July in Portland, Gresham and Keizer. One attack targeted the Mother and Child Education Center in Portland. Another involved Molotov cocktails thrown at the Oregon Right to […]
Federal, state agencies don’t track sales of guns to disqualified buyers in Oregon
While the enactment of the voter-approved firearm law awaits litigation, neither state nor federal law enforcement agencies are tracking how often Oregonians buy guns before failing a background check through a federal loophole. They also aren’t tracking whether police seize weapons sold to Oregon buyers who are disqualified from owning them due to their criminal […]