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WA passes climate goals for crypto and data centers while OR’s effort fails
Proposals in Oregon and Washington to regulate carbon emissions tied to crypto mining and data centers took opposite paths during the 2023 legislative session. In Washington, House Bill 1416 sailed through the House and Senate with relative ease and was signed by Gov. Jay Inslee earlier this month. The new law mandates that customers of […]
Oregon lawmakers struggle to improve monitoring tool for opioid prescriptions
In 2009, as prescription opioid addiction rates soared, Oregon adopted a critical oversight tool meant to help address the crisis: prescription drug monitoring. The database of prescriptions could identify patients who were doctor-shopping and notify prescribers. Or it could alert oversight authorities to questionable prescribing practices by clinicians. But Oregon was one of the last […]
Why Northwest officials are only now deciding how to regulate crypto mining
More than a dozen cryptocurrency mining operations call Grant County, Washington, home. In a county of just over 100,000 residents, sitting directly below the Grand Coulee Dam, 13 crypto mining operations — think warehouses stacked with networked computers continuously working on complex math equations to earn bitcoin — might seem like a lot. But the […]
Dozens of Oregon school districts likely undercounting homeless students
Madysun Wilson had already given up on graduating when the dean at her high school showed up during her shift at Papa Murphy’s in Coos Bay, Oregon. She was technically homeless, crashing at a friend’s house after leaving her family home at 15. Casey McCord, the dean, had been calling her relatives for weeks letting […]
Oregon food banks forced to tighten belts as hunger swells across the state
The need for food assistance is at a near-record high in Oregon, and food bank managers are sounding the alarms about rising hunger across the state. Local and regional food managers said they see no signs of the demand abating in the coming months, and at least one said the food pantry she manages has […]
Despite last year’s lessons, Northwest schools scramble to find staff
As waves of Covid swelled last year, short-handed schools across the Northwest struggled to stay operational. Principals stepped onto the playground to monitor recess or into the cafeteria to help serve lunches. Districts hired community members holding emergency substitute licenses, often with no teaching experience, to ensure classrooms had adequate supervision. In the most extreme […]