Health
Recovery advocates say commission member should recuse herself from alcohol surcharge vote
This article has been updated. A Portland-based recovery group wants a member of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission board to recuse herself from voting on a proposed surcharge on alcohol. Nathan Morales, a lawyer representing Oregon Recovers, said in a letter sent Thursday that Commissioner Kiauna Floyd should recuse herself from a June 15 […]
Malheur County gold mine moves closer to approval
A proposed gold mine in Malheur County moved closer to breaking ground at a public meeting on Thursday with state and federal regulatory agencies. The Grassy Mountain mine, located about 20 miles south of Vale in eastern Oregon, would be the first chemical-process gold mine in the state. Gold in sites like Grassy Mountain is […]
Fentanyl-related drugs permanently made criminal under bill passed by U.S. House
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in the U.S. House have passed bipartisan legislation in an effort to curb staggering overdose deaths from illegal fentanyl substances that are illicitly produced and up to 50 times stronger than heroin. The HALT Fentanyl Act, passed last week on a 289-133 vote with 74 Democratic votes and support from the Biden […]
GOP’s desired work requirements for federal aid would kick roughly 21M from anti-poverty programs
Congressional Republicans’ efforts to slash federal spending by tying work requirements to Medicaid and SNAP would have far-reaching consequences for people with mental health issues, chronic health problems, and some people with disabilities if enacted, policy experts on anti-poverty programs say. They say the work requirements as laid out by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s “Limit, […]
Federal government approves more than $30 million for Warm Springs, Burns Paiute tribes
The state’s two U.S. senators visited the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs reservation in central Oregon on Monday to celebrate a $28 million federal grant for a new water treatment facility. Hundreds of tribal members have faced successive boil water notices and a temporary shutdown last March due to a fire at the plant, which […]
Here’s what Oregon’s controversial abortion, gender-affirming care bill would do
Senate Republicans are more than two weeks into a quorum-denying walkout that’s partially intended to block a vote on a Democratic bill over abortion and transgender health care. The 46-page House Bill 2002 is an omnibus measure with dozens of provisions related to reproductive and transgender health care, including protecting doctors from prosecution, mandating insurance […]
Fentanyl education bill heads to Gov. Kotek
A bill aimed at reducing use and deaths from fentanyl and other opioids among young people is headed to Gov. Tina Kotek to sign. Senate Bill 238 requires the Oregon Health Authority, Board of Education and Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission to develop education materials to teach schoolchildren about the dangers of opioids, as well […]
Oregon Legislature considers health care plan for low-income residents
Today, more than 96% of Oregonians have health insurance coverage, thanks to the innovations of state government and community-based leaders. However, this upward trajectory is threatened by a change to Medicaid that could eliminate coverage for 300,000 Oregonians in the short term and more in the long term. Over the next 14 months, the state […]
Appeals court judges embrace anti-abortion speculation
America’s major medical institutions and drug policy scholars have roundly denounced as “pseudoscience” many of the claims brought by anti-abortion groups in a high-profile federal lawsuit asking the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its 23-year-old approval of mifepristone, one half of a two-drug regimen that has become the most common form of pregnancy termination […]
Lawmakers debate violence against abortion clinics, anti-abortion pregnancy centers
WASHINGTON — Republicans at a U.S. House hearing aired frustration with the Department of Justice this week for what they contended is a lack of enforcement of a Clinton-era law that protects access to reproductive health care at anti-abortion pregnancy centers and abortion clinics. GOP lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee expressed anger the Federal […]
Three-judge panel in U.S. appeals court hears arguments in abortion pill case
NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court panel quizzed lawyers during oral arguments Wednesday over a Texas judge’s decision that could end access to the abortion pill nationwide. Observers see the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals as a legal way station for the case, in which anti-abortion groups sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, […]
Arguments on landmark abortion pill case to be heard Wednesday in appeals court
WASHINGTON — The lawsuit over access to the abortion pill goes before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday, the next step on a path that will likely end at the U.S. Supreme Court. The three-judge panel will decide whether to keep, overturn, or alter a ruling from U.S. District Court […]