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Oregon Capital Chronicle
People in impoverished neighborhoods struggle to access drug addiction medication, study finds
Patients battling addiction may struggle to fill their prescription for an opioid use disorder at their local pharmacy if they live in a low-income neighborhood or minority community, according to a new national study led by an Oregon State University researcher. The study, also led by a researcher from John Hopkins University, underscores disparities in […]
NW Natural customers likely to see smaller rate increases after settlement
Environmental and social justice groups are claiming victory after the state’s largest natural gas provider agreed to increase residential rates by less than half of its original proposed price hike. Rate increases for 2025 won’t be finalized until October, but NW Natural’s residential customers are likely to see a 7% increase, instead of the nearly […]
Oregon grocery workers union backs both Republican Chavez-DeRemer and Democrat Bynum
Oregon’s largest private sector union won’t take sides in the state’s most competitive congressional race, saying both Republican incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Democratic challenger Janelle Bynum are “friends of labor.” United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, which represents more than 30,000 members across Oregon, Idaho, southwestern Washington and Wyoming, gave both Chavez-DeRemer and Bynum […]
Drought in the West has cost hydropower industry billions in losses in two decades, analysis finds
Persistent drought in the West over the last two decades has limited the amount of electricity that hydropower dams can generate, costing the industry and the region billions of dollars in revenue. The sector lost about 300 million megawatt hours of power generation between 2003 and 2020 due to drought and low water compared with […]
Oregon Republicans opposed to ranked choice voting while Idaho’s GOP is split
In November 2022, Democrat Tina Kotek was elected governor of Oregon with 47% of the vote. That was enough to win the general election, since her total was slightly higher than that of her leading opponent, Republican Christine Drazan. She was able to win with less than a majority of support because other candidates siphoned […]
Columbia River Gorge planning a $50 million behavioral health campus
In the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon leaders are planning a campus to provide residential mental health care, addiction treatment services and a drop-in center for police to bring people in crisis. Their work started in 2017 when Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill gathered input from community and county leaders. Bit by bit, the money is […]
California battles onslaught of wildfires with help from other states
On the surface, fighting wildfires doesn’t appear to require delicacy or nuance. Fire bosses speak in the language of war: weapons, attack, suppression, control. But to effectively manage a wildfire is to engage in an intricate game of multi-dimensional chess: moving firefighters and equipment where they are most needed or where they are predicted to be required, […]
Oregon DEQ issues another air quality advisory and more may come this month
August is turning out to be a smoky month in Oregon. The Department of Environmental Quality issued an alert Wednesday for southern and central Oregon, where wildfires are clogging the air with smoke. The advisory covers Deschutes, northern Harney, northern Klamath and Lake counties. Other counties could also be hit with smoke, according to Michael […]
State reverses decision, OK’s money for Clackamas County’s drug program
State officials have reversed course and voted to fully fund a Clackamas County initiative meant to offer people drug treatment, outside the criminal justice system. Less than two weeks ago, the same Oregon grant committee rejected the county’s $1 million program over concerns it too closely resembled a process for someone charged with a crime. The decision […]
RFK Jr. is likely to appear on Oregon ballots this fall
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one step closer to appearing on ballots across Oregon this November. All it took was a brand-new political party. On Monday, the Oregon Secretary of State’s office verified that backers of the independent presidential candidate had gathered enough valid signatures to create a new minor statewide party. Dubbed the “We […]
Rep. Salinas pitches farmworker relief bill to her district’s agricultural community
Blanca Calderon listened carefully while U.S. Rep. Andreas Salinas spoke about her bill that would provide relief to farmworkers when natural disasters strike, from heat domes to wildfires or pandemics. Calderon, a 40-year-old mother of four, lives in Woodburn and labors at a cannery that packs harvested blueberries. For 25 years, she has lived in […]
Oregon legislative Democrats join governor, Republicans in opposing rebate ballot measure
Democratic leaders in the Oregon House and Senate have come out swinging against a November ballot measure that would hike taxes on corporations to send checks to every Oregonian. Top Democrats in the House and Senate joined their Republican colleagues and Gov. Tina Kotek in opposing Measure 118, also referred to as the Oregon Rebate. […]
Bynum, Chavez-DeRemer will face off in three October debates for key Oregon congressional district
Contenders in one of the country’s most competitive congressional elections are poised to meet on the debate stage three times over the course of a week in October. State Rep. Janelle Bynum, the Democrat challenging first-term Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer in Oregon’s 5th Congressional District, announced Tuesday that she has agreed to three debates, hosted […]
Environmental regulators say NW Natural misleading customers about state climate credit program
Oregon environmental regulators are concerned that the state’s largest natural gas utility is misinforming customers about a key climate change policy aimed to reduce greenhouse gases. NW Natural, which provides natural gas to more than 2 million people in Oregon and southwest Washington, told its customers in a newsletter this month that the state is […]
Gov. Kotek’s panel makes hundreds of recommendations to reform Coffee Creek prison
Oregon Department of Corrections officials have received hundreds of ideas from a governor-appointed panel for reforming the state’s only women’s prison and better protecting women against trauma, sexual abuse and misconduct. The recommendations would make administrators more accountable for Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, which houses about 900 female inmates, and seek a change in culture […]
Oregon anti-highway activists file federal lawsuit to block Portland Rose Quarter project
A coalition of Portland anti-freeway activists are suing the U.S. Department of Transportation to block construction on a crowded stretch of Interstate 5 in Portland.
Oregon Health Authority fails to show results after spending millions, audit finds
Starting in 2021, Oregon lawmakers gave tens of millions of dollars in funding to the Oregon Health Authority to bolster the behavioral health workforce, encourage people to enter the field and reach marginalized communities and rural pockets of the state where mental health care is scarce. The money, $80 million by 2022, was supposed to […]
Amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide that Oregon farmland absorbs overinflated, study finds
Boosting the power of crops and soils on Oregon farms and ranches to absorb and store more greenhouse gas emissions is one of many tools that state and federal leaders are investing in to combat climate change. But the amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide that can be naturally removed from the atmosphere by being stored […]
‘Perfect storm’ of crises is leading to cutbacks in abortion care, advocates say
Advocates for abortion access say compounding crises of abortion bans, rising economic costs and systemic health care issues are beginning to cause significant funding challenges and potential disruptions to reproductive care of all kinds. Several people described it as a “perfect storm” of problems with the U.S. health care system, particularly post-pandemic, and the rise […]
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