A dark day for Northwest journalism: @cascadepbs.bsky.social is axing the @cascadepbsnewsroom.bsky.social, laying off 17 people, per internal memo obtained by @kuow.org. Cascade PBS got ~10% of its budget from Corp. for Public Broadcasting. Unclear why its whole newsroom had to be axed.

This section from Dick Hughes' latest column — one of the things I appreciate so much about Oregon compared to other western states is the lack of massive highways and unending sprawl. Thank goodness the ODOT engineer Dick talked to in the '70s was wrong. oregoncapitalinsider.com/2025/09/18/c...

Truly baffling that Vanity Fair couldn’t find a single qualified candidate for its West Coast editing job who 1. Has a history of journalism on the West Coast 2. Didn’t have a sexting scandal with a powerful source they covered www.vanityfair.com/news/story/v...

UPDATE: Any Oregonian who wants COVID-19 vaccine can get it, state says. buff.ly/EIvOvoeby @shaanthx.bsky.social

Aaand we have a new (reiterated) bulletin from the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation prohibiting insurer cost-sharing ie copays, etc. for COVID vaccines "All health benefit plans (including grandfathered health benefit plans) in Oregon must provide coverage." dfr.oregon.gov/laws-rules/D...

Senate president confirms no Senate vote on Oregon’s long-delayed transportation package tomorrow because it’s “medically unsafe and unwise” for Sen. Chris Gorsek, D-Gresham to leave the hospital and no Republicans will vote for the measure. #orleg

Leaders in the Oregon Senate were preparing Tuesday to once again delay a vote on a transportation funding bill, amid concerns about the health of a senator who is key to its passage.

Oh this is horrifying. I could almost — almost — see using AI as a tool in later drafts as a glorified spell check flagging issues like passive voice or repetitive quotes. (Better yet, hire more editors.) But starting with a draft written by a robot means the final work is also the robot’s.

Gov. Tina Kotek ordered an immediate halt to state employees’ non-essential out-of-state travel and directed agencies to find more ways to cut costs on Tuesday after Oregon’s budget surplus from a few months ago turned into a nearly $375 million shortfall. buff.ly/y6AO7ud by @jmshumway.bsky.social

The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday it has sued Oregon and Maine for rejecting demands that the states turn over troves of personal voter information.  buff.ly/sRHdeNm by @jmshumway.bsky.social

CALLOUT: I’m looking for people to talk to on the record about their experiences with receiving any kind of care at Planned Parenthood in Oregon, especially those who needed low-cost options. This can be any clinic, but I would especially love to talk to anyone who used the Ontario clinic. DM me!

This book I finished last week is one of the best I’ve read all year. “Junie,” loosely based on debut author Erin Crosby Eckstine’s great-great-great-grandmother, follows an enslaved girl in 1860 as she deals with power dynamics, complicated relationships and a ghost. bookshop.org/p/books/juni...

Lots of logistical questions about how someone managed to chalk “Be kind 🧡” right in this particular spot on the millrace wall, but the message was worth reading.

that 30 Rock "what a week/Lemon, it's Wednesday" meme except it's 3 p.m. on a Monday

Updated: Senate Republicans elected Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Dundee, as their new caucus leader, while outgoing leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, confirmed he will resign from the Senate in October. oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/09/15/o... by @shaanthx.bsky.social

If anyone had told @agdanrayfield.bsky.social two years ago that any attorney general had filed 37 lawsuits against the federal government, he would have assumed that attorney general was “bonkers.” But now, Rayfield's done it — and Oregon's arguments are prevailing in most cases. buff.ly/kL8ZZHg

Has anyone figured out better phrasing for photojournalism in this age of increased political violence? Because I realized as I said it how bad it sounded to ask a freelance photographer “Are you shooting him for us today?” about an elected official.

More than three dozen people filed to run for statewide office, #orleg and district races today, the first day candidates could officially file. The @oregoncapitalchronicle.com team will keep tabs of candidate filings over the next six months here: oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/09/11/w... #orpol

State Rep. Annessa Hartman, D-Gladstone and the only Dem to vote against an #orleg transportation package, is ditching the House to run for a much-better-paid and officially nonpartisan Clackamas County Commission post. More tk from @miamaldonado.bsky.social for @oregoncapitalchronicle.com.

Trump floated the idea of sending national guard troops to Portland, claiming with no evidence that the city's full of "paid terrorists" His musings come about a week after one-term U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer urged him to "crack down" on the city. buff.ly/eiij9Zd by @fischler.bsky.social

Oregon House Democrats grew their majority with Rep. Cyrus Javadi switching parties. Read more from @miamaldonado.bsky.social, who went out to the coast to profile Javadi earlier this year and has the most thorough report I've seen: oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/09/05/c... #orleg #orpol

A couple Salem-area lawmakers had to show up at the capitol today to bang gavels and adjourn until Monday. @shaanthx.bsky.social has the details on why this is going to happen a few more times before the Senate's transportation vote. #orleg oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/09/05/o...

Absolutely banner day for the cat whose new favorite hobby is jumping loudly down from this desk hutch next to me while I’m on a work video call.

ODOT worker facing a potential layoff: "I definitely feel like my job is being held hostage for some political game, and I just wish that there was something that I could do or say, or anything that would help get people to just make this happen." oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/09/02/o...

Oregon Senate, scheduled to vote on a transportation package tomorrow, will postpone that vote until Sept. 17 because Democratic Sen. Chris Gorsek is experiencing health complications from surgery and won’t make it tomorrow. Dems need all 18 members to pass a tax increase without GOP support. #orleg

Thanks, Oregon House, for making today relatively painless, and many more thanks to @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social for handling the House’s two painfully slow days so I could continue celebrating in WA until last night instead of spending my birthday weekend in the Capitol.

A bill to fund road maintenance and stave off hundreds of layoffs at the Oregon Department of Transportation narrowly cleared the Oregon House, more than two months after a prior attempt fizzled on the final night of the regular legislative session.  buff.ly/Esw3R7Y by @jmshumway.bsky.social

Transportation bill passes the House 36-12, with Javadi joining Dems voting yes and Hartman joining Rs voting now. No other surprises. #orleg

House is standing at ease after several Dems requested a call of the House (a procedural move to ensure all the lawmakers here are actually here voting). #orleg

As Hartman said she would vote against the measure, Rep. Hoa Nguyen, who is undergoing cancer treatment and wasn't here earlier, came to the floor. It takes 36 votes to pass any tax measure, and there are 36 Democrats. Javadi, the only R to support the measure, could cancel out Hartman. #orleg

Democratic Rep. Annessa Hartman says she'll vote against the bill because of her constituents who can't afford to pay more. "Those families in my district deserve my voice in this moment.” #orleg

Well, it's 7 p.m., and what we know: - Public hearing is, obviously, not happening today. - Schedule for tomorrow is still unclear. - 20 House members received excused absences today. Two House Republicans who weren't present were not part of that list. www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/p...

I’m not at the Capitol today but grouchily preparing to cut short a holiday weekend visit with siblings who don’t get much time off — depending on what news comes from the poor souls on the ground tonight.

With no quorum and little communication, a long-anticipated special session to fix a transportation funding shortfall is seemingly no more functional than the six-month span when lawmakers initially planned to fix it, @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social reports. oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/08/29/h...

32, and still growing up now. A beautiful birthday escape to the Washington wilderness.

Supporting the Alaska Beacon and other news sources strengthens Alaska democracy, @alaskabeacon.com editor Andrew Kitchenman, @kitchenman.bsky.social, writes in his farewell commentary: alaskabeacon.com/2025/08/22/s... #akleg

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read on Thursday flatly rejected a demand from the U.S. Justice Department to turn over troves of voter data, writing that doing so could violate Oregonians’ privacy rights.  buff.ly/ZwfjS75

The crime in this city is out of control, I tell you.

Per capita is such an odd way to calculate road spending. Of course states with huge land masses and small populations are spending more per capita on roads than a state like Washington. www.wweek.com/news/2025/08...

Next month marks four years since I returned to Oregon, but it's nice to see that the state senator who was on my beat for all of six months at a prior job not only still remembers me but considers me important enough to include on this list of top AZ reporters and columnists 💁‍♀️

"They know exactly what they’re doing. They are, in my opinion, being predatory to small markets in a field where it is harder to find jobs and taking advantage of journalists who want to work in these small markets, want to work in their own community.” www.portlandmercury.com/news/2025/08...

Oregon AG @danrayfield.bsky.social is suing President Donald Trump so often that @miamaldonado.bsky.social had to update the number in this story from 35 to 36 Friday night and lawsuit no. 37 hit this morning. Good look into the many-pronged legal battles. oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/08/18/o...

Less than a year ago, Oregonians were being inundated with political messaging about how Chavez-DeRemer was a moderate who made history as one of Oregon's first Latina members of Congress, stood with unions and would single-handedly block a national abortion ban.

A split legislative committee on Thursday dismissed allegations of misconduct against a southern Oregon Republican who read a sexually explicit book passage on the House floor. buff.ly/2iZtdmf

The thick, green layer of toxin-producing algae currently growing on the Willamette River south of downtown Portland is not just a public health issue but a reminder to Willie Levenson of “a total bureaucratic failure.”

Horrible news about buyouts at Arizona's Gannett-owned paper of record, including one of the state's most venerable political reporters. Gannett owns the Statesman Journal and Register-Guard in Oregon's second and third largest cities. www.arizonaagenda.com/p/bloodbath-...

Taylor most of us have day jobs 😭

Cramer officially announced her campaign today, with an endorsement from outgoing Sen. Kim Thatcher.

I remember a few years ago on the other site coming across a “repeal the 19th” hashtag and being shocked even random Twitter users with no power would think that was a valid viewpoint. How things have changed. apnews.com/article/wome...

Inbox: Our @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social is such a celebrity that Oregon’s only congressman can use her name in headlines with no context. (read Alex’s solid, fact-based report on Bentz’s high travel spending here: oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/08/07/o...)