Oregon and the city of Portland are suing President Donald Trump to block the federal government from deploying hundreds of Oregon National Guard members in an unprecedented crackdown in Oregon’s largest city. buff.ly/FHQxLhV

This is an article about Portland and coffee, but every time I sat down to write it I felt like it needed to tie into right-wing threats to the city too. Then the morning it came out, Trump sent the military authorized to use "full force," so I think my intuition was right. slate.com/life/2025/09...

Oregon Gov Tina Kotek said she only learned about Trump’s potential deployment of troops this morning from social media like everyone else. Portland Mayor Keith Wilson did not get any communication from Trump, Noel, Hegseth or Fed agencies.

Trump said the decision was necessary to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, which he described as “under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”

From @erikabolstad.bsky.social: States are scrambling for the money to fill potholes, plow roads, maintain bridges and pay bus drivers as they confront inflation- and tariff-driven cost increases and declining gas tax revenues. stateline.org/2025/09/25/s...

NEW: The U.S. Department of Justice is sharing state voter roll information with the Department of Homeland Security in a search for noncitizens, the Trump administration confirmed. @jonshorman.bsky.social reports: stateline.org/2025/09/12/d...

Following an immigration raid at an active wildfire in Washington state, wildland fire professionals are raising alarms that the leadership team in charge of the fire response may have sent their crews into an ambush. stateline.org/2025/08/31/f...

States fast-track wind, solar permits and contracts to beat Trump’s deadline stateline.org/2025/08/27/s...

NEW: Frustrated by oil companies mysteriously withholding large amounts of royalties, North Dakota mineral owners lobbied for change. Instead, lawmakers provided an oversight program that, owners say, fails to address the issue it was created to solve. With @northdakotamonitor.com

A statue of a Confederate general that demonstrators toppled and burned in D.C. in 2020 will be reinstalled, the National Park Service announces.

Prior to the executive orders, the Trump administration was already taking action to revise information on park websites that did not align with its priorities. @jkutzie.bsky.social reports.

Now, state lawmakers have passed a bill which allocates $3.4 million to support criminal defense clinics. They had previously approved $2.1 million in one-time funding in 2024.

More more more of this kind of journalism everywhere in the USA, please! Looove it!

Independence Day seems like a good day to share that I’m directing a film about the symbols of democracy. Check out the trailer below! See the film’s website to make a tax-deductible contribution toward production, via @filmindependent.org (And view the full trailer, too.) makingmonumental.com

🚨 ATTN: Journalists crossing through a U.S. border 🚨 Alongside @eff.org, we now have an extensive guide on preparing your devices for travel through a U.S. border, including a digital security checklist and additional resources. Read, bookmark and share:

New signs at incarceration camps raise historical erasure concerns asamnews.com/2025/06/19/d... via @AsAmNews

A terrific analogy only a human could conjure up.

The situation at historic preservation offices is growing more dire. The nation is turning away from its 60-year commitment to preservation not through elected reps, but through OMB's intransigence. Still can't get anyone to bite on my piece about this issue! preservewa.org/advocacy-ale...

Oregon moves one step closer to passing one of the most substantive local news funding bills in the country, requiring Google and Meta pay for news content they’ve used for free to grow their enormous profits while newsrooms shutter from lost revenue www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

🧵Can city utilities boost revenues, reduce debt burdens & do so equitably? My latest personal reporting uses records obtained via public records request to investigate Portland Water Bureau's algorithmic segmented pricing program, inspired by a corporate tech pricing scheme. I dug deep on the data:

All of L.A. is not a ‘war zone.’ We separate facts from spin and disinformation amid immigration raids, protests throughout the city. Latest w/ @karenmg.bsky.social @tarantulaarms.bsky.social www.latimes.com/california/s...

An AI-related provision in the “Big Beautiful Bill” could restrict state-level legislation of energy-hungry data centers—and is raising bipartisan objections across the US. www.wired.com/story/a-poli...

🍩 There's only one thing better than a Friday: A Friday that's also National Donut Day! Send us a donut or a coffee in support of our work: stateline.org/donate/

Hey, check it out! Monumental (the doc I'm directing) is featured here! Curious about it or want to contribute to its production? Click the link!

‘Big Beautiful Bill’ dings states that offer health care to some immigrants here legally stateline.org/2025/06/03/b...

Oregon’s picturesque but beleaguered national park suffered another setback.

Hmm. Not blown away by this AI-generated short "film," not at all. But freaked out, yes. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-f...

When 7 in 10 children in an Oregon congressional district have access to healthcare via Medicaid — yet in a town hall, their representative won’t acknowledge the consequences of looming cuts. By @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social for @oregoncapitalchronicle.com oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/05/22/o...

Lawmakers in both legislative chambers have passed House Bill 3187, which proponents say will help curb age discrimination.

Oregon and Washington trail nearly every other state in bringing wind, solar and other renewable energy projects online. Its aging electrical grid is largely to blame.

Cities are finding some cheeky runarounds to flag bans: www.sltrib.com/news/politic...

North Dakota adopted a law last week that changes state rules to toss mail ballots if they arrive after Election Day, even if they were postmarked by Election Day. Bolts recently reported on the rush of GOP-run states passing similar laws in 2025: boltsmag.org/restric...

In recent weeks, both Idaho and Utah have enacted bans that prohibit Pride flags from being displayed on government property, pitting lawmakers in the Republican-dominated legislatures against the more progressive capitals of Boise and Salt Lake City.

“ She’s like, don’t be afraid, just document. Get a camera, take pictures, take videos and document what is going on there.” lapublicpress.org/2025/05/meet...

How do you know when you're "done?" A process dispatch this week about always being in progress. open.substack.com/pub/erikabol...

Happy Independent Bookstore Day! And a big thanks to all the indies who supported Windfall with events in 2023—and most importantly, by recommending it to readers. Thanks for all you do in your communities!

Scientists are worried that “last year’s events could point to a kind of climate feedback loop in which rising temperatures cause natural ecosystems to deteriorate, releasing more carbon into the atmosphere and causing the planet to warm even faster.”

In the wake of recent natural disasters, state leaders across the country are finding that emergency support from the federal government is no longer a given. stateline.org/2025/04/25/t...

Hmmm, maybe it’s time to rethink the bar exam? stateline.org/2024/07/26/l...

Why Monuments Matter, Now. open.substack.com/pub/erikabol...

Add Oregon to the small-but-growing list of states that will refuse to comply with the Trump administration's orders to yank DEI initiatives from public schools or risk the loss of federal funding: www.oregonlive.com/education/20...

A fifth of Americans are on Medicaid. Some of them have no idea.

Quite literally whitewashing the purpose of the Underground Railroad www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...

How an influx of high-paid tech workers and a post-Great Recession building slump led to a doubling of the number of people living on the streets in Seattle. "Affordable housing didn’t physically disappear. But to low-income renters, it might as well have." www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...

Fascinating polling numbers. And intriguing to see quotes like this: “If I leave Oregon, I’m leaving the country. This is the best place in the whole country.” www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

"Seven of the 11 jurors chosen either worked in the fossil fuel industry or had family members who did." www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Sure, worse things happened today than losing the stewards of all the beauty and art that represent the best of America, but the symbolism still stings.

This time last year I wrote for @flaminghydra.com about why the National Weather Service is a treasure whose info we should all use — especially as inclement weather grows more frequent. There are now multiple reports of mass firings at the NWS/NOAA: flaminghydra.com/issue-20/