October 2021

By SAM STITES/Oregon Public Broadcasting Rep. Kurt Schrader will assuredly face a challenge from the left if he seeks the Democratic nomination for Oregon’s fifth congressional district in 2022 — and he’ll likely face a primary challenge no matter which House district he opts for next year. Whether or not Schrader, a moderate Democrat, will run to retain his seat

By ALEX HASENSTAB/Oregon Public Broadcasting Churches in the southern Oregon coast city of Brookings are now restricted to offering free meals to the homeless just twice a week. The City Council approved the limitation last week, following complaints from people who live near churches that fed people. Churches are the only nonprofits in Brookings that offer free meals for the

By KEVIN HARDEN/Oregon Capital Bureau Oregon’s State Advisory Committee on Historic Preservation abruptly ended its Oct. 21 online meeting when someone watching the session began writing racist slurs. An hour into the first day of a two-day virtual session, committee members had started a discussion about possible nomination of several Portland-area sites associated with local African-American history, when a person

By ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle The Oregon Board of Forestry on Friday picked a forester from Coos Bay to lead the Oregon Department of Forestry. Calvin Mukumoto, a former member of the state Parks and Recreation Commission and Board of Forestry and the U.S. Board for the Forest Stewardship Council, will lead the agency’s 1,200 employees and a budget of

   House Speaker Tina Kotek addresses the chamber during a legislative special session on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. (Amanda Loman/Oregon Capital Chronicle) By JULIA SHUMWAY/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — Oregon’s 2019 law effectively ending single-family zoning could be a model for states across the nation, White House officials said during a meeting with House Speaker Tina Kotek, who spearheaded the