June 2023 - Page 8

By RYAN HASS/Oregon Public Broadcasting After seven weeks of detailed analysis about topics as far-ranging as fire plumes and metallurgy, jurors will soon decide whether the electricity provider PacifiCorp should pay out for thousands of properties destroyed during the 2020 Labor Day wildfires in Oregon. The trial, which began at the end of April, wrapped up with closing statements Wednesday

BY ALEX ZIELINSKI/Oregon Public Broadcasting Portland City Council approved a new policy that criminalizes homeless camping Wednesday. The ordinance bans camping on public property from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and introduces stricter rules on camping during all other hours. “These reasonable restrictions are a step in the right direction towards a revitalized Portland,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said before voting

By MEERAH POWELL/Oregon Public Broadcasting An ongoing disagreement over religious expression in a government-funded program has led to the apparent termination of a decadeslong partnership between Oregon State University and a rural county in southern Oregon. Josephine County’s Board of Commissioners voted Wednesday to cut future funding toward Oregon State University’s Extension Service. That decision comes after some commissioners and

By DIRK VANDERHART/Oregon Public Broadcasting Federal criminal investigators are looking into former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and the two cannabis entrepreneurs she briefly worked for, records show. According to subpoenas released Wednesday by the Oregon Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in late May sent demands to five state agencies for records concerning Fagan and the owners of

 Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, speaks during a press conference about the Senate Republican walkout on Tuesday. By BEN BOTKIN/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — Oregonians have much to lose if the legislative session ends by June 25 without a functioning Senate that can vote on bills, Democrats warned Tuesday. The GOP-led Senate walkout is preventing votes on bills intended to