Samaritan Health’s new CEO asks for public’s understanding and support

May 23, 2025

To the editor: As I wrap up my first week as chief executive officer of Samaritan Health Services, I want to take a moment to speak directly and plainly. There’s been a lot of talk this week — some of it based on incomplete information. So let me be clear about what’s happening, why it matters and how we’re moving

Oregon’s only GOP representative defends House’s passage of changes to Medicaid programs

May 23, 2025

By ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle Oregon’s lone Republican representative in Congress defended the party’s decision to attach new work and citizenship requirements to Medicaid eligibility at a virtual town hall Wednesday night and said there is a “travesty” of able-bodied, non-working Americans. U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, who represents Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District covering much of eastern Oregon, answered fewer

Despite lots of vocal opposition, county commission chair says idea of limiting public comment still alive

May 22, 2025

By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle NEWPORT – A proposal to limit public comment at Lincoln County commission meetings is still alive despite a wave of opposition Wednesday – including from commissioner Casey Miller who was blocked from voicing his dissent. Another chaotic commission meeting this week is the latest in an onslaught of conflict – months of contention between commissioners

Yachats’ proposed 2025-26 budget rising 14 percent as multiple long-planned city projects get under way

May 22, 2025

By GARRET JAROS/Lincoln Chronicle YACHATS – If the city of Yachats’ proposed 2025-26 budget were a person they would be wearing a hard hat and boots and working from dawn to dusk on a laundry list of capital improvement projects. The nearly $8.86 million spending proposal reflects the city’s movement on a litany of long-term plans and is $1.1

Nurses union, 3 lawmakers urge Samaritan Health not to close maternity units in Lincoln City, Lebanon

May 22, 2025

By LYNNE TERRY/The Lund Report Dozens of residents and health care professionals held a last-minute rally called by the Oregon Nurses Association on Wednesday in Corvallis over the specter of Samaritan Health Services closing maternity centers at its hospitals in Lincoln City and Lebanon They gathered mid-day outside a Samaritan building in Corvallis an hour before board members were

Find a float and charitable foundation will spread $129,000 among dozens of Lincoln County organizations

May 22, 2025

By Oregon Coast TODAY Finding a glass float on a Lincoln City beach is already a special experience, but from June 1-14 a found float will have even more meaning. The Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation is once again partnering with Explore Lincoln City to add a philanthropic twist to the Finders Keepers program — this time with a focus

Lincoln City police news release on two recent child luring arrests

May 22, 2025

Over the past several months, Lincoln City police officers have conducted investigations involving child luring crimes during which officers posed as underage children on various online social media platforms and were contacted by two separate adult men. These men then initiated sexually inappropriate conversations and sent sexually explicit photographs to these accounts, which they believed to be operated by juveniles

Yachats council OKs spending $13,000 for portable speed trailer

May 22, 2025

YACHATS – In its continued effort to slow traffic on U.S. Highway 101 through town, the Yachats city council on Wednesday approved pursuing the purchase of a portable speed monitoring trailer with rotating radar capability. Ongoing requests by community members to lower highway speed in the current 40 mph speed zones on the north and south ends of town resulted

The head of Oregon’s semi-independent travel promotion agency suddenly resigns Thursday

May 22, 2025

By JAMES NEFF/ Oregon Journalism Project Longtime Travel Oregon executive director Todd Davidson announced Thursday he is retiring after three decades as a public employee. While the timing appeared sudden, it came five weeks after the Oregon Journalism Project first contacted Travel Oregon about an investigation into complaints regarding Davidson’s outsized compensation and allegations of a toxic workplace. He earned

UO journalism professors decry Trump administration’s attacks on free speech

May 22, 2025

To the editor: Journalism and freedom of speech are under attack. We write this letter as proud journalism faculty at the University of Oregon who feel the urgency of the times. These are not isolated events, anomalies in an otherwise functioning system. These are systemic and systematic attacks on the First Amendment by our own government. In recent months, the