Tag Archives: Oregon

Oregon Public Radio reports: State Rep. Mike Nearman became the first person ever expelled from the Oregon Legislature on Thursday, following revelations he helped plan an armed incursion in the state Capitol late last year. In a widely anticipated vote, the Oregon House approved a resolution that formally found Nearman’s act of opening a Capitol door for a far-right crowd …

Portland’s NBC News affiliate reports: The bust of the only Black member of the Lewis and Clark expedition that sits on Mount Tabor was vandalized Tuesday. Videos shared with KGW shows a woman with cans of purple spray paint defacing the base of the statue of York. York was an enslaved member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Corps of …

The Washington Post reports: The Oregon Capitol is closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, “so you can’t come in,” the Republican legislator from rural Polk County acknowledges in a newly publicized video of a meeting that apparently took place mid-December. But then he drops hints about something called “Operation Hall Pass.” “Which I don’t know anything about, and if you accuse …

Big Country News reports: Five counties in eastern Oregon voted for becoming a part of Idaho on Tuesday. Voters approved ballot measures in Sherman, Lake, Grant, Baker, and Malheur counties. No counties voted against. On average, voters were 62% in favor of moving borders to include their counties in Idaho. Two additional Oregon counties had already voted in favor in …

The Insider reports: An Oregon church that previously sued the state’s governor over COVID restrictions has been linked to dozens of new cases of the virus in recent weeks. According to data published on May 5 by the Oregon Health Authority, 74 people associated with the People’s Church in the city of Salem contracted COVID-19 between April 6 and April …

The Oregonian reports: A Republican state lawmaker who authorities say let violent protesters into the Oregon Capitol in December says he is ill with COVID-19. “I have a really bad case of COVID and I’m kind of on the mend a little bit,” Rep. Mike Nearman said on a conservative radio talk show. Nearman faces a hearing in Marion County …

The Salem Statesman Journal reports: At least 74 people associated with Peoples Church in Salem have contracted COVID-19, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Oregon health officials began investigating the outbreak on April 6. OHA did not release information about it until May 5. It’s now the state’s eighth-largest active workplace outbreak. The church, located at 4500 Lancaster Drive NE, …

The New York Times reports: More than half of American states are reporting significant declines in coronavirus cases, but in Oregon, a new wave of the virus has pushed a third of the state’s counties to tighten lockdown restrictions. Oregon is reporting about 816 new cases a day, a roughly 31 percent increase from two weeks ago, according to a …

The Oregonian reports: An Oregon lawmaker who let violent far-right demonstrators into the state Capitol during a Dec. 21 special session was criminally charged on Friday with first-degree official misconduct and second-degree criminal trespass. Rep. Mike Nearman, R-Independence, was caught on security videos opening a door and allowing demonstrators to enter the building. He had been under investigation since at …

The Oregonian reports: Roughly a dozen Portland police officers faced off with a small group at a Northeast Portland Fred Meyer on Tuesday after people tried to take food that had been thrown away. Workers at the Hollywood West Fred Meyer threw away thousands of perishable items because the store had lost power in an outage brought on by the …

From Oregon’s Josephine County: When Josephine County Public Health staff and volunteers concluded their mass vaccination event at the Illinois Valley High School this afternoon, they never guessed they might be setting up an impromptu clinic on the way back to Grants Pass. But that’s exactly what happened when a snowstorm stranded about 20 personnel on Highway 199 near Hayes …

The Washington Post reports: Three weeks after hundreds of people stormed the U.S. Capitol in a violent rampage that left one police officer and four rioters dead and led to more than 100 arrests of the pro-Trump rioters, the House delivered an article of impeachment to the Senate, charging the former president with inciting the mob. In Oregon, the state …

Oregon Live reports: Security video obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive under a public records request clearly shows Rep. Mike Nearman, a Republican from Independence, open two doors to the Capitol during a Dec. 21 special legislative session, allowing violent demonstrators who were protesting immediately outside the door to illegally enter the building. Oregon’s Capitol was and is closed to the public …

OPB Politics reports: The Oregon State Police declared an unlawful assembly as a growing number of protesters pushed their way through the Capitol doors chanting, “let us in” and “arrest Kate Brown.” Police officers donned gas masks as they squared off with protesters, some of whom carried firearms and bear spray, and many of whom were not wearing masks. Among …

Portland’s NBC News affiliate reports: The Oregon Medical Board suspended the license of an Oregon doctor who said he refuses to wear a mask in his clinic while also encouraging others to not wear masks. Dr. Steven LaTulippe told a pro-Trump rally in November that neither he nor his staff wears a mask while working in their Dallas, Ore. clinic. …

Oregon Live reports: A tow truck driver from an Oregon company has been disciplined after a post on social media said he refused service to a customer with a bumper sticker in support of President-elect Joe Biden. A customer on Monday posted a video on the social media app TikTok, which appeared to show a driver from The Dalles-based company …

Portland’s NBC News reports: Fifty years after the War On Drugs began in the 1970s, Oregon voters decided on an alternative path: decriminalization for user-amounts of illicit substances and accompanying recovery treatment options instead of jail time. Oregonians have approved Measure 110, which decriminalizes possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD, oxycodone and some other drugs, according to the …

Reuters reports: Thousands of supporters of the right-wing Proud Boys group were expected in Portland, Oregon on Saturday as police prepared for clashes in a city that has become the epicenter of sometimes deadly political violence in the run up to the Nov. 3 election. Governor Kate Brown on Friday declared a weekend state of emergency for Oregon’s biggest city, …

Labor 411 reports: Oregon Republican state senator Fred Girod was one of 11 Republicans who made headlines when they walked out of the senate –  even leaving the state – so that a quorum could not be achieved for a climate change bill. Now with wildfires raging in Oregon, climate change has come to Girod’s doorstep. Literally. “Fred Girod stood …

Reuters reports: Around half a million people in Oregon were ordered to evacuate on Friday and residents of its largest city, Portland, were told to be ready to go as extreme wind-driven wildfires scorched U.S. West Coast states, causing at least 24 deaths. About 10 percent of the state’s population faced red “GO!” warnings to leave homes immediately, while hundreds …