Journalist covering environment and education @oregoncapitalchronicle.com, part of @statesnewsroom.com
Four-byline alert: 🚨 “.. no sitting American president has ever raised these amounts for his pet projects. .. Trump has been demanding large checks .. telling executives and lobbyists that their companies should give $25 million or $50 million.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
The State Department said it takes "full responsibility" for "hastily" altering and then presenting a map of Africa at a global AIDS conference that mislabeled every single country it highlighted. An analysis by Reuters found a watermark in the map image that suggests it was made with OpenAI.
Sorry had to correct my earlier post: FOUR of the largest active wildfires in the U.S. right now are in Oregon. www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/20...
Trump administration denies emergency funding for 2 Oregon wildfiresU.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have sent a letter to the federal agency expressing frustration with the decision.www.oregonlive.comAlex BaumhardtTrump has denied Democrat-led states from $250 million in disaster aid that would have been approved by every previous president, including Trump in his first term. He rejected most requests even after FEMA confirmed damage met financial thresholds for receiving aid. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
An OHSU financial aid official the other day said he recently attended a U.S. Ed Department virtual meeting on new graduate student loan caps and the presentation was clearly made by AI and full of slop, including a completely inaccurate depiction of the Ed department’s logo…
ReutersUS government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference reut.rs/4x9eTCW
Trump has denied Democrat-led states from $250 million in disaster aid that would have been approved by every previous president, including Trump in his first term. He rejected most requests even after FEMA confirmed damage met financial thresholds for receiving aid. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
It's 3 times harder for blue states to get disaster funding under TrumpThe president has approved just 23 percent of blue state requests for disaster aid, compared to 89 percent for red states.www.politico.com
Bad news: The 30-year Treasury yield hit a 19-year high today. 🚨🚨🚨 America's going to have to pay more for its colossal debt, which will soon hit $40 trillion. Interest already tops $1T a year and is growing rapidly. Latest GOP/WH plans would increase the deficit. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Treasuries Jolted as Fed Hold Trims September Hike BetsUS bond traders lowered their expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its next meeting after officials kept their benchmark steady on Wednesday, while 30-year Treasury yield...www.bloomberg.comOregon Connects is part of a network of groups created by the nonprofit Data Center Coalition, an industry group that counts among its members leaders from Microsoft, Google, Meta, QTS and Equinix — all companies that collectively have built dozens of data centers in Oregon during the last decade.
Oregon Capital ChronicleThe ads in Oregon and other states are all from of a network of groups created by the nonprofit Data Center Coalition, an industry group hoping to improve public opinion of data centers as pushback grows.
California has the largest virtual power plant in the world, with 200,000 participants. At the exact moment when the grid is dirtiest and most expensive to run, this program surges in with the cheapest, cleanest power. Newsom's budget would kill it. That's just bad policy.
200,000 Californians create as much power as a nuclear plant to help the grid. Now that's up in the airCalifornia has one of the most successful "virtual power plants" in the world, but it's on the chopping block.www.latimes.com
NEW: DHS' top number-cruncher just left the department -- and blasted the administration's "war on immigrants" on the way out. He's one of the very few DHS officials to step down and speak out publicly against this White House. Me in @wired.com ... www.wired.com/story/dhs-of...
DHS Official Resigns, Citing ‘War on Immigrants’The outgoing executive director of the Office of Homeland Security Statistics is one of very few federal officials to speak out against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.www.wired.comToday, Walmart’s effective income tax rate is about half of what it was 10 years ago. Amazon, which saw its pre-tax U.S. profits increase by nearly 45% last year to almost $90 billion, paid in 2025 half the taxes it had the previous two years: ~$2.8 billion, down from $7 billion in 2024 and 2023.
Oregon Capital ChronicleMulti-billion-dollar grocers and retailers such as Walmart and Amazon were among the most listed employers on Oregonians’ applications for publicly-funded health insurance last year, according to a Capital Chronicle analysis of Oregon Health Authority data.
Amazon and Walmart are most frequently listed companies on Oregonians' Medicaid and SNAP forms. 1 in 5 of the most listed employers on SNAP forms, and 1 in 6 most listed on Medicaid forms, was a major grocer and retailer via @oregoncapitalchronicle.com oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/07/27/i...
In Oregon, big grocery, retail companies have highest number of employees on Medicaid • Oregon Capital ChronicleMulti-billion-dollar grocers and retailers such as Walmart and Amazon were among the most listed employers on Oregonians’ applications for publicly-funded health insurance last year, according to a Ca...oregoncapitalchronicle.comJudd Legum1. American taxpayers are spending $2 BILLION every year providing Medicaid benefits to hundreds of thousands of employees of Amazon and Walmart, a new analysis by Popular Information reveals.
“This is a win for consumers, workers, and fair competition, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement.
Paramount delays closing Warner buyout while judge considers challenge from 12 states, including OregonParamount and Warner Bros. Discovery have agreed to delay closing their $81 billion merger well into next year, a stunning move that arrives as a judge continues to consider a challenge from 12 states, including Oregon, that are seeking to block the deal altogether.www.opb.org“Minnesotans learned that clean water must be protected before the well runs dry. Civic information is no different. Fund the watchdog — or be eaten by the wolf.” www.startribune.com/media-trust-...
Opinion | Local news is a public good. Minnesota should fund it like one.When local newspapers close, lenders jack up the cost of borrowing and politicians increase their salaries — all because nobody is watching. One analysis estimates that Minnesota's news deserts cost t...www.startribune.comSince 1989, when Oregon got its first trans-Pacific fiber optic cable spanning from Pacific City to Alaska to Japan, the state lands department has only mandated companies pay an application fee that, since 2001, has been frozen at $5,000.
Oregon Capital ChronicleThe Oregon Department of State Lands is proposing for the first time to charge multinational telecommunications and tech companies for using the seafloor off the state’s Pacific Coast for fiber-optic cables used to transmit internet data and international calls.
The Oregon Department of State Lands is proposing for the first time to charge multinational telecommunications and tech companies for using the seafloor off the state’s Pacific Coast for fiber-optic cables used to transmit internet data and international calls.
Following data center boom, Oregon for first time considers charging use fees for undersea cables • Oregon Capital ChronicleState regulators are updating rules and fees for companies that run cables through Oregon’s territorial sea.buff.lyOregon's 2026 gubernatorial election is a rematch between two of the three women who ran in 2022, making incumbent Tina Kotek and challenger Christine Drazan part of the record number of women running for governor across the country.
Number of women seeking a governor’s seat hits an all-time high • Oregon Capital ChronicleWASHINGTON — New data reveals the number of women running in the 2026 elections is slightly up from 2024, but experts say there is still progress to be made with women’s representation in public…buff.lyA coalition of Democratic state attorneys general has joined a lawsuit seeking to end the Trump administration’s halt of onshore wind projects in the United States.
State AGs join legal fight against Trump’s wind farm freeze • Oregon Capital ChronicleA coalition of state attorneys general has joined a lawsuit seeking to end the Trump administration’s halt of onshore wind projects in the United States. Last week, 18 states and the District of…buff.ly