Free Republic

Initiative Petition 28, a controversial measure that would ban the commercial slaughter of animals as well as fishing and hunting across the state, has failed the first level of signature verification necessary to place it on the November ballot. Connor Radnovich, a spokesman for Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read, the state’s chief elections officer, confirmed to WW that the initial sample of signatures the Elections Division tested failed to meet the state’s validity threshold. The IP 28 campaign submitted 142,784 signatures on July 2. To qualify for the ballot, the petition needs 117,173 verified signatures. That would require 82%...

What began as a roadside fire in northern Jackson County has rapidly grown into Oregon’s largest active wildfire, drawing hundreds of firefighters, aircraft, heavy equipment, and structural protection resources from across the state as crews work to protect homes and slow the fire’s advance through rugged forestland north of Rogue River. Maps The East Evans Creek Fire has quickly become the region’s most significant wildfire emergency of the summer, expanding from a small ignition Friday afternoon into a fast-moving incident that has forced evacuations, closed major roadways, and prompted one of Oregon’s largest coordinated firefighting responses this fire season. As...

Questions are mounting over whether some Benton County voters’ primary election ballots were affected after postal workers alleged some Corvallis mail routes were told to prioritize package deliveries over collecting outgoing mail on Election Day.The information was first reported by the Corvallis Gazette-Times, which spoke with two postal workers who said letter carriers were directed by management on May 19 — the day of Oregon’s primary election — to focus on package deliveries. Benton County officials say they were unaware of the allegations until they read the newspaper’s report.

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As an Oregon man is set to be arraigned on domestic terrorism charges, KATU has learned more about the alleged motive behind the fires. Ethan Noble Burlingame emailed a "declaration of war" against the U.S. and expressed an intent to "cause suffering, destruction and terror" and "burn down the empire," according to prosecutors. According to the arrest warrant filed by Wheeler County District Attorney Gretchen Ladd, Burlingame emailed his intent to a Florida resident under the username Rottenheart in the early morning hours of June 1. Later that morning, a fire destroyed an unoccupied building in Fossil, near Burlingame's home...

The parents of a 13-year-old girl filed a lawsuit against Oregon Health and Science University after doctors told them their daughter was dying — but it turned out surgeons had installed her new heart valve upside down, according to the complaint. Steven and Lori Stokes filed a $17 million lawsuit against OHSU and Dr. Ashok Muralidaran, who performed the surgery, in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleging negligence in medical care. On Aug. 15, 2025, an OHSU surgical team led by Dr. Muralidaran performed open-heart surgery on the girl to implant a heart valve. The procedure required surgeons to stop her...

Former U.S. Senator of Oregon Bob Packwood has died at the age of 93. Packwood was a moderate Republican and Portland native with a complicated legacy. His passing was first reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting. Mult Co Board passes $4B budget; 158 positions cut During his time in Congress, Packwood was chair of the Senate Finance Committee. He was also an environmentalist, a supporter of Israel, and was well known nationally as a strong supporter of women’s rights, including a woman’s right to choose an abortion even before the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. However, a congressional investigation found...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday launched an investigation into Multnomah County, Oregon, over the county's race-based homelessness programs, writing in a letter to county officials that the programs likely violate the Fair Housing Act. The move comes after the Washington Free Beacon reported that Multnomah County, which includes most of Portland, awards more points for "requesting culturally responsive services" than for being "homeless 12+ months" in its allocation scheme for housing services. Individuals must reach a certain cutoff on the points-based index in order to qualify for supportive housing. The county also sets aside "culturally specific"...

US forces in war zones have been targeted through commercially available location data, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a letter from US Central Command shared by US Senator Ron Wyden. CENTCOM said it had received “multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil US personnel in theater,” according to the letter. A bipartisan group of lawmakers warned the Pentagon that commercial location data could reveal where US troops gather and their daily patterns, exposing them to missile, drone and roadside bomb attacks. Wyden said Washington should start treating the adtech industry as a national...

Six states are holding primaries today (May 19), including Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. A good deal of focus will be on the Kentucky 4th District House race, where incumbent Republican Thomas Massie faces a challenge from the Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein. We'll definitely be keeping tabs on that one, as well as the GOP House and Senate primaries in the Bluegrass State. (Trump endorsed Rep. Andy Barr (KY-06) in that latter race. Will he be the GOP nominee to replace the outgoing Mitch McConnell?) SEE: 'Get This Loser Out': Trump Now Demanding Massie Primary Defeat Judge With Notorious...

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed legislation this week to permanently direct millions in state taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood, the state’s largest abortion business. The taxpayer funding is designed to replace federal Medicaid funding blocked by the Trump administration. House Bill 4127, which Kotek signed in March, requires the Oregon Health Authority to create a payment mechanism using state funds to backfill reimbursements lost since July 2025. It also establishes a permanent contingency plan should Congress cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood indefinitely. Oregon is the first state to enact such a long-term replacement plan. All Republicans in the...

Republicans’ support for President Donald Trump's war on Iran fractured on Wednesday. Senate Democrats have tried to splinter off Republicans from their near-unified backing of Operation Epic Fury for months with a campaign of attrition, putting war powers resolution after war powers resolution on the floor ever since fighting began. And after two months of trying, they finally got some in the GOP to flip on Trump with Sen. Jeff Merkley's, D-Ore., latest attempt. Still, it wasn’t enough to terminate ongoing operations in the Middle East. Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has consistently...

A disabled woman is suing the homeless services department in Multnomah County, Oregon, after she was denied rent relief due to her low score on the county's race-based prioritization rubric, which awards more points for requesting "culturally specific services"—including "BIPOC"-focused housing—than for having a disability. Michele Mei, a white woman with cerebrovascular disease, filed the lawsuit after she was told that she did not meet the cutoff for housing assistance, Fox 12 Oregon reported last month. The complaint came in the wake of an investigation by Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries, which found "substantial evidence of an unlawful housing...

PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Since the city began contracting with Urban Alchemy — a large San Francisco-based nonprofit homeless service provider — in 2023, Portland's Ombudsman has received more than 80 complaints about the organization, mostly from guests. The most egregious complaints allege sexual harassment, drug use, drug dealing, theft and retaliation by staff. Documents obtained from the ombudsman’s office through a records request detail each of those allegations made by guests staying at a range of Urban Alchemy-run shelter sites across Portland. Some complaints also came from individuals claiming to be Urban Alchemy employees or former employees. Through information...

Investigative journalist Katie Daviscourt was violently mobbed and had a rock thrown at her face by masked Antifa militants while attempting to report on their May Day riot outside the federal ICE facility on Friday night. Despite having security present, Daviscourt, a reporter for The Post Millennial and Human Events, was forced to abandon her work as black-bloc extremists swarmed her in what she described as a coordinated “direct action” organized by the domestic terrorist group Antifa. Daviscourt livestreamed the attack and posted a clip to X shortly after it happened. In the post with the video, Daviscourt wrote, “It’s...

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced legislation today to repeal Donald Trump’s global tariffs, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. The binding measure will be treated as a privileged resolution that must receive a vote on the Senate floor. The measure would terminate the emergency that Trump declared in order to slap tariffs of up to 40% on products Americans buy from other countries. In the wake of Trump’s tariff declaration, costs have...

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Oregon is rolling out tablets to all state prisoners, a strategy officials say could help stem the influx of illicit substances into its prisons.Any mail an inmate receives will be digitally scanned and then sent directly to their tablet, eliminating any opportunities for hidden drugs to be unknowingly ferried to their cell, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.Corrections officials have said these changes will happen gradually, adding that they are aiming to get the tablets in the hands of prisoners by September.There are roughly 12,000 people in state custody who may soon be able to watch movies, play games...

UPDATE: Jennifer Lincoln, the Portland doctor whose contract was terminated for harassing ICE at an airport, uploaded a new video filled with useless leftist slogans and disabled the comments. She claims that she sees what “racism and fear” do to patients, that she can’t stay silent, and that she will continue to fight for “democracy.”

A Portland jury on Wednesday acquitted Angella Lynn Davis of Vernonia, Ore., of charges of second-degree disorderly conduct and offensive physical contact stemming from an October confrontation with independent journalist Nick Sortor. Prosecutors said Davis, 47, chased and helped surround Sortor while brandishing a stick near an Antifa-affiliated encampment adjacent to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, which has seen repeated protests and arrests, The Post Millennial reported. Sortor traveled from Washington, D.C. to document unrest tied to federal immigration enforcement policies. Senior Deputy District Attorney Kevin Demer told jurors during opening statements that Davis “aggressively pursued” Sortor after...