Free Republic

For more than 30 years, the path to high school graduation in New York State has required Regents exams, the rigorous end-of-year tests that have determined whether students receive a diploma. The New York State Board of Regents, the governing body for its schools, voted on Monday to take a major step in its yearslong plan to phase out the exam as a graduation requirement, a far-reaching overhaul intended to eliminate barriers to graduation for some students. The changes represent New York’s most substantial education policy overhaul in decades, a sweeping rethinking of student expectations and diploma requirements in a...

PENDLETON, Ore. – To resolve a lawsuit brought by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys, Oregon child-welfare officials agreed to a court order freeing Jessica Bates to seek a license to adopt children from foster care without violating her religious beliefs about human sexuality. Bates filed a lawsuit in April 2023 challenging an Oregon Department of Human Services rule that categorically excluded her from adopting any child—no matter their age or beliefs—because she would not lie to children about their identity by promoting the view that girls can become boys and vice versa. Under the agreed-upon court order, Bates may now...

After three years of focused federal prosecution of armed drug dealers in downtown Portland, Oregon’s U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford announced Tuesday that law enforcement officers will now expand their efforts to target dealers operating in public housing and outside drug treatment clinics. “We saw fentanyl dealers being arrested in the morning, being released in the afternoon and back out on the streets in the evening, dealing this death and poison to our community members,” he said. Bradford described the multi-agency partnership as an “innovative solution” to the state’s fentanyl crisis. “If you talk about a lot of street-level dealers...

A burglar will not become a multi-millionaire after a Portland, Oregon, jury ruled Tuesday in favor of the business owner the burglar sued for shooting him three times. Kenneth Voyles claimed that he was trying to find food and possibly some items to steal when he broke into Touchstone Granite & Marble in March 2023, only to be confronted by the business owner, James Grant, who was living in the back room, the Portland Oregonian reported. After the initial confrontation in which he threw a cup of urine into the intruder’s face, Grant retrieved a firearm and shot Voyles three...

Oregon's spending on low-income housing has exploded in the past five years. The state has given developers an unprecedented $1.4 billion, and the cost of developing each apartment has nearly doubled, to $540,000. Dozens of projects are lined up for an additional $850 million in future state funding. Federal tax credits, which the state oversees, will bring even more money to bear. Yet one thing has remained constant: The public isn't allowed to see the details of how all these dollars are being spent. Oregon is one of the only states in the country with a carve-out in its public...

A Christian mom and her husband are fighting back in court after Oregon’s Department of Human Services determined that they caused “mental injury” to her daughter by refusing to “affirm” her transgender identity. “It has destroyed our lives,” Nicole Calaway, the mother of two daughters who are now estranged because they both claim a transgender identity, told the Daily Signal in an interview Sunday. Child Protective Services took custody of her then-15-year-old daughter, K.A., on July 18, 2024, one day after Calaway and K.A. terminated the services of K.A.’s therapist, Jennifer Forster. According to court documents, Forster filed the complaint...

While one Oregon school social worker lost an appeal after displaying children’s books in his office affirming biological sex, over a dozen books sit on the very same school district’s children's library shelves that are considered too explicit for even adult prison bookshelves. Key Takeaways: * Social worker Roderick Theis was fired from Oregon's Intermountain Education Service District after displaying books affirming biological sex in his office behind his desk. * The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, claimed that displaying the books was not speech protected by the First Amendment. * Two of the books Theis...

Forty-three percent of the people Portland police arrested at protests against immigration enforcement have had their cases dismissed or dropped with no complaint or they’ve been acquitted, a WW analysis has found.Of the eight defendants who went to trial, five were acquitted, and those convicted received only short probations. That suggests juries have largely found that the charges don’t pass muster.“When arrests are made, they’re based on probable cause that a crime was committed by the person. When a public order situation is becoming dangerous, there are times where arrests are made based on probable cause to prevent a situation...

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...