Alex Baumhardt - Oregon Capital Chronicle
Alex Baumhardt has been a national radio producer focusing on education for American Public Media since 2017. She has reported from the Arctic to the Antarctic for national and international media, and from Minnesota and Oregon for The Washington Post. She previously worked in Iceland and Qatar and was a Fulbright scholar in Spain where she earned a master's degree in digital media. She's been a kayaking guide in Alaska, farmed on four continents and worked the night shift at several bakeries to support her reporting along the way.
House fumbles special session, legislators to try again Sunday
The Oregon House struggled to muster a quorum during a special session of the Legislature on Friday, Aug. 29. Leaders adjourned the House until Sunday to again consider new transportation funding.
Oregon government will take $888 million revenue hit in next two years amid federal spending and tax cuts
The $472 million that Oregon lawmakers set aside to help buffer losses from the federal tax and spending cut law will not be enough, state forecasters said, as Republicans blamed state policies for the slowing economy.
Oregon business property tax breaks cost schools $275 million last year, study finds
Schools are losing more to tax abatements for data centers across Oregon, a new report says. But in Salem, tax abatements have shrunk and are mostly for affordable housing.
Oregon Secretary of State Read rejects Trump Justice Department demands for voter data
The Justice Department demanded personal information, including birthdays and driver’s license numbers, for all Oregon voters.
Oregon, 18 states sue federal energy agency over new funding caps on sustainable energy projects
U.S. Department of Energy officials put a 10% cap on staff and administrative costs on federally funded sustainable energy and energy efficiency projects.
Annual algae bloom forms on Willamette River. A bill to stop it died in the Oregon House
A bill would have provided $1 million in state funds to design a channel that could restore the Willamette River’s flow and stop the toxic algae blooms from forming, but it died in committee.
Conservationists again sue U.S. Fish and Wildlife for denying Oregon red tree voles protection
A new lawsuit is part of nearly 20-year fight to protect the red tree vole that has lost 65% of its Oregon Coast old-growth habitat to logging and wildfire.
Oregon’s US Rep. Cliff Bentz outspent every House member on Trump inauguration weekend
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz used federal dollars allocated to his office to pay for more than $16,000 worth of hotels for staff over Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
In the wake of tsunami warning, Oregon lawmaker calls for better state disaster preparedness
State Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, will propose a $300 million package to get more disaster training facilities statewide and to create a new response office under the governor.
Wholesalers sue Oregon weeks after launch of new state recycling program
The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors claim the Recycling Modernization Act passed in 2021 and implemented in July is unconstitutional.