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.
Asylum seeker taken by ICE outside Portland immigration court to be immediately released
The Mexican asylum seeker known as O-J-M in court documents will be released following 40 days in solitary confinement at an ICE detention center in Tacoma.
State lands get new leader in scientist and lawyer Kaitlin Lovell
Kaitlin Lovell will oversee roughly 680,000 acres of state-owned land. She's set to begin a four-year term in August.
Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley will seek re-election in 2026
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley,a Democrat, will run for a fourth term in the Senate. He's held the seat as Oregon's junior senator since 2009.
Oregon leaders respond to passage of GOP megabill, warn of ‘devastating consequences’
Oregon’s lone Republican congressman, Cliff Bentz, voted to pass Republicans' sweeping bill Thursday, while the state’s Democrats called it "a betrayal."
Gov. Tina Kotek orders Oregon schools to prohibit students from using cellphones
Kotek's ban on phones in schools follows the failure to pass a similar bill during the 2025 legislative session and will help student mental health and learning, the governor said.
Gov. Kotek launches new agency to fast-track housing construction
Oregon remains far short of the governor's goal of building 36,000 new homes per year.
ODOT to lay off hundreds starting next week
ODOT Director Kristopher Strickler said in an email to employees over the weekend that the Legislature’s inability to pass a transportation package to keep the agency solvent is “shocking, scary and frustrating.”
Gov. Kotek blames transportation package failure on Republicans ‘who just wanted to go home’
Gov. Kotek hinted she might call lawmakers back for a special session to address transportation issues. Republicans blamed a transportation bill failure on Democrats cutting them out of the process.
Legislature wraps for 2025 after eleventh-hour strife, historic funding shortfall
As the clock ran out for adjournment Friday night, Democrats faced a high-profile loss after failing to pass a dramatically watered-down transportation funding package.
Oregon Legislature’s last-ditch attempt for 3-cent gas tax increase fails
Oregon Democrats’ last-ditch effort to stave off hundreds of layoffs at the Oregon Department of Transportation by passing a 3-cent gas tax increase failed late Friday night after House Republicans refused to allow a vote.