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.
Strong earthquake strikes off California coast, triggering tsunami warning in southern Oregon
A strong earthquake struck off the northern California coast this morning, triggering an unusual tsunami warning for northern California and southern Oregon and an evacuation of local residents and visitors. The National Tsunami Warning Center, which is based in Alaska,…
Residential PGE customers subsidizing industrial customer growth, CEO letter to Wyden indicates
PGE’s demand from industrial users rose 34% in the last five years, pushing the company to invest more in infrastructure and buy more expensive energy
Gov. Kotek makes final plea to Biden to make Owyhee Canyonlands a national monument
In a recent letter, Kotek asked Biden to protect “Oregon’s Grand Canyon” and a stretch of the Owyhee River in the southeast of the state.
State approves new recycling rules to reduce packaging pollution, make producers pay for waste
Apartment complexes in Oregon will be required to provide recycling for residents starting in the summer of 2025, among other changes.
Kotek calls special legislative session to pay outstanding bills from record Oregon wildfire season
The state owes more than $200 million to firefighters and contractors who helped put out more than 2,000 fires this summer and fall.
Sen. Wyden calls on Portland General Electric to detail true drivers of massive rate hikes
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden wrote to Portland General Electric’s CEO requesting within a month documentation about the reasons behind the company's 40% rate increases over four years.
Oregon commission approves redo of landmark climate program after lawsuit derailed it
The Climate Protection Program, which regulates fossil fuel companies and their emissions in the state, was reinstated Thursday by the Environmental Quality Commission
Oregon’s environmental, immigrant, democracy groups prepare for another Trump presidency
A coalition of groups came together Wednesday to discuss how they’d protect priorities and vulnerable communities throughout the state.
Wildfire survivors appeal to Congress to end federal income tax on settlements, lawyer fees
Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, vowed at a Portland town hall to get a bill passed by the end of the year, and potentially by Thanksgiving
Oregon school districts, employees face $670 million increase in payments to public pension system
The increased costs for schools to the Public Employee Retirement System in the next two years will more than wipe out the governor’s proposed increases in school funding.