State Rep. Susan McLain, D-Forest Grove, says work on regulating driverless cars will take years. (Claire Withycombe/Oregon Capital Bureau) SALEM — As development of driverless cars accelerates, Oregon is trying to catch up. The state has no regulation for what are termed autonomous cars. The law assumes there’s a person[Read More…]

Gov. Kate Brown and House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson stand in solidarity with victims of sexual assault on the Capitol steps on Monday, Sept. 24. (Salem Reporter/Aubrey Wieber) State Rep. Knute Buehler joined Gov. Kate Brown Thursday in calling for a halt to the U.S. Supreme Court nominating process for Brett[Read More…]

SALEM — A disparity in the rate of drug possession convictions between blacks and whites in the state has declined dramatically as a result of an anti-racial profiling law that took effect over a year ago, according to a report by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. The 2018 law reduced[Read More…]

The Oregon State Capitol building (Salem Reporter file photo) In what was a contentious hearing by Oregon standards, state lawmakers grilled a right-wing think tank statistician who testified that the climate changed the day the earth was “born” and media and government are generating hysterics over the matter. Kevin Dayaratna[Read More…]

Gov. Kate Brown and House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson stand in solidarity with victims of sexual assault on the Capitol steps on Monday, Sept. 24. (Salem Reporter/Aubrey Wieber) Gov. Kate Brown and House Majority Leader Jennifer Williamson took to the Capitol steps Monday morning to publicly support Christine Blasey Ford[Read More…]

Former Judge Tom Kohl talking with a prisoner at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in 2014. (Photo courtesy of Tom Kohl) As Tom Kohl was leaving, the prison warden called him back to sit and pray. “Dear lord, don’t let these men rest until there is a Bible college in the[Read More…]

Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson is leaning on technology to reach the 447,000 Oregonians with inactive voter registration. Richardson’s office gave the state’s list of inactive voters to Facebook, which cross-referenced the names with its social media profiles. On Tuesday, a video from Richardson started popping up in the[Read More…]

Oregon’s largest state agency is asking for more than $1 billion to add 1,664 new employees. But the proposed salaries won’t fill Oregon Department of Human Services’ cubicles with high-paid lawyers or bolster a public relations team. It will go toward protecting the most vulnerable Oregonians; children and the elderly.[Read More…]

Oregon State Correctional Institution east of Salem (Salem Reporter/Aubrey Wieber) In recent decades, Oregon’s prison population has ballooned. In 2016, it was nearly five times that of 1980. In January, 14,713 people were held in Oregon prisons. Now, a civil rights group is proposing Oregon cut that population in half,[Read More…]

Joining by phone, Secretary of State Dennis Richardson struggled to participate. When asked at the beginning of the call if he could hear, Richardson stammered for a couple seconds before a staffer jumped in. He was then silent for 18 minutes. Gov. Kate Brown, leading a meeting of the State[Read More…]