Category: Oregon

Northern California Highway Shut Down by Snow Now Reopen

REDDING, Calif.—A section of a major highway in Northern California reopened Thursday afternoon after a nearly 24-hour closure caused by blizzard conditions as the latest of back-to-back storms pushed through, authorities said. Traffic resumed moving on a stretch of Interstate 5 north of the city of Redding around 1 p.m., said Haleigh Pike, a spokesperson…


Oregon to Spend $400 Million on Rent and Drought Relief, Illegal Marijuana Crackdown, Afghan Resettlement

During a Dec. 13 special session, Oregon lawmakers passed a $400 million bipartisan spending package to prevent mass evictions, crack down on illegal marijuana cultivation, help farmers and ranchers impacted by drought, and provide funds to resettle Afghan refugees. The session was convened in response to a Nov. 30 request from Gov. Kate Brown, a…


Indoor Illegal Marijuana Grows in Oregon Tied to Chinese Organized Crime

A Nov. 29 search warrant in the small town of Philomath, Oregon, led to the discovery of 4,000 marijuana plants growing in a warehouse and the arrest of five suspects allegedly connected with a Chinese organized crime group headquartered in New York, according to Philomath Chief of Police Ken Rueben. During the raid, police arrested…


Oregon Health Officials Seek to Make Indoor Mask Mandate Indefinite

Public health officials in Oregon have recently lifted the state’s outdoor mask mandate, but they are working to keep a separate set of indoor mask requirements for places like schools and hospitals indefinitely in place. Oregon’s first indoor mask mandate was imposed in May 2020 and lifted this June, after the number of COVID-19 cases…


Portland Teachers’ Union Proposes Self-Taught Fridays to Reduce Teacher Burnout

Amid staffing shortage in schools across Oregon, Portland’s teachers’ union is seeking to turn one of the five school days into an “asynchronous instructional day,” in which high school students would stay at home and do school work while receiving limited online instructions. Citing an “unprecedented staffing crisis,” the Portland Association of Teachers on Monday…


Democrats to Lose Key Figure as DeFazio Announces Retirement

Congressman Peter DeFazio, (D-Ore.), announced on Dec. 1 that he will retire and not seek re-election in 2022. Chair of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee—a position that allowed him to help shape the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that passed in November–DeFazio served 36 years in the House of Representatives and was Oregon’s longest…


Cartels Hit in $500 Million Drug Bust in Southern Oregon

A two-day raid of five industrial warehouses in White City, Oregon, seized 250 tons of illegal marijuana with an estimated street value of more than $500 million. The Oregon State Police (OSP) said the Nov. 18 and Nov. 19 searches resulted in one of the state’s largest marijuana seizures to date. The OSP said law…


250 Tons of Illegal Marijuana Seized From Cartel Grow Operation in Oregon

A two-day raid of five industrial warehouses in White City, Oregon, seized 250 tons of illegal marijuana with an estimated street value of more than $500 million. The Oregon State Police (OSP) said the Nov. 18 and Nov. 19 searches resulted in one of the state’s largest marijuana seizures to date. The OSP said law…


Oregon Middle School Halts In-Person Classes Due to Students ‘Struggling With Socialization Skills’

A middle school in Oregon is pausing in-person instruction for two weeks over classroom disruptions that officials say are caused by some students “struggling with the socialization skills necessary for in-person learning.” It comes after the school was forced to provide distance learning over the past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, starting in spring…


Oregon Pleads for Federal Help to Combat Drug Cartels

Rooting out the international drug cartels and narco slavery associated with illegal marijuana production in southern Oregon will require “all hands on deck,” according to law enforcement and elected leaders who participated in a Nov. 10 roundtable convened by Congressman Cliff Bentz, a Republican, in Medford, Oregon. Inadequate regulation, open borders, and the lure of…