Dirk VanderHart
Dirk VanderHart covers Oregon politics and government for OPB. Before barging onto the radio in 2018, he spent more than a decade as a newspaper reporter—much of that time reporting on city government for the Portland Mercury. He’s also had stints covering chicanery in Southwest Missouri, the wilds of Ohio in Ohio, and all things Texas on Capitol Hill.
Dirk’s byline has appeared in USA Today, The New York Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Columbus Dispatch, The Oregonian, and more. He’s got a journalism degree from Michigan State University.
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Latest Stories
A plan to toll Portland highways is dead — but tolling is still on the table
Transportation leaders say they will be looking at the concept again next year, as they plot out the future of funding road maintenance.
‘OPB Politics Now’: What the 2024 Oregon Legislature accomplished
As Oregon lawmakers convened last month, they had an ambitious agenda headlined by complicated questions around like housing and homelessness and the drug addiction crisis. They ended up passing major legislation and they actually got along. On this week's episode of "OPB Politics Now" we explain how they managed it and what they accomplished.
Oregon Legislature adjourns after drug law changes, a housing boost and limits to campaign spending
Oregon lawmakers wrapped up the 2024 short legislative session on Thursday night after muscling through a remarkable number of high-profile policies in a little more than one month.
In landmark vote, Oregon lawmakers approve campaign finance limits
The passage of House Bill 4024 means campaign contributions in the state will be capped starting in 2027.
Bills on book bans, corporate health care at risk as Oregon legislative session nears adjournment
Republicans have deployed tactics to block a pair of hard-fought bills that could ensure they won't pass before the session ends.
Oregon is on the verge of creating limits on campaign cash — without a ballot fight
Oregon lawmakers have reached a deal that appears likely to give state campaign finance limits for the first time in decades.
Oregon lawmakers could ask voters to impose campaign contribution limits this year
As the Legislature speeds to adjournment, a proposal to regulate political giving is still being negotiated.
Oregon’s new drug penalties would mean surge in convictions, jail stints, state estimates suggest
State estimates show 1,333 people will be convicted of drug possession and 533 could go to jail every year under the bill approved by lawmakers last week.
Oregon’s drug decriminalization experiment appears dead
The voter-approved Measure 110 is nearing its end as the Legislature sends a bill unwinding Oregon's drug decriminalization toward the governor's desk.
Oregon takes massive step toward recriminalizing drug possession
Oregon's House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would recriminalize drug possession in the state, with 51 members voting to approve the bill. The bill would make possession of small amounts of drugs a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail.