Rebecca Ellis
Rebecca Ellis

Rebecca Ellis

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Rebecca Ellis covers City Hall for OPB.

Before arriving in Portland, she was a Kroc Fellow at NPR, filing stories for the National Desk in Washington D.C. and reporting from Salt Lake City. She grew up in New York City and graduated from Brown University in 2018 with a Bachelor’s in Urban Studies. She has spent past summers as an investigator at the Bronx Defenders, a public defender’s office in the Bronx, and a reporter for a local weekly in Queens. Most recently, she interned with the Miami Herald, filing general assignment stories and learning to scuba dive.

Latest Stories

How thousands of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s texts were missing for years

An OPB investigation found Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and his staff sent and received thousands of text messages between 2017 and 2021 that were never available to people requesting city records. Thousands of messages from Portland elected officials and their staff have been erased in violation of city policy that they be kept permanently. Some experts say the city has now opened the door for every single records request for texts that came in during the mayor’s tenure to be re-examined.


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Portland voters consider massive overhaul of city government on November ballots

This November, voters will have a chance to try something new. Portlanders will consider Measure 26-228, a massive overhaul of Portland’s charter, a document akin to the city’s constitution. If the measure passes, the size of the council would swell from five to 12 members, voters would use ranked choice voting to pick their leaders, and the city would be split into four districts, among other momentous changes.


Portland leaders start work on plan to ban homeless camping

Alongside Commissioner Dan Ryan, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler's office has crafted a series of resolutions that aim to build at least three large city-sanctioned camping sites and ban other homeless camping across Portland. The Portland City Council will hear public comment Wednesday afternoon.


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