Oregon

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek recently announced three executive orders to address housing and homelessness and asked lawmakers to put $130 million toward unsheltered Oregonians. Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty, Hermiston Mayor Dave Drotzmann and Lincoln County Commissioner Claire Hall respond.

Soccer cleats made with kangaroo leather are one of the only products routinely sold in Oregon that includes kangaroo parts.

As a string of attacks on electrical substations unfolded in Oregon and Washington in 2022, the FBI was warning utilities of white supremacists’ plots to take down the nation’s power grid. An investigation by OPB and Washington public media station KUOW reveals the scope of the threat to the Northwest grid.

The state's top 24 pinball players will meet at Blairally Vintage Arcade, competing for $5,000 in prize money and a spot at the North American Championship.

In its heyday, the festival was an annual event that drew 80,000 people to Portland’s waterfront. It is off for 2023, after returning last summer from a two-year hiatus.

Gov. Tina Kotek is set to take office Monday. She’s promised to take on housing, health care and education in her first term as governor.

In other news, Portland already has its first traffic fatality of 2023, the crypto collapse comes to Sisters, and attorneys have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a Crook County deputy.

Colleges are using money from Future Ready Oregon to offer discounted and free courses, support student needs and expand programming.

As people of the Pacific Northwest continued to make their way out of our pandemic hibernation period, the world started looking more like its pre-COVID-19 self. Once again, we saw people gathering, connecting, and exploring our beautiful region

The end of the year gives us the opportunity to look back at events and experiences from the region. As we draw a close on a year of both hardship and joy, let’s remember some of the stories that made us smile.