Sunrise reveals a Pacific Northwest overwhelmed with wildfire smoke. Combined with rising temperatures in the region, any outdoor activities should be limited as much as possible. weather.gov
Alex Baumhardt
@alexbaumhardt.bsky.social
Journalist covering environment and education @oregoncapitalchronicle.com, part of @statesnewsroom.com
They could always sign up to give comment at a public meeting.
The Wall Street Journal@wsj.com · 16h agoNew York City’s business elites are long accustomed to direct access to City Hall, where even Democratic mayors felt the need to court the city’s wealthiest and most influential corporate leaders. That access is getting shredded by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Holy blowout
Brian Kaylor@briankaylor.bsky.social · 16h agoAP calls win for "no" on Missouri Amendment 4, which was effort by GOP lawmakers to stop citizen-led constitutional amendments. This anti-democratic measure was also supported by Christian Nationalist church as "biblical" vote: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/thou-shalt... Nice to see the big loss!
"Rena" sent this from Moses Lake WA where she is weeding carrots for a non-union company. She shared: The air is bad. See my cell phone. The AQI is 166, which is unhealthy. We start at 4am. We'll work 7-8 hrs & earn minimum wage. #WeFeedYou
In TX: Tarrant County Judge Tim O'Hare just CLEARED the meeting room, kicking out public speakers who are opposed to the GOP plan to cut half of the battleground county's Election Day voting locations for November:
Listening now to gov's Data Center Advisory Committee discuss takeaways from months of meetings. Seems unlikely the group will lay out any major regulations to consider on data centers. Moratorium off table. Likely they will focus on recommending more state/local partnerships and transparency.
OPB@opb.org · yesterdayAs public angst over data centers is leading to snap policy decisions in some Oregon cities, the governor's new Data Center Advisory Committee meets Tuesday to begin crafting recommendations expected to be released next month.
Banger report from @shaanthx.bsky.social on self-dealing from Oregon's Republican gov. hopeful. Sen. Christine Drazan registered a new consulting business in 2023, then a new nonprofit 3 weeks later, then paid her consulting biz $100k from the nonprofit. oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/08/04/h...
How Drazan’s consulting firm pocketed nearly $100k from her nonprofit with little oversight • Oregon Capital Chronicle
The situation offers insight into how one of Oregon’s most successful recent Republican politicians handled her finances ahead of a campaign.
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
They're probably hoping you won't hear about this. But tomorrow in TX, Tarrant County officials meet to vote on a GOP plan to cut almost HALF of Election Day voting locations, plus 8 early voting locations, some of them on campuses. Not hard to guess why. fortworthreport.org/2026/07/30/t...
Tarrant County considers cutting 140 Election Day polling sites for November
County commissioners vote Aug. 4 on proposed reductions to the number of early voting and day-of sites for the midterms.
fortworthreport.org
Researchers who surveyed women inside Coffee Creek starting in 2017 found that 65% were in an abusive relationship at the time of their crime, with nearly 45% saying the relationship contributed to their conviction. oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/08/01/w...
Why sentencing reform for domestic violence survivors keeps falling short in Oregon • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Advocates and lawmakers in Oregon have introduced bills to allow judges to reduce a sentence based on how coercion and abuse played a role in the crime these laws in three legislative sessions, but…
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
Oregonians who own small businesses or buy their health insurance as individuals on the state’s health insurance marketplace could see a more than 15% increase in their premiums in the next year, according to the state’s top financial regulators.
Oregon poised to adopt double-digit health insurance premium hikes in 2027 • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Some Oregonians could end up seeing a more than 15% increase in their premiums in the next year under plans from state regulators.
buff.ly
Oregon farmers, ranchers “will rebuild again,” Gov. Tina Kotek wrote to federal leaders. “What they ask of their government is not sympathy; it is speed.” Her request that feds help Oregon at same scale, speed as red states follows recent FEMA aid denials: oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/07/31/g...
Gov. Kotek presses feds to get Oregon farmers, ranchers same urgent wildfire relief as red states • Oregon Capital Chronicle
‘Oregon asks for the Utah clock,’ Gov. Tina Kotek wrote in a letter for immediate and robust wildfire aid to Oregon farmers and ranchers.
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
Researchers journey into Pacific for clues about disappearance of old, female rockfish, writes @alexbaumhardt.bsky.social for the @oregoncapitalchronicle.com alaskabeacon.com/2026/07/31/r...
Researchers journey into Pacific for clues about disappearance of old, female rockfish | Alaska Beacon
Off the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, Canada and Alaska, three species of female rockfish have largely disappeared in the last 40 years.
alaskabeacon.com
New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...
Washington state lawmakers failed to pass House Bill 2515 earlier this year, which would have required data centers to pay additional utility charges, comply with clean energy requirements, and shut off power at times of peak demand. washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/07/29/w...
With 2030 deadline to cut emissions approaching, WA has a long way to go • Washington State Standard
Washington met its first emissions limit set in 2020, mostly due to the pandemic. The 2030 target will be a much heavier lift.
washingtonstatestandard.com
Under Trump, U.S. Forest Service last year lost 100+ Minnesota employees, delayed $10 million in funding for wildfire mitigation in the Superior National Forest. 60,000+ acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness have burned since early July. minnesotareformer.com/2026/07/31/f...
Trump and Musk cut funding for wildfire mitigation — and then the Northland started burning • Minnesota Reformer
The U.S. Forest Service lost more than 100 Minnesota employees and delayed $10 million in grant funding for wildfire mitigation in the Superior National Forest during the chaotic first year of Preside...
minnesotareformer.com
Four-byline alert: 🚨 “.. no sitting American president has ever raised these amounts for his pet projects. .. Trump has been demanding large checks .. telling executives and lobbyists that their companies should give $25 million or $50 million.” @wsj.com www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
The State Department said it takes "full responsibility" for "hastily" altering and then presenting a map of Africa at a global AIDS conference that mislabeled every single country it highlighted. An analysis by Reuters found a watermark in the map image that suggests it was made with OpenAI.
Sorry had to correct my earlier post: FOUR of the largest active wildfires in the U.S. right now are in Oregon. www.oregonlive.com/wildfires/20...
Trump administration denies emergency funding for 2 Oregon wildfires
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley have sent a letter to the federal agency expressing frustration with the decision.
oregonlive.com
Alex Baumhardt@alexbaumhardt.bsky.social · 6d agoTrump has denied Democrat-led states from $250 million in disaster aid that would have been approved by every previous president, including Trump in his first term. He rejected most requests even after FEMA confirmed damage met financial thresholds for receiving aid. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
An OHSU financial aid official the other day said he recently attended a U.S. Ed Department virtual meeting on new graduate student loan caps and the presentation was clearly made by AI and full of slop, including a completely inaccurate depiction of the Ed department’s logo…
Reuters@reuters.com · 6d agoUS government map of Africa mislabels every country at global conference reut.rs/4x9eTCW
Uefa nations have agreed to boycott all Fifa tournaments if the global governing body continues with its plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup
Uefa agrees to boycott Fifa competitions if World Cup sell off plans proceed
theguardian.com
Trump has denied Democrat-led states from $250 million in disaster aid that would have been approved by every previous president, including Trump in his first term. He rejected most requests even after FEMA confirmed damage met financial thresholds for receiving aid. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
It's 3 times harder for blue states to get disaster funding under Trump
The president has approved just 23 percent of blue state requests for disaster aid, compared to 89 percent for red states.
politico.com
Bad news: The 30-year Treasury yield hit a 19-year high today. 🚨🚨🚨 America's going to have to pay more for its colossal debt, which will soon hit $40 trillion. Interest already tops $1T a year and is growing rapidly. Latest GOP/WH plans would increase the deficit. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Treasuries Jolted as Fed Hold Trims September Hike Bets
US bond traders lowered their expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its next meeting after officials kept their benchmark steady on Wednesday, while 30-year Treasury yield...
bloomberg.com
Oregon Connects is part of a network of groups created by the nonprofit Data Center Coalition, an industry group that counts among its members leaders from Microsoft, Google, Meta, QTS and Equinix — all companies that collectively have built dozens of data centers in Oregon during the last decade.
Oregon Capital Chronicle@oregoncapitalchronicle.com · last wk.The ads in Oregon and other states are all from of a network of groups created by the nonprofit Data Center Coalition, an industry group hoping to improve public opinion of data centers as pushback grows.
California has the largest virtual power plant in the world, with 200,000 participants. At the exact moment when the grid is dirtiest and most expensive to run, this program surges in with the cheapest, cleanest power. Newsom's budget would kill it. That's just bad policy.
200,000 Californians create as much power as a nuclear plant to help the grid. Now that's up in the air
California has one of the most successful "virtual power plants" in the world, but it's on the chopping block.
latimes.com
NEW: DHS' top number-cruncher just left the department -- and blasted the administration's "war on immigrants" on the way out. He's one of the very few DHS officials to step down and speak out publicly against this White House. Me in @wired.com ... www.wired.com/story/dhs-of...
DHS Official Resigns, Citing ‘War on Immigrants’
The outgoing executive director of the Office of Homeland Security Statistics is one of very few federal officials to speak out against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
wired.com
Today, Walmart’s effective income tax rate is about half of what it was 10 years ago. Amazon, which saw its pre-tax U.S. profits increase by nearly 45% last year to almost $90 billion, paid in 2025 half the taxes it had the previous two years: ~$2.8 billion, down from $7 billion in 2024 and 2023.
Oregon Capital Chronicle@oregoncapitalchronicle.com · last wk.Multi-billion-dollar grocers and retailers such as Walmart and Amazon were among the most listed employers on Oregonians’ applications for publicly-funded health insurance last year, according to a Capital Chronicle analysis of Oregon Health Authority data.
Amazon and Walmart are most frequently listed companies on Oregonians' Medicaid and SNAP forms. 1 in 5 of the most listed employers on SNAP forms, and 1 in 6 most listed on Medicaid forms, was a major grocer and retailer via @oregoncapitalchronicle.com oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2026/07/27/i...
In Oregon, big grocery, retail companies have highest number of employees on Medicaid • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Multi-billion-dollar grocers and retailers such as Walmart and Amazon were among the most listed employers on Oregonians’ applications for publicly-funded health insurance last year, according to a Ca...
oregoncapitalchronicle.com
Judd Legum@juddlegum.bsky.social · last wk.1. American taxpayers are spending $2 BILLION every year providing Medicaid benefits to hundreds of thousands of employees of Amazon and Walmart, a new analysis by Popular Information reveals.
“This is a win for consumers, workers, and fair competition, Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement.
Paramount delays closing Warner buyout while judge considers challenge from 12 states, including Oregon
Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have agreed to delay closing their $81 billion merger well into next year, a stunning move that arrives as a judge continues to consider a challenge from 12 states, including Oregon, that are seeking to block the deal altogether.
opb.org