Oregon Capital Chronicle

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Senate Majority Leader Kate Lieber, D-Beaverton, and Minority Leader Tim Knopp, R-Bend, work together in the Senate Committee on Rules on Thursday, June 15, 2023. They will both be on the new Joint Interim Committee on Addiction and Community Safety Response. | BEN BOTKIN/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Legislature forms committee to address Oregon’s addiction epidemic

The announcement comes amid criticism over Measure 110, the state’s drug decriminalization law, and a move to tighten the law

Oct 3, 2023

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HATICE EROL/PIXABAY

Health officials urge Oregonians to get vaccinated against COVID, flu, RSV

The number of Oregonians infected with COVID has steadily increased since late spring, and the number of people infected with the flu and RSV is low but expected to rise

Sep 26, 2023

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Lisbon, Portugal. | LAURA/PIXABAY

Oregon looks to struggling Portugal for answers on drug addiction

Two decades after decriminalizing drugs, Portugal faces some of the same problems that hound Oregon, though on a smaller scale

Sep 19, 2023

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U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, speaks on the House floor on March 10, 2023. | C-SPAN SCREENSHOT

Salinas urges House to eliminate anti-LGBTQ, anti-abortion parts of defense budget bill

The Oregon Democratic congresswoman says “partisan extremists” endanger funding in the bill needed to fight the opioid crisis

Sep 14, 2023

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Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller in her office on Thursday, February 9th, 2023. | JORDAN GALE/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Multnomah County judge in center of Oregon’s mental health crisis

Nan Waller, a homegrown judge, helps suspects find mental health treatment while also overseeing hundreds of competency hearings a year

Sep 12, 2023

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UNSPLASH

Oregon Right to Life sues state over birth control, abortion insurance mandate

The group doesn’t meet the definition of a religious employer but argues it should get the same exemption that allows religious employers to offer plans that don’t include abortion or contraceptive coverage

Sep 6, 2023

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The Oregon Health Authority in Salem. | OREGON HEALTH AUTHORITY

Medicaid patients denied treatment, adding to Oregon’s mental health crisis

A state system that often blocks treatment, with contractors trained by YouTube videos assessing patients, is under review after a whistleblower complained

Sep 4, 2023

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Ryan Patraw process ballots at the Marion County Clerk’s Office in Salem on Monday, May 16. Each ballot goes through several steps before it is scanned to have the vote tabulated. | RON COOPER/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Wyden, Merkley press Medicaid administrator on Oregon automatic voter registration expansion

A new state law will automatically add Medicaid recipients to state voter rolls, but only if the federal government allows the Oregon Health Authority to share data

Aug 22, 2023

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Cannabis at Sol Sisters Farms in Oregon. The state legalized recreational use of marijuana in 2015. | OREGON DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Study: Marijuana use increases among young adults after legalization

Nationally, rates of cannabis use and cannabis use disorder are up among non-college-attending young adults and use is up slightly among students

Aug 15, 2023

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U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra visits with U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in a roundtable discussion in Portland about preventing youth overdoses from fentanyl. Bonamici is planning legislation that would make a prevention curriculum available nationwide in schools. | BEN BOTKIN/OREGON CAPITAL CHRONICLE

Oregon’s U.S. congressional delegation wants opioid prevention efforts to go nationwide

The Health and Human Services secretary visited Oregon on Friday and participated in a roundtable at a Beaverton school

Aug 8, 2023