By Julia Shumway | Editor
“We are not looking at a spontaneous, homegrown community campaign. We are looking at a highly sophisticated, out-of-state public affairs blitz designed to build public consent before Oregonians can fully deliberate the real impacts on our power grid, water resources and tax structure.” — Dirk Knudsen, editor of the Hillsboro Herald community newspaper, on Oregon Connects. The new nonprofit is one of at least seven that popped up in states across the country, running nearly identical ads meant to improve public opinion of data centers.
Also in today's edition:
Oregonians who traveled to other states get state’s first cyclosporiasis cases linked to national outbreak
Idaho encourages more wolf hunting as population drops
Columnist Tim Nesbitt on this year’s dearth of citizen-led ballot measures
Trump administration asks Supreme Court to help gut mail voting
And one more thing:
I’m headed over the pass tomorrow for the Fund for Oregon Rural Journalism’s annual conference and looking forward to meeting or re-meeting journalists from around the state. If you’ll be there, give me a shout!
News tips, feedback or questions? Email us at [email protected]
By Alex Baumhardt
Screen grabs of similar videos, clockwise from the left, from Connected Ohio, Oregon Connects, Pennsylvania Connects and North Carolina Connects. The groups were founded by leaders at the Data Center Coalition, a nonprofit data center advocacy group backed by large tech companies. (Collage by Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
Just days before the Oregon Legislature in March passed a one-year pause on a popular tax incentive program for data centers, a group called Oregon Connects registered as a nonprofit business in the state. Then the ads started appearing.
By Jacob Fischler
A mail ballot drop box is seen at a polling station on Nov. 4, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The Trump administration on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a district court ruling that blocked President Donald Trump’s broad March 31 executive order restricting vote-by-mail.
By Shaanth Nanguneri
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tracking outbreaks of the intestinal illness cyclosporiasis. (Photo courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Two people living in Oregon have tested positive for an intestinal parasite that health officials believe may be tied to a recent nationwide outbreak, according to state public health authorities.
By Tim Nesbitt
When Initiative Petition 28 failed to qualify for Oregon’s November ballot last week, my first reaction was relief.
IP 28 would have banned all hunting and fishing and most ranching and farming practices in the state. And, despite polls showing it would have faced overwhelming opposition from Oregon voters, its presence on the ballot would have sparked a silly debate about whether Oregonians should have to live like hunter-gatherers, without the hunting. I’m glad we avoided that.
MORE FROM THE CAPITAL CHRONICLE
OTHER OREGON NEWS Some stories may be behind paywalls.
As Signatures Are Disqualified, Campaign to Hire More Police (in Portland) Cries Foul | Willamette Week
Ongoing wildfires discussed in Umatilla County public meeting | East Oregonian
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