Data centers' financial bet, and the week's news

Good morning, Oregon.

Like many of you, I feel heartbroken and unmoored by the news from Bend this week. Gun violence at schools is far too frequent — a University of Idaho professor who tracks all school shootings has counted 149 incidents so far this year and an average of nearly 300 per year over the past five years — and in the years since towns and schools including Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland and Uvalde have become shorthand for horrific acts of violence perpetrated on children, it can sometimes feel like we’ve grown inured to it.

On Thursday, the modern scourge of school violence hit too close to home. A teenager got ahold of a gun, entered Silver Rail Elementary School in southeast Bend and killed three children and a teacher. Police have identified the youngest child victim, 5-year-old Rhoam Summer, and the teacher, 25-year-old Megan Lambert, and their families have asked for privacy.

The shooter also died at the school after an armed father who heard the shots while driving by intervened, and we’ll learn more information as local and federal law enforcement officials continue their investigation. (Several news outlets initially misreported the shooter’s name, a reminder for journalists to be careful about where we source information and for everyone to maintain a healthy degree of skepticism, especially in breaking news situations.)

Bend is a special city, and one I called home for two years. One of my first assignments there was driving toward the tiny red sun in an otherworldly smoky sky a few days before the 2017 total solar eclipse to interview Milli Fire evacuees. Journalists’ instincts tell us to run toward the fire, but I also recognize that joining the hordes of reporters parachuting in from out of town or out of state won’t be helpful and could add secondary trauma to a grieving community.

Instead, I recommend seeking news from local outlets including The Bulletin and Source newspapers, TV stations KTVZ and Central Oregon Daily and OPB, which maintains a bureau in Central Oregon. The reporters, photographers, videographers, producers and editors who live and work in Bend will be there long after national media moves on to the next tragedy. The Capital Chronicle focuses solely on state policy and politics, so we’ll follow policy and funding debates around issues including school security and gun safety.

There’s no good segue from the profound grief and anger at Bend becoming another statistic on America’s too-long list of school tragedies to the other news of the week. But with ballots on their way to voters, there was a lot of Oregon political news this week. You signed up for this newsletter because you wanted an easy weekly rundown of top stories, so here we go.

We published our voter guide this week. To compile it, I reached out to all candidates running for governor, the U.S. House and Senate and the Oregon House and Senate with questions informed by reader feedback. Many candidates responded, writing candidly about where they stand on issues including transportation funding, data centers and how to improve child literacy. And we’ll add any candidates who missed the deadline but still want to submit answers. The guide also includes basic biographical and fundraising information for all candidates and links to past coverage, including the individual race profiles our reporters have published for competitive races.

This week, Shaanth wrote about the Senate and House seats Democrats are trying to flip here in swingy Salem and an open Clackamas County House seat. Alex looked at the open competitive House seat in the Gorge, the southern Oregon Senate seat that Republicans could use to end Democrats’ supermajority and the eastern Oregon district where a third-party candidate hopes to sway disgruntled Republicans. Keep an eye out early next week for Shaanth’s writeup on the race for governor.

Ballots are on their way to voters, and all voters now have access to the automated texts about their status we’ve enjoyed for years in Marion County. A suspicious package was on its way to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, but federal officials intercepted it before it entered the state, preventing temporary shutdowns like Arizona and Louisiana experienced this week.

Freelancer Jake Thomas wrote about how Oregon’s insurance regulators have quietly pulled back from enforcing a law that requires insurance companies to cover gender-affirming care for transgender people, citing concerns that the Trump administration would use state data to target patients or providers. Advocates for trans people are split on whether it’s the right decision.

The “No Kings” movement is holding another coordinated national protest today to encourage early voting. Shaanth will be on hand in a Portland suburb and Mia in Eastern Oregon, joining our colleagues around the country in contributing to a live blog on News from the States.

However you choose to spend your Saturday, hug your loved ones a little closer and try to find some small joy.