More money in politics and the week's news

Happy Saturday, Oregon!

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Oregon’s new package recycling rules went on trial this week in a case that could have national implications. Senior reporter Alex Baumhardt was there for the first and last days of the trial, and the judge expects to have his decision by the end of August.

Alex also spent Thursday with earthquake experts for this scary story on how much Oregon and the greater northwest still need to do to prepare for a large Cascadia earthquake. While the state has made progress in seismically retrofitting landmarks like the state Capitol in Salem and the Portland Airport and finding alternate water sources, many communities still don’t have the infrastructure they’d need to support people waiting for larger-scale aid.

Oregon will get $15 million from the federal government to support the semiconductor industry, Mia Maldonado reported. She also has a look at the latest congressional fundraising numbers, representing April 30 and all of May and June (the first 29 days of the quarters were covered by a pre-primary fundraising report). The big takeaway: Incumbents generally outraised their challengers, but Republican Monique DeSpain used a personal loan and transfers of money between three PACs she controls to put up a larger number than Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle. More on money in politics in our Saturday story below.

And a controversial ballot initiative that would ban hunting, fishing, animal breeding, farming and much research may not make the ballot, Mia reported. IP 28 was the only initiative to turn in a sufficient number of signatures, but a first sample of 1,000 found that only about 80% were valid. Extrapolated to the full selection of 142,784, that validity rate would mean the petition organizers fall short of the 117,173 needed. State election officials will sample a larger selection before Aug. 2 to make a final determination.

Gov. Tina Kotek, running for reelection, says that if she gets the chance to craft another budget proposal she’ll include more funding for summer learning. Shaanth Nanguneri joined the governor at a Portland school where she touted the benefits of summer lessons.

In legal news, Shaanth reported that a Portland architect dropped her novel anti-doxing lawsuit against the unknown operators of a website that seeks to identify people and businesses working with federal immigration enforcement. Sharron van der Meulen is a managing partner at ZGF Architects, a firm that since 2010 had a federal contract to provide design services for D.C.-based federal office buildings for four different agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

And for anyone nervously washing their berries and lettuce, some good news: Oregon hasn’t yet had cyclospora cases tied to an ongoing national outbreak. It’s still a good idea to rinse your fruits and veggies.

Our Saturday story is about the massive amounts of money political parties can bring to the 2026 elections after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Enjoy the read and the weekend, and we’ll see you next week.