By Julia Shumway | Editor
The Bend view that first convinced me I would give up the easier Midwest cost of living to become an Oregonian nearly a decade ago. (Photo by Julia Shumway/Oregon Capital Chronicle)
BEND— Happy Saturday, Oregon!
I had a great time the back half of this week meeting with reporters, editors and publishers from rural and small-town Oregon at the Fund for Oregon Rural Journalism’s annual conference. Small community newspapers and websites, often with one or two staffers, are doing a lot to keep their communities informed, and we’re glad to be able to help in our own small way by letting them republish our daily state government news, dispatches from the D.C. Bureau and national perspective from Stateline for free because all Oregonians should know what their government is doing in their name.
Senior reporter Alex Baumhardt (or, as at least one reader now knows her, Alex ‘Da Bomb’-hardt) started the week with an explosive piece on the pro-data center ads some of you might have seen. “Oregon Connects,” which registered as a business here as lawmakers voted on a moratorium on data center tax incentives, really wants viewers to know that data centers in Oregon are “the foundation of our connected world,” driving economic innovation. Indiana Connects, Connected Ohio, North Carolina Connects, Pennsylvania Connects, Texas Connects and Virginia Connects have the same message, down to the same B-roll and scripts in their ads, and they’re all part of a connected campaign led by the nonprofit Data Center Coalition, an industry group hoping to improve public opinion of data centers as pushback grows.
Alex also followed up on her earlier reporting on how large grocers and retailers are the most common employers of people who need federal food aid because they don’t earn enough to feed themselves and their families without help. Unsurprisingly, the same employers are among the most commonly listed on Medicaid applications. And the same new federal tax law that will cut Medicaid and SNAP funding and limit eligibility continues massive tax breaks for these large companies.
After two masked men allegedly impersonating immigration officials illegally detained a person outside Woodburn and let a third man assault the victim, Oregon State Police offered advice for discerning legitimate law enforcement from fakers. But, as Shaanth Nanguneri reports, the advice doesn’t acknowledge that federal agencies have vowed that they won’t follow state law requiring law enforcement to wear masks. Meanwhile, Mia Maldonado chatted with U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat representing the Willamette Valley, about her immigration enforcement concerns.
Alex caught up with educators and Portland-area Democratic U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, who are worried about changes and uncertainty around graduate student loans. Schools are already experiencing enrollment drops in some post-graduate programs for careers including nursing and counseling that require higher degrees but are subject to new loan caps.
A new state audit found that Oregon correctional facilities aren’t doing enough to meet the needs of adults or youth who were convicted of crimes and speak languages other than English. One in six Oregonians speaks a language other than English at home, while 20% of incarcerated adults and nearly 50% of incarcerated youth had their first languages recorded as “unknown” between 2022 and 2025.
State Rep. Cyrus Javadi, D-Tillamook, wants to introduce legislation next year to waive parking fees for Oregonians at state parks — but the idea could crush the state parks budget, Mia reported.
And a team of researchers are headed out to sea today to try to find out why three rockfish species seem to be missing their old females. Alex talked to scientists about their theories and plans to report on what will hopefully be a solved mystery when they’re back on dry land.
Finally, from D.C., federal courts issued conflicting rulings this week over the Trump administration’s attempts to gut mail voting ahead of the November elections, and we’re watching for the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Our Saturday story, by OCC friend Kaylee Tornay of InvestigateWest, is about why Oregon can’t pass the sentencing reform laws for domestic violence survivors that have moved forward in other states.
YOUR SATURDAY STORY
Before she was incarcerated in Oregon, Angela Kim had grown accustomed to not being in charge of her own life.
Her husband of 15 years controlled the money, when she went to sleep and woke up, even how much toilet paper she was allowed to use. He enforced the rules through beatings, choking, locking her in the closet, and threatening to take their children. So when he murdered their business partner in December 1999 for the life insurance money, refusing to participate was “not an option,” Kim recounts.
Seven years later, Kim confessed the killing to a friend, and both she and her husband were charged with aggravated murder. Kim cooperated with prosecutors, and they agreed to a plea deal that reduced her charges to first-degree manslaughter and conspiracy to commit murder. Both charges carried a mandatory minimum sentence — so even as the judge presiding over her case acknowledged the abuse and coercion she had been subject to, his hands were tied. He sentenced her to the minimum of 17½ years.
“He was the most sympathetic and said the kindest things,” Kim said. “There was nothing they could do.”
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