Oregon senators seek answers over prison inmate retaliation
August 20, 2022 GMTPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s two U.S. Senators are asking the new director of the federal Bureau of Prisons about recent allegations that guards at the federal prison in Sheridan have retaliated against inmates who are suing the prison.
Feds looking at finances of Native American boarding school
June 29, 2022 GMTSALEM, Ore. (AP) — One of only a few boarding schools for Native American students still run directly by the federal government in Oregon is undergoing a close look at the school’s finances by the Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General.
Dems hone populist appeal with proposed stock trading ban
April 30, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — When Rep. Abigail Spanberger first introduced a bill banning stock trading by members of Congress and their families, the Virginia Democrat managed to get only eight co-sponsors. So far this session, 62 — or about one out of every seven House members — have signed on.
Contaminated Columbia River island added to Superfund list
March 17, 2022 GMTSPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday added Bradford Island and surrounding waters of the Columbia River to its Superfund list of toxic waste sites, beginning the process for the eventual cleanup of the area.
Oregon to GET $262M in wildfire recovery funding
February 10, 2022 GMTSALEM, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service in Oregon will receive more than $262 million in federal disaster funding to help with wildfire recovery.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the money is part of a $1.1 billion disaster assistance bill that passed last year to help regions across the country recover from a variety of natural disasters over the last three years.
Business Highlights: Powell opposition, Holmes trial
November 19, 2021 GMT___
Two Democratic senators oppose Powell as Fed chair
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Senate Democrats will oppose the reappointment of Jerome Powell as chair of the Federal Reserve, as President Joe Biden is expected to announce within days who he will pick for the nation’s most powerful economic position.
Two Democratic senators oppose Powell as Fed chair
November 19, 2021 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Two Democratic senators said Friday that they oppose the nomination of Jerome Powell to a second term as chair of the Federal Reserve, saying Powell has been insufficiently committed to fighting climate change, an issue that the world's central banks are increasingly confronting.
National monument proposed for area near OR’s Painted Hills
November 4, 2021 GMTSALEM, Ore. (AP) — A new national monument at Sutton Mountain near Central Oregon’s Painted Hills has bgeen proposed by Oregon's U.S. senators.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports Sutton Mountain stands in the backdrop of the iconic view overlooking the Painted Hills.
Paris Hilton pushes for federal ‘troubled-teen’ industry law
October 21, 2021 GMTSALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Celebrity Paris Hilton and activists who successfully pushed for reforms in the so-called troubled teen industry in Utah are now calling for federal legislation to regulate youth residential treatment centers.
Lawmakers mark Juneteenth by reviving ‘abolition amendment’
June 18, 2021 GMTAs the nation this week made Juneteenth a federal holiday, honoring the end of the enslavement of Black people, lawmakers are reviving calls to end a loophole in the Constitution that allowed another form of slavery — forced labor for those convicted of some crimes — to thrive.
Chicago police officer charged in Capitol insurrection
June 11, 2021 GMTCHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago police officer charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol and entering a senator's office during the Jan.
Some green groups oppose lower Snake River dam removal plan
March 27, 2021 GMTBOISE, Idaho (AP) — A coalition of 17 environmental groups is speaking out against a key part of a sweeping plan to remove the lower Snake River dams to save salmon and steelhead...
Proposed US legislation would target Honduras president
February 23, 2021 GMTMEXICO CITY (AP) — Newly proposed U.S. legislation targets Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández as allegations of ties to drug trafficking grow...
Merkley: GOP senators face issues in Trump verdict
February 11, 2021 GMTSALEM, Ore. (AP) — A Democratic U.S. senator says he believes his Republican colleagues at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial will be thinking about what’s more important: their place in history or getting re-elected...
2 Georgia men arrested, accused of roles in US Capitol riot
February 9, 2021 GMTMILTON, Ga. (AP) — Two additional Georgia men have been arrested on criminal charges related to alleged acts committed during the attack on the U...
FBI: 2 NY men arrested for participating in Capitol breach
January 17, 2021 GMTALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — One posted a video of himself with his feet propped up on a U.S. senator's office table...
US lawmakers unveil anti-slavery constitutional amendment
December 2, 2020 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — National lawmakers introduced a joint resolution Wednesday aimed at striking language from the U...
2 senators back revoking Wounded Knee medals for US soldiers
November 27, 2019 GMTFARGO, N.D. (AP) — Two Democratic senators plan to introduce a companion bill to a U.S. House measure to revoke Medals of Honor for soldiers who participated in the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
OSU to get funds to research quake impact on electrical grid
August 28, 2019 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Oregon State University will receive more than $400,000 in federal funds to research how large earthquakes, like ones that could strike in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, would affect the western electrical grid.
Jeff Merkley: Child separation is still happening
July 22, 2019 GMTSen. Jeff Merkley said Monday the number of immigrants trying to cross over the U.S.-Mexico border has slowed as a result of stepped-up enforcement by Mexico and the summer heat.
Mr. Merkley, Oregon Democrat, recently traveled to the border with Senate Minority Leader Charles S.
Jeff Merkley blames Donald Trump for illegal immigration surge
April 5, 2019 GMTSen. Jeff Merkley said Friday President Trump is creating the surge of illegal immigrants on the U.S.-Mexico border, adding that more people from Central America try to cross whenever he talks about closing the boundary.
Jeff Merkley ends flirtation with presidential run
March 5, 2019 GMTSen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon is passing on the chance to run for president in 2020, saying he is better off running for re-election to the Senate and fighting for "bold" solutions to the nation's problems.
Belles of the ball: Dem freshmen courted by 2020 hopefuls
February 19, 2019 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Elizabeth Warren gave a nod to the first two Native Americans elected to Congress...
No to the Green New Deal
February 12, 2019 GMTNo to the tulip craze Green New Deal being co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden, Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Peter DeFazio.
Jeff Merkley says Democrats refuse any funding for Donald Trump’s border wall
December 23, 2018 GMTSen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Democrat, put a number Sunday on the amount Democrats are willing to spend on a border wall: Zero.
Asked if the Democrats "are not going to agree to any funding to build a new border wall," Mr.
Beto O’Rourke leads another delegation to Tornillo
December 14, 2018 GMTU.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke is leading another delegation from Congress to a detention camp in Tornillo to draw attention to the growing population of immigrant children being housed there.
Six months after he led a highly publicized Father’s Day tour of the facility, O”Rourke is expected to be joined on Saturday morning at the camp by U.S.
US says transfer from FEMA funds won’t harm hurricane relief
September 12, 2018 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Trump administration officials pushed back Wednesday against a Democratic senator's claim that nearly $10 million from the government's disaster relief agency was transferred to immigration enforcement...
The Latest: Liberals rally on court steps against Kavanaugh
July 10, 2018 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump's nomination of a Supreme Court justice (all times local):...
U.S. Rep: Southwest Key holding 500 of 2,000 separated children
June 19, 2018 GMTFor a second day in row, members of Congress toured facilities in Brownsville that house both unaccompanied minor undocumented immigrants and children who have been separated from parents who allegedly entered the country illegally.
Donald Lambro: Trump’s treatment of migrant children is wrong
June 11, 2018 GMTWhen Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon showed up at a government detention center for migrant children in Brownsville, Texas, the people in charge of the place called the police and asked him to leave.
The Democratic lawmaker had identified himself and asked for a tour of the facility in a shuttered Walmart at a strip mall near the Mexican border to see for himself how the Trump administration was caring for these terrified kids who had been torn from their parents.