Oregon
Oregon Football Recruiting: Ducks a Favorite for 4-Star Running Back
Oregon’s recruiting dominance continues as they target top running back prospect Tradarian Ball. The Texas native is set to visit the Ducks this week as he considers his top schools.
Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks are dominating college football recruiting. The Ducks have emerged as a strong contender for four-star running back Tradarian Ball, who is set to visit Eugene when the dead period lifts this week.
The Texas native has already received attention from top programs nationwide, holding over 40 offers from various power-five programs. Ball has received offers from USC, Ohio State, Miami, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Georgia, Florida State, Missouri, Oregon, and more.
🚨I will be at the university of Oregon July 26-28 @RashaadSamples @DanLamothe @jakekaneda pic.twitter.com/4LnEZVC5R5
— Tradarian Ball 🛸 (@TradarianBall3) July 9, 2024
Ranked as the No.2 running back and No. 5 overall prospect in Texas by 247Sports, Ball is a coveted talent. His decision-making process will unfold throughout the summer, with a top 15 list expected by its end.
Ball has been exceptional throughout his high school career. Last Season as a sophomore, Ball dominated the football field, earning district MVP honors after rushing for 1,290 yards and 14 touchdowns. The prospect also collected 25 receptions for 411 yards and six touchdowns.
A commitment from Ball would boost Oregon’s already talented running back room. Oregon’s Running backs are coached by Ra’Shaad Samples, who joined the Ducks in April after spending the 2023 season as the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Arizona State. Samples was also the running backs coach for the Los Angeles Rams in 2022 after being hired as the youngest position coach in the NFL.
Ncaa Football Asu Spring Football Practice / Cheryl Evans/The Republic / USA TODAY
Since Sample arrived in Eugene, he has contributed greatly to Oregon’s recruiting prowess. Four-star running back Dierre Hill and four-star running back Jordan Davison committed to Oregon to develop under Samples.
“Coach Samples is one of the brightest young coaches in all of football,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said following Samples’ hire. “He will recruit relentlessly to bring the best young men we can find to our program. I am excited to see the impact Ra’Shaad has on our players’ development as we continue to build upon the storied history of running backs here at Oregon.”
Ball will be in Eugene to evaluate the University of Oregon’s football program July 26-28.
Oregon
Oregon Lottery Pick 4 results for June 25
The Oregon Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at June 25, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Pick 4 numbers from June 25 drawing
1PM: 9-9-6-3
4PM: 5-1-5-7
7PM: 7-4-0-5
10PM: 9-1-2-4
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Oregon Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 7:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 7:59 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 4: 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily.
- Win for Life: 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Megabucks: 7:29 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by an Oregon editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Oregon
Marion County may join 6 other counties to control garbage, recycling
What to know about the Coffin Butte Landfill expansion proposal
Republic Services has asked Benton County for a conditional use permit to expand the 178-acre landfill.
Seven Oregon counties could join together to build and manage solid waste infrastructure and services, under a proposal being considered by a legislative task force.
The aim is to lower costs, provide stability, and ensure that one or two counties don’t bear the financial and environmental costs of taking the entire region’s garbage, Rep. Sarah Finger McDonald, D-Corvallis, told the 12-member Joint Task Force on Municipal Solid Waste in the Willamette Valley.
The Oregon Legislature created the task force last year, to identify solutions for solid waste disposal in the valley, after the region’s garbage disposal options were thrown into flux.
The Reworld incinerator in Brooks, where most of Marion County’s garbage was burned for four decades, closed at the end of 2024.
And residents in nearby Benton County are fighting an expansion of Coffin Butte Landfill, which takes much of Marion County’s and the region’s waste. Even with an expansion, the landfill is expected to close in little more than a decade.
The task force has met six times since mid-December 2025. It must submit a report to interim legislative committees related to the environment by Dec. 15. The task force sunsets on Dec. 31.
Finger McDonald’s proposal, which is the only one yet considered by the task force, would create a voluntary state and local partnership program designed to help counties, cities and regional governments finance and build garbage, recycling, composting and waste-reduction infrastructure.
It would include Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Linn, Benton, Lincoln and Tillamook counties.
“The cities and counties will come together to make a plan. The cities and the counties in this region know what the problem is,” McDonald Finger said. “Whatever is going to be built is going to be expensive.”
The proposal authorizes local governments and regional authorities to direct waste into approved systems when necessary to support infrastructure financing and long-term system stability.
Marion County is currently the only county in the state with a law giving it control over waste disposal, although Oregon Metro manages garbage and recycling for the three-county Portland Metro area.
The proposal would allow the state to help local governments with bonding assistance, matching grants, technical assistance and more. Local governments could choose to build transfer stations, recycling facilities, composting systems, methane capture projects or other infrastructure projects.
“And then those cities and counties would build that infrastructure they need, and would have the option of establishing a fee,” she said.
The proposal also could allow public-private partnerships and collaboration with private waste operators, Finger McDonald said.
The earliest the legislature could pass a bill authorizing the plan would be 2027, Finger McDonald said, meaning it would not go into effect until 2028.
Tracy Loew covers the environment at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips: tloew@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6779. Follow her on X at @Tracy_Loew
Oregon
Oregon Announces $49 Million Payout to Inmates for Handling of Pandemic
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of prison inmates sued the state of Oregon, arguing it was failing to protect them from the surging public health threat.
On Wednesday, more than six years later, representatives of those inmates—and the estates of inmates who died of the disease—announced they have settled with the state for a massive $49 million.
In a separate news release, Gov. Tina Kotek’s office framed the deal as a way to efficiently resolve a complex and weighty legal dispute: State officials, her office said, determined that the settlement “was in the best financial interest of the state and would minimize the continued distress of those impacted to settle rather than continue with the litigation.”
The case, Maney v. Oregon, includes two class action suits filed during the pandemic. According to the Oregon Justice Resource Center, which represented plaintiffs in the case, the suit covers about 5,000 people who were in Oregon Department of Corrections custody between Feb. 1, 2020, and May 31, 2022.
One class, which includes those who tested positive for or were diagnosed with COVID-19, would get $15.9 million under the deal. The other, the estates of 38 incarcerated people who died from COVID-19, would receive $33 million.
The settlement awaits approval by a magistrate judge, and most of the payout requires an appropriation by the Oregon Legislature during the coming 2027 session.
The suit emerged out of the dark early days of a still-mysterious pandemic—which posed clear risks in closed spaces like prisons. The OJRC says inmates in Oregon endured prolonged lockdowns, disruptions to prison operations, and suspension of visitation and programming.
They also died of COVID at far greater rates than Oregonians in general. The UCLA Law COVID Behind Bars Data Project tallied 52 deaths in Oregon prisons tied to COVID. By June 2021, according to the Marshall Project, the state’s prisons had one of the highest rates of COVID-related deaths in the country.
“We initiated this suit to protect the lives of some of our society’s most vulnerable people, packed into aging facilities with no ability to social distance from each other or [prison] officers,” said Juan Chavez, director of the OJRC’s Civil Rights Project, in a written statement. “The horrors that then came to pass during the pandemic shocked and saddened us. But we also saw, and were inspired by, the resilience and solidarity held amongst incarcerated people.”
Kotek’s office noted the mitigation measures the Department of Corrections implemented amid the pandemic, and said the agency incorporated lessons from the era into its operations.
“This historical event placed significant demands on our corrections workforce, and I appreciate the dedication DOC employees demonstrated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kotek said in her statement, adding that it was important to remember the impact on incarcerated people and their families too, especially those who lost loved ones. This settlement, she said, “is an opportunity for people to heal and find closure after such a challenging chapter in Oregon’s history.”
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