LOS ANGELES — After six seasons of college football, three different programs and countless passes thrown, Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel has seen and heard it all.
So, when the 24-year-old, sixth-year senior was asked Monday to respond to criticism regarding his age and how long he’s been in college, Gabriel didn’t flinch. Instead, the former UCF and Oklahoma quarterback fired right back.
“I think a lot of people are mad that they weren’t able to play to a certain age,” Gabriel, who received an extra two years of eligibility thanks to a redshirt season and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said. “The older the player you are, I think at a certain point you gotta ask yourself, if you’ve got the biggest interview of your life, and someone said, ‘Hey, you can have six years to study or three years,’ I think anyone would say six.”
As Gabriel and Oregon prepare to face Ohio State in this year’s Rose Bowl Game with a chance to go to the College Football Playoff semifinals, Gabriel is three touchdowns away from surpassing Case Keenum’s FBS record of 155 career touchdowns and four touchdowns away from surpassing Miami’s Cam Ward, who set the FCS and FBS record with his 156th touchdown pass in this week’s Pop-Tarts Bowl.
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Ward, like Gabriel, has played for three different teams — Incarnate Word, Washington State and most recently, Miami — and been in college since 2020. Both he and Gabriel were Heisman Trophy finalists this season. As one of the sport’s elder statesmen, Gabriel’s perspective is that quantity, in this case, is just as important as quality.
“As years go on, there’s progression, there’s improvement, there’s evolution. I feel like I’ve had that chance,” Gabriel said. “I think there’s something to patience and believing in a person and allowing them to flourish and grow. The more opportunities you can put yourself in any situation, I think you get more comfortable with it. That’s not just football, it’s anywhere in life. You learn more about the game, you learn more about people, and you’re just able to be better.”
The Hawaii native has relished his unique opportunity. In his six seasons, Gabriel has thrown for a total of 18,423 yards (second all-time), but this year has been his most efficient, completing a career-high 73.2 percent of his passes while leading Oregon to an undefeated regular season.
“I think there’s several moments we could point to this season where his experience has shown up and he’s created a lot of success for us on the field,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said. “I’ve said it several times, but I think that is one of Dillon’s strongest traits is his poise … The moments he shows up in are pressure moments.”
Despite being on the cusp of holding FBS records, Gabriel has repeatedly said the reason he didn’t declare for the NFL draft last year and transferred to Oregon was to make one last run at his ultimate goal: winning a national title. Gabriel and the Ducks are now just three wins away from accomplishing that goal.
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“If I wanted individual awards, I would’ve played tennis or golf,” Gabriel said last week. “But I am playing football.”
The decision leaves in place a permanent injunction from November that blocked troops from deploying to Portland.
FILE – The James R. Browning United States Courthouse building, a courthouse for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is seen in San Francisco on Jan. 8, 2020.
Jeff Chiu / AP
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The Trump administration no longer wants to appeal the decision of a federal judge in Oregon that blocked the president from deploying National Guard troops to Portland.
Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice told a federal appeals court last week they’re no longer interested in challenging the permanent injunction issued by U.S. District Court Judge Karin J. Immergut, which found the president’s attempt to send troops to Portland violated the Constitution.
Late Thursday, attorneys for Oregon, California and the City of Portland, who had previously won the case, indicated they too were ready to let the case go without a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
A panel of 11 judges had been preparing to hear oral arguments on the case in June in Seattle. For Immergut’s ruling to officially stand, those appellate judges still need to sign off on the Justice Department’s decision to drop the case.
Attorneys for the Trump administration used little more than a single sentence in its filing expressing the federal government’s desire to halt its appeal.
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Colleagues say Oregon judge who blocked Trump troop deployment is ‘well-respected’ and ‘has no fear’
The government’s reversal marks the end of a chapter, one that began on Sept. 27 when President Donald Trump announced he was sending 200 National Guard troops to Oregon’s largest city. The idea was to help guard federal properties, particularly the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland that has been the site of ongoing protests.
Legal fights over the president’s domestic military deployment also played out in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Chicago, as the president pushed the bounds of executive power in court.
Trump’s efforts ultimately withered in Portland after Immergut found the Trump administration not only violated federal law, but also the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, one that preserves the rights of the states to hold powers not explicitly given to the federal government.
This is the decision the Trump administration appealed to the 9th Circuit in November. Those judges said that before the appeal moved forward, they wanted to wait to see how a similar case from Illinois would play out at the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Several weeks later, they got their answer when the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s efforts to send troops into Chicago.
In the case over Portland, attorneys for Oregon, California and the city indicated they would be willing to sign off on a dismissal too, so long as the 9th Circuit tells Immergut to monitor and enforce the 106-page permanent injunction she issued in November.
“In light of the President’s continued threats to send troops to Portland, the courts must stay involved,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement. “If the Ninth Circuit chooses to dismiss the appeals, it should instruct the district court to keep monitoring and enforcing the permanent injunction in this case — to make sure that the President follows the law.”
Even after the Supreme Court ruling in Illinois, Trump has continued to express his willingness to use the military in American cities, and Portland in particular.
“We can go back,” Trump told reporters about Portland on Jan. 4, while aboard Air Force One. “We’re allowed to go back in.”
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Abiqua Falls, a 92-foot cascade and the surrounding 40-acre property, is up for sale.
How do you determine a price for one of Oregon’s most spectacular natural wonders?
We’re about to find out.
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Abiqua Falls, a stunning and frequently visited waterfall outside Scotts Mills, is up for sale in what may be an unprecedented situation.
In a state where the vast majority of scenic places are on public lands, the sale of a 92-foot waterfall that roars into an amphitheater of basalt is unheard of.
“I couldn’t find anything similar to this situation, at least of this magnitude,” said Lisa Johnson, the managing principal broker for Horsepower Real Estate, one of the two companies working on the sale.
The waterfall is on 40 acres that have been owned by Mount Angel Abbey, and more recently the Abbey Foundation of Oregon, since 1908. Public access has long been allowed, even as the waterfall’s popularity skyrocketed as pictures of it spread across social media.
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“We’ve been very proud to oversee (Abiqua Falls) for such a long period of time. It’s such a lovely place and so many people have had incredible experiences there,” said Amanda Staggenborg, spokeswoman for Mount Angel Abbey & Seminary.
Staggenborg said the Abbey Foundation has been in talks to sell or trade the land for at least a decade, including with the Bureau of Land Management.
But after those efforts didn’t bear fruit, the trustees decided to put it up for sale on Feb. 2.
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“Really, it was just time,” Staggenborg said. “We knew it wasn’t a situation that could last forever. It’s time for the land to be protected under new ownership who can better serve the public interest.”
The sale of Abiqua Falls
The sale of Abiqua Falls is being conducted in an “auction style format without a preset asking price or reserve, allowing the market to determine value,” Johnson said.
In other words, anyone can make an offer, and there’s no baseline price to use as a reference point. Johnson advised anyone interested to make an offer and submit it through a realtor — similar to the way you would buy a house.
“Parties wishing to make an offer may do so at any time using standard written offer documents and submitting them to the listing agent,” she said.
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Johnson said that visits to the property could be arranged.
The sale is being carried out by Cushman and Wakefield Land Advisory Group and Horsepower Real Estate.
Johnson said there isn’t a specific timeline for getting the offers in, and that the Abbey Foundation would take its time to “do its due diligence” on each offer.
“The seller reserves the right to review, negotiate, and accept an offer at its discretion,” the Abby Foundation said.
Will public access to Abiqua Falls be maintained?
Staggenborg said that since word of the sale got out, she heard a lot of concern that a buyer could come in and close off access.
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“That is not what we would like to see,” she said. “We are hoping for somebody to keep the property in its current state and continue the same sort of public access that we’ve allowed for over 100 years.”
However, there is no “conditional requirement” that the buyer keep it public.
“There’s no condition on the bid,” Staggenborg said. She added that the trustees would consider the monetary offer and a buyer’s plans in making a decision.
The property is zoned as forested, a designation “intended to preserve natural resources and limit intensive development,” the property listing says.
Staggenborg also stressed that Oregon has laws, known as recreational immunity, that prevent landowners from being sued when they open their land to recreation at no cost. Those laws were strengthened during the 2024 and 2025 legislative session.
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Oregon agencies say they’re not interested
Whoever purchases the property will face some challenges. The site has difficult access issues including a rough road, ill-defined trail and wonky cables along the creek. Its massive popularity has meant plenty of people get lost and injured.
This past May, a 22-year-old Utah man was rescued after leaping off the falls. A few whitewater kayakers have also made news after plunging off the falls.
Public lands advocate Ryan Ernst said he hoped it would ultimately be a local or state agency that took over managing the property, if not eventually BLM, to ensure it stays public and maybe sees some improvements.
“My hope is that the state can find a way to acquire this special and unique place where the public can continue to find nature and themselves,” he said. “It would be a shame to see it fall into the hands of a private entity where access would be changed.”
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But Oregon agencies don’t seem to be in a hurry to make a bid.
The Oregon Department of Forestry, which manages the nearby Santiam State Forest, said in a statement that it’s not looking to acquire new land. The Oregon Department of State Lands also said it won’t be pursuing purchase of Abiqua Falls because the property “would not likely be a strong investment for the Common School Fund.”
The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, likewise, said it hadn’t had talks to purchase the waterfall.
Travis Williams, executive director of the Willamette River Preservation Trust, which is based in Scotts Mills near Abiqua Falls, said he’d talked to the Abbey about the property and was disappointed by their decision to put it up for sale.
He said a local land trust would be a good option to manage such a complex site, and that putting it up for sale in this way makes it seem like “it’s all about the money.”
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“Whoever buys it is going to have to really care about that place and the local community – I think they could have handled this better,” he said. “And no matter what, whoever buys this is going to have to contend with the fact that people will be there no matter what.”
Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 18 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors and BlueSky at oregonoutdoors.bsky.social
PORTLAND, Ore. — Governor Tina Kotek and 31 Oregon mayors are demanding an immediate halt to federal immigration enforcement actions in Oregon.
The letter was sent Thursday to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump’s “Border Czar” Tom Homan.
The governor and mayors are asking for a pause until all recent federal use-of-force incidents are fully investigated and those responsible are held accountable.
Their letter cites recent incidents involving federal officers in Minneapolis and Portland.
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The letter claims the incidents undermine civil liberties, erode public trust, and threaten people exercising their first amendment rights.
KATU News reached out to DHS for a response to the letter. A spokesperson sent us the following:
“Our law enforcement officers will continue arresting criminal illegal aliens across the state of Oregon.
“How does this serve the people of Oregon? The biggest losers these politicians were elected to serve.”
The DHS response also included several photos of people they say they’ve arrested, along with listed convictions linked to the people.
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You can read the full letter below:
‘Today, Governor Tina Kotek and over 30 Oregon mayors sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Tom Homan, President Trump’s Border Czar demanding an immediate halt to federal immigration enforcement actions in Oregon until all recent federal use-of-force incidents are fully investigated and those responsible are held accountable.’ – Gov. Kotek’s Office
Click here to view the PDF file
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This is a developing story. Updates will be added as information comes in.
