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.

The 2027 NFL Draft in Washington, D.C., will be held April 29-May 1, the league announced Thursday, setting the nation’s capital as the backdrop for what could be one of the deepest classes in recent history.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced in May 2025 during an Oval Office news conference with President Donald Trump, Commanders owner Josh Harris and D.C. mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), that D.C. was selected as the host site for ’27 and is expected to draw more than a million visitors.

“It will be something that will show the world how far the nation’s capital has come and where it’s going,” Goodell said at the time.

Although plenty could change over the next 10 months, the 2027 draft has a chance to be the most anticipated in recent memory because of the star power of the class.

Like most drafts, the 2027 group will be largely judged by the quarterbacks. Texas’ Arch Manning is at the top of the list, and if he picks up where he left off last season, he has a great chance to follow in the footsteps of his uncles, Peyton and Eli, and be drafted No. 1. Dante Moore would punch his ticket for the first round with another productive year at Oregon, and scouts are optimistic for the developmental paths of South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, LSU’s Sam Leavitt, Oklahoma State’s Drew Mestemaker, Miami’s Darian Mensah and several others.

The class will also likely include former Cincinnati and Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby, barring any successful legal action after the NFL declined his application and chose not to hold a supplemental draft in 2026.

But the depth of the 2027 class goes far beyond the quarterbacks. Notre Dame’s Leonard Moore could be one of the highest-graded cornerbacks of the last decade. South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart is a twitched-up pass rusher with top-10 traits. And Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith is on track to be one of the best overall prospects in recent years.

The three-day event will be spread across multiple sites in the District, with the main stage held on the National Mall in front of the Capitol and the NFL Draft Experience spanning Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 3rd and 7th Streets, in front of the National Gallery of Art.

For nearly four decades, the NFL Draft was held at multiple locations in New York. But in 2015 and ’16, because of a scheduling conflict at Radio City Music Hall, the league moved it to Chicago and has since held it in various NFL cities across the country. The change has turned the draft into one of the league’s most popular, and accessible, events of the year.

The 2024 draft, which D.C. bid to host, was ultimately held in Detroit and brought a then-record 600,000 attendees, a figure topped by this year’s draft in Pittsburgh, which drew 805,000 visitors.

Prior to the 2026 draft, the Steelers and Visit Pittsburgh estimated the event would bring in roughly 500,000 visitors that would generate anywhere from $120 million to $213 million in regional economic impact.

“We’re confident that the return, with the number of people who attended over the course of the three days and really the course of the week, that we’ll be in good shape there,” Steelers VP of business development and strategy Dan Rooney III told The Athletic after the event.

A delegation from D.C. attended the Pittsburgh draft and took the official handoff from the Steelers at the conclusion, setting in motion a busy year in D.C.

Planning for the 2027 draft began four years ago, when Harris and his group of investors purchased the team for $6.05 billion from former owner Daniel Snyder. The group essentially revived details of the team’s earlier bid, which some believe failed because Snyder still owned the team.

NFL Draft host cities are typically announced two years in advance because of the extensive planning required. But having it in D.C. adds even more layers of complexity, much like the Commanders’ new stadium, which will be built on the site of the former RFK Stadium along the Anacostia River.

For one, the National Mall is federally owned and managed by the National Park Service, which typically does not approve permitting for events more than a year in advance.

The last time D.C. hosted the NFL Draft was Dec. 10, 1940, at the Willard Hotel. The draft was 22 rounds back then.

“This is a historic moment for our organization, our fans, and the entire region,” Commanders president Mark Clouse said in a release Thursday. “The Draft has become one of the premier events in sports and entertainment, and with the momentum around football in this area, from the rapid growth of youth flag football to our return to the RFK site, there is no better time to bring it to the nation’s capital.”