Oregon
As Grants Pass case looms, Oregon advocates urge U.S. Supreme Court to protect homeless • Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon advocates for marginalized communities are speaking out on behalf of the state’s homeless and downtrodden as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear a case that started in Grants Pass and could set parameters for how cities nationwide can deal with homeless camps.
The case, Grants Pass v. Johnson, began as a lawsuit by a group of homeless people against restrictions in the southern Oregon city on outdoor sleeping. Although the case’s outcome will have a national impact on homeless camping laws, there will be less of one in Oregon. That’s because Oregon lawmakers passed a state law in 2021 that prevents cities from punishing people sleeping outside on public property. Under the state law, cities can put “objectively reasonable” restrictions that regulate the time, place and manner of camps without outright bans.
As the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments on April 22 on the case, Oregon advocates are asking the court to remember the broader principles that frame the homeless issue, both in Oregon and across the nation.
Disability Rights Oregon, the Oregon Food Bank and 15 other Oregon groups, including the Cascade AIDS Project, Habitat for Humanity of Oregon and Partners for a Hunger Free Oregon, have signed onto amicus briefs in support of the plaintiffs. At the core of their arguments, advocates say, is that homeless people should not be punished as jail time and fines will only deepen their challenges.
“Criminalization just doesn’t work as a tool to help people exit their experience from housing insecurity, their experience from homelessness,” Loren Naldoza, Oregon Food Bank public policy advocate, said in an interview. “It only makes it worse.”
The Grants Pass case initially sought to overturn a local ordinance that barred homeless people from using blankets, pillows or cardboard boxes while sleeping outside in public to guard against the rain, snow and wind.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the ordinance was the equivalent of cruel and unusual punishment because it penalized people because they are homeless, violating the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Disability Rights Oregon signed onto a separate brief filed by disability advocates from across the nation. The brief notes that homeless people are more likely to suffer mental health conditions and other disabilities that contribute to their homelessness and encourages solutions like affordable and stable housing – not criminal penalties.
“No mother chooses to raise her children without stable housing, but when she finds herself in that situation, that family needs a safe place to rest,” Jake Cornett, executive director and CEO of Disability Rights Oregon, said in a statement. “Criminalizing homelessness is not going to solve any problem in our communities. It’s past time for Oregon to focus on affordability, accessible shelters, low-barrier housing, and building a functioning behavioral health system.”
Separately, nearly 50 groups nationwide, including the Equality Federation in Portland, filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to declare that ordinances that criminalize homelessness are unconstitutional, including for members of the LGBTQ+ community who are disproportionately harmed by such ordinances.
The filing draws upon statistics to show the disproportionate impact of homelessness on the LGBTQ+ community. For example, LGBTQ+ youth make up 40% of unhoused youth and 65% of youth with frequent homelessness, even though they make up less than 10% of the population, the brief said.
“Since a disproportionately high number of unhoused people are from the LGBTQIA+ community, this is an issue of particular importance for the organizations who joined our amicus brief,” said Chinyere Ezie, a senior attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based nonprofit social justice center. “We hope the Supreme Court will recognize the dangers posed to all unhoused people by the discriminatory ordinances at stake.”
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The Oregon Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at May 6, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from May 6 drawing
18-27-51-65-68, Powerball: 05, Power Play: 3
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from May 6 drawing
1PM: 8-9-4-6
4PM: 0-3-3-1
7PM: 3-7-1-9
10PM: 5-4-8-0
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Win for Life numbers from May 6 drawing
07-45-52-54
Check Win for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Megabucks numbers from May 6 drawing
03-09-10-28-31-39
Check Megabucks 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 Gov. Tina Kotek responds to heightened immigration enforcement
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and state legislators spoke Jan. 24 about recent immigration enforcement happening across Oregon. Here’s what Kotek said.
Rural Organizing Project, a statewide nonprofit based in Cottage Grove, filed a lawsuit May 5 against Oregon State Police in Multnomah County Circuit Court, alleging that the agency is violating the state’s landmark sanctuary laws and sharing Oregonians’ personal data with federal immigration agents.
The nonprofit is asking the court to direct OSP not to share information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other immigration agencies, including driver’s licenses, driver history, driver’s license photographs, vehicle registration data, Social Security numbers and law enforcement records.
ROP claims that federal immigration agencies have repeatedly accessed Oregonians’ information over the past year. They point to two systems OSP operates: the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System and the state’s Law Enforcement Data System.
The complaint said data provided to OSP by NLETS in February showed authorities involved in immigration enforcement accessed Oregonians’ data more than 1.4 million times in the preceding year. ICE alone queried Oregon for the data 176,576 times, the complaint said. Homeland Security Investigations within the Department of Homeland Security queried 21,363 times, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection and DHS accounted for the remainder, the complaint said.
Those numbers do not include all queries of Oregonians’ data, lawyers added, as ICE and HSI agents in Oregon will access the same information separately through the LEDS terminal.
The complaint says OSP has the technical capacity to block immigration enforcement agencies from both systems, but has declined to do so.
U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, and Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, along with U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, and Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, called on states across the country to stop sharing drivers’ data with federal immigration agencies in a November 2025 letter.
Other states, such as Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York, have stopped allowing federal agents to access their residents’ data, according to NLETS testimony to Congress in 2025, the complaint added.
The suit says NLETS provided OSP a spreadsheet listing the specific identification codes ICE uses in late 2025, after an OSP official asked how other states had blocked the agency in the system.
But in February, the complaint said, the agency indicated it would not restrict federal immigration authorities’ access to data via LETS or require federal authorities to use “Reason Codes” that would allow OSP to screen whether the query is for immigration-related purposes.
In a response sent to the Oregon Law Center on Feb. 1, replying to its tort claim notice, OSP said it had taken “reasonable steps” to improve its LEDS agreements with immigration authorities to require compliance with Oregon’s Sanctuary Law. Their letter said terminating the LEDS user agreements, which OSP signed with ICE and DHS in December 2025 and February, would prevent the federal agencies from accessing criminal justice information related to criminal investigations and other governmental purposes.
“If OSP terminated the user agreements, they could be obstructing ongoing criminal investigations,” the letter from OSP said.
OSP also said it did not have the ability to modify the NLETS system.
“Federal agents are storming into our communities, targeting people based on how they look, and disappearing our neighbors,” Martha Ortega, director of Immigrant Centers at Rural Organizing Project, said in a prepared statement. “Oregon State Police are helping them do it. When the state gives our private information to ICE, it is breaking the law and breaking Oregonians’ trust. How many families have been torn apart by Oregon State Police giving their names and photos to federal agents?”
The lawsuit cites testimony in federal court, detailed in a story by The Oregonian, where ICE agents spoke of staking out a neighborhood and randomly running vehicle license plates to find vehicle owners’ names and birthdates for the purpose of immigration enforcement.
“Oregon’s law has clearly prohibited this kind of information sharing for almost 40 years,” said Heather Marek, attorney at Oregon Law Center, which is representing the nonprofit. “Oregonians need Oregon State Police to respect the law and protect their data, immediately and permanently.”
In an email, a spokesperson for Oregon State Police said it would not be making any public comments related to the lawsuit while litigation was pending.
“OSP is committed to following Oregon Sanctuary Laws and has not taken any actions that would violate those laws,” Cpt. Kyle Kennedy added.
But, ROP said in its lawsuit that although the LEDS user agreements prohibit ICE-ERO and HSI from sharing data for immigration enforcement purposes, OSP cannot ensure compliance with the sanctuary laws nor can it reasonably assume compliance given the broader context of the current administration and activity.
More than 6,000 HSI agents have been assigned to immigration enforcement duties, for example, the lawsuit said.
“In the current political and legal context, an agreement to provide resources and information to HSI is an agreement to provide resources and information to support immigration enforcement,” the complaint said.
Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com on X @DianneLugo or Bluesky @diannelugo.bsky.social.
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Two people were arrested Tuesday on prostitution charges after search warrants were served on both a spa and home in Newport, authorities said.
According to Newport police, the investigation into Amazing Lotus Spa began in March after they learned it was advertising on a prostitution/adult escort website, as well as “alluding to commercial sex acts being offered at the spa.”
During the investigation, officers surveilled the business, and “observed activity inconsistent with the normal business patterns of legitimate massage establishments,” police said.
This led to the obtaining and execution of a search warrant on both the spa and a home located in the 800 block of Northeast Avery Street.
At the spa, investigators found evidence indicating they were operating without a license, police said.
At the 8th Street home, they found large quantities of cash, as well as “evidence related to services allegedly being offered at the spa beyond unlicensed massage activity,” officials said.
Both 63-year-old Jia Hui and 67-year-old Bing Li were arrested and lodged at the Lincoln County Jail on charges of prostitution and practicing of massage without a massage therapist license.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information related to this case is encouraged to contact Newport police.
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