Oregon
Big Ten Power Rankings After Spring Practice: Ohio State, Oregon Ducks, Penn State
With the conclusion of spring practices, it is time to look ahead to the 2025 college football season. The Big Ten conference had four teams make the College Football Playoff, with the Ohio State Buckeyes winning the National Championship.
The Oregon Ducks went undefeated in the regular season and won the Big Ten Championship against Penn State. The Ducks lost in the College Football Playoff against Ohio State. When looking ahead to the 2025 season, where do the Oregon Ducks stand in the Big Ten?
The Ohio State Buckeyes are coming off a National Championship win, looking to win another one next season. While the team lost several players to the 2025 NFL Draft, Ohio State will have wide receiver Jeremiah Smith returning. Smith was one of the most notable players in college football and will only get better over time.
While the team does not know who the starting quarterback will be in 2025, quarterback Lincoln Kienholz had a strong spring practice. If he keeps it up, he will start ahead of five-star recruit Julian Sayin.
Defensively, the Buckeyes have continuously maintained a strong unit. Safety Caleb Downs will be returning to the team as well, ensuring the defense is just as strong as it has been in years past.
The Oregon Ducks have a talented roster heading into 2025. The team will have a new quarterback, projected to start Dante Moore. The Ducks are a school to consistently send quarterbacks into the NFL, most recently with Dillon Gabriel being selected in the third round by the Cleveland Browns.
Oregon was not hit hard in the transfer portal but did lose a couple of players to the 2025 NFL Draft. With retaining much of the roster, the Ducks are in a good position to compete in 2025. Oregon has a couple of projected first-round picks on both offense and defense, which will help the team in 2025.
Defensively, the Ducks have defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei and safety Dillon Thieneman. With the number of crucial players being retained next season, in addition to a top 2025 recruiting class, the Ducks are ready to go into the season in another dominant fashion.
MORE: Cleveland Browns Quarterback Dillon Gabriel More Talented Than Shedeur Sanders?
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MORE: Bo Nix Celebrates At Brother Tez Johnson’s NFL Draft Party: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Rookie
The Penn State Nittany Lions made the College Football Playoff, losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Penn State is set to be a dominant team, with several key returning players including quarterback Drew Allar and running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.
Penn State lost tight end Tyler Warren to the 2025 NFL Draft, who was the team’s leading receiver. The Nittany Lions will have several returning receivers and recruited Kyron Hudson and Trebor Pena from the transfer portal. These were crucial additions, but have to get going early in the season without a player like Warren to rely on.
Defensively, Penn State lost several players, including linebacker Ta’Mere Robinson, but will have returning linebacker Tony Rojas. Penn State is another school with a consistently strong defense, and the Nittany Lions will look to make another big push in 2025.
The Illinois Fighting Illini were a surprising team last season. Quarterback Luke Altmyer is returning, and so is the majority of the roster. Illinois finished with a 10-3 overall record, going 6-3 in Big Ten conference play.
Illinois defeated notable teams such as Michigan and went on to defeat South Carolina in the Cheeze-It Citrus Bowl. With the majority of the roster set to return, the team will develop and stay competitive throughout the season.
After much uncertainty in 2024, the Michigan Wolverines have a quarterback in 2025. The Wolverines recruited five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood, who is set to start. Michigan coach Sherrone Moore is now in his second season as head coach, which will be less of a transition period for him.
The Wolverines also brought in two targets for Underwood, including true freshman wide receiver Jamar Browder and Indiana transfer receiver Donovan McCulley.
There are still questions surrounding Michigan, coming off an 8-5 season, going 5-4 in Big Ten conference play. The Wolverines have linebackers Ernest Hausmann and Jaishawn Barhman on the roster, setting up the defense for success. The Wolverines could go back to being the dominant program they have been in the past, but with many new players on the offense and a new offensive coordinator, it could take time.
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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