Oregon
Bill to have big tech pay for local news advances in Oregon Legislature
A bill that would require large tech companies to compensate newsrooms for the local journalism on platforms like Google and Facebook is advancing to the floor of the Oregon state Senate.
Democrats on the Senate Committee on Rules on Monday advanced Senate Bill 686 to the floor over Republican opposition.
The bill would have tech companies pay at least $122 million annually to access the media produced by journalists across Oregon. It would also allow companies to determine a different payment through arbitration and fund a consortium at the University of Oregon that supports journalism statewide through grants.
A bill that would require large tech companies to compensate newsrooms for the local journalism on platforms like Google and Facebook is advancing to the floor of the Oregon state Senate.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
Money under the bill would be distributed to newsrooms based on how many journalists they employ in the state.
The bill was introduced by Sen. Khanh Pham, D-Portland. It’s sponsored by 14 Democrats — including caucus leaders like House Majority Leader Ben Bowman — and one Republican, Sen. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City.
As Oregon newsrooms struggle and local reporting jobs plummet, supporters say the bill would provide a much-needed boost that could encourage civic engagement and accountability. Backers include many journalism leaders throughout Oregon and organizations advocating for sustainable local news. (Oregon Public Broadcasting is among the supporters.)
Critics — big tech lobbyists among them — contend that the bill would result in the companies pulling Oregon journalism from their platforms, harming online local news engagement and deepening the problems facing newsrooms.
The bill faced additional challenges during a work session with lawmakers Monday. Christopher Allnatt, an attorney from the Office of Legislative Counsel, testified that the bill could violate constitutional law barring the government from taking private property for public use.
Allnat said a legal challenge to SB 686 would “likely” find it violates “certain provisions to the federal and state constitutions.”
Senate Minority Leader Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, opposed the bill, saying he was concerned it would result in legal challenges that could cost taxpayers money.
“It absolutely violates the Constitution, in my opinion,” Bonham said. “I am no constitutional scholar, but I’ve read the document and I’ve read our oath of office. And I don’t see how we could put this forward with the explanation that we’ll let the courts decide with the evidence that we have from our own paid attorneys.”
If passed, the bill would continue Oregon’s tradition of passing relatively novel legislation. Proposals like this bill have yet to face substantial court challenges, so it’s unclear whether it would stand up to scrutiny.
Democrats on the committee acknowledged that there might be a legal fight, but they said the battle is worth it to support struggling newsrooms, and to check what they see as harmful business practices of large tech companies.
Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, argued that the bill addresses how big tech companies use their influence to extract “much more wealth than the creators of the product that they’re selling.”
“There’s been awareness for this problem for a long time,” Golden said. “We’ve watched a lot of local journalism disappear without knowing what to do about it. Some very well-informed people from across the nation came together to start on a path that this bill represents.”
Bonham isn’t pleased with the prospect of Oregon once again leading the way into such uncharted legal waters.
“One of the fundamental things that we’ve done in the United States is to say that we’re not going to tax the internet,” Bonham said. “And yet here we are in the state of Oregon, the tip of the spear. We’re going to wage this war. This is going to cost significant amounts of money.”
A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, issued a statement in response to Monday’s vote.
FILE – This photo shows the mobile phone app logos for Facebook, left, and Instagram, both owned by Meta.
Richard Drew / AP
“If faced with legislation that requires us to pay for news content that publishers voluntarily post and is not the reason most people come to Facebook and Instagram, we will be forced to make the same business decision in Oregon as we did in Canada and end news availability on these services,” the statement said.
Dan Sachs, Meta’s senior national director for state and local policy, sent a letter to lawmakers in April, saying the bill is “based on a false premise that social media companies are unjustly benefiting from news content on their platforms.” He said outlets voluntarily post their content to social media to bolster readership, adding the company does “not proactively pull news links from the internet and place them in users’ Facebook or Instagram feeds.”
Similar laws have passed in California and Canada. The Canadian bill prompted Meta to block news on their platforms, causing problems for some local publications.
Sen. James Manning, D-Eugene, said during Monday’s work session he was recently visited by “Meta and a few others, and they came in threatening. I don’t like to be threatened.”
He said the visitors warned they’d cut Oregonians off from news content if the bill passed, similar to actions taken in Canada.
“That’s not how a successful corporation does business,” Manning said. “A successful corporation tries to gather and expand their business. They try to get more people onto their platforms. And you do that by doing the right thing by the people that you are profiting off of.”
A Canadian news nonprofit announced last week that 108 news businesses received more than $22 million in the first payment made under Canada’s new policy.
Responding to news of the payments in Canada, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, said in a post on X: “This support is crucial as outlets struggle to stay afloat. We have a bipartisan bill in the U.S. to do the same thing – we must pass it and support local news.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated state Sen. James Manning’s first name.
The Oregon Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a Lane County man who once photographed child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey and was convicted in 2021 on several child pornography charges.
Randall DeWitt Simons, 73, of Oakridge, was charged in 2019 with 15 counts of first-degree encouraging child sex abuse. He was later convicted on every count and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Simons was first arrested after authorities began investigating a report from a restaurant in Oakridge that someone had been using the restaurant’s Wi-Fi to download inappropriate and concerning images.
Law enforcement officers directed the business to track, log, and report all of the user’s internet activity to the investigating officer for more than a year, without a warrant.
Police tracked the computer’s IP address from the restaurant’s Wi-Fi system, which led officers to a man who lived near the restaurant and had given Simons a computer, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Lane County Circuit Court. Investigators obtained a warrant to search the laptop in Simon’s home, relying on information they had collected over time. He was subsequently arrested.
On March 26, the court ruled warrantless internet surveillance on public Wi-Fi violates privacy.
In an opinion written by Justice Bronson D. James, the court held that the Oregon Constitution recognizes people have a right to privacy in their internet browsing activities and the right is not extinguished when they use a publicly accessible wireless network. It’s even true in cases where that access is conditioned on a person accepting a terms-of-service agreement that says a provider may monitor activity and cooperate with law enforcement, James wrote.
During criminal proceedings in the Lane County Circuit Court, Simons moved to controvert the warrant and suppress the evidence obtained by police, arguing the business was a “state actor for purposes of Article I, section 9, and that its year-long warrantless surveillance was an unconstitutional, warrantless search attributable to the state,” the Supreme Court opinion said.
The Circuit Court denied Simon’s motion. The Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision in part and stated Simons had no cognizable privacy interest in his internet activities performed on a third-party network.
The Oregon Supreme Court rejected the state’s argument.
“The mere fact that a person accesses the internet through a public network does not eliminate their Article I, section 9, right to privacy in their online activities,” according to James. “Even when access is expressly conditioned on a user’s acceptance of terms-of-service provisions purporting to alert the user that the provider may monitor activity and cooperate with law enforcement.”
Justice K. Bushong suggested in a partial dissent the Court should reconsider its approach in a future case to what constitutes a “search” under the Oregon Constitution. The court’s decision reverses the Court of Appeals and sends the case back to the Lane County Circuit Court for further proceedings.
Simons has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in 2019.
Simons had been a photographer for 6-year-old Colorado beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey a few months before her still-unsolved 1996 murder, the Associated Press reported in 1998.
In October 1998, Simons was arrested on a charge of indecent exposure in Lincoln County, Colorado. According to the book “Perfect Murder, Perfect Town” by Lawrence Schiller, Simons was arrested in 1998 for allegedly walking nude down a residential street in the small town of Genoa, Colorado. Simons allegedly offered to the arresting deputy unprovoked, “I didn’t kill JonBenét.”
Haleigh Kochanski is a breaking news and public safety reporter for The Register-Guard. You may reach her at HKochanski@gannett.com.
Umatilla, Morrow counties establish Young Republicans of Oregon chapter
Published 8:00 pm Wednesday, March 25, 2026
IRRIGON — Young Republicans living in Umatilla and Morrow counties now can join a local chapter of the statewide Young Republicans of Oregon organization.
The Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans will advance Republican values and leadership in young residents through political training, networking opportunities and connection to Republican leaders. The group is focused on young adults, generally attracting college-aged people, though it includes people aged 18 to 40.
The five Young Republicans of Oregon members living in Umatilla and Morrow counties elected three officers to lead their new chapter. Irrigon’s Evan Purves was elected chair, with Connor Roberts of Hermiston as his vice chair and Kaelyn Moore of Milton-Freewater serving as secretary.
“I am super grateful for this opportunity to lead my neighbors,” Purves said. “It’s going to be really fun. We have some good events planned.”
Purves, 19, is a student at Blue Mountain Community College who eventually hopes to pursue a four-year degree in public administration. He initially became interested in the Young Republicans during an internship with Oregon state Rep. Greg Smith, of Heppner. He said it was an experience that showed him how the legislature works.
The internship also inspired him to step into a leadership role with the Young Republicans and help establish a local chapter of the organization. The newest chapter of the Young Republicans of Oregon, which was announced Monday, March 23, has been in the works since November 2025.
The Young Republicans of Oregon State Chair, Tanner Elliott, said the new chapter — the fourth chapter statewide — indicates momentum for conservative values.
“In less than a year, we’ve continued expanding because young conservatives are stepping up and getting involved in their communities,” Elliott said. “I want to congratulate the chapter’s leadership team on their election and especially commend their new chair Evan Purves for taking on this role. I’m confident this group will make a meaningful impact in Eastern Oregon and help drive our organization forward.”
Future plans in Umatilla, Morrow counties
The leadership team of UMYR already is making efforts to effect change.
In early May, Purves said, Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans will host a door knocking campaign in support of Smith’s reelection campaign. There also will be an official kickoff event the same weekend celebrating the new chapter and outlining priorities for the future.
“If there’s anything that we might struggle with is membership,” he said. “The recruiting part is us going out there and hosting events and socials, having opportunities for people to come out and do something fun that anybody’s invited to.”
Regarding other priorities, voter engagement is important to Purves,
“Even though we live in a big conservative area, there’s not a lot of politically engaged people, especially in my generation,” he said. “We want to get them involved.”
He said one of his concerns is businesses leaving the state due to policies that aren’t friendly to corporations, a common issue raised by Republican lawmakers. The decisions being made impact every community, he said, and he wants to have a say in what the leaders are doing.
“These bills affect all of us,” he said. “It’s just important to get people involved and get people to vote and be a part of it.”
People interested in updates on the efforts of the Umatilla Morrow Young Republicans can follow the group on Facebook or Instagram or become a member at yro.gop.
Doorbell camera shows fireball streaking across the sky over Stow, Ohio,
Thousands of people across eastern Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania heard a loud boom that the National Weather Service (NWS) said may have been caused by a meteor.
Yet another meteor has entered the Earth’s atmosphere.
Onlookers across parts of California, Nevada, Washington and Oregon spotted another space rock streaking across the sky on Monday, March 23.
Jason Jenkins, who spotted the fireball while driving to work, told ABC News that the meteor reminded him of a “lightning strike because it was so bright.”
“The video doesn’t do justice on how bright and close it seemed,” Jenkins added.
The American Meteor Society received 137 witness reports and 11 videos chronicling the brief but dazzling moment.
Watch ‘fireball’ streak across Oregon skyline
Videos show green fireball streaking across night sky
A green fireball was seen crossing the sky in the Pacific Northwest.
From northeast Ohio to Texas, the March 23 event was the latest in a series of sightings across the U.S. this week. Those sightings were characterized by a “loud boom” and a rogue meteor fragment.
Hundreds of people in California, Nevada and Arizona captured another “shooting star” on camera this last weekend. The vast majority of reports came out of California.
A bright, glowing orb zipping through the night sky, trailed closely by a signature fiery “tail,” is seen in various clips shared by awestruck residents over the course of the week. Some even reported a greenish-yellow glow as the space rock lit up the sky for about five seconds.
What is a meteor?
Meteors, like comets or asteroids, are space rocks that orbit the sun, according to NASA.
Often called “shooting stars,” meteors come from meteoroids − small, often pebble-sized pieces that break off asteroids or comets. When a meteoroid enters Earth’s atmosphere, it becomes a meteor.
Because meteors enter the atmosphere at such high speeds, the space rocks burn up as they fall from our sky, creating the streak of light we commonly know as a shooting star or “fireball.”
If a meteor survives the entry and ends up on the ground (or lodged in someone’s roof), it is then called a meteorite.
Contributing: Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY
Drone food delivery launches in New Jersey
FKA twigs sues ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf over ‘unlawful’ NDA
LAPD chief backed cops who shot at author, Weezer bassist’s ex; commission overruled him
What European Luxury Can Learn From American Fashion
Bill Maher on getting the Mark Twain Prize for humor: ‘Like an Emmy, except I win’
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Rubio joins crucial G7 talks as Iran war set to dominate second day
A surprise resignation could open the door for an independent to win a Montana Senate seat
Video: Savannah Guthrie Says She Believes Her Mother Was Taken for Ransom
Stefanik grills University of Michigan leader on lack of audit after string of Chinese national arrests
Photos: More than one million displaced by Israel’s evacuations in Lebanon
-
Detroit, MI1 week agoDrummer Brian Pastoria, longtime Detroit music advocate, dies at 68
-
Science1 week agoHow a Melting Glacier in Antarctica Could Affect Tens of Millions Around the Globe
-
Movie Reviews1 week ago‘Youth’ Twitter review: Ken Karunaas impresses audiences; Suraj Venjaramoodu adds charm; music wins praise | – The Times of India
-
Science1 week agoI had to man up and get a mammogram
-
Sports6 days agoIOC addresses execution of 19-year-old Iranian wrestler Saleh Mohammadi
-
New Mexico4 days agoClovis shooting leaves one dead, four injured
-
Texas7 days agoHow to buy Houston vs. Texas A&M 2026 March Madness tickets
-
Tennessee3 days agoTennessee Police Investigating Alleged Assault Involving ‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson