Last season, the Oregon State defensive line ranked 133rd — dead last in FBS — in sacks with just seven all year. The Beavers were 130th in tackles for loss (45) and 107th in rushing defense.
Injuries hammered OSU, particularly on the interior, forcing inexperienced players to shoulder heavy snap counts. But working their way back to health, restructuring the coaching staff and adding experience has the defensive line group optimistic this spring about a potential big leap ahead.
“By the time we get to fall camp, we’ll be a full go,” defensive line coach Ilaisa Tuiaki said. “With the injured guys, there are still a couple of guys we’re missing because of injuries last year. The improvement this year has been good. We played a lot of young kids last year. D-tackles took some lumps that way. But it will pay dividends for us this year.”
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Among those who aren’t participating this spring, but could return to action this season are senior Nick Norris and redshirt sophomore Kelze Howard. Both missed the entire 2024 season with knee injuries.
Head coach Trent Bray has taken over play-calling duties for the Beavers defense, and Tuiaki will split his work with Kharyee Marshall — with Tuiaki leading the interior defensive linemen, and Marshall the edge rushers.
These structural changes allow for a more individualized approach in coaching up a group that, while a year older, still has young contributors. Meetings for defensive tackles and edges are separate, and for the most part they practice as separate position groups.
“This is the first time I’ve experienced that in my career being on the defensive side of the ball, and I think it’s huge,” Tuiaki said. “It’s allowed me to be a bit more detailed in the nuanced play of the D-tackles. You have some teams that will put corners and safeties in the same room, but they always have an assistant helping them out.
“There’s benefits to doing it this way and benefits to having the D-linemen all in one room, but the system we play and all the different things the edges do, they are totally different positions.”
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OSU added veteran Tah-Jae Mullix along the interior defensive line via transfer from Western Carolina. While he too has been banged up in the spring, Mullix is expected to return to full participation next week.
Coming back are players like defensive tackle Tevita Pome’e and star edge rusher Nikko Taylor; he gained an extra year of eligibility thanks to the waiver for former junior college players brought on by Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.
Pome’e, a former Oregon transfer, said the year of experience — while a trial by fire — was valuable for himself and the other young defensive linemen thrust into key roles. Primarily off the field, he said, even as the results on the field came up short.
“I feel like for me, personally, it’s the connection,” Pome’e said. “Now we have that connection with every single one. We get to know each other. Before, I didn’t really know them because I just got in. But I feel like now we have that connection, that bonding that I was looking for. Now we just get going, and everything clicks.”
Taylor will have a central role in remedying OSU’s dead-last pass rush — having amassed a team-high 2.5 sacks last season to go along with 46 total tackles and eight quarterback hurries.
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“I felt like I had a great year, but there’s a lot of things I needed to improve on,” Taylor said. “One of the things was being a better pass-rusher. Coming back and being able to rush the passer more efficiently would really help.”
— Ryan Clarke covers college sports for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at RClarke@Oregonian.com or on Twitter/X: @RyanTClarke. Find him on Bluesky: @ryantclarke.bsky.social.
SALEM, Ore. (KATU) — Oregon’s childhood vaccination rates have fallen to their lowest levels on record, while the number of parents claiming nonmedical vaccine exemptions continues to climb, according to newly released data from the Oregon Health Authority.
The agency reported on Thursday that 85.6% of Oregon kindergarteners were up to date on required vaccines during the 2025-26 school year.
At the same time, the nonmedical exemption rate reached a record high of 10.9%.
State health officials say the trend is raising concerns about the potential for outbreaks of highly contagious diseases, including measles and whooping cough.
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“Although the vast majority of families in Oregon are still choosing to protect families through vaccination, the downward trends are deeply concerning,” said Dr. Howard Chiou, medical director for communicable diseases and immunizations at OHA. “We risk seeing the return of diseases such as measles and polio—diseases of the past that once caused widespread harm but are entirely preventable with vaccines.”
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The statewide numbers tell only part of the story.
According to OHA, more than one in three Oregon schools with at least 10 students have measles vaccination rates below 95%, the threshold public health officials say is needed to help prevent outbreaks through community immunity.
Chiou said those exemption rates, combined with lower vaccination coverage at some schools, are increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.
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The concerns come as Oregon and the nation are seeing increases in vaccine-preventable diseases.
OHA says the nonmedical exemption rate for the second dose of the measles vaccine has nearly doubled over the past decade, rising from 4.9% to 9.4%.
The state also recorded 1,475 cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, in 2025, the highest total in 75 years.
What could happen if the trend continues?
Dr. Alanna Braun, a pediatrician at OHSU, said declining vaccination rates increase the likelihood of disease outbreaks.
“The thing that really stands out to me the most is just sort of the trend of just ongoing decreased immunization rates across our state and seeing how many schools here in Oregon are now at risk for major outbreaks of some really serious illnesses,” said Braun.
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Braun said communities become more vulnerable when vaccination rates fall below the level needed to prevent the spread of disease.
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She noted that outbreaks can affect more than just unvaccinated students.
“A lot of kids have infant siblings at home who are not able to be vaccinated,” Braun said. “Certainly, there are kids in all of these schools who are unable to be vaccinated, kids who are undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. There are teachers who are immunocompromised for various reasons.”
Braun said the long-term outlook is concerning if vaccination rates continue to fall.
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“As we’re seeing reduced rates of immunizations, I think it’s more and more likely that we are gonna see some of these preventable illnesses with more frequency,” she said.
What parents can do
OHA is encouraging parents to check vaccination rates at their child’s school and talk with their healthcare provider if they have questions about vaccines.
“We want to empower families to make informed decisions,” said Chiou. “We want parents to revisit and reconsider their decisions because the situation in Oregon has changed.”
Parents can view vaccination and exemption rates for individual schools using OHA’s School Immunization Data Dashboard.
PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – Starting in 2026, a new law in Oregon requires all non-motorized boats, regardless of size, to buy and carry a waterway access permit. That includes paddleboards and kayaks.
But there has been some push back from one organization.
Ben Roche is part of Let Us Paddle. The organization aims to repeal the updates to the waterway access permit.
“It’s Oregonians constitutional right to free access to our waterways. And human powered watercrafts are the best way to do that, and the least environmentally impactful,” said Roche.
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According to the Oregon State Marine Board, permit fees range from $6 to $35.
If you’re caught without a permit, there’s a $115 fine.
The state agency says the funding goes directly to two programs.
One supports aquatic invasive species watercraft inspection stations and the other improves access points to the water that specifically serve paddlers.
“There is a need for inspection and we support that. What we don’t support is charging recreational paddleboarders for cleaning of motorboats that enter our state,” said Roche.
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Roche adds, the state is only funding a few dozen access points.
Let Us Paddle has collected at least 20,000 signatures, and they want about 130,000 more by July 2.
They need at least 120,000 verified signatures to put the repeal before voters on the November ballot.
But even if they don’t meet the requirement, Roche says he’ll keep pushing for change.
“I think it’s really a poorly crafted bill that collects a small drop in the bucket of revenue but impacts thousands of recreational kayakers across the state,” said Roche.
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FOX 12 reached out to the Oregon State Marine Board to ask more questions, but have not yet to heard back.
Oregon DMV temporarily paused dispersing new undercover vehicle license plates starting April 15.
FILE – The U.S. Department of Justice seal is seen on a podium before a news conference, May 4, 2026, in Washington.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP
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The Justice Department is suing four states after they refused to issue confidential license plates to federal law enforcement agencies, despite having done so in the past.
The lawsuits, filed Wednesday in Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts and Maine, seek to force states to resume what the federal government describes as long-standing, routine policies.
The scope of the combined litigation raises questions about ways the federal government has aggressively carried out immigration enforcement since President Donald Trump’s reelection, and whether the Constitution grants states the power to deny federal law enforcement agencies license plates that effectively conceal officers’ identities.
“Oregon’s DMV policy illegally discriminates against the United States, violates the Supremacy clause, and is unconstitutional,” attorneys for the federal government argued in court filings.
Oregon DMV temporarily paused disbursing new undercover license plates to all federal agencies starting April 15.
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“The DMV is currently evaluating the undercover vehicle registration program to ensure the program complies with Oregon law,” Oregon DMV Administrator Amy Joyce explained in a May 22 letter to Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate.
A recent lawsuit filed against Oregon State Police alleges the state is providing personal information to federal immigration authorities through databases, including Oregon’s DMV.
“If the DMV process for issuing undercover plates could be questioned under Oregon law, the State is at risk for additional litigation,” Joyce explained in the letter to Shumate.
The state’s review of the undercover license plate program doesn’t prevent federal vehicles from legally driving on Oregon roads.
“State and local law enforcement are unaffected by this pause and the federal agencies that participate in the program are able to continue to use their existing unexpired plates,” Kevin Glenn, a spokesperson for Gov. Tina Kotek wrote in a statement.
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Immigration officers have relied on these license plates for enforcement, including during Operation Black Rose in Oregon. According to U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement, officers arrested more than 1,498 people between September and March, which led to 1,057 removals.
The lawsuits filed Wednesday argue the states’ DMV policies undermine ongoing federal investigations.
“Federal law enforcement agencies should not be subject to the challenged DMV policy, which is unconstitutional and recklessly disregards officer safety, public safety, and federal operational needs‚” the Justice Department’s lawsuit states.
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