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Oregon Domestic Terrorism Law Targets the Far Right. Here’s How It’ll Backfire.

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Oregon Domestic Terrorism Law Targets the Far Right. Here’s How It’ll Backfire.


A person holds his hand to his coronary heart as a Proud Boys organizer recites the Pledge of Allegiance throughout a Proud Boys rally at Delta Park in Portland, Ore., on Sept. 26, 2020.

Picture: Maranie Staab/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

When Oregon Democrats launched a brand new state home terrorism invoice in February, civil rights teams had been reminded of the same piece of laws — and started sounding the alarm.

Georgia expanded its state home terrorism statute in 2017 in response to the mass capturing perpetrated by white supremacist Dylann Roof in opposition to Black churchgoers in neighboring South Carolina. Atlanta legislators claimed that broadening their very own state’s home terror legal guidelines to incorporate sure assaults on property would in some way hold the general public secure from far-right violence.

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Critics of the laws in Georgia mentioned on the time that it could possibly be used to focus on environmentalists and anti-racist activists as nicely.

They had been proper. Final month, 42 activists had been indiscriminately arrested and charged with home terrorism in Georgia for collaborating within the Defend the Atlanta Forest motion to cease Cop Metropolis. The flimsy arrest warrants cited the protesters for little greater than having mud on their sneakers.

“Prosecutors offering assurances {that a} new terrorism legislation will solely be utilized in probably the most slender and accountable methods in Oregon doesn’t ease my worries within the least.”

With this kind of legislation enforcement abuse in thoughts, organizers in Oregon are at the moment combating to cease the home terrorism invoice, Home Invoice 2772, from passing of their state, even because it strikes by way of the legislature with broad bipartisan assist.

“Prosecutors offering assurances {that a} new terrorism legislation will solely be utilized in probably the most slender and accountable methods in Oregon doesn’t ease my worries within the least,” mentioned Nick Caleb, a workers lawyer on the local weather justice advocacy group Breach Collective. Breach is a part of a sturdy coalition of organizations — together with the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, the Civil Liberties Protection Middle, Think about Black, and the Dawn Motion PDX — combating to cease the laws being handed.

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Oregon’s proposed laws will not be as clearly open to misuse because the Republican-sponsored Georgia equal. The invoice’s Democratic backers insist it’s slender in scope and finely tuned to handle extremist assaults in opposition to “vital infrastructure” — a selected concern, they stress, following a spate of assaults on energy grid infrastructure final yr within the Pacific Northwest and past, quite a lot of that are believed to have been linked to neo-Nazi teams. Heading into the 2024 election yr, considerations a couple of rise in January 6-style assaults are solely additional heightened.

It takes a whimsical view of legislation enforcement, nevertheless, to think about that any such legislation is immune to misuse in opposition to local weather activists and Black liberationists. Like all home terrorism legal guidelines on the books within the U.S., Oregon’s proposed laws is each pointless and doubtlessly harmful.

All of the actions to which it could apply are already thought of crimes; it’s already unlawful to vandalize property, for instance. The home terror label merely provides better discretion to the police and prosecutors to single out ideological enemies for harsher punishment. And it could go in opposition to all obtainable proof to imagine that the police will make a daily goal of the far proper.

In a letter to Oregon’s Home Judiciary Committee and the invoice’s sponsors, the ACLU of Oregon mentioned that the proposed laws “would observe Georgia’s lead in including a stigmatizing label and harsher punishment to property crimes which might be already unlawful underneath state legislation.” The letter famous that the legislation, “like different terrorism legal guidelines throughout the nation, could possibly be wielded to disproportionately goal already overpoliced communities and to punish individuals expressing political views.”

The invoice’s sponsors — all Democrats — have been dismayed by the pushback from civil liberties organizations. “I’ve been severely dissatisfied within the rhetoric and ways employed by a couple of teams: the ACLU of Oregon (ACLUoO) major amongst them,” Democratic state Rep. Paul Evans, one of many invoice’s sponsors, instructed me by e-mail. The invoice, he added, is “about defending ‘vital infrastructure’ and has nothing to do with professional protest – except somebody believes blowing up a bridge or electrical station – is professional protest. Most Oregonians don’t imagine this.”

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The invoice has been referred to the Oregon Legislature’s Methods and Means Committee and has not but been scheduled for a vote. Evans instructed me, “I imagine it would simply cross each chambers if it could actually get on the suitable docket timeline.”

ATLANTA, USA - JANUARY 21: Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after an Atlanta police vehicle was set on fire during a "Stop cop city" protest in Atlanta, Georgia, United States on January 21, 2023. Multiple buildings were vandalized and an Atlanta police vehicle was set on fire as multiple arrests were made. (Photo by Benjamin Hendren/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Firefighters work to extinguish a fireplace after an Atlanta police automobile was set on fireplace throughout a “Cease Cop Metropolis” protest in Atlanta, Ga., on Jan. 21, 2023.

Picture: Benjamin Hendren/Anadolu Company by way of Getty Pictures

Oregon Democrats may body their assist of the invoice round concern for far-right assaults, however the laws’s language echoes mannequin payments written by the American Legislative Change Council on behalf of the fossil gas business. These payments had been geared toward rising penalties confronted by protesters who goal so-called vital infrastructure, together with protesting in opposition to pipelines and different vitality infrastructure.

If handed, H.B. 2772 would make it against the law of home terrorism within the first diploma to deliberately “disrupt the providers offered by vital infrastructure” by destroying or “considerably” damaging that infrastructure. Anybody discovered responsible underneath the statute might resist 10 years in jail and a $250,000 high-quality. The legislation would additionally create the crime of home terrorism within the second diploma, underneath which an individual could possibly be labeled a terrorist and sentenced to 5 years in jail and a $125,000 high-quality, for trying to destroy “vital infrastructure” or possessing an undefined “harmful machine” with such destruction in thoughts.

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On condition that pipelines — even these which might be unfinished and contested — are thought of “vital infrastructure” and the invoice doesn’t outline what constitutes “substantial harm,” the laws’s critics say that it opens the doorways to label as terrorists those that interact in nonviolent direct motion in opposition to rapacious fossil gas business building.

“Makes an attempt by direct motion activists to have interaction in ‘disruption of providers offered by vital infrastructure’ is a tried-and-true tactic on nonviolent civil disobedience for the pressing local weather motion,” Sarah Alvarez, an lawyer with the Civil Liberties Protection Middle, instructed me.

“This legislation dangers conflating terrorism, and all its political baggage, with lengthy historic ways of local weather and environmental activists.”

Alvarez pointed to the instance of the Valve Turners, environmental and Indigenous rights activists who shut off the valves of 4 main tar sands pipelines, in addition to protesters in Minnesota who locked themselves to pipeline tools to quickly halt building of the Line 3 pipeline, amongst others.

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“Because of these actions, individuals confronted felony costs — however they clearly weren’t terrorists worthy of going through critical jail time or the stigmatizing label,” mentioned Alvarez. “This legislation dangers conflating terrorism, and all its political baggage, with lengthy historic ways of local weather and environmental activists, in addition to some situations of avenue protests.”

We would assume, too, of environmentalist Jessica Reznicek, who was given an extreme eight-year jail sentence for participating in acts of property harm in opposition to the Dakota Entry pipeline. Her sentence was dramatically elevated because of a federal terrorism enhancement.

There are already ample legal guidelines on the books and instruments obtainable to police ought to they want to tackle extremist violence overwhelmingly perpetrated by the far proper. However it’s not for lack of capability or assets that police within the state have often ignored these teams; there’s a well-established sample of police assist for, and certainly membership of, civilian far-right organizations, together with the Oath Keepers militia.

Like lots of the nation’s whitest states, Oregon, 82 % white, has lengthy been a notable residence to white supremacist teams and militias invested within the violent protection of white standing.

Oregon lawmakers proposed the home terrorism invoice in response to a report printed final yr by the Oregon Secretary of State’s workplace arguing that extra wanted to be completed to fight violent extremism within the state. “Over the previous decade,” the report famous, “Oregon witnessed the sixth-highest variety of home violent extremism incidents within the nation.”

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Whereas the report highlights examples of far-right extremist violence, it’s rife with typical and deceptive two-sidesism. “Between 2011 and 2020, the variety of US home violence incidents primarily based on ideological orientation between ‘far-right’ and ‘far-left’ was almost equal,” the report famous, obfuscating the truth that many left-wing animal rights and environmental activists have been convicted as “terrorists” for acts of property harm through which no human or animal was harm.

In the meantime, during the last three many years, right-wing individuals and teams have been liable for over 70 % of all extremist killings within the U.S. In 2022, 21 of 25 murders categorized by the Anti-Defamation League as ideologically pushed had been carried out by the far proper.

If even the report falsely equates lethal white supremacist violence with environmentalists’ property harm, we should always have little religion that the legislation would do any higher.

“The Secretary of State report on extremism demonstrated that there’s little urge for food to really grapple with the abuses of anti-terrorism legal guidelines and establishments which have arisen on this nation during the last a number of many years, so Oregon is at excessive threat of repeating historical past,” mentioned Caleb, of the Breach Collective.

This historical past is one in every of allowing white supremacist violence to flourish, whereas focusing “counterterrorism” efforts in opposition to racial minorities. As an illustration, Muslim communities in Oregon, as elsewhere within the nation, had been aggressively surveilled and focused in FBI stings following the 9/11 assaults.

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The laws’s opponents have additionally raised considerations about one other proposed invoice, which is meant to focus on paramilitary exercise and militias by providing civil cures to people whose rights are violated by organized non-public militia teams. The legislation would additionally present the state lawyer normal better energy to dam sure actions by paramilitary teams if it’s believed that unlawful conduct will ensue. The paramilitary invoice has drawn robust opposition from proper wingers who imagine that the legislation will solely goal armed right-wing teams.

Those that oppose the proposed laws from the opposite aspect — as a possible overreach that could possibly be used in opposition to anti-racists and local weather justice fighters — have no real interest in standing in coalition with Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer members. Their considerations, like these across the home terrorism invoice, relate to the paramilitary invoice’s free definitions, which go away all too many openings for its weaponization in opposition to the very marginalized teams far-right militias harass and goal.

In a March letter to the Home Judiciary Committee, the Civil Liberties Protection Middle wrote that the paramilitary legislation would require an “apparently low threshold wanted to proceed” with a swimsuit in opposition to an organized group. The letter famous that “primarily based on the definition of ‘paramilitary exercise,’ the legislation will probably be used in opposition to environmental, animal rights, racial justice, and local weather actions, that are steadily well-organized, with numerous individuals taking over totally different roles in a protest.”

The far-right’s opposition to Democrat-sponsored anti-extremism payments doesn’t make the proposed laws worthy of assist. An enemy of an enemy doesn’t a pal make. For this very cause, longtime Black liberation and antifascist organizers have rejected the Democratic scramble, following the January 6 riots, to throw extra legal guidelines on the drawback of far-right extremism. It’s, they perceive, like asking white supremacists to abolish themselves.



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Oregon

Powerball ticket worth $328.5 million sold in Oregon

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Powerball ticket worth 8.5 million sold in Oregon


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The first Powerball jackpot of 2025 was sold in Oregon and is worth $328.5 million, according to lottery officials.

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The winner purchased the winning ticket in Beaverton on Thursday, Jan. 17, the Oregon Lottery said. The retail location will not be revealed until a winner has come forward.

The winning numbers for the Saturday drawing were: 14, 31, 35, 64 and 69 and Powerball 23.

The winner has a year to claim their prize, Oregon Lottery spokesperson Melanie Mesaros said. After the winning ticket is presented, “it will take time before a winner can be identified due to security and payment processes.”

Oregon lottery winners, with few exceptions, cannot remain anonymous, Mesaros said.

The winner will have a choice between an annuitized prize of $328.5 million or a lump-sum payment of $146.4 million, according to lottery officials, which are both options before taxes.

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Last year, the largest Powerball prize won in Oregon — a $1.3 billion jackpot — was split between a Portland man, his wife, and friend.

Before Saturday, the most recent Powerball jackpot was sold in December in New York and was worth $256 million.

Powerball is a multi-state jackpot operated by 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Fernando Cervantes Jr., a news reporter for USA TODAY, contributed to this story.

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Cherrill Crosby is the executive editor of the Statesman Journal and The Register-Guard. Reach her at crosbyc@gannett.com



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Oregon’s Dan Lanning visits 5-star recruit Cantwell, top TE Premer during Midwest run

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Oregon’s Dan Lanning visits 5-star recruit Cantwell, top TE Premer during Midwest run


Oregon head football coach Dan Lanning has been a busy man.

But when you’re the man tasked with running one of the top college football programs in the country, burning jet fuel to shake hands and take photos is a big part of the gig. And Lanning was doing plenty of that last week.

A native of Kansas City, Mo., Lanning returned home last week on a two-day tear recruiting some of the top 2026 prospects in the country.

Lanning’s known stops included Lee’s Summit on Jan. 16, where the Tigers have 2027 interior line prospect Zach Harsha (6-5, 260) and 2028 tight end Max Trillo (6-4, 225).

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He was even busier the following day. He had stops at Raymore-Peculiar, where he visited with and offered four-star uncommitted running back DeZephen Walker (6-0, 205) who is believed to be heavily considering Kansas and Nebraska.

Raymore-Peculiar running back DeZephen Walker

Raymore-Peculiar running back DeZephen Walker. / Photo by David Smith, SBLive

He also headed to Illinois, where he swung by Lincoln-Way East to visit with quarterback Jonas Williams, who agreed with the Ducks on Aug. 3, 2024,

A trip to the Springfield, Mo. area was also on the docket, as Lanning traveled to Nixa High School to again meet with the country’s No. 1 2026 offensive lineman, Jackson Cantwell, on Jan. 16. The 6-8, 315 offensive tackle has offers from just about everyone in the country, though he has spoken highly of Lanning and his relationship with the Ducks coach – making Oregon one of the favorites for his services.

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Cantwell was honored by the Kansas City Chiefs on Jan. 18 during their AFC Divisional playoff game against the Houston Texans after he was selected to represent the Chiefs at the ‘Nike Ones’ showcase during Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans.

Lanning concluded his trip with a little basketball in Hutchinson, Kan., where he watched Great Bend tight end Ian Premer (6-6, 215) – the top tight end in the 2026 class – take on Hutchinson. Premer, a three-sport star in football, basketball and baseball, impressed with 22 points in the game.

The Midwest swing adds to a busy month for Lanning, who also has been spotted with Utah No. 1 athlete Salasi Moa and recently secured a visit with top 2026 quarterback and Nashville native Jared Curtis.

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People with disabilities are extra vulnerable in major disasters like wildfires, says Oregon advocate

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People with disabilities are extra vulnerable in major disasters like wildfires, says Oregon advocate


FILE – Scorched wheelchairs rest outside Cypress Meadows Post-Acute, a nursing home leveled by the Camp Fire on Dec. 4, 2018, in Paradise, Calif. The staff was able to safely evacuate all 91 patients.

Noah Berger / AP

Jake Cornett, Executive Director and CEO of the advocacy group Disability Rights Oregon, says he will forever be haunted by Ashlyn Maddox’s death during the 2021 Oregon heat wave.

The Portland woman, 36, was disabled and living in a group foster home. She was dropped off by a medical transport company, but the company didn’t make sure she made it safely into her air-conditioned home. She ended up wandering around for hours in the heat, and died only 50 feet from safety.

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Cornett says, “These deaths are preventable with the right planning, the right strategy for mitigation, the right preparedness and a response plan that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and respects the needs of people with disabilities.”

Jake Cornett, executive director and CEO of Disability Rights Oregon.

Jake Cornett, executive director and CEO of Disability Rights Oregon.

Courtesy of Ramsey Cox

Cornett spoke with “All Things Considered” host Geoff Norcross about Oregon’s ability to help people with disabilities during a natural disaster, such as the deadly wildfires burning in the Los Angeles area.

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.


Geoff Norcross: If we were to transport those fires in Southern California here, would we see a similar catastrophe for people with disabilities?

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Jake Cornett: Surely, we fear that the same disasters we’ve seen play out in the catastrophes in the lives of people with disabilities in LA would play out right here in Oregon as well. And I don’t think this is just a theoretical question. It’s only a matter of time before we have major wildfires along Highway 20, very close by in Portland and in other major cities throughout our state.

Norcross: What is the obligation of local governments to provide for people with disabilities when disaster strikes? I guess I’m asking if the Americans with Disabilities Act applies here.

Cornett: Absolutely. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that cities, counties, the state and the federal government are taking into account what the needs are of people with disabilities, and providing accommodations for those needs when engaging in disaster planning.

Norcross: Getting information out to people quickly in a disaster is so critical, especially for something that’s as fast-moving as the LA wildfires. For people who are deaf or blind, can you talk about how that’s extra complicated?

Cornett: Absolutely. You know, emergency response notification systems that happen on your phone are a great tool if you have a phone, or if you have the technology to make your phone provide you the information you need. And that’s particularly important for folks who are blind.

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I think about a blind person who may not have the same visual access to information as others. If police run around your neighborhood and put a notice on your door that says “get out of town, there’s an evacuation order, you’re under wildfire threat,” that notice on your door might not be enough because you can’t access that information.

And this is where cities, counties and the state really have an obligation to adjust to how they communicate so that it’s effective for all people with disabilities.

Norcross: And again, when you say obligation, you mean a legal obligation, not just because it’s the right thing to do.

Cornett: Absolutely. There’s a legal obligation to do that under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Norcross: Even if an evacuation order gets to affected people quickly, there’s this expectation that most people will get in their car and they will leave. How does that expectation leave people with disabilities in even greater danger?

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Cornett: Yeah, that’s another huge issue for people with disabilities, especially when it happens quickly like the LA fires. People think evacuating is getting in the car, driving quickly away to safety.

But many people with disabilities don’t have access to a car, or they can’t physically drive a vehicle. They’re totally reliant on others to transport them to safety. So just providing that notice is not an adequate way to ensure that we are saving the lives of people with disabilities in the way it needs to be done.

Norcross: Is there an event here in Oregon that you can point to that shows us how situated we are to help people with disabilities when disaster strikes, good or bad?

Cornett: Here in Oregon, we’ve seen hundreds die or have serious injuries because of heat in the past few years. Climate change is real. We live in a warming environment, and it’s having a really disproportionate impact on seniors, on people with disabilities and people with underlying medical conditions.

And I’ll forever be haunted by a story of a 30-something year old woman who was dropped off by a medical transport company, but didn’t wait in their air-conditioned van to make sure that she got inside her home where there was air conditioning. Instead, they took off. She wandered around for hours before dying of heat, just 50 feet from her adult foster home.

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These deaths are preventable with the right planning, the right strategy for mitigation, the right preparedness, and a response plan that complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and respects the needs of people with disabilities.



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