Oregon
Oregon Ducks preparing for hostile environment at Reser Stadium

One other rivalry matchup brings extra audible reminders to Oregon’s observe fields.
Dan Lanning had Washington’s combat music performed advert nauseam main as much as the sport two weeks in the past. On Wednesday, the Geese broke out a chainsaw to arrange for the third down sound results they’ll hear at Reser Stadium on Saturday (12:30 p.m., ABC).
“It’s a really extremely anticipated rivalry so we attempt to play the sport earlier than the sport as a lot as we are able to,” security Steve Stephens IV mentioned. “We’re going to listen to the chainsaws on the market, so we attempt to carry that scenario to observe. It’s fairly surprising; in my 5 years of being right here I haven’t seen anyone come out with a chainsaw, nevertheless it was cool.”
No. 9 Oregon (9-2, 7-1 Pac-12) misplaced its final journey to Corvallis in 2020 in an empty constructing on a foggy evening. In fact, Lanning wasn’t part of that sport and few of Oregon’s offensive ability gamers have been both.
“Each sport is completely different,” Lanning mentioned. “Strive to determine methods to proceed to inspire and enhance.”
Even with considerably diminished capability attributable to building at Reser Stadium it needs to be a determined homefield benefit for No. 22 Oregon State (8-3, 5-3), which is significantly higher on third down defensively at dwelling (34.72%) than on the highway (43.59%).
It’ll be largely as much as Oregon’s offense to silence the gang and the thrill of the chainsaw.
“At present they introduced out an actual chainsaw simply strolling round yanking it, cranking it out loud,” outdoors linebacker Mase Funa mentioned. “We’re all irritated from it however that’s the explanation behind it, get us riled up. We’re going to listen to all of it sport, get used to it. Knock out the noise. It’s working; we’re all irritated of it and we’re uninterested in listening to it.”

Oregon
Oregon psychiatric hospital under scrutiny over sex toys for patients policy

A state-run psychiatric facility in Oregon is under scrutiny over a policy that permits distributing sex toys to patients after an investigation by NBC affiliate KGW8.
Oregon State Hospital provided 65 sexual aids to patients last year, costing taxpayers $2,900. In 2023, 42 sex toys were distributed to patients.
The hospital is the highest security psychiatric facility in the state, and many of its patients are involved in the criminal justice system, either because they are unfit to stand trial or found guilty but legally insane on charges ranging from minor misdemeanors to serious felonies, including violent and sexual offenses.
“How does that make any sense?” asked Tiffany Edens, a rape survivor and advocate for crime victims.
“You are feeding into people’s fantasies — people that have no business to have these types of toys,” she added.

According to the hospital’s patient handbook, “certain items you may need for personal use, such as sexual aids” are permitted.
A public records request by KGW revealed a detailed policy, including a 10-page color catalog of various sex toys available to patients.
The catalog included brand names such as The Vortex, Throttle Stroker, Her Pocket Bullet, Double Dancer, Vibrating Helping Hand Pro, Vibrating Shower Stroker, and Waterproof Prostate Massager. Prices range from $14.78 to $84.99.
Oregon State Hospital spokesperson Amber Shoebridge confirmed to the network that the sexual aids are paid for with public money and serve an important therapeutic purpose.
“The need for sexual expression doesn’t disappear in institutional settings,” Shoebridge wrote in a statement to KGW. “Oregon State Hospital provides access to sexual aids as a way to offer patients an ethical, and therapeutic and private form alternative for a lack of sexual expression.”
According to Shoebridge, sexual expression can reduce stress, calm the nervous system, and support emotional well-being.
Patients without appropriate sexual outlets may use unsafe objects, such as toothbrushes, crayons, or shampoo bottles. Access to sexual aids, she explained, creates a safer environment for staff and other patients.
The sexual aid policy involves a treatment process with occupational therapists and an interdisciplinary team. Patients must provide consent and understand the proper use and hygiene.
Devices are inspected monthly for at least three months, with ongoing monitoring. Consent is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with therapists assessing patients’ understanding, ability to operate, and their capacity to follow rules.
Only hospital-approved, non-porous silicone devices are allowed, with a limit of two sex toys.
Oregon State Hospital previously faced criticism for policies on sexual health; in May 2024, federal inspectors found it distributing condoms despite discouraging sexual contact.
Shoebridge said condoms were intended to promote cleanliness and self-pleasure, but the practice is now discontinued.
Oregon
Oregon Senate rejects bill making big tech pay for local journalism as session end nears

By: Shaanth Nanguneri
A novel proposal that would mandate tech companies to pay local journalism outlets for using their news content failed to gain steam in its first floor vote in the Oregon Senate on Tuesday, effectively killing its chance to pass this year.
Lawmakers on Tuesday voted 15-14 against Senate Bill 686, introduced in January, which aims to regulate tech companies and social media platforms like Google and Meta that aggregate, publish and use news content for their feeds or algorithms to provide information to users. Four Democrats were in opposition.
“Does anybody honestly believe these companies are going to just write the check and keep doing business as usual here?” Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, asked his colleagues Tuesday before voting against the legislation. “No, they will stop sharing news content in Oregon all together, just like they did in Canada.”
The effort at enacting the nation’s most stringent rules regulating journalism content and reproduction has also met a mounting resistance from tech companies. Meta, for instance, has threatened to remove Oregon news from their platforms altogether if the bill passes, echoing its position in Canada where a similar law was passed in 2023.
The vote against the bill was followed by a motion by Sen. Kayse Jama, D-Portland, to send the bill back to the Senate Committee on Rules, where it was previously amended on June 11 in the face of legal concerns over regulation of private markets and the First Amendment.
But it’s unlikely that the bill will be revived, amended and passed out of committee and both chambers by Sunday, when Oregon’s legislative session ends. And the bill’s author, Sen. Khanh Phạm, D-Portland, told the Capital Chronicle that she will be reintroducing the bill in a future session, though she hasn’t decided when.
The original version of the legislation had three avenues for platforms to satisfy the legislation’s regulations: pay each accessed provider an unspecified amount, enter into an arbitration process, or donate to a university-backed public media board. The new bill preserves those pathways but heightens the protections news outlets have if their content is used without an agreement with an online platform.
Under the legislation, companies like Apple, Google and Meta could pay tens of millions of dollars into a state fund that would support news outlets throughout the state, based on their size and the number of journalists they employ. Firms like Google, Instagram and Facebook could pay into a central fund that is doled out to different newsrooms based on size, paying $104 million annually if they have six billion or more monthly active users worldwide, or $18 million annually if they have fewer than six billion worldwide users.
One-tenth of that money would go to the Oregon Civic Information Consortium, a proposed board under the purview of the University of Oregon that would help train future journalists, offer grants to newsrooms and ensure funding for news deserts such as rural communities. The rest of the funding would go to newsrooms based on the number of employees and journalists they have; 70% of the funds must be spent on journalists and support staff by providers.
“We trust the people who work in this industry and whose vocation depends on freedom of the press to guide us on what they need,” Phạm said on the Senate floor, referencing the more than 50 Oregon newsrooms that have voiced support for the bill. “Now they need a fighting chance in an unfair market.”
The bill was amended in a June committee hearing, however, to address legal concerns about violating the First Amendment and regulating the free market, though lawmakers anticipate the untested measure would face a legal challenge anyway. The new version shifted the focus away from cracking down on social media and tech platforms, aiming instead to empower news outlets to create agreements with platforms for payment or face legal consequences.
Sen. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, warned his colleagues that the bill could unintentionally incentivize platforms to establish agreements with politically-biased media. He was also unsure if the bill would survive under legal scrutiny.
Under the new version of the legislation, online platforms could face lawsuits for damages from newsrooms if the companies accessed their content without a written agreement. The proposal would establish an arbitration process to decide what proportion of ad revenue a platform should dole out to newsrooms. The reworked bill also classifies the access and use of such content through aggregation, publishing and distribution without a formal agreement with an outlet as an unfair trade practice.
Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, told his colleagues there was no avoiding the uncertainty the bill would pose in the courts. But, he asked, “Can you think of a significant law in the past that tries to solve a significant problem that hasn’t been litigated?”
Aside from Meek, the three other Democrats who voted in opposition to the bill were Sens. Kayse Jama, D-Portland, Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene and Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro. Jama reversed his position in order to be part of the prevailing majority against the bill, allowing him to call for the bill to be reconsidered and sent to committee. The one Republican who had expressed support for the legislation, Sen. Dick Anderson, R-Lincoln City, also voted against the bill.
Note: Oregon Capital Chronicle Editor Julia Shumway is board treasurer of the Greater Oregon Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which supports the bill referenced in this article. She did not participate in the editing of this item.
Correction: Sen. Khanh Phạm, D-Portland, has not decided on a date in which she will reintroduce the legislation. A previous version of this story reported that she would do so next session.
Oregon
Transfer tax on new, used vehicles eliminated in amended Oregon transportation bill

Oregon Department of Transportation: What to know about ODOT
ODOT manages and develops the state’s transportation system, which includes 8,000 miles of roads and nearly 2,800 bridges.
A proposed amendment to House Bill 2025, the multibillion-dollar transportation bill to fund the Oregon Department of Transportation, cities and counties and finish major projects from a 2017 transportation package, removes a proposed transfer tax on new and used vehicles and has a one-time increase in the gas tax.
The amended version of HB 2025 was uploaded June 25. A draft revenue estimate obtained by the Statesman Journal forecasts that the legislation would bring in $11.7 billion over the next 10 years, nearly $3 billion less than the original estimate.
The Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment is scheduled to hold a public hearing at 3:30 p.m. on June 26 before voting on whether to send the bill to the floor
The amendment was brokered by House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, in an attempt to garner support for the bill after some Democrats expressed concerns.
What does the latest amendment to Oregon House Bill 2025 propose?
The amendment would increase the gas tax by 12 cents a gallon on Jan. 1, 2026, bringing the Oregon gas tax to 52 cents per gallon. The original bill raised the tax by 10 cents on Jan. 1, 2026, then again by five cents on Jan. 1, 2028, before being indexed to inflation using the Consumer Price Index after 2029.
The proposal would not include a transfer tax on the sales price of vehicles. The bill currently includes a 2% tax on the sales price of all new vehicles and a 1% tax on used vehicles sold for more than $10,000.
A privilege and use tax, which are currently 0.5%, would increase to 2.25% beginning July 1, 2028, under the amendment. The privilege tax, paid by car dealers, would be expanded to also include used vehicles sold for more than $10,000. The use tax applies to vehicles purchased out of state and also would expand to used vehicles. The bill would currently increase both taxes to 1% beginning Jan. 1, 2026.
Increases to the payroll tax that funds transit would not change from the current proposal of increasing from 0.1% to 0.18% in 2026 before increasing to 0.25% in 2028 and 0.3% in 2030.
Oregon transportation bill amendment redirects some funds
The amendment would also change the distribution of some of the revenue.
Revenue from the privilege tax would be distributed as follows:
- 38% to the Great Streets Fund. The original bill specified $125 million.
- 38% to an Anchor Projects Fund for major projects. Funds would first go toward the completion of the Rose Quarter project and Abernethy Bridge project before being distributed to the Interstate 205 widening, the Newberg-Dundee Bypass and the Center Street Bridge seismic retrofit projects. The original bill specified $125 million.
- 10% to the Zero Emission Incentive Fund for vehicle rebates.
- 8% to the Connect Oregon Fund for rail, aviation and marine projects.
- 6% to the Railroad Fund for public transportation by rail.
Half of the funds from the privilege tax were previously going to the railroad fund, and the remaining 50% was split, with $12 million or 45%, whichever was larger, going to the Zero Emission Incentive Fund.
Revenue from the use tax would be distributed into the State Highway Fund, which is where revenue from the gas and use taxes and fees go, as follows:
- Up to $5 million would first go to the Wildlife-Vehicle Collision Reduction Fund. The original bill put $5 million into this fund.
- Up to $25 million would then go to the Safe Routes to School Fund. The original bill put $25 million into this fund.
- Any remaining money would be allocated as follows:
- 50% to ODOT
- 30% to counties
- 1.37% or $3.5 million of that 30% to small counties
- 20% to cities
(This story will be updated.)
Dianne Lugo contributed.
Anastasia Mason covers state government for the Statesman Journal. Reach her at acmason@statesmanjournal.com or 971-208-5615.
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