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Oregon Ducks Recruiting: Local Specialist Staying in Eugene

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Oregon Ducks Recruiting: Local Specialist Staying in Eugene


Although Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning has said being in the Big Ten Conference helps with recruiting nationwide, winning over recruits at home is good too.

Rocco Graziano announced Friday afternoon via social media that he had committed to Oregon. Scouts have been raving about Graziano’s kicking ability. He is ranked by “Chris Sailer Kicking” as the No. 59 kicker in the class of 2025. He also participated in July’s Saturday Night Live football camp.

Graziano has a strong leg and easily has a 50-yard-plus field goal range. Additionally, he has been a great punter for Sheldon.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning must have liked what he saw from the Eugene product and gave Graziano an offer late last month. With his commitment earlier today, Graziano is set to be staying in town and suiting up for the Ducks next year.

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Oregon players attempt to block a kick by kicker Grant Meadors during practice with the Oregon Ducks.

Oregon players attempt to block a kick by kicker Grant Meadors during practice with the Oregon Ducks Tuesday, April 2, 2024 in Eugene, Ore. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

For the past five seasons, the Oregon Ducks have relied on kicker Camden Lewis for field goals, extra points, and kickoffs. Last season, Lewis became the all-time scoring leader in the history of Oregon Ducks football. With Lewis now out of the picture, the Ducks will need to replace him.

Junior Atticus Sappington, senior Andrew Boyle, freshman Grant Meadors, and freshman Gage Hurych are the four Ducks placekickers on the roster for the 2024-25 season. It is expected that Sappington will be the one to primarily take field goals and extra points. For Oregon State last season, he was 13-for-14 on field goals and 49-for-50 on extra points.

When Graziano joins the team in 2025, he will have no shortage of competition if he wants to become the starting kicker. As Oregon and college football fans know, having a reliable kicker is hard to come by. Time will tell if any of these players can step up and take on the pressure of kicking for a team vying for a College football playoff spot year in and year out.

If Oregon is going to get over the hump and win its first football national championship, having a glaring hole at any position is unacceptable. One position that has haunted the Ducks in the past has been kicker.

Having a shaky kicking game can be detrimental to a football team. It will do more than take three points off the board on missed field goals. It can cause coaches and players to second-guess every decision on a drive. If there is no confidence in a kicker to knock it through the uprights, the play calling will get ultra-aggressive. Sometimes, this can lead to successful conversions. However, it also leads to empty drives and the kicker on the sideline during a fourth down thinking about how his team doesn’t believe in him. When he gets called upon later in the game or season, that thought can creep right back into his head in the biggest moment.

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Having an unreliable kicking game is a big obstacle to overcome. The Ducks hope to have found a kicker in Rocco Graziano that will give them confidence every time he steps out onto the field.

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MORE: Oregon Ducks Coach Dan Lanning Previews ‘Unbelievable’ Ohio State In Highly-Anticipated Big Ten Game

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MORE: Oregon Duck Mascot Skips Rival Washington Huskies in Big Ten Tour



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OPB’s First Look: Town hall follows power outages

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OPB’s First Look: Town hall follows power outages


OPB’s First Look: Town hall follows power outages – OPB

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Public asked to help find missing 2-year-old Armani Andrews in Portland

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Public asked to help find missing 2-year-old Armani Andrews in Portland


Oregon officials asked the public to help find a two-year-old boy who went missing from Portland last Wednesday, June 17.

The Oregon Department of Human Services, Child Welfare Division, is asking the public to help find Armani Andrews and call 911 or local law enforcement if they believe they saw him.

Armani is believed to be in danger and is suspected to be in Portland, around any of the following areas: Rose Haven, Multnomah County Central Library, or Southeast Portland around 82nd-103rd.

Armani is a two-year-old Black/mixed race baby. He is about 24 inches tall, he has brown hair, brown eyes, and his weight is unknown.

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If contacting Portland Police Bureau about Armani, reference the case number: #PP185430

The report number for Armani with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Report is: 2093182

ODHS said in a statement when a child is missing, they may be in significant danger and the department “may need to locate them to assess and support their safety.”

KATU News reached out to ODHS to clarify whether there is a custody aspect to the missing child’s case. The department said they are unable to provide that information.

Armani Andrews with Mother Rashonda Andrews/ODHS photos

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You can report suspected child abuse to the Oregon Child Abuse Hotline by calling 1-855-503-SAFE (7233). The toll-free number allows anyone to report abuse of any child or adult to the Oregon Department of Human Services, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and every day of the year.

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KATU News included photographs of Armani to help the public identify and find him.



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The Cost of the Crackdown: How Trump’s immigration enforcement affects Oregon

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The Cost of the Crackdown: How Trump’s immigration enforcement affects Oregon


President Donald Trump campaigned on carrying out what he called the largest deportation operation in American history.

After taking office, his administration quickly ramped up immigration enforcement. Border czar Tom Homan also pledged to focus on so-called sanctuary cities, including Portland. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, more than 675,000 people were deported in 2025, while the agency says more than 2 million people “self-deported.”

READ ALSO | Supreme Court hands Trump immigration wins, but birthright citizenship might be different

In Oregon, state data shows state and local agencies experienced a 265% increase in immigration-related requests from federal authorities last year.

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So what does that mean for Oregon’s economy?

The state’s chief economist says the effects are beginning to emerge.

Carl Riccadonna, Oregon’s state economist, said immigration enforcement actions are influencing consumer spending and activity across several key industries, though the state cannot yet quantify the overall impact.

“What we’re seeing in terms of immigration action is playing out in either consumption patterns, which we’ve seen in some communities, or in industrial or sectoral activity,” Riccadonna said. “This does then have implications for how we are reading the overall macroeconomy and putting together that revenue forecast.”

Portland police officers walk outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

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Riccadonna said the effects extend beyond agriculture, an industry that has historically relied on immigrant labor.

“We have certainly, in sector-by-sector analysis, we’re hearing evidence of impacts from immigration in consumption numbers, so retail, groceries, those sorts of things,” Riccadonna said. “There are also significant impacts in the retail sector and leisure and hospitality, restaurants and construction, important legacy industries of Oregon like timber, forestry … and manufacturing has a very large footprint as well.”

While the state is seeing those trends, Riccadonna said economists cannot yet calculate exactly how much immigration enforcement has affected Oregon’s economy.

“We haven’t done an exercise to say, well, this is what the forecast would have been otherwise. We don’t produce counterfactuals … but there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence from the cherry harvest this past summer and stresses elsewhere throughout those specific sectors,” he said.

National data offers additional context.

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According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the recent immigration surge — which the report says mostly comprises immigrants who were not lawful permanent residents, were not eligible to apply for lawful permanent residency based on their current status, and were not admitted on a temporary basis under the Immigration and Nationality Act — generated approximately $10 billion in state and local tax revenue in 2023. During that same period, governments spent nearly $19 billion on services such as schools, shelters and border security.

A damaged car is seen as law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A damaged car is seen as law enforcement officials work the scene following reports that federal immigration officers shot and wounded people in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

The Congressional Budget Office also projects the immigration surge that began in 2023 will increase the U.S. labor force by approximately 5.8 million people by 2034 and boost the nation’s economic output by nearly $9 trillion over the next decade.

Riccadonna said Oregon expects to gain a clearer picture of the economic effects as more tax and revenue data becomes available.

This story is part of KATU’s “The Cost of the Crackdown” special, which examines how increased immigration enforcement is affecting Oregon, from businesses and workers to the state’s broader economy.

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