Oregon
Oregon lawmakers propose ways to stem the public defense crisis – Oregon Capital Chronicle
Washington County District Lawyer Kevin Barton retains an inventory of dozens of defendants with no protection legal professional tacked to the wall of his workplace.
About 40 are in jail. They’re amongst 170 statewide who’re behind bars whereas dealing with prison costs for misdemeanors and felonies, together with homicide.
The quantity worries Barton.
‘What retains me up at night time is figuring out we’ve 40 folks in our Washington (County) jail who don’t have legal professionals,” Barton stated Thursday to the Legislature’s Joint Subcommittee on Public Security, a part of the joint funds committee.
The scarcity of protection legal professionals has disadvantaged a whole bunch of individuals of their constitutional proper to a speedy trial. Whereas ready for an legal professional, they’ve needed to put their lives on maintain, whereas others, maybe a dozen each month in Multnomah County alone, have had their circumstances dismissed, together with for felonies.
Lawmakers, who heard from Barton and others within the prison justice system concerning the disaster on Thursday, wish to repair the issue. However the answer won’t be fast or simple.
“I don’t know what the reply is,” stated Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth and the subcommitte’s co-chair. “I do know earlier than we depart in June we’re going to have a short-term and long-term plan.”
The Legislature is contemplating Senate Invoice 1092 for a short-term repair. It will require the presiding choose of every judicial district to develop an unrepresented defendant disaster plan and ship it to the Oregon Felony Justice Fee by Sept. 1. The plan would wish to prioritize illustration for defendants in custody. Bigger judicial districts with a inhabitants of greater than 100,000 would wish to nominate a disaster staff to supervise the plan. The fee would evaluate every district’s plan and report back to lawmakers by October.
Evans is sponsoring the invoice together with his subcommittee’s co-chair, Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro.
“With no complete plan to deal with the represented folks – not circumstances, folks – we’re going to proceed to see it develop worse,” Sollman stated. “I don’t assume cash is the reply.”
The state’s prison protection system must be restructured, and that can take years, lawmakers say. To perform that, Senate Invoice 337 would reshape Oregon’s public protection system by growing compensation for protection legal professionals and placing trial-level public defenders on the state authorities payroll to complement the work that’s contracted out.
The Public Protection Providers Fee, which oversees the general public defenders’ workplace, would rent the trial attorneys. For others on contract, the invoice would enact an hourly pay construction.
Beneath the invoice, at the very least 20% of public defenders would should be employed by the fee by 2031. By 2035, at the very least 30% of trial-level public defenders would should be employed by the state. At present, trial-level public protection work is normally contracted out, although state attorneys do deal with appellate-level work.
Oregon has about 600 contracted full-time public protection attorneys, based on a 2022 report by the American Bar Affiliation. That report discovered the state wants almost 1,300 extra.
Within the short-term, judges, protection attorneys and others are on the lookout for methods to maintain the variety of unrepresented folks as little as potential.
“We judges are at our wits’ finish about this downside,” stated Washington County Circuit Courtroom Presiding Decide Kathleen Proctor.
Judges already prioritize illustration for folks in jail as a substitute of these out on bail and consolidate illustration to at least one legal professional if a defendant has a number of circumstances pending.
Washington County has had one-day particular courtroom occasions that assign an legal professional to an individual with low-level costs, normally misdemeanors, for a listening to. The legal professional isn’t assigned to the case completely, however the occasion provides a defendant a chance to evaluate the case with an legal professional and probably enter a plea deal.
Officers say efforts like that aren’t a remaining answer – only a short-term repair to maintain the issue from rising.
The challenges for protection attorneys are myriad, stated Carl Macpherson, government director of the Metropolitan Public Defender, which represents folks within the Portland space.
They face last-minute dismissal of circumstances, delays in getting case data and hours getting ready for trial. A public defender can simply work greater than 60 hours every week whereas getting ready for trial, he stated.
Individuals who work within the area normally begin their careers devoted. They want coaching and assist instantly in order that they don’t turn into overwhelmed, Macpherson stated.
“They wish to make sure they’re not simply handed 100 recordsdata on day one,” he stated.
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Oregon
Powerball ticket worth $328.5 million sold in Oregon
Powerball, Mega Millions jackpots: What to know in case you win
Here’s what to know in case you win the Powerball or Mega Millions jackpot.
Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
The first Powerball jackpot of 2025 was sold in Oregon and is worth $328.5 million, according to lottery officials.
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.
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.
Cherrill Crosby is the executive editor of the Statesman Journal and The Register-Guard. Reach her at crosbyc@gannett.com
Oregon
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).
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.
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.
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.
Oregon
People with disabilities are extra vulnerable in major disasters like wildfires, says Oregon advocate
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.
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.”
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?
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.
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?
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.
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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