Oregon has joined a group of 29 states in a federal lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its owner over an alleged entertainment industry monopoly that harms customers.

The 124-page suit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in New York by the U.S. Department of Justice, 29 states and the District of Columbia, accuses Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. of using its control of artists and venues to stifle innovation and “bend the industry” to its benefit. 

Live Nation, which boasts it’s the world’s “largest live entertainment company,” manages 400 musicians and owns 265 venues, including Bend’s Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Oregon. It also pitched building a venue in Portland last year.

That ownership, which includes more than 60 of the 100 top amphitheaters in the U.S., brings wide power, the suit said.

“Control over a venue not only confers on Live Nation the ability to dictate whether fans can see a particular artist they love, but in many cases also provides Live Nation control over many aspects of the concert experience and a host of additional revenue streams ranging from sponsorships to food and beverage sales,” the lawsuit said. 

Live Nation and Ticketmaster have used their power to freeze innovation while boosting their bottom line and hurting the public, the suit said.

“The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.”

In a statement, Live Nation said the lawsuit won’t affect the things that the public cares about: ticket prices, service fees and access to shows.

“Calling Ticketmaster a monopoly may be a PR win for the DOJ in the short term, but it will lose in court because it ignores the basic economics of live entertainment, such as the fact that the bulk of service fees go to venues and that competition has steadily eroded Ticketmaster’s market share and profit margin. Our growth comes from helping artists tour globally, creating lasting memories for millions of fans and supporting local economies across the country by sustaining quality jobs,” the statement said.

It added that it will fight the lawsuit. 

“We will defend against these baseless allegations, use this opportunity to shed light on the industry, and continue to push for reforms that truly protect consumers and artists.”

Long-standing complaints about Ticketmaster’s practices hit a peak in 2022 when its botched rollout of Taylor Swift tickets led to a hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the company’s role in the ticketing industry and the U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation.

The suit calls for restoring competition in the entertainment industry by banning Live Nation from engaging in anticompetitive practices and selling Ticketmaster.

“Restoring competition protects the ability of working artists and fans to meaningfully access, afford and engage with music and each other,” the suit said. “Addressing and stopping anticompetitive conduct is also essential to ensure the vibrancy of live music.”

Oregon’s attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, said the suit is a “big deal” for Oregonians.

“We’re joining this lawsuit because Live Nation stifles innovation, limits consumer choices, inflates prices and piles on excessive fees – and we want those practices to end.” 

The other attorneys general joining the suit are from: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

AnneMarie Timmins of the New Hampshire Bulletin contributed to this story.

New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: [email protected]. Follow New Hampshire Bulletin on Facebook and Twitter.

A patient at Oregon State Hospital died of a suspected fentanyl overdose on Friday, and Oregon State Police are investigating the circumstances, police said. 

A spokesperson for the police agency confirmed the investigation to the Capital Chronicle late Friday but had no other details. Separately, the Oregon State Hospital sent a memo to staff on Friday and announced it is temporarily halting in-person patient visits with friends and family. The state-run psychiatric hospital in Salem has more than 600 patients. 

“Because of a significant incident related to passing of contraband from a visitor to a patient, we are pausing in-person visitation effective immediately,” the hospital’s interim superintendent, Sara Walker, wrote in a Friday email to staffers. 

Larry Bingham, a spokesman for the Oregon Health Authority, which oversees the hospital, declined to comment about the incident when asked about the overdose. 

The case is the latest in a string of incidents that have temporarily put the state hospital in the crosshairs of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which inspects hospitals that receive federal funding. A federal report released earlier this month flagged problems that included blind spots in the security camera system, a failure to adequately monitor patients and the distribution of condoms to patients even though they aren’t allowed to have sex with each other. The hospital also has overhauled how it stores its emergency life-saving equipment after federal officials inspected the facility following a patient death shortly after the patient’s admission. Inspectors found that the critical equipment stored in a disorganized way.

Walker’s memo did not mention that the incident involved a suspected fentanyl overdose nor that police are investigating. 

“This was a decision the executive team did not make lightly,” Walker’s message said. “We know how important in-person visits are to patients and those who love them, and we know we are making the decision on a Friday before a holiday weekend.”

Walker did not say when visits would resume. She said the pause will be “as short as we can” while the hospital reviews visitation policies and procedures to ensure in-person visits are safe for patients, families and staff. 

Walker directed staff to notify patients and visitors with a prepared script that apologized for the suspension. Patients still have access to video visits. 

The restrictions come after patients and family have enjoyed more freedom to have in-person visits after pandemic-era restrictions were fully lifted in 2023. 

The easy availability of fentanyl in Oregon has fueled an overdose crisis in Oregon, with people consuming the powerful drug in public. That’s led to the Legislature recriminalizing possession of illegal drugs. A new law signed by Gov. Tina Kotek will lead to new programs throughout the state to encourage people to enter treatment and avoid court charges for drug possession. 

Six members of Oregon’s congressional delegation sent a letter Friday to the Federal Bureau of Prisons demanding “swift action” on staffing shortages, inmate medical needs and other “alarming” issues at the Federal Correctional Institute in Sheridan.

The demands come after a report released by the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General on Wednesday found “several serious safety and security issues” at FCI Sheridan impacting employees and inmates.

FCI Sheridan houses male inmates at its medium-security prison and minimum-security prison camp which opened in 1989 and at a detention center which opened in 1995.

What the report from the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General found

The DOJ OIG conducted an unannounced, on-site inspection of FCI Sheridan between Nov. 27 and Dec. 1, 2023, interviewing employees and inmates, reviewing security footage and collecting records related to programs for inmates and education; staffing levels; inmate medical and mental health care; and employee and inmate misconduct.

The medium-security prison was housing 988 inmates within its eight general population units and one special housing unit as of Nov. 28. It was at full capacity, according to the inspector general’s report. The federal detention center was housing 291 inmates, 97% of its capacity, and the camp had 366 inmates, 95% of its capacity.

Among the issues identified was staff shortages. According to the report, FCI Sheridan had 81% of 357 positions filled, and significant use of overtime or “augmentation” was required for the correctional officer posts.

“Even with the use of overtime and augmentation, we found that institution management is not always able to fill all correctional officer posts, which has caused inmates to be minimally supervised or, in certain instances, not supervised at all,” the report said.

The staffing shortages also meant “significant delays” in inmate health care. FCI Sheridan had been without a phlebotomist to draw and prepare blood samples since March 2022, leading to a backlog of 725 lab orders, according to the report. After the on-site visit, FCI Sheridan hired an on-site phlebotomist and reported the backlog was now 44 lab orders as of May. A backlog of 274 X-ray orders was also reduced to 84 following the visit.

Without enough correctional officers to escort inmates to outside appointments, 101 appointments for medical care had been canceled between January and November 2023. Dental care was also delayed at the facility with 350 inmates waiting for routine dental care in October 2023. Of those 350 inmates, 41% had been waiting for two years or more, the report said.

The Residential Drug Abuse Program was suspended entirely three days after the unannounced visit, according to the report. The program had fewer than one-third of the positions filled during the inspection and inmates reported concerns and frustration with their inability to participate in the nine-month program meant to help them address substance-abuse disorders. The program also earns inmates with no violent offenses in their history a one-year reduction credit on their sentence.

“We know this program has since been suspended entirely and the majority of inmates eligible for RDAP were transferred to other facilities offering this programming,” Oregon U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Andrea Salinas, and Val Hoyle wrote on Friday. “This is an important program for prisoners suffering from substance use disorder and we are concerned it is no longer available at FCI Sheridan.”

‘Deficiencies showcase a comprehensive failure by leadership’

The Democratic legislators wrote they were also concerned with the reported length to investigate and address employee misconduct allegations — 1.5 years in some cases — and the lack of a way to centrally track the number of allegations of inmate-on-inmate sexual misconduct reported to FCI Sheridan employees.

“While we are glad to see FCI Sheridan is now tracking this, we are concerned this was not the case less than six months ago,” the letter said.

The legislators wrote they were concerned with the written response from Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters.

“Taken together, these deficiencies showcase a comprehensive failure by leadership at FCI Sheridan and BOP to protect both inmates and prison staff,” the letter said.

Wyden, Merkley, Blumenauer, Salinas, Hoyle and Bonamici included a list of questions in their letter they want answered by the Bureau of Prisons by June 14. They include:

• How many current vacancies, broken down by position, are there at FCI Sheridan?
• How many employees are under investigation for misconduct?
• How does BOP plan to ensure there is a special investigative agent on staff so that similar investigatory backlogs do not occur in the future?
• Does BOP plan to authorize additional staff positions at FCI Sheridan? If so, how many?
• How many inmates are currently waiting to receive routine dental care?
• What does BOP plan to do to reduce the waiting time for dental care?
• What plans does BOP have in place to ensure inmates needing supplemental oxygen are able to receive it in a timely manner?
• When was FCI Sheridan most recently accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care?
• What plans does BOP have in place to ensure a backlog of medical testing does not occur again?
• Does BOP plan to maintain a phlebotomist on staff at FCI Sheridan?
• Does BOP plan to restart the RDAP at FCI Sheridan? If so, when?
• Does BOP plan to digitize all security cameras within FCI Sheridan? If so, by what date?
• Does BOP plan to fund the estimated $21.6 million in infrastructure upgrades needed at FCI Sheridan? If so, by what date?
• Does BOP plan to adopt all of DOJ OIG’s recommendations? If not, why?
• What resources does BOP need from Congress to address these issues across the network of federal prisons?

Dianne Lugo covers the Oregon Legislature and equity issues. Reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on X @DianneLugo