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Oregon passes some funding for arts, but 1 major org largely left out

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Oregon passes some funding for arts, but 1 major org largely left out


News was both good and bad Thursday for supporters of the arts in Oregon, when, in the closing hours of the short legislative session, lawmakers approved less than half of the funding arts champions had hoped for.

Still, that was better than they fared last year, when the Legislature didn’t pass any money to resuscitate arts groups.

All of the state’s “anchor arts organizations,” which include the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the High Desert Museum, the Portland Art Museum, Portland Opera, Portland Center Stage, Oregon Ballet Theatre and the Oregon Symphony, received “resiliency” funding to support operations, from $342,000 for the Oregon Ballet Theater to $2.56 million for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The total is just shy of $6 million.

“The resiliency funding arrives at a critical time for the arts, providing substantial support to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as it rebuilds audiences,” said Tyler Hokama, interim executive director for the festival. “This funding serves as a significant boost for the current season and aids in planning for the next. OSF works on multiple seasons simultaneously and appreciates the timely support from the state as we begin planning for our 90th anniversary season in 2025.”

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Read more: Oregon arts organizations struggle as audiences are slow to return and money dries up

In addition to the state-provided operating funds, capital projects vetted by the Cultural Advocacy Coalition of Oregon will receive $5.9 million, including $1,000,000 for the Clatsop County Historical Society to expand the Oregon Film Museum and $900,000 for the Black United Fund of Oregon to build what it envisions as a United Futures Complex.

But $2 million for the High Desert Museum’s capital improvement campaign, the largest project on the list, did not make it into the final bill. Neither did an additional $13.5 million to develop and implement a grant program for Oregon cultural organizations still struggling in the wake of COVID-19. That money would have gone to smaller organizations throughout the state.

“It’s a total surprise,” Dana Whitelaw, executive director of the High Desert Museum, said Thursday afternoon. “We were assured that legislative leadership was supportive of all of the projects.”

The $2 million the state failed to allocate for the High Desert Museum is “a huge loss for central Oregon,” Whitelaw said.

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The museum is the largest arts organization in that part of the state, attracting 216,000 visitors in 2023. The population of Bend is around 100,000.

Whitelaw noted the museum is grateful for the $380,000 they received as part of the anchor arts package, but said the loss of the hoped-for funding will impact the timeline for the $40 million expansion project the museum is working on. So far, the High Desert Museum has raised $22 million.

“The High Desert Museum is a gem of central Oregon,” said Rep. Emerson Levy, a Democrat who represents parts of the region.

“I’m pleased to see the museum receive funding for operations, but disappointed the expansion project wasn’t chosen for funding,” she said. “The arts don’t stop at I-5 and we need more funding for the institutions that make central Oregon proud.”

– Lizzy Acker covers life and culture and writes the advice column Why Tho? Reach her at 503-221-8052, lacker@oregonian.com or @lizzzyacker

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Cram Fire in Oregon rages as it nears megafire status

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Cram Fire in Oregon rages as it nears megafire status


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Firefighters in central Oregon made progress in their battle against a blaze that triggered evacuations and a state of emergency as it tore across swaths of rugged land, destroying four homes and threatening hundreds of other buildings.

The Cram Fire, which has become the nation’s largest wildfire this year, has charred 150 square miles of land, an area larger than the size of Las Vegas. The blaze broke out on July 13 and burned for several days before undergoing explosive growth fueled by strong winds, high temperatures and low humidity. It was at 49% containment as of Sunday, July 20.

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The fire ignited near Willowdale, a sparsely populated area about 133 miles southeast of Portland, and swept through grasslands and rangeland in the region, fire officials said. The cause of the blaze is unclear and remains under investigation, officials said.

If the Cram Fire grows by more than 4,200 acres, it will reach what’s known as megafire status, meaning it will have burned more than 100,000 acres of land.

Evacuation orders and warnings remain in place across at least three counties, including Jefferson, Wasco and Crook County, according to Central Oregon Fire Information. In a statement on July 20, fire officials said they anticipate cooler weather, possible rain and higher humidity to “moderate fire behavior.”

Some personnel at Cram Fire to be released, officials say

Firefighters in Oregon have been aided by increasingly cooler and humid weather, which is expected to continue for the next few days.

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More than 930 fire personnel responded to the blaze and worked to stop its rapid spread. On July 20, crews traversed rugged terrain as they used dozers to carve containment lines. They recently focused on the southern edge of the blaze, thinning juniper trees along the fire lines to reduce potential fuels.

Some personnel who were brought in to protect homes, businesses and other structures will be released as containment grows and cooler weather lingers, according to the Central Oregon Fire Information. “Remaining personnel will continue working around structures to extinguish hot spots and ensure any lingering threats to homes are addressed,” the fire agency said.

Wildfires burn across the West

While the Cram Fire was the largest wildfire in the nation, it was far from the only blaze scorching wide swaths of land.

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In northern Arizona, a pair of wildfires burning at or near the Grand Canyon North Rim have charred over 70,000 acres of wildland. The White Fire, which devastated a section of the park, consuming a historic cabin and dozens of other buildings, was at 12,645 acres and 8% containment as of July 20.

In western Colorado, crews working a series of wildfires made gains over the weekend, setting up fire lines and increasing containment percentages. The largest of the wildfires, the Deer Creek Fire, has consumed 16,340 acres of land in Colorado and Utah and was at 22% containment.



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Checking in with the Oregon Ducks WR room ahead of the 2025 season

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Checking in with the Oregon Ducks WR room ahead of the 2025 season


We are less than 50 days away from the start of the 2025 college football season, and fewer than two weeks stand between us and the beginning of the Oregon Ducks’ fall camp getting off the ground in Eugene. While coaches and players wrap up their final couple of offseason weeks, we’re ready to jump back into things and take a deep dive into what’s set to take place at Autzen Stadium this year.

The Ducks are coming off of an incredible season that saw a 12-0 regular season, a Big Ten Championship, and the No. 1 seed in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. The offseason brought significant roster turnover as Oregon sent a program record 10 players into the 2025 NFL draft; however, those players have been replaced by a young yet incredibly talented group of players ready to uphold the standard in Eugene.

Will they be able to complete the job? Expectations are high, but it won’t be an easy task.

Over the next few weeks, many questions will be asked, and a significant number of them will be answered. Once we get a look at things during fall camp, we will be able to predict more accurately how things shape up. However, we already have our depth chart projections for offense and defense from spring. As we continue our preview of the 2025 season, leading up to the kick-off vs. Montana State on August 30, let’s take a deep dive, position by position.

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Previous Position Previews

Now let’s take a closer look at the running backs as we prepare for fall camp.

Overall Oregon Ducks WR Check-In

There are numerous positions on Oregon’s roster where talent is abundant, but experience is lacking. That may be no more true than at the WR spot. After losing both Tez Johnson and Traeshon Holden to the NFL, the Ducks were expecting to go into the 2025 season with Evan Stewart leading a young group of pass-catchers into the new season.

Then Stewart suffered an offseason knee injury, putting his 2025 campaign in doubt. Now the Ducks will have to rely on a young group of players with a lot of talent, but very minimal game experience. That group contains high-upside guys like Dakorien Moore, Jeremiah McClellan, Jurrion Dickey, Justius Lowe, and Kyler Kasper, all of whom could be potential gamebreakers. At this point, however, we need to see it before we can accurately project just how good the Ducks’ WR room is going to be this season.

Departing Oregon Ducks Wide Receivers

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Tez Johnson

Career Stats: 310 catches, 3,889 yards, 28 TD

Although he was at Oregon for just two seasons, Tez Johnson quickly became the heart and soul of the Oregon program. He had wanted to be a Duck for a long time, and when his adopted brother, Bo Nix, came to Eugene, Johnson followed. The Ducks are thankful he did just that. He turned from a possession receiver to WR1 in his senior season, where he flourished. In his time as a Duck, Johnson had 169 catches for 2,080 yards and 20 touchdowns.

Traeshon Holden

Career Stats: 128 catches, 1,740 yards, 18 TD

Holden turned into a solid No. 2 receiver in 2024 and had a career-high of 45 catches, 718 yards, and added five more touchdowns to his resume. As a big-bodied receiver, Holden was a great complement to both Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson during his time in Eugene.

Returning Oregon Ducks Wide Receivers

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Evan Stewart (Injured)

Career Stats: 139 catches, 1,776 yards, 11 TD

Going into the 2025 season, Stewart was projected to be the No. 1 WR for Oregon and among the top pass-catchers in the nation. However, an offseason knee injury derailed that, and now there are questions about when he will return, if at all, this season. We will continue to monitor the recovery timeline, but it seems more likely than not that Stewart will take a medical redshirt this season and instead focus on returning to the field in 2026.

Justius Lowe

Career Stats: 21 catches, 201 yards, 1 TD

Lowe probably would have been a starter on most teams, but most teams didn’t have the receivers Oregon had last season. When he finally got his chance, Lowe delivered. He’ll have plenty of opportunities in 2025, as we expect his workload to be significantly heavier than in years past, especially with Stewart sidelined. If he can be a reliable receiver, it will only help out guys such as Dakorien Moore and Jeremiah McClellan to get into single coverage.

Jeremiah McClellan

Career Stats: 3 catches, 24 yards

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McClellan was among the top receivers in the Class of 2024 and was mainly on the scout team last season. But in 2025, he should see the field regularly; that’s how highly the Oregon coaching staff thinks of him. At 6 feet and 190 pounds, he has the chance to develop into a dynamic player for the program. The only question is how quickly he achieves that.

Kyler Kasper

Career Stats: 4 catches, 26 yards

It seems as if Kasper has been in Eugene for a long time. He was just 17 when he saw the field for the first time. Now, as a redshirt junior, the 6-foot-6, 210-pounder should have a more prominent role within the offense. You can’t teach height at the receiver position.

Jurrion Dickey

Career Stats: 2 catches, 14 yards

Dickey came into the Oregon program as one of the top receivers in the Class of 2023, but injuries slowed his progress, and he has been unable to crack the depth chart so far in his career. But in 2025, Dickey has as good of an opportunity as ever to show why he was a 5-star recruit and become an offensive weapon for the Ducks.

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Gary Bryant Jr.

Career Stats: 85 catches, 1099 yards, 11 TDs

Bryant returns for one more year in Eugene after being sidelined with an injury for the better part of the 2024 season. He will be a valuable veteran in the WR room, but it remains to be seen whether or not he will be able to establish a prominent role amidst all of the talent around him.

Dillon Gresham

Career Stats: None

Dillon Gresham was one of the few blue-chip receivers that Oregon brought in as a member of the 2024 class, and while he redshirted last year, he showed in the spring game how dynamic of a receiver he can be. It may be tough for him to earn a top spot in the offense, but he is one of the many promising, young pass-catchers on the roster.

Jack Ressler

Career Stats: None

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Ressler was another member of Oregon’s 2024 class who redshirted as a freshman and will be looking to work his way up in the depth chart this season.

Incoming Oregon Ducks Wide Receivers

Dakorien Moore

Career Stats: None

Expectations are high for 5-star WR Dakorien Moore, who was the No. 1 rated receiver in the 2025 class and one of the top-ranked recruits in Oregon history. With Evan Stewart sidelined for the foreseeable future, some extra weight is being placed on the freshman’s shoulders to step up and be “the guy” in Oregon’s offense. That may be unfair to ask of a player with no college experience, but based on everything we’re hearing and what we saw at the spring game, he should be up to the task.

Malik Benson

Career Stats: 38 catches, 473 yards, 2 TD

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With all the inexperience currently on the roster, it was smart to explore the transfer portal and secure a receiver like Malik Benson. He had a nice season for a poor Florida State team with 25 catches, 311 yards, and a touchdown. He’ll most likely be WR2 or WR3 behind Moore, and with a better quarterback and players around him, Benson’s numbers should rise dramatically.

Cooper Perry

Career Stats: None

Cooper Perry is a blue-chip player in the 2025 class who was rated as the No. 20 WR in the nation. He garnered a lot of positive attention this spring for his ability to make contested catches over the middle, but he will likely redshirt in 2025 before entering the mix in 2026.

Predicting Oregon Ducks Starting Wide Receivers

  • Dakorien Moore
  • Jeremiah McClellan
  • Justius Lowe

The injury to Evan Stewart certainly threw a wrench in Oregon’s starting wide receiver plans this year. What was once envisioned as a trio of Stewart, Moore, and either Lowe or McClellan has now shifted. Moore, McClellan, and Lowe are the most likely candidates to take over as starters, all of whom have minimal to no experience in actual gameplay. Other guys like Jurrion Dickey, Kyler Kasper, Malik Benson, and Gary Bryant will likely get a lot of reps, but my best bet is that trio of guys at the top.

Overall Oregon Ducks WR Outlook

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While the outlook for Oregon’s WR group is somewhat uncertain going into the 2025 season, there’s hope and a belief that the players on the roster will flourish with the opportunity and break out. If that’s the case, then the Ducks could easily have one of the best receiver groups in the nation going into the 2026 season. On top of that, the Ducks’ WR recruiting has remained elite under new receiver coach Ross Douglas, who has pulled in 4-star Jalen Lott (No. 33 nationally) and 4-star Messiah Hampton (No. 99 nationally) in this class. On top of that, the Ducks will finally bring in 5-star WR Gatlin Bair next year after his LDS mission comes to a close. Long story short, Oregon’s WR group is loaded with talent; we need to see it play out on the field.

Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.



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Oregon Ducks Football Schedule Ranked: Easiest Or Hardest In Big Ten?

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Oregon Ducks Football Schedule Ranked: Easiest Or Hardest In Big Ten?


The Oregon Ducks football schedule is ranked by Sporting News to be the 14th toughest schedule in the Big Ten Conference for the 2025-26 season.

It is a nice change for the Ducks, who had a tough schedule last year in their inaugural Big Ten season that saw Oregon host the Ohio State Buckeyes, travel to Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines, and travel to Madison to battle the Wisconsin Badgers. 

Oregon Ducks Given One Of The Easiest Schedules In the Big Ten in 2025?

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning speaks during a press availability Thursday, March 13, 2025, at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex in Eugene, Ore. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Sporting News ranked all the Big Ten teams’ schedules for the 2025-26 season, and decided that Wisconsin has the toughest schedule, and Illinois has the easiest. Sporting News ranked the Ducks as having the 14th toughest schedule, tied with Michigan and Maryland. 

1. Wisconsin
2. Rutgers
3. USC
4. Ohio State
5. Purdue
6. Washington
7. Northwestern
8. Indiana
9. Minnesota
10. UCLA
11. Penn State
12. Iowa
13. Nebraska
T-14. Michigan
T-14. Maryland
T-14. Oregon
17. Michigan State
18. Illinois

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Some good news for Oregon fans is that Big Ten rivals Ohio State have the fourth-toughest schedule according to Sporting News. The Buckeyes take on Texas in a massive non-conference game to open the season, and have to play Penn State, Michigan in Ann Arbor, where they have not won since 2019, and Illinois.

Oregon’s fierce rivals Washington have the No. 6 toughest schedule in the Big Ten, according to Sporting News. The Huskies will host both Oregon and Ohio State, while traveling on the road to Ann Arbor to play Michigan.

The Ducks get a few bounces to go their way this season when it comes to the schedule. Oregon will dodge both Ohio State and Michigan, two teams they had to play last year. In lieu of playing Ohio State and Michigan, the Ducks will travel to Penn State for the Nittany Lions’ annual “whiteout game” in week five on the 2025-26 season. 

Oregon Ducks Given One Of The Easiest Schedules In the Big Ten in 2025?

Penn State head football coach James Franklin reacts to something on the sideline during the Blue-White game at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, April 26, 2025, in State College. The White team defeated the Blue team, 10-8. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

MORE: Oregon Ducks Predicted to Land Four-Star Recruit Over Ohio State Buckeyes

MORE: Denver Broncos’ Bo Nix Most ‘Underrated’ Quarterback In NFL?

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MORE: Ole Miss Legacy Recruit Deuce Geralds Makes Commitment Announcement

After Penn State, the Ducks’ schedule drops off quite a bit in terms to toughness. Oregon will have a bye week after the Penn State game, followed by welcoming Indiana and Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti to Autzen Stadium. Oregon will follow that up with a trip to Rutgers, before coming home and doing battle with the Badgers, who narrowly lost to the Ducks last year in a defensive battle, as the Ducks walked out of Camp Randall with a 16-13 win.

Oregon’s back half of the schedule won’t necessarily be a cakewalk, but it should be manageable for Ducks coach Dan Lanning and his staff. The Ducks should be favored in their final four games of the season. The Ducks travel to Iowa City to play Iowa before returning home to do battle with Minnesota and newly extended Golden Gophers coach PJ Fleck. 

Oregon Ducks Given One Of The Easiest Schedules In the Big Ten in 2025?

Sep 23, 2023; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach PJ Fleck on the field before the game against the Northwestern Wildcats at Ryan Field. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images / David Banks-Imagn Images

The Ducks will follow up the Minnesota bout with a visit from USC to Autzen Stadium, a building in which USC has not won since 2011. Oregon will close out its regular season with a trip up north to Seattle to play Washington, a place Oregon hasn’t won at since 2021. The Ducks’ easier schedule certainly helps their chances at making it back to the College Football Playoff.



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