Oregon
Oregon woman, 28, paralyzed after being crushed by piano in freak accident
An Oregon woman — hoping for a fresh start in a new state — is paralyzed from the waist down after she was brutally crushed by a piano in a freak accident last month.
Danielle Drummond, 28, was moving the piano when her friend she’d been helping lost her grip and dropped the “whole upright piano” on top of her, WOIO reported.
Drummond, who had just recently moved to the Beaver State from Ohio, was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery, where doctors discovered the accident “severed” her spinal cord and left her “paralyzed from the waist down.”
“I’m trying to keep like in high spirits because I know this is my life now, but it’s hard,” she told the outlet. “As of right now, I need a lot more physical therapy. I need to rebuild my strength.”
Following the injury, Drummond said she would need extensive rehab and a home health aide — presenting more difficulties since she was living in her van with her dog Lotus.
The 28-year-old has no family in Oregon to care for her and is currently looking for a place to live.
Returning home to her native Cleveland also seems impossible in her current condition.
“I don’t even know like how I would get home, let alone like how to transfer all the medical stuff, and I don’t feel like I’m able right now to do like that far of a car ride or a trip in an airplane,” Drummond told the outlet.
Her older sister, Rosie Hayne, has set up a GoFundMe to help her loved one find a place to live and pay for her medical expenses.
“Our hearts are completely broken, My baby sister means the world to me,” Hayne wrote.
“Such a strong and wise woman, down to earth and humble, her aura reflects her beautiful soul. We will get through this with lots of prayer and positive guidance. This is in God’s hands now, please wrap them around her tight!”
Hayne revealed that her sister fractured her T11 and T12 — the two lowest vertebrae in a person’s Thoracic spine.
In surgery, doctors also needed to perform a fusion “from T10-L2” in Drummond’s spine to improve her spinal stability.
In an update on May 1, her older sister wrote that Drummond is “getting around really well in the hospital wheelchair” but still needs to find one of her own and a place to live.
“She wants to make it clear that she is not expecting to ever walk again. She has accepted the reality of her situation. But she has an amazing spirit and an overall positive outlook, focusing on what she can do.”
While the accident has left her in a wheelchair for the remainder of her life, Drummond said she’s “hopeful” that medical advances in the future may grant her the ability to walk again.
Oregon
Fireworks on sale in Oregon until July 6
PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – Fireworks are on sale in Oregon until July 6, but state and local rules limit where they can be used and what types are allowed.
In Portland, fireworks use and sales are banned year-round.
Fireworks are also banned on beaches and in state and national parks.
Statewide, fireworks that fly into the air, explode, act unpredictably or move more than 12 feet horizontally are illegal. Banned fireworks include sky lanterns, missiles, rockets, Roman candles, firecrackers, cherry bombs and M-80s.
Fountains, sparklers, ground spinners and smoke devices are among the fireworks allowed under state rules.
Officials said people should not call 911 to report illegal fireworks. They said reports should go to the non-emergency line for the area.
First responders said there were 263 fires across Portland during last year’s fireworks season, and 27 were caused by fireworks.
For more details about fireworks regulation in Oregon, click here.
In Washington, fireworks sales legally begin Sunday and run through July 4.
Copyright 2026 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved.
Oregon
Gray whale carcass washes ashore in Gearhart on Oregon coast
GEARHART, Ore. (KATU) — Another gray whale washed up on the Oregon coast last week, this time in Gearhart, according to Seaside Aquarium.
The 41-foot-long male had been dead for months before washing up on the beach, Seaside Aquarium general manager Keith Chandler said.
He noted that there have been 19 total whale strandings or carcasses washing up on beaches just this year on the Oregon coast region.
The Cascadia Research Collective is reporting at least 30 on Washington coastline alone. | TIMELINE
Of those deaths, more than half were at least partially attributed to malnutrition. That could have been the cause in more strandings, however, necropsies were not performed in roughly a dozen of the 30 strandings.
Chandler said strong wind from the west this year has been contributing to why coastal towns are seeing a lot of whales and other things washing up on shore. However he also noted that many of the Grey whales washed ashore were emaciated with necropsies showing signs of malnourishment.
“The food sources have been compromised. The warmer water means the nutrients that they’re getting aren’t as good, so the whole food chain is kind of not as healthy,” Chandler said.
He pointed to the warming waters with climate change as the main reason noting that warm water plankton–Grey Whale’s main food source–is thinner and has fewer nutrients than plankton in cooler waters.
Chandler says this whale will not have a necropsy done because of its level of decomposition.
“The fresher ones, the team from Portland State [University] will come down and they’ll go in and do measurements, take samples and stuff, measurements of the internal organs. But on one this decayed, you won’t gain anything from it scientifically. And it’s just kind of a mess to do when they’re this rotten,” he said.
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You can report a whale stranding to the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network Hotline by calling 1-866-767-6114.
Oregon
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek appoints Nathan Lichvarcik to Lane County Circuit Court bench
SALEM, OR — Gov. Tina Kotek announced today that she will appoint Nathan J. Lichvarcik to the Lane County Circuit Court bench, filling a vacancy created by the upcoming resignation of Judge Debra K. Vogt.
Lichvarcik’s appointment is effective Aug. 1, 2026.
Lichvarcik is a criminal law attorney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He has worked in the office’s Eugene branch for the past 14 years and has served as branch supervisor for the Eugene and Medford offices since 2020.
He has also taught Trial Advocacy at the University of Oregon Law School for the past 10 years.
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