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Sailing from Oregon to Hawaii after quitting his job turns a man with a cat into social media star

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Sailing from Oregon to Hawaii after quitting his job turns a man with a cat into social media star


HONOLULU — Midway while sailing across the Pacific with just his cat named Phoenix, Oliver Widger reflected on why he thinks his many followers — more than a million on TikTok and Instagram — are drawn to his story of quitting his 9-to-5 job and embarking on a journey from Oregon to Hawaii.

“The world kind of sucks and, like, I don’t think I’m alone in how I felt with my work,” Widger, 29, told The Associated Press on Wednesday via Zoom. “You can be making $150,000 a year and you still feel like you’re just making ends meet, you know what I mean? And I think people are just tired of that and working really hard for nothing and want a way out.”

People are inspired by someone who found a way out, said Widger, who is among a growing number of people who have undertaken such voyages in recent years.

Being diagnosed four years ago with a syndrome that carried a risk of paralysis made him realize he hated his job as a manager at a tire company, a job requiring him to be clean-shaven and wear pressed shirts. He heard about people who sailed from California to Hawaii and decided that was the life for him.

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He abruptly quit his job with “no money, no plan” and $10,000 of debt.

“I knew one thing: I’m buying a sailboat,” he recalled. “I’m sailing around the world.”

Oliver Widger sailing from Oregon to Hawaii.Oliver Widger / AP

He liquidated his retirement savings, taught himself to sail mostly via YouTube and moved from Portland to the Oregon coast, where he spent months refitting the $50,000 boat he bought.

Now, Widger is harnessing the power of social media to fund his round-the-world sailing dream.

Since he set sail in April, followers have been tuning into his “Sailing with Phoenix” social media posts to view videos of him and his feline first mate battling the waves and bouts of seasickness, enjoying dazzling sunsets, recounting tricky boat repairs or just reflecting on life at sea.

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As he discussed his journey with the AP, a netted bag carrying bottled water and snacks swung wildly over his head as the boat rocked.

He recalled highlights of the voyage so far, including marveling at the speed dolphins cut through the water and finding flying fish on the deck. There have been stretches when there were no birds in sight for days. It can be a struggle to sleep when the boat is creaking while being buffeted by waves or to steady a boiling pot for the MREs he has been subsisting on.

There have been harrowing moments like when a rudder failed and the boat tilted sideways in the surf for three hours as he made repairs, and the time he locked himself in the engine compartment and pried his way out with a wrench.

Widger acknowledged he is relatively inexperienced as a sailor, but he has implemented safety measures and communication backup plans, including a satellite phone and an emergency beacon.

Lt. Cmdr. Jesse Harms of the U.S. Coast Guard in Hawaii hasn’t been following the journey closely, but said he is relieved to hear Widger has the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, known as an EPIRB.

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It’s a critical tool for rescuers to locate a mariner’s position during an emergency, especially in the Pacific, the largest ocean, Harms said.

Widger’s journey provides a good opportunity to educate the public about sailing safety, such as the importance of wearing a personal flotation device whenever topside on the boat, monitoring the weather closely and registering emergency tools like the EPIRB, Harms said.

“That’s a really critical piece for anybody that’s getting motivated by his story to go set off on their own adventure,” Harms said.

Phoenix the cat lay down
Oliver’s cat Phoenix inside their sailboat.Oliver Widger / AP

Until his arrival, likely in Honolulu, Widger is making sure everything is in place to avoid Phoenix having to undergo Hawaii’s animal quarantine. A mobile vet will sign off on Phoenix’s health when they arrive, he said.

Widger wasn’t aware of the deadly danger of cat feces to the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, but he has been keeping all his trash, including kitty litter, on board. Even though he said he is legally allowed to throw it overboard, seeing so much plastic in the ocean motivates him not to.

In addition to managing the practicalities of daily life on a boat, he is coping with going viral in the middle of the ocean by creating social media content and making decisions about merch his fans want to buy.

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He credits it all to his neck issue, which “shook up my world and it changed my perspective on everything.” He also hopes he can be an inspiration for anyone who’s in a rut.

“Everything I’ve done I thought was impossible,” Widger said. “Sailing around the world is such a ridiculous dream. Whatever your dream is, just go, just do it.”



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Oregon Lottery Pick 4 results for June 25

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The Oregon Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at June 25, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Pick 4 numbers from June 25 drawing

1PM: 9-9-6-3

4PM: 5-1-5-7

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7PM: 7-4-0-5

10PM: 9-1-2-4

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the Oregon Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 7:59 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 7:59 p.m. on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Pick 4: 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. daily.
  • Win for Life: 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Megabucks: 7:29 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by an Oregon editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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Marion County may join 6 other counties to control garbage, recycling

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Marion County may join 6 other counties to control garbage, recycling


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Seven Oregon counties could join together to build and manage solid waste infrastructure and services, under a proposal being considered by a legislative task force.

The aim is to lower costs, provide stability, and ensure that one or two counties don’t bear the financial and environmental costs of taking the entire region’s garbage, Rep. Sarah Finger McDonald, D-Corvallis, told the 12-member Joint Task Force on Municipal Solid Waste in the Willamette Valley.

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The Oregon Legislature created the task force last year, to identify solutions for solid waste disposal in the valley, after the region’s garbage disposal options were thrown into flux.

The Reworld incinerator in Brooks, where most of Marion County’s garbage was burned for four decades, closed at the end of 2024.

And residents in nearby Benton County are fighting an expansion of Coffin Butte Landfill, which takes much of Marion County’s and the region’s waste. Even with an expansion, the landfill is expected to close in little more than a decade.

The task force has met six times since mid-December 2025. It must submit a report to interim legislative committees related to the environment by Dec. 15. The task force sunsets on Dec. 31.

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Finger McDonald’s proposal, which is the only one yet considered by the task force, would create a voluntary state and local partnership program designed to help counties, cities and regional governments finance and build garbage, recycling, composting and waste-reduction infrastructure.

It would include Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Linn, Benton, Lincoln and Tillamook counties.  

“The cities and counties will come together to make a plan. The cities and the counties in this region know what the problem is,” McDonald Finger said. “Whatever is going to be built is going to be expensive.”

The proposal authorizes local governments and regional authorities to direct waste into approved systems when necessary to support infrastructure financing and long-term system stability.

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Marion County is currently the only county in the state with a law giving it control over waste disposal, although Oregon Metro manages garbage and recycling for the three-county Portland Metro area.

The proposal would allow the state to help local governments with bonding assistance, matching grants, technical assistance and more. Local governments could choose to build transfer stations, recycling facilities, composting systems, methane capture projects or other infrastructure projects.

“And then those cities and counties would build that infrastructure they need, and would have the option of establishing a fee,” she said.

The proposal also could allow public-private partnerships and collaboration with private waste operators, Finger McDonald said.

The earliest the legislature could pass a bill authorizing the plan would be 2027, Finger McDonald said, meaning it would not go into effect until 2028.

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Tracy Loew covers the environment at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips: tloew@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6779. Follow her on X at @Tracy_Loew





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Oregon Announces $49 Million Payout to Inmates for Handling of Pandemic

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Oregon Announces  Million Payout to Inmates for Handling of Pandemic


In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of prison inmates sued the state of Oregon, arguing it was failing to protect them from the surging public health threat.

On Wednesday, more than six years later, representatives of those inmates—and the estates of inmates who died of the disease—announced they have settled with the state for a massive $49 million.

In a separate news release, Gov. Tina Kotek’s office framed the deal as a way to efficiently resolve a complex and weighty legal dispute: State officials, her office said, determined that the settlement “was in the best financial interest of the state and would minimize the continued distress of those impacted to settle rather than continue with the litigation.”

The case, Maney v. Oregon, includes two class action suits filed during the pandemic. According to the Oregon Justice Resource Center, which represented plaintiffs in the case, the suit covers about 5,000 people who were in Oregon Department of Corrections custody between Feb. 1, 2020, and May 31, 2022.

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One class, which includes those who tested positive for or were diagnosed with COVID-19, would get $15.9 million under the deal. The other, the estates of 38 incarcerated people who died from COVID-19, would receive $33 million.

The settlement awaits approval by a magistrate judge, and most of the payout requires an appropriation by the Oregon Legislature during the coming 2027 session.

The suit emerged out of the dark early days of a still-mysterious pandemic—which posed clear risks in closed spaces like prisons. The OJRC says inmates in Oregon endured prolonged lockdowns, disruptions to prison operations, and suspension of visitation and programming.

They also died of COVID at far greater rates than Oregonians in general. The UCLA Law COVID Behind Bars Data Project tallied 52 deaths in Oregon prisons tied to COVID. By June 2021, according to the Marshall Project, the state’s prisons had one of the highest rates of COVID-related deaths in the country.

“We initiated this suit to protect the lives of some of our society’s most vulnerable people, packed into aging facilities with no ability to social distance from each other or [prison] officers,” said Juan Chavez, director of the OJRC’s Civil Rights Project, in a written statement. “The horrors that then came to pass during the pandemic shocked and saddened us. But we also saw, and were inspired by, the resilience and solidarity held amongst incarcerated people.”

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Kotek’s office noted the mitigation measures the Department of Corrections implemented amid the pandemic, and said the agency incorporated lessons from the era into its operations.

“This historical event placed significant demands on our corrections workforce, and I appreciate the dedication DOC employees demonstrated throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” Kotek said in her statement, adding that it was important to remember the impact on incarcerated people and their families too, especially those who lost loved ones. This settlement, she said, “is an opportunity for people to heal and find closure after such a challenging chapter in Oregon’s history.”

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