The Oregon attorney general will ask a court to pause Paramount’s PSKY.O $110 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. WBD.O for 60 days, saying on Tuesday that the company withheld records of its lobbying efforts.

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While Paramount has told the state it will not close the deal before July 16, Attorney General Dan Rayfield said he will ask a Multnomah County court to order the company to hand over records and to delay the deal so the state can review them.

“We’re not going to let Paramount Skydance play hide the ball so they can rush through their massive merger,” Rayfield said in a statement. “Oregonians have a real stake in this deal – in our film industry, in our economy, in the choices they’ll have as consumers.”

A Paramount spokesperson said the information Oregon seeks “has nothing to do with whether this transaction complies with Oregon’s antitrust laws and is not a legitimate basis to delay a plainly lawful, pro-competitive transaction.”

The company has provided the state with documents relevant to the merger, the spokesperson added.

Oregon is seeking documents regarding “Project Warrior,” which was Paramount’s internal code name for efforts to obtain regulatory clearance. The state is also asking for records related to the company’s efforts to lobby the Trump administration for support of the merger.

Paramount CEO David Ellison’s father, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, has cultivated ties with President Donald Trump, and the company has hired ​former Trump officials.

Oregon is also seeking information on whether Paramount had any role in the U.S. Department of Justice’s statement announcing it had cleared the deal.

While Oregon ordinarily “would afford significant weight” to the DOJ’s determination, the state plans to cite a Wall Street Journal report that officials overrode career staff attorneys at the DOJ who were leaning toward a recommendation to challenge the deal, according to documents to be filed in court that Reuters reviewed.

The DOJ issued a lengthy statement last month saying it believed the deal would “increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, with benefits for American consumers and workers.”

The company has said the deal would create a stronger streaming competitor to Netflix NFLX.O and Disney DIS.N, and benefit creatives and consumers.

California, New York and ​other U.S. states are preparing to sue to block the deal, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last month. The states have authority to enforce laws against mergers that they believe would unlawfully decrease competition.

Opponents of the deal, including some actors, writers and media workers, have worried that it would hurt jobs.

When asked if he’d like to join the music program Keys, Beats, Bars, Mikey, who’s currently incarcerated at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, figured it would be a good chance to spend some time outside of his unit.

Through a series of workshops, the program brought local musicians and educators into the facilities. They made beats and taught the group about rhyme schemes and rap bars. It was a way for Mikey and his peers to make music, but also to discuss common interests and their shared experiences at MacLaren as they brainstormed lyrics.

Eventually, they recorded a song, “No Ceilings,” about the barriers of incarceration, the music video for which is premiering at a July 11 benefit concert at the Tomorrow Theater dubbed the Restorative Justice Showcase.

Several formerly incarcerated artists feature on the night’s bill, including Keys, Beats, Bars co-founder Talilo Marfil and influential rapper and activist Mic Crenshaw, who led the workshops that produced “No Ceilings.” Hip-hop artist Swiggy Mandela will lead a live cypher, or freestyle rap session, with music by duo Alley Oop to end the show.

Mikey, not his real name, called the songwriting process “therapeutic.”

“Being able to listen to the beats or just channel that, in a positive way,” Mikey says, “I’m glad that I got the opportunity to utilize that while I’m here.”

Music has always been a part of Mikey’s life. His mom played Mariah Carey and DeBarge, and his grandma always had something on when they spent time together on weekends. When he’s feeling irritated or doesn’t want to be bothered, he turns to music.

“You find little achievements and little accolades along the way that, while you’re doing your time, make it easier to get through the day,” Mikey says. “Some people like reading books. Some people like playing basketball. Some people like listening to music.”

Marfil, who is also executive director of the peer advocacy program Ascending Flow, says he wishes he’d had programs like this when he was incarcerated. He found support through church, “but not everybody relates to church,” he says.

After his release, Marfil enrolled in Outside the Frame, an organization that provides homeless youth access to filmmaking resources. “It made me feel like my story mattered and that it was worth telling,” he says. “They gave me opportunities to show my films, my music, to the greater public in front of sold-out shows. Going from dreaming about it in a cell to actually doing it is a game changer for an individual.”

Keys, Beats, Bars runs several music programs for disadvantaged youth. But Marfil, alongside musician and community organizer Adam Carpinelli, launched the workshops at MacLaren.

“I’ve seen it give them hope,” Marfil says. “I think that’s the most important thing: hope, motivation, inspiration and, for a moment, a sense of relief through expression.”

To protect their anonymity, the music video couldn’t feature Mikey, who raps on the song, and his bandmates directly. Instead, Marfil contracted an artist to animate the song’s narrative, which follows a boy from childhood to incarceration.

“Usually, you don’t get to do stuff like that up in jail,” Mikey says, adding that he appreciated the project’s follow-through. “It was kind of cool being able to get the opportunity to record.”

MacLaren is Oregon’s largest juvenile correctional facility. It houses up to 187 youth, ranging ages 12 to 25. While similar to a jail or prison, this style of youth correctional facility places a stronger focus on education and rehabilitation. In contrast to juvenile transitional facilities and residential programs, MacLaren is closed-custody, meaning it’s secure and fenced. In 2025, a Marion County grand jury tasked with assessing MacLaren’s conditions titled its report “Cascading Failures,” citing gang activity, extensive contraband, sexual abuse and staff shortages.

Marfil stresses the role programs like Keys, Beats, Bars play in larger efforts toward restorative justice, and towards ameliorating systemic inequities in the U.S. prison system.

Projecting incarcerated youths’ voices outside of detention facilities is a powerful means for effecting change.

“The song is really just a reflection of being in the facilities and dreaming of what could be possible without the barriers that got them there in the first place, and what they want the community to see about themselves when they get out,” Marfil says. “‘No Ceilings’ is a good example of seeing that youth who are incarcerated have hopes and dreams, and they can contribute something to society.”

SEE IT: Restorative Justice Showcase & Voices From the Inside: A Youth Music Video Premiere at Tomorrow Theater, 3530 SE Division St., tomorrowtheater.org. 3 pm Saturday, July 11. $15. All ages.

HEAR: “No Ceilings” by Keys, Beats, Bars streams on YouTube and Apple Music.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation releases the Kids Count Data Book annually, with its new 2026 edition mainly drawing on data from 2024. State-based organizations work with the Annie E. Casey Foundation on the report, including Our Children Oregon and the Children’s Alliance in Washington.

The report is a snapshot in time of how well the country is supporting its youngest residents in 16 different indicators, including percentage of children living in poverty, kids who lack health insurance and reading proficiency among fourth graders.

David Wieland, policy and advocacy director for Our Children Oregon, said all of the indicators are related and play a role in a child’s well-being.

“We can’t just say that we’ll address reading outcomes through the educational system,” Wieland said. “We actually need to look holistically at child well-being if we want to really improve any one of these single indicators.”

Oregon lags behind the vast majority of states when it comes to educational indicators, ranked at 44 of 50 states. At 31, Washington ranks a bit higher.

But outside of the classroom, the two states fare better. Both Oregon and Washington are in the top 10 of states in health and community indicators.

“These are often the result of policy choices that we make,” Wieland said. “Oregon has prioritized ensuring that children — we should celebrate that.”

But federal changes may hurt states’ progress.

As Children’s Alliance in Washington state mentions in their press release sharing the Kids Count Data, “The numbers do not reflect the current reality for kids and families impacted by federal cuts to vital programs that have already come into effect.”

One policy choice Oregon made allows students to opt out of standardized testing. As a result, Oregon’s testing participation rates are below 95%, the federal requirement.

Wieland said this policy makes Oregon’s outcomes “less reliable.”

“We simply know with less certainty how we compare,” Wieland said.

In addition to rankings, the report calculates index scores for each state, allowing year-over-year comparisons. Both Oregon and Washington’s scores declined compared to their pre-pandemic scores from 2019, and so have the index scores in 45 other states. Only Mississippi and Louisiana saw improvements. South Carolina stayed stable.

Looking Ahead

Through Oregon’s Early Literacy Success Initiative, the state has sent grants to school districts to help improve reading and provide more support for students in elementary school. But it may be a while before those investments show improvement in reports like the Kids Count Data Book, said Our Children Oregon executive director Bridget Dazey.

“We do have to be patient as the state and school districts try new things,” Dazey said. “At the same time, we can confidently say we’re underinvesting in students and so it shouldn’t be so delayed that we wait five to seven years to see how things start to shape up.”

Going forward, Dazey said her organization is working with a coalition of organizations on the next edition of the group’s Children’s Agenda, a list of legislative priorities for lawmakers. Dazey said the state also needs a vision that looks out beyond the legislature’s two-year budget cycle that school districts use to plan spending.

“We need to be thinking long term,” Dazey said. “Our state has gotten really comfortable with thinking about things in the biennium.”

This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.