Leaders in many cities have recently concluded that it was a bad idea to decriminalize hard drugs.
Unless you get your news from NPR, you already knew that allowing people to buy fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine or heroin without consequences would end in pain and chaos for both drug users and their communities.
Woke cities and states throughout the country are now scrambling to reinstall policies to restore law and order by deterring drug use.
Scenes of drug use and homelessness in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia on June 29, 2023.(Fox News Digital )
Advertisement
State lawmakers in Oregon, for example, recently passed a new law that put back in place criminal punishments for the possession of hard drugs. Lawmakers found this necessary a mere three years after voters passed Measure 110, a ballot initiative that limited criminal punishments for possessing hard drugs to only small fines – no jail time.
OREGON GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL RECRIMINALIZING HARD DRUGS, COMPLETING LIBERAL EXPERIMENT’S U-TURN
At the time, activists sold voters a bill of goods claiming that Measure 110 would help those with addiction. Activists seized upon the anti-cop riots in 2020 to argue that decriminalizing drugs would also give cops fewer reasons to “harass” drug users. Major activists lined up to fund the effort.
This foolishness sounded too good to people who have common sense, and it was.
Overdose deaths in Oregon shot up 44% between 2022 and 2023 – the highest increase in the nation. Law enforcement officers reported that rampant drug use also contributed to a 16.6% surge in violent crimes such as homicide, rape, assault and robbery from 2019 to 2022.
Advertisement
Activists claimed Measure 110 would help Black residents in particular. Instead, overdose rates among Black Oregonians doubled between 2020 and 2022. Today, one in 10 deaths among Black Oregonians results from a drug overdose.
Measure 110 failed those it purported to help in a deadly way.
DRUG RECRIMINALIZATION COULD SIGNAL CULTURAL SHIFT IN PROGRESSIVE STATE, PORTLAND TRIAL ATTORNEY SAYS
Oregon is not an outlier. San Francisco is walking back bone-deep, down-to-the-marrow stupid drug policies, too.
For years, local leaders allowed the City by the Bay to descend into chaos by declining to arrest or prosecute individuals who used illegal drugs in public. Open-air drug use became commonplace.
Advertisement
Many families left the city to avoid trudging through dirty needles and piles of human feces on their way to work. One deli owner found his “first dead body” while checking on the addicts who camped near his shop.
Californians seem willing to put up with a lot before reconsidering dumb dogma, but even San Francisco has its limits. Mayor London Breed recently announced that “change is coming,” including more funding for law enforcement to arrest those using drugs in public.
VIRGINIA FIRST LADY, AG TEAM WITH RECOVERING ADDICTS TO LAUNCH INITIATIVES TARGETING STATE’S FENTANYL CRISIS
These drug policy reversals are becoming the rule, not the exception. Other cities and states throughout the country – including Washington, D.C., Washington state and Boston – have taken steps to enforce drug laws after years of lax policies brought their residents nothing but misery.
Addiction is horrible. But policymakers cannot allow their empathy for Americans with addiction to blind them to the dangerous reality of drugs like fentanyl, heroin and cocaine.
Advertisement
Drug overdoses killed an estimated 112,000 Americans in 2023 – more than twice as many deaths as car crashes. Yet no sane lawmaker would legalize reckless driving. Heartbreaking stories in Oregon and San Francisco prove that deterrence must be part of the policymaking equation.
As cities and states work to replace failed, dumb crime policies with laws that deter drug use and promote safe communities, Congress must step up, too. That’s why I introduced the Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act.
Fentanyl is a particularly deadly narcotic that Louisiana law enforcement has tied to 65% of our overdose deaths. My bill would hold drug dealers accountable by decreasing the amount of fentanyl a dealer has to possess before he faces a mandatory minimum sentence.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
Today, drug traffickers can carry enough fentanyl to kill every person in Shreveport, Louisiana, and still not face even a 10-year mandatory minimum prison sentence. Dealers caught with smaller amounts of less lethal drugs – such as methamphetamineor crack cocaine – face much longer sentences than those caught pushing fentanyl.
Advertisement
Lowering fentanyl possession limits would make sure fentanyl traffickers face punishments that reflect the deadliness of the poison they are peddling.
I don’t understand why some people seem wedded to the dumb-on-crime sentiments that San Francisco and Oregon have abandoned. The Fairness in Fentanyl Sentencing Act wouldn’t affect people suffering from addiction. It would only punish dealers for the hell they’re unleashing on too many innocent families. Still, a few of my colleagues have blocked every effort I’ve made to get this bill signed into law.
Overdose deaths don’t make cities more livable. Open-air drug use doesn’t make communities safer or cleaner. Fair, clear penalties help stop people from hurting themselves and their neighbors.
I hope more woke cities and states admit this and correct their dangerous policies before more Americans fall victim to drugs and stupidity.
Advertisement
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM SEN. JOHN KENNEDY
Republican John Kennedy represents Louisiana in the U.S. Senate.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service are closely monitoring the windstorm but say it’s still too early to predict how strong those winds will be on Wednesday.
A car is crushed by a fallen tree on Northeast 24th Avenue on Wednesday, Dec. 17., 2025 in Portland.
Advertisement
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
A windstorm packing gusts of up to 65 mph could hit western Oregon and Southwest Washington on Christmas Eve, triggering power outages and downing trees, forecasters and electric utilities warned Monday.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service are closely monitoring the windstorm as it moves up the coast, but say it’s still too early to predict exactly how strong those winds will be on Wednesday.
Gusts of at least 45 miles per hour could pass through much of western Oregon and Southwest Washington between 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
While there is still a lot of uncertainty around the windstorm, now is the time for residents to get ready, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland.
Advertisement
“People should take precautions such as securing any outdoor decorations, garbage bins, and be prepared for the potential for some localized power outages or tree damage,” she said.
Further south, two winter storms will bring snow and rain to Southern Oregon and northern California this week, just in time for holiday travel.
California’s Siskiyou County will get the brunt of the storms, particularly at higher elevations, starting Tuesday and lasting through Friday.
Heavy snow is expected on mountain passes over 4,500 feet, and some snow could fall on Interstate 5 in the area around California’s Mount Shasta on Friday as the snow level drops, according to the forecast.
Portland General Electric urged residents to prepare an outage plan and get emergency kits ready in case the power goes out. The utility company is also warning people of potential weather hazards like downed power lines.
Advertisement
“You should always assume they are alive,” John Farmer, a spokesperson with PGE, said. “You should never go near them. Don’t touch them. Don’t use a stick or a branch to move. Just stay away.”
Following the heavy rains that plummeted the region last week, the NWS also warns that soils across the state are still really saturated. That, combined with gusty winds, could knock over weakened trees and branches.
Mindy McCartt, a spokesperson with the Oregon Department of Transportation, says their crews are still working to clear up debris left behind by last week’s storms.
“Crews will continue cleanup from the previous storms while also preparing and staffing up for the next potential event,” she said. “If the storm hits as forecast, maintenance crews will be ready to respond as soon as conditions allow.”
McCartt says people who are planning to hit the road this holiday week should take extra precautions. She also recommends checking road conditions before heading out for possible closures or delays.
Advertisement
Sign up today for OPB’s “First Look” – your daily guide to the most important news and culture stories from around the Northwest.
SALT LAKE CITY — The judge overseeing the lawsuit over Utah’s redistricting process is expected to issue a ruling before Christmas on whether to grant the legislature’s request to close the case, sending it to the Utah Supreme Court.
Lawyers for the Utah State Legislature have urged 3rd District Court Judge Dianna Gibson to issue a final ruling, clearing their path for an appeal. They argued that the case effectively wrapped up once the judge issued a series of rulings on the legality of Proposition 4 and chose a new map for Utah’s congressional districts.
The League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government basically got what they wanted, argued Frank Chang, an attorney for the Utah State Legislature.
“What if I told you I disagree?” Judge Gibson said to him in the midst of arguments, asking for case law that even allows a case to be closed so abruptly.
Advertisement
During a hastily called hearing on Monday, lawyers for the League and MWEG urged the judge to reject the request. They argued that the case is far from over with claims yet to be addressed and the legislature failed to seek the proper interlocutory appeals when the time was appropriate. The injunctions she entered on Prop. 4 and the new map are preliminary, they argued, and the legislature passed new bills rewriting some of the rules of redistricting, which keeps the case alive.
When Judge Gibson asked if the legislature was essentially right that the case is basically over with the 2026 election? The plaintiffs suggested lawmakers might still bypass the courts and pass a new map in the upcoming legislative session.
“That is sort of a question mark I have in light of some statements, the public statements that have been made by certain legislators,” said Mark Gaber, an attorney for the plaintiffs. “Sen. Weiler, on his podcast, suggested the legislature could pass a new map for the 2026 election if a permanent injunction had been entered. That’s a question I have: if it’s intended by the legislature. If that’s the case? Remedial proceedings could certainly not be done as there would need to be a proceeding as to that new map.”
When Judge Gibson asked Chang about it, he said it was what “one member said in a podcast.”
“If this court is seeking to find out what the intent of the legislature is, it’s the act of the legislature. The most recent one here was what the legislature did in the special session,” he said.
Advertisement
In that special session, lawmakers voted to move the deadline for congressional candidate filings to March and pass a resolution condemning Judge Gibson’s ruling.
As the court hearing as going on, FOX 13 News texted Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, about his remarks. Sen. Weiler (who is an attorney in his day job), replied that he was explaining to listeners the difference between interlocutory and final appeals and just stating “hypotheticals” in response to any stay issued by the Utah Supreme Court.
“But I’m not aware of any plans to do that,” he wrote.
In 2018, voters approved Prop. 4, which created an independent redistricting commission to draw lines for boundaries in congress, legislature and state school board. When the legislature overrode the citizen ballot initiative and passed its own maps, the League and MWEG sued arguing that the people have a right to alter and reform their government. In particular, they alleged the congressional map that the Utah State Legislature approved was gerrymandered to favor Republicans.
The court sided with them, ruling that Prop. 4 is law and throwing out the congressional map. She ordered lawmakers to redraw a new one. They did, under protest, but she rejected their map for not meeting Prop. 4’s neutral redistricting criteria. Instead, she chose a map submitted by the plaintiffs that she declared met the tenets of Prop. 4. It has resulted in a Salt Lake County-centric district that Democratic candidates have rushed to enter, viewing it as more competitive for them.
Advertisement
The Utah State Legislature has argued that it has the sole constitutional right to draw boundaries in redistricting, setting up a legal showdown that will go to the Utah Supreme Court and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Gibson said she planned to issue a ruling before Christmas on whether to finalize the case.
A statewide grant program supporting childcare providers drew 90 applications in just two rounds of funding earlier this year. For the Wyoming Interagency Working Group on Childcare, which launched the initiative, the response affirmed that the program is addressing a significant community need. Sheridan Media’s Ron Richter has more.
In 2025, the Wyoming Interagency Working Group on Childcare worked collaboratively to award $183,537 to 24 providers. In an effort to build on that success, the grant program will reopen January 2 with applications closing March 1, 2026. Administered by the Wyoming Community Foundation, grants of up to $20,000 per applicant will be awarded with a renewed focus on communities with the greatest childcare shortages.
Grant awards will be prioritized based on requests from high-needs communities as will be outlined in the application and on the Wyoming Community Foundation’s website, along with plans to increase the number of children and families being cared for and engagement or planned engagement with business support services through the Small Business Development Center. Funding for this round of grantmaking includes the Wyoming Maternal and Child Health Unit, Wyoming Department of Family Services, the Wyoming Community Foundation, and the Business Studio at LCCC. To apply for a grant or if you have questions about the application process, you can click here.
