Chris M Lehman

Oregon’s so-called “tuition equity” law would be expanded to grad students under a bill approved in the Oregon Senate on Wednesday.

People who use drones that interfere with conventional aircraft could be charged with a crime under a bill approved Monday in the Oregon Senate.

The Oregon House voted Thursday to remove the requirement to have a prescription to buy certain medicines that some people use to treat allergy symptoms.

Oregon’s universities and colleges are leaning on state lawmakers to increase funding. It comes as lawmakers debate whether to increase taxes to pay for K-12 education.

Overnight camping on the islands of the Willamette River in Eugene could soon be illegal....again. The State Land Board will vote on whether to initiate a rule-making process that would ban the practice on about a dozen islands during its meeting in Salem on Tuesday.

State officials would study the cause of passenger train delays under a bill approved on Thursday in the Oregon House.

People who call the police as a way to harass law-abiding people could be sued under a measure being considered by Oregon lawmakers.

Rep. Janelle Bynum, D-Clackamas, was knocking on doors last summer in her suburban Portland district when someone called the police. They complained that the African American lawmaker was acting suspiciously.

The state of Oregon wants to make sure all of its residents are counted during next year’s census. Gov. Kate Brown kicked off the efforts Monday at the state capitol.

Shoppers in Salem may need to find a new routine starting Monday. That's when the city is banning single-use plastic bags at large retail outlets.

Salem’s new law will require stores to charge customers at least a nickel for paper bags. The fee will be waived for customers using public assistance programs to purchase their groceries. The city has been running ads to remind shoppers of the new ordinance and to urge people to make it a habit to bring along their own bags.

Technicians at the Corvallis Waste Water Plant went on a one-day blitz to identify ways the 65-year-old facility could save energy.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill Wednesday that will indefinitely extend the state’s ban on offshore oil and gas drilling. An existing ban was set to expire in January. The measure that Brown signed into law removes the expiration.

Oregon would no longer limit the amount of money that juries can award for noneconomic damages under a bill approved in the Oregon House Monday.

A mid-March blaze that forced evacuations in Oregon is a reminder that the most active part of wildfire season is still to come. 

Voters in Corvallis approved the city’s first ever Urban Renewal District during a special election this month. The district includes a section of the city known as South Corvallis. 

Supporters and opponents of a proposed expansion of Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act spoke out at a hearing at the state capitol Tuesday. 

City officials in Newport say they’ve arranged for passenger airline flights to resume for the first time in nearly a decade. But the air service is contingent on the city getting a $500,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Aviation, through the agency’s Rural Oregon Airport Relief Program.

A Lane County fish hatchery will close at the end of June unless Oregon lawmakers decide to keep it open. The Leaburg Hatchery opened almost 70 years ago along the McKenzie River 20 miles east of Springfield. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife operated the trout and steelhead hatchery under a federal contract. When the US Army Corps of Engineers pulled funding last year, state lawmakers plugged the hole with a one-year spending plan.

New rules meant to reduce the impact of smoke from controlled forest burns are now in effect in Oregon.

Thousands of people are without power for a third straight day in Lane County and other parts of southwest Oregon. Utilities are bringing in crews from around the region to help restore electricity as quickly as possible following Monday’s snow storm. But people in the hardest-hit areas could have a long wait ahead of them. Callers to the Emerald People’s Utility District were greeted with a message on Wednesday telling them that “we do not have an estimated time of repair, and we are encouraging customers to make alternative arrangements for up to a week while we restore power.”

The airport that serves the central Oregon cities of Redmond and Bend is still closed to commercial airline flights following Monday’s snowstorm. Officials say they don’t expect the Redmond Airport to open before 9 a.m. on Wednesday. That’s because the snow damaged a device that helps pilots land during challenging weather conditions. The navigational aide is owned by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is working to repair it.

You probably didn’t know it, but it’s against the law in Oregon to haul around more than 20 bales of hay unless you have paperwork that proves you own it. Break that law and you could be charged with a misdemeanor and spend up to 30 days in jail.

The Willamette Valley town of Independence will get some help in its efforts to position itself as a leader in rural tech innovation. The Polk County community of around 10,000 people is just a 15 minute drive from the state capitol, but its economy has long been focused on agriculture.