Federal Government

A group of local pilots and organizers stand by a hangar they have painted with “NO ICE”. “We are one human family,” a sign in Spanish held by one demonstrator reads.

Feds agree to settle Newport’s lawsuit over its plans to put immigration detention center at city’s airport

Shayla Escudero

Newport and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Friday settled the city’s lawsuit that sought to keep a planned federal immigration detention center out of the municipal airport after 10 months of legal fights and more than $368,000 in attorney fees.

Front of federal facility with American flag.

Politics & Government

New fence planned for Eugene federal building; this one would not block the plaza

Brian Bull

The General Services Administration is planning to install a new fence at Eugene’s federal building after a previous one was taken down in early July. This one would go around the employee parking lot on the north side of the facility.

Gov. Tina Kotek speaks to reporters ahead of the legislative short session on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026 in Salem, Ore

Politics & Government

Gov. Kotek: Oregon won’t give confidential license plates to undercover ICE agents

Bryce Dole

The governor’s move comes one week after the Trump administration sued Oregon and other states for not providing confidential licenses to federal agents.

Airports across Oregon, including the Burns Municipal Airport as seen in the picture above, will receive $3.1 million from the Federal Aviation Administration for upgrades.

Transportation

Airports across Oregon to receive $3 million in federal funds for improvements

Mia Maldonado

Ten Oregon airports will receive $3.1 million in federal funding for upgrades, members of Oregon’s congressional delegation announced last week.

Oregon attorneys want a judge to make the federal government go through environmental and land-use processes before using a Coast Guard air facility in Newport as a detention center. Although the rescue helicopter and crews are back, the facility has been stripped of most of its supplies and equipment.

Politics & Government

Feds eye another stretch of Oregon coast for ICE detention center

Yesenia Amaro

The federal government looked at Coos County as a possible spot for an immigrant detention center but the idea appears to have stalled for now after a wave of public consternation.

Politics & Government

Federal judge Monday approves injunction request and orders Coast Guard to keep rescue helicopter in Newport

Quinton Smith

A federal judge in Eugene on Monday approved a request for a preliminary injunction and ordered the U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security to restore and maintain the deployment of a rescue helicopter in Newport.

U.S. Coast Guard crews and Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital staff trained last week on getting patients in and out of the aircraft during hospital landings.

Politics & Government

Coast Guard leader tells politicians it will keep rescue helicopter in Newport, but lawyer says to prove it in court

Quinton Smith

Oregon’s two senators and the congresswomen representing Lincoln County got a letter of reassurance Friday from the U.S. Coast Guard’s commandant that he intends to permanently keep its rescue helicopter in Newport.

An aerial view of fall-run Chinook salmon migrating and spawning in the Feather River in Oroville on Oct. 28, 2024.

Environment

Feds deny petition to list two Oregon Chinook salmon populations as endangered

Roman Battaglia

The federal government denied a petition to list Chinook salmon along the Oregon and Northern California coasts as endangered.

FILE: The sun sets over the U.S. Coast Guard facility at the Newport Municipal Airport, where the rescue helicopter resides. Pictured on Nov. 17, 2025.

Politics & Government

US Coast Guard likely ‘ran afoul’ of law by removing rescue helicopter from Newport, judge says

Conrad Wilson

Memos and court records indicate staffing issues, maintenance problems have stretched Coast Guard’s helicopter fleet thin.

Education

Federal cuts threaten K–12 Southern Oregon fire ecology program

Roman Battaglia

The Southern Oregon Forest Restoration Collaborative helps Jackson, Josephine and Klamath County students understand wildfire science.

Volunteers, many of whom use the food bank, hand out food to clients at the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon’s Northeast Emergency Food Program in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025.

Politics & Government

Oregon, Washington SNAP recipients could still face delays as judge orders feds to fund program

Bryce Dole

The judges ruled in favor of local officials who sought to force the federal government to keep the SNAP program running in November.

Anne, the widow of a veteran in Lincoln County, says money she and her husband received from the PACT Act was taken by the government without explanation. She said it was returned after about three months.

Politics & Government

Federal disruption impacts family member of Lincoln County veteran, amidst concerns about VA staffing cuts

Rebecca Hansen-White

People who work with veterans worry disruption at the federal level could make the already daunting process of accessing healthcare and benefits more difficult.KLCC spoke with the family member of a veteran who said their benefits had been impacted.