Oregon Department of Human Services

The Oregon Department of Human Services has opened an investigation into its former spokesman, after OPB reporting revealed allegations that he sexually abused students as a teacher in the 1980s.

A sweeping class-action lawsuit — where the state of Oregon spent upwards of $18 million taxpayer dollars defending a child welfare system known for well-documented systemic failures — entered a new chapter on Thursday.

Oregon has been under scrutiny for years for placing kids in temporary lodging

The report suggests ODHS officials run background checks on providers before they are placed in homes to watch over vulnerable children.

The settlement stipulates Disability Rights Oregon and the state will agree upon a “neutral,” an expert to oversee the foster care system and work with the individual to improve the child-welfare system, primarily by reducing the rate of mistreatment and improving the quality of placements.

In 2019, a national advocacy group filed a class-action lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Human Services, alleging the state mistreats children in its foster care system and has failed to fix glaring problems. Five years and millions of dollars later, the next trial has been delayed as the two sides near a settlement agreement.

The state has spent about $25 million housing 462 kids in foster care in hotels since 2018. State of Oregon officials regularly spend more than $2,560 per kid, per night (which includes lodging, staffing and food) to house a child in temporary lodging.

Communities around Oregon can now apply for state assistance to help keep residents safe from heat waves, cold snaps, and excessive wildfire smoke.

These extra nutritional benefits are meant to offset some of the worst health impacts of the pandemic—like hunger.

Oregonians with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will soon have more funds to work with at mealtime. Monthly SNAP benefits will be…

Oregon children who missed out on free or reduced-price meals at school - because of the pandemic -will soon be receiving food benefits in the mail. There…

Tens of thousands of Oregonians are still without power following a series of ice and snow storms over the weekend. The prolonged outages mean many people…