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Columbia County Spotlight
WNBA announces Portland team with excitement for the city's passion for women's sports
Inside the Moda Center on Wednesday, Sept. 18, a vision for the future of women’s sports in Portland came to fruition. After several years of effort from politicians, local leaders and basketball fans, the WNBA made it official that the league will be bringing a basketball team to the Rose City starting in 2026 with an expansion franchise, the 15th team in the league. RAJ Sports, led by Lisa Bhathal...
Run With Neil in Scappoose will get your heart pumping, and for a good cause
Dust off your athletic shoes and prepare to get your cardiovascular system pumping at the fourth annual Run With Neil event at Scappoose High School. The event, which honors Neil Hoffmann, a runner at Scappoose High School who died in 2020, starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 12. Run With Neil features 1K, 3K and 5K events on different routes, and is open to everyone in the community. The 1K...
4 things to know about kitchen renovations
Kitchens are often described as the most popular room in a home, and that’s not mere conjecture. A 2022 survey from House Digest asked participants to identify the most essential room in their homes, and roughly 41% chose the kitchen. Residents tend to congregate in kitchens in the morning and then again in the evening when meals are prepared and, in homes without formal dining rooms, eaten. With so much time spent in the kitchen, it’s no wonder that the 2022 U.S. Houzz & Home...
Portland judge considers fate of the Kroger-Albertsons supermarket mega-merger
U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson in Portland heard closing arguments Tuesday, Sept. 17, over the proposed merger between supermarket giants Kroger and Albertsons. Kroger’s $25 billion dollar plan to acquire Albertsons would create a $200 billion company with about 5,000 stores in 48 states. It would be the biggest supermarket merger in U.S. history. The three-week trial over an injunction in the case has drawn national attention, in part because of the merger’s size, but also because of heightened consumer — and voter — concern about inflation and the cost of groceries. Oregon Public Broadcasting is a news partner of this publication. Find the original story here.
Planned Parenthood affiliates in Oregon map out long-term strategy
Planned Parenthood in Oregon is restructuring its advocacy and public policy arm to set the stage for expanding and bolstering reproductive health care access in the years to come. Officials from the state’s two Planned Parenthood affiliates, Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette and Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, said Tuesday, Sept. 17, that they are planning a new advocacy organization with 10 to 20 staffers. The new organization will replace Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, which is the lobbying and public policy organization that advances the...
It's official: WNBA is returning to Portland with expansion franchise
The WNBA is coming back to Portland as the league officially announced Wednesday, Sept. 18 that a team will suit up in the Rose City starting in 2026. Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report first broke the news back in August. Getting to the finish line hasn’t been easy as Portland was expected to receive a team earlier when the momentum to add it was led by ZoomInfo cofounder Kirk Brown last fall. ...
It's official: WNBA is returning to Portland with expansion franchise
The WNBA is coming back to Portland as the league officially announced Wednesday, Sept. 18 that a team will suit up in the Rose City starting in 2026. Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report first broke the news back in August. Getting to the finish line hasn’t been easy as Portland was expected to receive a team earlier when the momentum to add it was led by ZoomInfo cofounder Kirk Brown last fall. ...
Regional tests shows gas optional for driving fun
Manufacturers of all-electric vehicles are at a crossroads. Sales slowed early in the year, even though they are offering a wider selection of cars, SUVs and trucks than ever before — including the wildly entertaining 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N AWD that was recently honored by the Northwest Automotive Press Association at Drive Revolution 2024. “Many journalists were surprised with the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N AWD and its ability to provide an exceptional blend of performance and innovation, combining powerful acceleration with precision handling...
OPINION: Oregonians can’t wait for merger ruling, we need food affordability now
My spouse came home from our weekly grocery shopping the other day practically waving a paper-wrapped parcel of chicken thighs in victory. “Chicken at the deli counter is almost down to pre-pandemic prices!” he declared. This is a welcome change for our family as we feed ourselves and two young children whose appetites seem to balloon by the day. Along with my fellow Oregonians, we’ve been weathering food prices that...
Roar! School spirit is shining as new sculpture unveiled at St. Helens High School
A new metal sculpture is gracing the entrance to St. Helens High School thanks to the help of a local artist. The artwork depicts a male and female lion, honoring the nickname of the school’s mascot, a Lion. St. Helens local Paul Coca, a production and illustrator with Michael Curry Design, said the origins of his project date back to last winter. ...
Oregon Department of Corrections plans mail changes to curb drugs in prisons
To combat the flow of drugs into prisons, the Oregon Department of Corrections is considering a change to its mail rules that would prohibit inmates from receiving letters written with colored pencils or markers while only permitting white envelopes and paper. The proposed change comes as state prison officials seek to stop drugs from entering Oregon’s prison system, which has 12 facilities that handled nearly 1 million pieces of mail last year for some 12,000 people in custody. One pathway — but not the only...
Evanson: When it comes to Jordan Chiles and the elusive bronze medal...I have the answer
And you thought the Olympics were over? If you’re a fan of the Olympic Games and still long for what was in and around Paris for roughly two weeks more than a month ago, fear not, for the games live on thanks to a couple gymnasts, their coaches, attorneys of law and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that continues to amaze — and not in a good way. I really...
2024 Ford Ranger SuperCrew 4X4 Raptor is built for serious fun
Most pickup manufacturers offer off-road packages for their trucks that include greater ground clearances, beefier suspensions, bigger wheels and tires, and skid plates to protect the undersides from large rocks. But there are only a handful of high-performance off-road trucks that throw in more powerful engines. They include the full-size Ford F-150 Raptor and Ram 1500 TRX – and new for 2024, the midsize Ford Ranger Raptor that comes standard with a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6 rated at 405 horsepower. That’s a 29% increase over...
Late Gladstone rally dooms St. Helens football in home debut
The 2024 St. Helens football team is a work in progress, but despite back-to-back losses to start the season, head coach Nic Shular is pleased with his team’s effort and believes they’re moving in the right direction. “The kids have responded great after these two losses,” Shular said. “We’ve been competitive in both games and have felt like those were winnable games, we just have a lot of first-time varsity kids who are learning how difficult it is to win at the varsity level and...
OPINION: Democracy Day — Oregon has often led the way
Oregon has a good track record — one of the strongest among the 50 states — on democracy. The state makes it relatively easy for Oregonians to participate in elections compared with many other states. But threats to democracy lurk elsewhere — outside the state — and that means Oregon has a special role to play in setting an example. The 2007 United Nations General Assembly resolution setting up the...
WRITERS ON THE RANGE: 40 years of living with wolves
Biologist Diane K. Boyd has had a front-row seat to 40 years of wolf recovery in the West, but her new memoir reveals that entanglements with humans in Montana were often tougher than dealing with the four-legged predators. There’s a proud literary canon of women telling their stories of studying wildlife in remote places — Mardy Murie in Alaska, Jane Goodall in Tanzania, Dian Fossey in Rwanda. Now, Boyd’s memoir, “A Woman Among Wolves — My Journey Through Forty Years of Wolf Recovery,” runs in...
Print letters Sept. 17, 2024
Make affordable child care a top priority in Congress As we approach the upcoming election, it is imperative that candidates prioritize child care. The average cost of child care for two kids now exceeds the average cost of rent across all 50 states, including here in Oregon, where families pay about $14,000 per year for just one young child’s care — equivalent to almost 40% of a single parent’s income....
Oregon election officials say data entry error added 306 noncitizens to voter rolls, two voted
The Oregon agency that issues driver’s licenses erroneously registered more than 300 noncitizens to vote, though state officials say only two people actually cast ballots. State Elections Director Molly Woon told the Capital Chronicle that she received a call late Thursday afternoon from the administrator of the Driver and Motor Vehicle Services division of the Oregon Department of Transportation, telling her that DMV staff caught a data entry error that led to the division wrongly classifying some noncitizens as citizens. State election officials spent Friday,...
Scappoose drops home opener to Cascade on the gridiron
It was a rough Friday night for Scappoose football. The Indians — after starting the season with road wins over Pendleton and Baker — were shutout by Cascade, falling to the visiting Cougars 36-0 on Sept. 13 at Scappoose High School. After being eliminated by Scappoose in last year’s state quarterfinals, Cascade had a point to prove and they proved it, building a 29-0 first-half lead on the back of...
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