News and Opinion

Wednesday, March 18, 2026: Interstate Bridge cost soars 140%, adding billions to project estimate

Latest News & Opinion Stories

Oregon/Northwest News

Gene Derfler, ‘generational leader’ in Oregon Legislature, dies at 101

Public invited to share input, ideas for getting Oregon back on track to meet climate targets

Oregon State Hospital is back in federal compliance but facing yet another outside investigation

Oregon gas prices just jumped 25 cents in one week. Which counties are paying the most?

Oregon Legislative & Political News

Interstate Bridge cost soars 140%, adding billions to project estimate

Climate policies took a back seat to budget, other concerns in recent Oregon legislative session

Portland/Metro News

Environmentalists say Washington County renewable energy project is too near national wildlife refuge

Trump administration appeals tear gas restrictions near Portland ICE building

Portland superintendent’s daughter lands job with firm awarded $61M school district contract

‘Unprofessional and inappropriate’: Board chair dinged for text message but cleared of discrimination, harassment allegations

Portland ICE protests ‘dead,’ livestreamer says as he wraps up criminal case with payment, probation

Oregon Coast News

A hospital on Oregon’s coast was on the brink of catastrophe until an unlikely alliance stepped up

Southern Oregon News

La Clinica opens new mobile health center on wheels, serving Jackson County

Mercy Medical Center makes NRHA’s 2026 Top 20 Rural and Community Hospitals

Medford to turn off controversial camera, place another nearby

Gold Hill scores $1.5M state grant for water system updates

‘No Kings’ protests planned March 28 across Rogue Valley, US

Wyden pushes for federal action to save Klamath Basin water

Patsy Smullin to receive 2026 History Makers Award

Business/Economic News

Millions of taxpayers could be due a COVID-era refund from the IRS. Are you one of them?

Hassett says consumer pain over Iran war ‘the last of our concerns right now’

Tricky negotiations begin Monday to renew a trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada

What $5 diesel fuel means for the U.S. economy

How the Iran war is an economic world war

Education News

Judge permanently blocks Ten Commandments displays at several Arkansas school districts

Energy & Environment News

Is New York’s climate law spiking your energy bill?

Exclusive: Gallego presses DOE on oil reserve as gas prices rise

Health Care News

Oregon Lays Out Core Public Health Goals for Years Ahead

Transportation News

Airline chief hopes DHS shutdown ends for TSA by April

TSA official: ‘Not hyperbole’ to suggest airports may close if shutdown persists

Sununu on TSA workers, DHS shutdown: ‘I don’t think there’s a breaking point’

TSA problems loom for spring break

Epstein News

Attorney General Pam Bondi subpoenaed to answer questions from Congress about the Epstein files

Justice & Court News

Chief Justice: ‘Personally directed hostility is dangerous, and it’s got to stop’

Federal judge halts RFK Jr.’s changes to children’s vaccine policies

Judge skeptical over Trump ballroom project amid new bid to halt it 

Chief Justice: Personal attacks on judges are “dangerous and it’s got to stop”

Judge orders Trump administration to restore Voice of America’s operations

Immigration/ICE News

Trump administration appeals tear gas restrictions near Portland ICE building

Immigration enforcement threatens housing security, rippling through local economies

International News

What to know about the deepening economic and political turmoil in Cuba

Cuba Struggles to Revive Obsolete Power Grid After Nationwide Blackout

Polls/Surveys

Latest Polls

Axios-Ipsos poll: Americans distrust Trump vaccine policies

National Campaigns/Elections

As Trump keeps Texas guessing, neither Cornyn nor Paxton backs down from Republican Senate runoff

$50 million push hopes to make child care a top issue in midterm elections

NRCC names 9 candidates to rebranded MAGA Majority program

Texas Democrats bullish about winning back Latino voters

Brendan Carr’s ‘equal time’ curveball crashes the midterms

National Political News

Joe Kent resignation over Iran war reveals an internal MAGA Trump division

GOP lawmaker argues Marines on Kharg Island would not be ‘boots on the ground’

Luna lays into Senate over SAVE Act inaction

Rising: March 17, 2026

Sanders presses Cassidy for hearing on RFK Jr. vaccine claims

Inside Dems’ new gambit to win the DHS shutdown fight

House conservatives revolt over stalled SAVE Act

Republicans and Dems are aligned: Don’t mess with NIH funding

National Congressional News

The Postal Service may be out of cash in 2027 without Congress’ help, postmaster says

Republicans are launching a voting bill debate that could last days or even weeks

Johnson says Democrats’ pitch to fund DHS without ICE, CBP would ‘defund the police’

Senate votes to begin marathon debate on SAVE America Act

Republicans collide with Trump over no-excuse absentee voting, SAVE Act

Clyburn: SAVE America Act ‘nothing but a throwback’ to Jim Crow laws

Democrats introducing measure expa‘Foreseeable future’: Senate begins debate on SAVE

Capitol Police budget request tops $1 billion

Rayburn building deemed at risk in push for major funding boost

Thune sounds alarm on threats at home as Dems refuse to budge in funding fight

Thune tackles biggest test yet as Senate launches SAVE Act debate

Capitol agenda: House hard-liner headaches ahead

Trump/Administration News

How Trump’s Treasury is shifting sanctions to punish his critics and reward friends

What to know about the resignation of Joe Kent as Trump’s counterterrorism chief

‘I do believe I’ll have the honor of taking Cuba’: Trump says

Trump says that he’s asked ‘about 7′ countries to join coalition to police Iran’s Strait of Hormuz

Trump administration to media: Report on the war the ‘patriotic’ way

Trump’s Homeland Security pick will inherit a department beset by challenges

White House reviews Democratic offer to reopen Homeland Security

Hassett says consumer pain over Iran war ‘the last of our concerns right now’

Gabbard: Trump concluded Iran posed an imminent threat

Trump orders task force to counter fraud in SNAP, nutrition programs

Israel urges Iranians to revolt but privately assesses they’ll be ‘slaughtered’

Israel says it killed Iran’s top security official, along with paramilitary boss

“No imminent threat”: U.S. Counterterrorism Center head resigns over Iran war

Trump ramps up press pressure over Iran war coverage

How giving $1M to Trump’s team helped make him a top contender for Georgia governor

Trump presses allies for Hormuz pledges, but not specifics

‘Never heard him so angry’: Trump is furious that global allies aren’t pitching in in Iran

Middle East Conflict News

Southwest Washington’s Kent resigns over Trump’s Iran war, says Iran posed no imminent threat

Trump says most allies and NATO refuse to help secure the Strait of Hormuz

Satellite images begin to show damage wrought by Iran war

Iran keeps up attacks on neighbors after it confirms Israel killed 2 of its top officials

Iran confirms Ali Larijani’s death: ‘Martyred’

Macron: France ‘will never take part’ in operations to open Strait of Hormuz

Israel’s Decapitation Strategy Wipes Out Two Top Iranians

More than a dozen Reaper drones have been lost in Iran operations, US officials say

Israel targets more Iran leaders as allies reject Trump’s calls for help

Why the death of Iran’s top security official is significant

Meanwhile, Israel says it will continue to target Iran’s new supreme leader

EU rejects Trump’s calls for deployments to reopen Strait of Hormuz

Three paths for Iran after US strikes crush key assets, next steps come into focus

Most NATO members reject U.S.-led Hormuz Strait coalition, Trump says

Defense/Military News

Ousted Hegseth aide accused of leaking lands intelligence post

Army general left classified maps on train, concussed after ‘overindulgence’ in alcohol: Inspector general report

Hegseth blasts CNN: ‘The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better’

Opinion

A Senate bill criminalizes sanctuary cities and diminishes states’ rights

Tucker Carlson exposes shocking CIA plot to have him arrested! 

Congress should back Trump’s push to keep AM radio in cars

America can stay solvent — but only by making people redundant

In an unstable world, American gas is a strategic advantage

Connecting the dots on the economy

Spending more money on homelessness isn’t helping

A prolonged war in Iran could hand China the commodity it prizes most

Terms of surrender in the war on wind

Why the SAVE America Act . . . Won’t

Joe Kent Resigns on Anti-Israel Principle

The Allies Take a Pass on Iran