Beat Check with The Oregonian

As many by now know, Oregon ranks miserably when it comes to addressing residents’ mental health needs compared to the rest of the U.S. Especially troubling: Our state is dead last — the absolute worst in the nation — in balancing the prevalence of youth mental illness with access to care. That’s left many families with a teen in crisis or struggling with addiction no choice but to send them out of state for treatment. But efforts are also underway to fill some of the most glaring gaps in Oregon’s youth mental health system. On the latest Beat Check, I talk with Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Nicole Hayden about her recent three-part series on youth mental health in our state. Read More: Without options in Oregon, teens who need behavioral health care go out of state (Part 1) Harmony Academy fills gap in Oregon’s youth mental health system (Part 2) Oregon mother crafts creative solutions to keep her teen sober, happy (Part 3) Oregon ranks miserably for addressing mental health. The reasons are complex How Oregon failed to pay for the mental health system it needs Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Oregonian/OregonLive is in the midst of its annual update of the Oregon Public Employee Retirement System beneficiary database. Last week, we published an update that showed nearly 6,000 retirees tapped into the pension benefit system in 2023. In a week or so, we’ll have our database fully updated and available so readers can lookup all current retirees and their benefits. Reporter Ted Sickinger, who has examined the system for more than a decade, joined Editor Therese Bottomly for this week’s installment of “Beat Check with The Oregonian” to talk about the challenges facing PERS and Oregon public agencies. Sickinger talks about his analysis of the new retirees and their benefits and also the outliers in the system as a whole. The conversation covers: --How we got here and the real-life impact of the system’s shortfall --What reforms have already been made to the system? --What the Legislature and the PERS board can do about the shortfall? --What’s behind some of the outsized benefits packages? To learn more about PERS: How did we get here? A short video How a serial killer kept receiving PERS in prison The Oregonian wins Pulitzer Prize for PERS editorials Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many homeowners in Oregon are feeling the impacts of higher electricity bills and facing the prospect of yet another rate increase next year. As electricity bills have skyrocketed, causing widespread anger and frustration, many people have begun to question how and why utilities recoup money from their customers. Last month, the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, a state nonprofit group that advocates for those customers, asked Oregon regulators to dismiss Portland General Electric’s newest rate increase proposal – an unprecedented move that diverges from the state’s standard rate-setting process. Since then, the case has generated well over 1,000 comments from frustrated PGE customers. They raise important questions: Are back-to-back rate increases fair? Why should customers bear all of the cost of infrastructure upgrades and other investments and not the utility and its shareholders? Does the clean energy transition translate into higher rates? And if clean energy is supposedly cheaper than fossil fuel-powered energy, why are rates going up exponentially? Dain Nestel, the Director of Customer Solutions at Portland General Electric, talked on Beat Check about the reasons for the steep increases and how the company is trying to reign in costs and help its customers in an era of increasing electricity demand, extreme weather and aging infrastructure. For a different perspective, Beat Check previously hosted Bob Jenks, the executive director of the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, to address those issues from utility customers’ perspective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In February, elected leaders of a small town in Marion County took the extraordinary step of firing its top cop amid a series of troubling allegations. Gervais Police Chief Mark Chase’s removal has since touched off a feud between the chief’s defenders and officials in the quiet community about 15 miles NE of Salem. Chase, it turns out, is no stranger to controversy on the job. Leaders in Junction City, about an hour south of Gervais, fired Chase from his role as police chief there in 2016. On the latest Beat Check, Oregonian/OregonLive reporters Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Catalina Gaitán talk about small town politics in the age of toxic divides. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oregon’s largest corporate employer has been one of the biggest boosters calling for an infusion of taxpayer dollars into U.S. manufacturing of computer chips. Last week, Intel got its wish: an $8.5 billion check from the federal government. Mike Rogoway, who covers the chip industry for The Oregonian/OregonLive, spoke with business editor Elliot Njus about what this award means for Intel in Oregon and around the world. He also discussed his reporting on the Oregon Employment Department, which launched long-awaited upgrade to its computer system that handles unemployment claims — but the transition doesn’t seem to have ended difficulties for Oregonians seeking jobless benefits. Read more: Intel wins $8.5 billion in federal subsidies for chip factories, calls for more Computer upgrade triggers familiar problems for Oregonians seeking unemployment benefits Subscribe to Beat Check anywhere you listen to podcasts to get new episodes each week. You can support local journalism by becoming a subscriber to The Oregonian/OregonLive. Explore more of our podcasts and sign up to get newsletters for the latest news and top stories. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Environmentalists notched what they consider a major win in the 2024 short legislative session. The COAL Act directs the state to drop about $1 billion in coal investments and to cease new investments in companies that mine and burn coal. Proponents say the legislation aligns the state’s public pension investments with Oregon’s existing climate goals to reduce carbon emissions and transition to 100% clean energy. Oregon isn’t the only state going this route. Fossil fuel divestment campaigns, which launched over a decade ago on college campuses, now focus on governments, pension funds, faith-based organizations and foundations, among others. To date, about $14 trillion has been divested from fossil fuels globally and commitments to divest topped $40 trillion across the world as of this summer. Oregon’s coal-divestment legislation is based on a California law adopted in 2015 that led that state’s pension systems – the two largest public funds in the country – to divest from coal. A few other states and cities have also followed suit. Maine became the first state to pledge divesting from fossil fuels. New York City divested $3 billion of its pension funds three years ago and Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Francisco and Pittsburgh are also moving to divest their pension funds. Even Eugene in Oregon has pledged not to invest in fossil fuel companies. But the movement to divest also has many critics. Some labor unions fear it could threaten hard-earned retirement money. And the issue has become highly politicized, with over a dozen Republican states passing or introducing model bills that ban them from doing business with financial groups that divest from fossil fuels. Divestment is even controversial in California, where a bill to divest the state’s pension systems from all fossil fuels was shelved again during last year’s legislative session. On the Beat Check podcast, the chief sponsor of Oregon’s coal divestment legislation, Rep. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, talked about why Oregon’s divestment from coal will help the state reach its climate goals, how it compares with other fossil fuel divestment campaigns and what individual investors can do to divest and align their own money with their environmental values. Pham also spoke about what the state should invest in and how programs like Portland’s Clean Energy Fund – which she helped create – and the statewide Climate Protection Program’s Community Climate Investments can help low-income communities take part in the clean energy transition and better adapt to the changing climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lack of funding and the passage of Measure 110 dealt a double whammy to Oregon drug courts. Even as fentanyl became a scourge, one of the best tools to help addicts largely faded away. Programs in Deschutes, Benton, Polk and Multnomah counties shut down in recent months or years and others have been hit with funding problems. But in this short legislative session, the Oregon Legislature voted to increase funding to $37 million this two-year budget cycle, an increase of almost 50%. Legislators also recriminalized drug possession, voting to creates a new misdemeanor for people caught with small amounts of illicit drugs. That might send more people into drug courts tailored to lesser offenders. Reporter Aimee Green took a deep dive into the history of drug courts in Oregon, how they work and how people have benefited from them. She talked to policymakers, recovering addicts and judges. Green joined Editor Therese Bottomly to talk about her article (Bottomly’s sister is a Multnomah County judge). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Utility customers in Oregon have seen steep rate increases in the past two years – and more are in the works. What gives? Portland General Electric customers saw their bills go up by 18% in January, in addition to a 14.8% rate increase in 2023. Pacific Power customers saw bills increase by 21% at the start of 2023 and by another 12% in January. Pacific Power just filed another rate increase proposal in Oregon seeking a 17% average increase. Idaho Power is also seeking to raise rates by nearly 27% for its eastern Oregon customers. And it’s not just electric utility customers who are feeling the pinch. NW Natural gas rates have gone up by over 32% since September 2022. Bob Jenks is executive director of the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, a nonprofit organization created via a 1984 ballot measure to advocate for all state utility customers. On Beat Check, Jenks talked about why those rates are climbing so steeply, what the future of utility rates is and how climate change and our transition to clean energy and an all-electric future are affecting utilities. Jenks also spoke about flaws in utility regulations and how his organization is working on reforming them. He encouraged lower income customers to apply for the income-qualified utility bill discount programs, but said those programs aren’t a panacea to solving the issue of energy affordability. PGE has just expanded its bill discount program to provide up to a 60% monthly energy discount to customers who qualify. Pacific Power has a similar program as does NW Natural. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is trouble at one of the most beloved natural attractions in Oregon and all of the Pacific Northwest.Busted buildings. Hazardous spills. Injuries and allegations of sexual assault. Years of mismanagement by Crater Lake Hospitality, a subsidiary of Aramark, the corporate behemoth hired by the National Park Service in 2018 to operate concessions at Crater Lake National Park, has endangered the park’s employees, visitors and pristine natural environment, a new investigation by The Oregonian/OregonLive has found. On the latest Beat Check, Oregonian/OregonLive reporters Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Jamie Hale discuss those findings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s hard to escape the fentanyl problem in Oregon. The use of fentanyl is evident on the streets of Portland and provides added fuel to Oregon’s homelessness crisis. The decriminalization of the drug and others is at the heart of a debate in the Oregon Legislature over Measure 110. The Oregonian/OregonLive recently published two in-depth articles that came at the fentanyl crisis through vastly different lenses. Education reporter Julia Silverman profiled a mother’s attempt to see help for her teenage son, who had suffered three overdoses before he died on fentanyl poisoning. Oregon’s medical autonomy laws prevented her from forcing him in to treatment. Zane Sparling headed out to Ontario, where the rural town was confronting an addiction and homelessness crisis exacerbated by Oregon’s more lenient laws on drug use than neighboring Idaho’s. The small city was seeing many of the same problems as Oregon’s largest, Portland, hundreds of miles away. Editor Therese Bottomly speaks with Silverman and Sparling about their reporting and possible solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Oregon Legislature’s 2024 session is underway, and even though lawmakers’ work is constitutionally limited to just 35 days, they plan to take on some of the state’s biggest issues. On this week’s episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, state government reporter Carlos Fuentes runs down lawmakers’ top priorities and how a state Supreme Court ruling could affect the dynamic in Salem. Plus, public safety reporter Noelle Crombie on lawmakers’ proposals to roll back parts of Measure 110, the drug decriminalization law approved by voters in 2020. (Crombie recently appeared on Beat Check to discuss Measure 110 and policymakers’ trip to Portugal, whose drug laws in part inspired the Oregon measure.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In January, the Portland metro area was encased in a week-long ice, snow and wind storm that shut down the region. The storm toppled hundreds of massive trees, which in turn crushed cars, felled power poles and lines and split people’s homes in half. The devastation left many people traumatized and anxious – and reexamining their relationships with trees and with the natural world, said Dr. Thomas Joseph Doherty, a Portland-based psychologist who focuses on helping clients overcome anxieties linked with climate change. On today’s Beat Check podcast, Doherty talked about the mental health impacts and emotional burden of the storm and of climate-related extreme weather events. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oregon has long been awash in cash when it comes to state elections and political races. One big reason? It’s among just a small handful of states that do not limit how much money candidates can accept from individuals, political groups, corporations, unions or any other entity. But that could change this year, as Oregon voters will likely face a pair of similar-looking — yet markedly different — ballot measures, each of which would limit how much individuals and groups can donate to candidates. On the latest Beat Check, Oregonian/OregonLive reporters Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Carlos Fuentes, dig into these dueling proposals. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year, 2024, is a big political and election year, and Oregon faces many serious and complex issues. The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board meets regularly to talk about significant issues where the newspaper as a local institution might weigh in. Editorials are written by Opinion Editor Helen Jung and appear on the Opinion pages. The opinions of the editorial board are independent of the news operation and the reporters in the newsroom work independently from the board. Editor Therese Bottomly speaks with Jung and Managing Editor Laura Gunderson, who oversees areas such as politics and business, about the goal of editorials. The conversation pulls back the curtain on the board’s process. Among the topics: --How the candidate endorsement process works. The board now videotapes endorsement interviews, which are held jointly, for publication on OregonLive. --What Jung looks for in local op-eds, commentary articles written by community members. --What is on the board’s radar for 2024, as laid out in this agenda-setting editorial. Guidelines for submitting Letters to the Editor or op-eds can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A terrifying mid-flight emergency forced an Alaska Airlines plane back to Portland Jan. 5 and launched an investigation that temporarily grounded fleets of Boeing 737 Max 9 passenger jets nationwide. Miraculously, nobody on Alaska Airlines flight 1282 was critically hurt when a “door plug” — a wall panel that’s used as an emergency exit on some planes but just a window on others — suddenly blew off, leaving a hole. The cabin depressurized, and passengers put on oxygen masks while the plane dropped to a lower altitude before making an emergency landing at PDX. Reporters Zane Sparling and Maxine Bernstein were among the team of journalists who spoke to investigators and shaken passengers. On this episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, they talk about their experiences working on the story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In December, Portland leaders announced that the city’s clean energy fund is expected to raise an unanticipated $540 million over the next five years. This staggering surplus comes at a time when city agencies are facing major budget shortfalls. Commissioner Carmen Rubio, who oversees the fund, has proposed funneling half of the excess money to cash-strapped bureaus to help pay for a wide plethora of climate-related projects. They include walking and bicycle routes, LED street lighting, electric vehicle charging infrastructure for the city’s fleet, electric-powered leaf blowers to replace city-owned gas-powered ones and tree planting and natural areas restoration, among others. The other half of the excess revenue would go towards creating energy efficient affordable housing, maintaining trees across Portland and subsidizing a new “climate resilient” Keller Auditorium and new infrastructure for the city’s Fire Bureau. Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, Portland City Hall reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive, talked about the surplus, Rubio’s spending proposal and how the fund has continued to evolve ever since it was approved by voters via ballot measure in 2018. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During the final weeks of 2023, Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Aimee Green crisscrossed Portland to ask strangers from all walks of life what they wished for themselves — and for their city — in the coming year. One hundred people shared their hopes, both big and small. On the latest Beat Check, Green and I discuss her project, the joys of striking up conversations on the street and the optimism that many people have for the Portland area despite its ongoing struggles and challenges. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merry Christmas! This time of year, The Oregonian/OregonLive features nonprofits from Oregon and southwest Washington to highlight their good works for our longstanding Season of Sharing campaign. Longtime features editor Grant Butler talks with Editor Therese Bottomly about the annual campaign, which runs roughly from Thanksgiving to the end of the year. The campaign was started by the Oregon Journal, an afternoon newspaper that served Portland until it merged with The Oregonian in 1982. At that time, The Oregonian took over the campaign and the tradition continues today. Many readers donate by check but there are also online options, listed below. All proceeds benefit the nonprofits; The Oregonian/OregonLive bears any administrative costs. If you want to give, you can choose one of the charities or give to the general fund, which will be evenly distributed among them. Online: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/oregonian-publishing-company-public-benefits-inc/season-of-sharing By check: Oregonian Season of Sharing, c/o Oregonians Credit Union, 336 N.E. 20th Ave., Portland, OR 97232. By text: You can also text the code SHARE2023 to 44-321. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In late October, two dozen Oregon policymakers, advocates, police and prosecutors landed in Lisbon, Portugal, to learn about that nation’s two-decade-old drug decriminalization law. They arrived a few days after reporter Noelle Crombie, who traveled to the country independently to do much the same. The fact-finding missions come as the voting public has soured on Oregon’s Measure 110, a decriminalization law approved by voters two years ago. Now, as as the potent and addictive drug fentanyl has proliferated and overdoses have skyrocketed, polls suggest a majority favor a full or partial repeal. Some of Crombie’s stories from Portugal, and back in Oregon: Oregon leaders tasked to act on Measure 110, fentanyl went to Portugal in search of answers. Here’s what they found Debate over Measure 110′s future heats up as lawmakers mull reforms Push to ‘fix’ Measure 110, make drug possession a crime again, ramps up with powerful support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Heat pumps, electrical work and insulation projects are very expensive – and many families in Oregon can’t afford them, despite their potential for reducing carbon emissions, saving energy and slashing utility bills. The federal government has promised financial help: generous rebates and tax credits to defray the costs of home energy efficiency upgrade projects for low- and moderate-income families. The tax credits are already available, while the rebates will be rolled out in Oregon by mid-2024. But, according to the state’s Department of Energy, only about 13,000 Oregon households will qualify for those rebates. That’s less than 1 percent of Oregon’s 1.7 million households. Will your family be one of them? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices