A group of students from the gun safety group March For Our Lives were in Salem on Thursday to meet with Oregon lawmakers and their staff over a recently nixed piece of firearm legislation.

Fifteen-year-old Finn Jacobson and the rest of the March For Our Lives students campaigned for Gov. Kate Brown and various legislators during last year’s midterm election. At the time, Democrats promised to pass gun control laws.

A controversial bill to reduce the skyrocketing costs of Oregon’s public pension system narrowly passed the state Senate Thursday as lawmakers debated the fairness of trimming retirement benefits for public employees.

The measure passed on with 16 yes votes – the minimum needed for passage — and 12 senators opposed. The coalition in favor was unusually bipartisan as many Democrats refused to part ways with the public employee unions.

Updated at 5:30 p.m. ET

The Senate approved a $19.1 billion disaster aid package Thursday that includes money for states impacted by flooding, recent hurricanes and tornadoes, as well as money for communities rebuilding after wildfires.

The measure passed overwhelmingly — 85-8.

In the plan, Western Communications outlines the terms of its own demise, but provides few details on who might buy the newspapers, real estate and other assets. The corporation owes roughly $30 million in debt, about two thirds of which is secured under a single creditor through the terms of a previous bankruptcy. This week’s court filing assures creditors the company is negotiating with a short list of buyers.

Updated at 5:54 p.m. ET

Prosecutors are bringing a slate of new charges against Julian Assange, including alleged violations of the Espionage Act, raising the stakes for his prospective extradition from the United Kingdom.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici on Wednesday became Oregon’s second U.S. House member to call for impeachment proceedings to start against President Donald Trump.

“The president and the administration are sending the message they’re above the law,” Bonamici, D-Ore., told OPB.

She accused Trump of a variety of impeachable offenses, ranging from obstructing the Mueller investigation of his administration to human rights abuses in separating children from their families at the border.

On the 100 year anniversary of the University of Oregon’s Pioneer statue, dozens of students and faculty called for its removal. As KLCC’s Melorie Begay reports, they see it as memorializing colonial violence.

Nearly 300 coal-fired power plants have been "retired" since 2010, according to the Sierra Club. It's a trend that continues despite President Trump's support for coal. That has left many communities worried that those now-idled places will simply be mothballed.