A Eugene non-profit group says its anti-bullying efforts in Lane and Linn County schools could be used as a model statewide. Oregon lawmakers will consider funding an expansion of the program during their next legislative session.

In the midst of the #MeToo movement, Oregon’s legislative leadership said they were committed to changing the culture of the statehouse in Salem.

A hearing at the state Capitol on Thursday provided a glimpse into how difficult that might be.

For the first time, lawmakers heard from the group crafting rules that would govern harassment policies. The conversation revealed the complex nature of the statehouse: where power dynamics are often at play and different world perspectives play a role.

Oregon lawmakers and death penalty opponents are considering a roundabout approach at gutting the state's capital punishment law — without sending it to voters.

Since 1984, the death penalty has been enshrined in the Oregon Constitution, meaning it can only be removed by a vote of the people. But under proposals being discussed by Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, and others, the policy could be largely dismantled next year via a vote of the Legislature.

“I’m going to try to deal with it right now on a statutory basis,” Greenlick told OPB.

UPDATE (Thursday, Dec. 13, 3:17 p.m. PT) — State public defense systems are supposed to provide effective counsel for indigent clients — a requirement of the U.S. Constitution. But a draft report obtained by OPB concludes that Oregon's system is so bureaucratic and structurally flawed that it can't guarantee clients are getting the defense they're owed.

The report was completed by the Sixth Amendment Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, which studies how legal systems across the country are complying with the constitutional requirement.

A federal judge has ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to rewrite its pollution cleanup plans for Oregon rivers.

U.S. District Judge Marco A. Hernández rejected water quality standards that were submitted to the EPA by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

From the air, the scale of the devastation in and around Paradise, Calif., is, simply put, alarming.

Whole neighborhoods and commercial districts are completely decimated, turned to rubble amidst the tall, orange-singed pine trees with blackened trunks. Deeper into the mountains, illegal pot plantations were suddenly exposed — and charred. Then there's the odd home on a ridge top or Rite Aid store that's been randomly spared.

"See how hot that burned, there's nothing left down there," says Dan Tomascheski, talking through a headset over the roar of the helicopter.