Oregon’s new motor voter law is registering more young people
Since registered voters skew older, Oregon’s automatic voter registration law is correcting the age bias and giving people of all ages access to the ballot.
Oregon
Oregon is known for its forests, coastline, and cities balancing growth with conservation. This archive tracks progress stories from across the state, covering environmental wins, community health, economic equity, and more.
Portland, OR, becomes first major U.S. city to end all new investment in corporations
To avoid doing business with socially irresponsible corporations, the city is willing to lose investment incomeabout $4.5 million a year.
Portland, OR commits to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050
Leaders from the City of Portland and Multnomah County have committed to 100 percent clean energy by the year 2050.
Wolf population in Oregon continues to grow
This week, fish and wildlife officials said the wolf population passed a significant milestone. Biologists counted at least seven or more breeding pairs in a broad swath of Eastern Oregon for the third consecutive year.
Oregon voters elect Kate Brown as the first openly bisexual U.S. governor
In November 2016, Oregon voters elected Kate Brown governor, making her the first openly LGBT person — and first openly bisexual person — elected governor of any U.S. state. Brown had already spent decades in Oregon politics, winning the Secretary of State race in 2008. Her victory offered lasting proof that identity alone would not disqualify a candidate at the highest levels.
Bill Bowerman’s waffle iron experiment gives running shoes a new sole
Nike’s Waffle Trainer started with a breakfast appliance. One Sunday in Eugene, Oregon, track coach Bill Bowerman poured liquid urethane into his wife’s waffle iron, chasing a lighter, grippier sole for his runners. The shoe reached stores in 1974, and its grid of independent rubber nodes still shapes how performance footwear is designed today.
Fort Rock Cave sandals show humans wore sewn footwear in Oregon
Fort Rock sandals, twined from sagebrush bark roughly 11,000 years ago in what is now central Oregon, rank among the oldest footwear ever found. Archaeologist Luther Cressman unearthed dozens in 1938, preserved beneath ash from Mt. Mazama’s eruption. They hint at a deep tradition of fiber craft in the ancient Americas, most of which has quietly dissolved into time.