Category: In the News

The independent watchdog for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched a review examining whether federal policies are protecting tenants in public housing from exposure to cancer-causing radon gas. The review, announced publicly this week, comes four months after The Oregonian/OregonLive published its “Cancer Cloud” investigation exposing failed

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said the U.S. is way behind where it should be with the testing and emergency preparedness for the new coronavirus, but he said some help could be on the way with the three bills pending in Congress. “We’re dealing with two crises: an infectious disease crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) awarded $7.2 million to Oregon to support the state’s effort to help contain and fight the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The funding is in addition

Brandon Churchman, a chef in Spring, Texas, has seen his work schedule whittled down to 20 hours this week, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic slowing local business. He usually clocks 35 to 45 hours a week at $15 an hour. Now, like a lot of unsalaried workers, he doesn’t have

WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., this week joined a bipartisan group of their colleagues to introduce landmark legislation to permanently and fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund and address the nearly $12 billion maintenance backlog in our national parks and other land management

Oregon’s Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, along with Congressman Greg Walden, are pushing for emergency aid for flood-stricken eastern Oregon. A release from the members of Congress said they are asking the Trump administration for an expedited review of the “presidential major disaster declaration” that Oregon Governor Kate Brown

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — As the coronavirus spreads, questions swirl over if and when schools should close. To date, Oregon health officials emphasize the importance of not attending schools, going to work or public gatherings if you’re sick. But there has been no call to close schools during this outbreak.

Several Democratic senators on Tuesday wrote to the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the three biggest private prison operators in the U.S. to ask what contingency plans they have in place to address the novel coronavirus. In the letter, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff

WASHINGTON — Eastern Oregon’s congressional delegation — Democrat Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Republican Rep. Greg Walden, are pushing the Trump administration for an expedited review of the “presidential major disaster declaration” that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown requested for three Oregon counties and a tribal nation that suffered

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley announced Tuesday the expansion of a pilot program that will allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients in Oregon to use their benefits to purchase food online from Amazon and Walmart. The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and