Oregon

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Nearly two months of nightly protests that have devolved into violent clashes with police have prompted soul-searching in Portland, Oregon, a city that prides itself on its progressive reputation but is increasingly polarized over how to handle the unrest.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Republican voters in Oregon’s vast 2nd Congressional District on Tuesday elected a former state senator to be their candidate to replace Rep. Greg Walden, who didn’t run for a 12th term in the conservative region covering the rural eastern and central part of the state.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Just weeks ago, cities and even states across the U.S. were busy banning straws, limiting takeout containers and mandating that shoppers bring reusable bags or pay a small fee as the movement to eliminate single-use plastics took hold in mainstream America.

What a difference a pandemic makes.

In a matter of days, hard-won bans to reduce the use of plastics — and particularly plastic shopping sacks — across the U.S. have come under fire amid worries about the virus clinging to reusable bags, cups and straws.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man accused of fatally stabbing two people who prosecutors say tried to stop his racist tirade against two young black women on a Portland, Oregon, commuter train was convicted of murder Friday after an emotional trial that featured testimony from both women and the sole survivor of the attack nearly three years ago.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Bureau of Land Management has announced plans to fund 11,000 miles (17,703 kilometers) of strategic fuel breaks in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada and Utah in an effort to help control wildfires.

The fuel breaks are intended to prop up fire mitigation efforts and help protect firefighters, communities and natural resources, The Oregonian reported Saturday.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man charged with fatally stabbing two men who authorities say confronted him during a racist rant on a Portland, Oregon, light-rail train went to trial Tuesday, two years after the killings in a liberal city.

Jeremy Christian has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, assault and other crimes in connection with the 2017 stabbings. Prosecutors say Christian had shouted racist and anti-Muslim slurs at two young, black female passengers, including one who wore a Muslim headscarf.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man charged with fatally stabbing two men who authorities say confronted him during a racist rant on a Portland, Oregon, light-rail train goes to trial Tuesday, two years after the killings in a liberal city.

Jeremy Christian has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, attempted murder, assault and other crimes in connection with the 2017 stabbings. Prosecutors say Christian had shouted racist and anti-Muslim slurs at two young, black female passengers, including one who wore a Muslim headscarf.

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) — A 20-year-old attacker carried out a series of stabbings and carjackings at a suburban Portland shopping center and in a nearby town Wednesday, killing one person and wounding three others before being arrested, authorities said.

Police in the city of Beaverton said two people were stabbed inside a Wells Fargo bank and a man was stabbed at a gym next door.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A U.S. judge in Oregon on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction blocking a Trump administration proclamation that would require immigrants to show proof of health insurance to get a visa.

U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon said in a written opinion that the proclamation could not take effect while a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality makes its way through the courts.

The proclamation issued by President Donald Trump in October would only apply to people seeking immigrant visas from abroad — not those in the U.S. already.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday put on hold a Trump administration rule requiring immigrants prove they will have health insurance or can pay for medical care before they can get visas.

U.S. District Judge Michael Simon granted a temporary restraining order that prevents the rule from going into effect Sunday. It’s not clear when he will rule on the merits of the case.