EARL BLUMENAUER

Hot real estate markets have made some homeowners wary of participating in voluntary flood buyout programs.

A state lawmaker in Oregon is calling for a formal investigation into a ballot-printing fiasco that will delay results from Tuesday's primary by weeks in the state's third-largest county, with a key U.S. House race hanging in the balance.

Growing discontent over homelessness and crime in Portland is driving interest in a pair of congressional primaries.

A global computer chip shortage has made it harder for consumers to get their hands on cars, computers and other modern-day necessities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added a contaminated island on the Columbia River to the Superfund list of toxic waste sites.

As California enters its fifth year of broad legal marijuana sales, industry insiders say the practice of working simultaneously in the legal and illicit markets is all too commonplace in the struggling pot economy.

The world’s richest man wanted to say thanks to the people who made his brief trip into space Tuesday possible.

A week after President Joe Biden signed executive orders intended to combat the worst effects of global warming, Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and other lawmakers urged him to go even further and declare a national emergency on climate change. “If there ever was an emergency, climate is one,'' the New York Democrat told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow last week, adding that an emergency declaration would give Biden “more flexibility.'' The sweeping plan is aimed at staving off the worst of global warming caused by burning fossil fuels. Sanders said the climate emergency has long been clear. But Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the top Republican on the Senate energy panel, said declaring a climate emergency would effectively “muzzle Congress.''

FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2018, file photo, people line up at the Artux City Vocational Skills Education Training Service Center at the Kunshan Industrial Park in Artux in western China's Xinjiang region. The Associated Press has found that the Chinese government is carrying out a birth control program aimed at Uighurs, Kazakhs and other largely Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. Chinas repression in Tibet, the status of the exiled Dali Lama, and its treatment of ethnic minorities spurred violent protests ahead of Beijings 2008 Olympics. China is host to the 2022 Winter Olympics with rumblings of a boycott and calls to remove the games from Beijing because of widespread human rights violations. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)WASHINGTON – For the second time in two weeks, the House on Wednesday approved a bill aimed at cracking down on U.S. imports of goods made with the forced labor of detained ethnic minorities in China. Its passage follows approval last week of a bill aimed at barring U.S. imports of goods produced in the vast Xinjiang region of northwestern China on the presumption that they were likely made with forced labor. “If America does not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interest, we lose all moral authority to speak about human rights anywhere in the world,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a floor speech last week. While the U.S. has long banned imports made with forced labor, traditional human rights monitoring efforts are thwarted in tightly controlled regions such as in northwestern China, Wexton and other lawmakers said. It calls the camps vocational training centers and denies allegations by U.S. officials and human rights groups that the camps amount to modern slavery.

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan bill aimed at keeping goods out of the U.S. that are made with the forced labor of detained ethnic minorities in China passed overwhelmingly Tuesday in the House of Representatives despite concerns about the potential effects on global commerce. The House voted 406-3 to declare that any goods produced in the vast Xinjiang region of northwestern China are presumptively made with the forced labor of detained Uighurs and other ethnic minorities, and therefore banned from being imported to the U.S. Imports made with forced labor have been banned since 1930 to ensure fair trade. The bill passed Tuesday would go further, shifting the burden to any company that operates in Xinjiang or buys goods from there to prove their goods are not tainted. Republicans and Democrats have been vocal in their condemnation of China over the treatment of Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region.

FILE - In this July 25, 2020, file photo, a protester carries an umbrella as federal police officers deploy tear gas during a protest at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. “There is no American city, that I am aware of, that has endured the level of tear gas,” agency spokeswoman Diane Dulken said. The protests over racist policing often ended with a fog of tear gas as federal agents tried to disperse the crowd. “I really think that the federal government and also local health departments have really neglected their duty to reinvestigate the safety of tear gas," Jordt said. Dulken said Portland has worked to be proactive about stopping pollutants from reaching the river, including any tear gas residue.

FILE - In this July 26, 2020, file photo, federal officers launch tear gas at demonstrators during a Black Lives Matter protest at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland, Ore. The Associated Press found that there is no government oversight of the manufacture and use of tear gas. Instead, the industry is left to regulate itself. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

The Associated Press found that there is no government oversight of the manufacture and use of tear gas. Eells has taught tear gas use with a Colorado police department and with Defense Technology, a tear gas manufacturer. They tried to run through the clouds of tear gas, which is actually a powder that hangs in the air. Thirteen U.S. senators, concerned about federal officers using tear gas, rubber bullets, and other so-called less-lethal weapons, have called on the Government Accountability Office to study the use and safety of tear gas. “We’re trapped in tear gas.”After the incident, the Charlotte City Council banned the purchase of tear gas for a year.

Protesters relocate a fence in front of the Justice Center, Saturday, July 18, 2020, during another night of protests in Portland, Ore. (Mark Graves/The Oregonian via AP)

Speaking on CNN's ‘State of the Union,’ Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler said federal officers “are not wanted here. “As the crowd was dispersed, several people in the crowd were arrested and officers were able to extinguish the fire. But Wheeler said the federal presence in the city is now exacerbating a tense situation. "What we're seeing is a blatant abuse of police tactics by the federal government, Wheeler said Sunday. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum sued Homeland Security and the Marshals Service in federal court late Friday.

WASHINGTON, DC – After months of political wrangling, House Democrats agreed Tuesday to President Donald Trump’s revamped version of a 25-year-old North American free trade agreement. The pact is Trump’s replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect in 1994. NAFTA slashed tariffs and tore down most trade barriers between the United States, Canada and Mexico, unleashing a burst of trade between the three countries. Trump’s version mostly continues to allow the free flow of trade across North American borders of the three countries. Trade is a relatively small part of the U.S. economy and trade with Mexico and Canada is smaller still.