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CITY ATTORNEY STAYS OUT OF PEACOCK CHAT: Earlier this month, WW revealed that six members of the Portland City Council had conducted a text message thread concurrent with public hearings. In effect, the six councilors in “Peacock”—which stands for “progressive caucus”—were attending two meetings while their colleagues and the public attended one. It wasn’t clear if the text thread violated any rules. It still isn’t. After WW published the contents of the chat, 12 people complained to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, alleging that the councilors had broken public meetings law. The commission declined to consider the matter because the messages were more than a month old. In addition, 10 people filed complaints with the City Attorney’s Office. But in a Tuesday response to the complainants, City Attorney Robert Taylor declined to make a determination on the matter. Like the ethics commission, he said that because complainants did not file their grievances within 30 days of the texts in question, the city is not required under state law to take further action. Taylor instead said he would use the chat as “a critical opportunity for additional training for our City Council” on the state’s new public meetings laws.
STATE PAUSES INMATE HEALTH INITIATIVE: Oregon was set to launch a program next January to get incarcerated people Medicaid health coverage before their release. No longer: The program is being delayed. “OHA made the decision in consultation with implementation partners and based on potential changes at the federal level,” Oregon Health Authority spokeswoman Kristen Lambert told WW in an email. “There is no updated launch date at this time.” The development, first reported by InvestigateWest, comes at a time of great uncertainty for programs funded through Medicaid, a massive federal health insurance program facing funding cuts and heavy scrutiny from the Trump administration. The Reentry Benefits program had been approved in 2024 through a “waiver”—a program whereby states apply to experiment with Medicaid dollars. Oregon’s stated vision was to put inmates on the Oregon Health Plan 90 days before their release from custody, an exemption to a federal law that generally prohibits incarcerated people from getting Medicaid. The state argued that people getting out of prison often see their health care interrupted while they try to figure out insurance, affecting their ability to get things like medication and substance abuse treatment, and leading in turn to increased overdoses, visits to the emergency room, and recidivism.
EDTL OUT AND ELECTION CERTIFIED IN DOUGLAS COUNTY: Much has changed in the ongoing dispute over a May 20 election result for a position on the board of the Umpqua Public Transportation District in Douglas County. At the center of the conflict was district CEO Ben Edtl, who refused to certify—or promptly pay for—the election that unseated his political ally, claiming the result was “abnormal.” On Aug. 13, Edtl submitted his resignation from the job for which the board hired him in April. At an Aug. 18 meeting, the transit board accepted Edtl’s resignation and voted to take two other key steps: The board certified the May election results and agreed to seat Natasha Atkinson, the winner of the contested board race. Meanwhile, incumbent Todd Vaughn, who lost his seat to Atkinson, is still contesting the result in Douglas County Circuit Court. His attorney in that proceeding, Stephen Joncus, is a co-petitioner, along with Edtl and transit board member Michaela Hammerson, for Initiative Petition 37, a proposed 2026 ballot measure that would end vote-by-mail in Oregon. Vaughn and Joncus are due in court Aug. 22 for a status conference on the elections case. A trial is set for October.
COWORKING SPACE VANDALIZED BY NEO-LUDDITES: Portland police are investigating the Aug. 14 vandalism of a Southeast Portland coworking space by a group of six masked people, in full view of diners at nearby restaurants and food carts. Flyers left behind at the Southeast Madison Street office of coworking space Kiln suggested the vandals had targeted it for hosting an artificial intelligence networking event. The Utah-based coworking company’s Portland clients include such groups as AI Portland, a social organization that gathers tech workers and enthusiasts, and regularly holds meet-ups at Kiln’s Southeast Portland space—as it did this past Thursday. The half-dozen individuals—who also wore gloves, hoods and sunglasses—threw balls of paint at the Kiln office and spray-painted nearby parked cars before departing on foot. People came out from Kiln’s building just as the group left the property. “Fuck AI” was tagged in pink paint across a vehicle parked close to the entrance of the building. Kiln and AI Portland representatives did not respond to WW’s emailed inquiry about the incident.
