Alex Baumhardt

Alex Baumhardt

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Alex Baumhardt covers education and the environment for the Oregon Capital Chronicle. Before coming to Oregon, she was a national radio producer and reporter covering education for American Public Media's documentaries and investigations unit, APM Reports. She earned a master's degree in digital and visual media as a U.S. Fulbright scholar in Spain, and has reported from the Arctic to the Antarctic for national and international media and from Minnesota and Oregon for The Washington Post.

ICE affirms in court documents there are no plans to build detention center in Newport
Oregon

ICE affirms in court documents there are no plans to build detention center in Newport

Oct 23, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
No new Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers are slated for construction in Newport, Oregon, anytime soon, and the federal government will provide at least a month’s notice to city officials before any environmental permitting would get underway. The U.S...
Trump DOJ will send federal monitors to Multnomah County on election day
Oregon

Trump DOJ to send federal monitors to Oregon’s Multnomah County on Election Day

Oct 23, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Federal lawyers on Thursday alerted Oregon officials that they will send election observers to Multnomah County for the Nov. 3 midterm, prompting Oregon’s secretary of state to remind voters about the limited powers those individuals have. It’s not the first...
In Bend, across state, voters have approved hundreds of millions for school safety as shootings rise
Oregon

In Bend, across state, voters have approved hundreds of millions for school safety as shootings rise

Oct 23, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
More than 100 of Oregon’s 197 school districts have asked voters in the past eight years to agree to local property tax increases to raise money for school safety upgrades. That’s according to a Capital Chronicle analysis of ballot referrals...
Largest gas pipeline network in Northwest could grow as Oklahoma-based owners pursue expansion
Oregon

Largest gas pipeline network in Northwest could grow as Oklahoma-based owners pursue expansion

Oct 22, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
The Oklahoma-based company that owns one of the largest gas pipeline networks in the Northwest is beginning to pursue permits to expand that network, and to pump more gas to the region to meet rising electricity demand. Pipeline company Williams...
Umatilla considers emergency over lost revenue from Gov. Kotek data center permit pause
Oregon

Umatilla declares emergency over lost revenue from Gov. Kotek’s data center permit pause

Oct 20, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
An eastern Oregon city that has for the last decade welcomed some of the largest data centers in the state is fighting Gov. Tina Kotek’s recent order meant to temporarily pause data center development, saying it could cost the city...
Third party-candidate, massive campaign donations fuel Southern Oregon Senate race toss-up
Oregon

Third party-candidate, massive campaign donations fuel Southern Oregon Senate race toss-up

Oct 16, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
More than $1 million in just the last month has poured into two candidates’ campaigns for a southern Oregon state Senate seat being vacated by a Democrat who narrowly won it in 2022. Major corporate donors have bet on Republican...
In competitive Gorge-based House District, candidates tout years, dollars between them
Oregon

In competitive Gorge-based House District, candidates tout years, dollars between them

Oct 15, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Voters in Oregon’s most competitive state House district in November will choose between a political newcomer and a longtime county commissioner with nearly 40 years, $750,000 in campaign contributions and diverging views on issues bigger than a hyperscale data center...
Oregon governor orders pause on environmental permits to build or expand data centers
Oregon

Oregon governor orders pause on environmental permits to build or expand data centers

Oct 13, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Oregon’s governor has effectively issued a moratorium on new data centers and data center expansions in the state by ordering environmental regulators to pause approving new state and federal air and water pollution permits for data center projects until next...
Oregon elections chief urges early voting as test of USPS service shows slow mail service
Oregon

Oregon elections chief urges early voting as test of USPS service shows slow mail service

Oct 13, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
PORTLAND — Following President Donald Trump’s escalating attacks on vote-by-mail in the run-up to the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Oregon’s secretary of state, 36 county clerks and election officials in August conducted an experiment. They sent and tracked 108 pieces...
Green challenging Republican Rep. Greg Smith hopes to win with nonaffiliated voters
Oregon

Green challenging Republican Rep. Greg Smith hopes to win with nonaffiliated voters

Oct 13, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Political newcomer Josiah Dean’s campaign to unseat Oregon’s longest-serving state representative has been compared, he said, to the parables of David and Goliath or Don Quixote: Characters facing enormous odds and, at times, delusion, to overcome extraordinary challenges. Dean, 63...
2 Oregon state-backed rail projects cost more than $70 million. They’re still mostly idle.
Oregon

2 Oregon state-backed rail projects cost more than $70 million. They’re still mostly idle.

Oct 09, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
It’s been nearly 10 years since the Oregon Legislature approved a $5.3 billion package of taxes and fees to fund transportation over the following decade, including $50 million in grants to build two rail shipping centers in the Willamette Valley...
Oregon’s Merkley, Utah’s Curtis propose extending military death benefits to fallen firefighters
Oregon

Oregon’s Merkley, Utah’s Curtis propose extending military death benefits to fallen firefighters

Oct 07, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
A financial benefit for surviving family members of wildland firefighters who die fighting blazes on federal lands could increase tenfold under a new bill proposed by Oregon’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and Utah’s Republican U.S. Sen. John Curtis. Merkley...