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.

Gov. Kotek pauses data centers on state land. Capitol demonstrators want her to go further.
Oregon

Gov. Kotek pauses data centers on state land. Capitol demonstrators want her to go further.

Sep 08, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
SALEM — Roughly 100 people showed up outside the Oregon State Capitol on Tuesday to call for a three-year pause on new data center development in the state. Among them was Gov. Tina Kotek, who expressed support for the demonstrators...
U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff down more than a third nationwide, 40% in Oregon since Trump 2.0
Oregon

U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff down more than a third nationwide, 40% in Oregon since Trump 2.0

Sep 03, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
The number of people staffing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has dropped by 3,600 during President Donald Trump’s second term, according to federal data obtained by the nonprofit conservation group Center for Biological Diversity. Oregon, California, Alaska and Washington...
Oil lobby tanking climate Superfund bills in Oregon, 11 states despite public support, study finds
Oregon

Oil lobby tanking climate Superfund bills in Oregon, 11 states despite public support, study finds

Sep 03, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Oregon lawmakers next week will confront another record bill for the costs of fighting massive wildfires across the state, which have been exacerbated by unseasonable heat and ongoing drought. These are byproducts of a warming planet, decades of scientific study...
Oregon universities brace for international enrollment drop following visa delays, Trump policies
Oregon

Oregon universities brace for international enrollment drop following visa delays, Trump policies

Sep 01, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Ahead of the fall semester at Oregon’s largest public universities, staff are helping students from around the world navigate challenging visa delays and uncertainty over President Donald Trump and his administration’s immigration policies that are expected to drive down international...
No longer lagging, Oregon economic growth catching up with nation, state economists report
Oregon

No longer lagging, Oregon economic growth catching up with nation, state economists report

Aug 26, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
This is a developing story and may be updated. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, economic growth in Oregon has underperformed the nation’s. Now, the gap between the two is closing and the state’s economic output is growing at about the same...
State rebates on electric vehicle purchases, leases opens again
Oregon

State rebates on electric vehicle purchases, leases opens again

Aug 25, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Oregonians planning to buy or lease an electric vehicle before Nov. 4 can get thousands of dollars from the state to help pay for it. Officials at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on Tuesday reopened the Clean Vehicle Rebate...
Northwest late summer days marred in historic drought, exacerbating wildfires
Oregon

Northwest late summer days marred by historic drought, exacerbating wildfires

Aug 25, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
The last weeks of summer find Oregon and much of the Northwest experiencing historic drought, exacerbating what has become one of the most active wildfire seasons in the state and region, according to state and federal climatologists and hydrologists. Beyond...
‘Up to voters of his district:’ Oregon lawmakers mostly silent on Rep. Greg Smith ethics violations
Oregon

‘Up to voters of his district’: Oregon lawmakers mostly silent on Rep. Greg Smith ethics violations

Aug 20, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Oregon lawmakers have largely remained silent on whether state Rep. Greg Smith, a Republican from eastern Oregon, should face consequences in the Legislature for breaking state ethics laws and costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. Last week, the Oregon...
Trump administration advances plan to rescind protections for nearly 45 million wild acres
Oregon

Trump administration advances plan to rescind protections for nearly 45 million wild acres

Aug 18, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
The Trump administration will move ahead with plans to end more than 25 years of sweeping protections for tens of millions of wild, federally managed acres across the U.S. Brooke Rollins, head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, on Tuesday...
Conservationists sue feds over plan to allow cattle grazing on 24 million western acres
Oregon

Conservationists sue feds over plan to allow cattle grazing on 24 million western acres

Aug 17, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
A nonprofit conservation group is suing the federal government over plans to allow cattle grazing on more than 24 million previously restricted federal acres across the West. The Center for Biological Diversity and the group’s endangered species co-director, Noah Greenwald...
Downward trend in employment for women nationwide, in Oregon, raising questions
Oregon

Downward trend in employment for women nationwide, in Oregon, raising questions

Aug 14, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
The number of women participating in Oregon’s workforce has been on a slight decline during the last year, along with the number of women working across the country. It’s a reversal of the upward trend of women’s participation in the...
Oregon education funding committee recommends increasing school spending by $2.5B to $5B
Oregon

Oregon education funding committee recommends increasing school spending by $2.5B to $5B

Aug 12, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Oregon’s schools will need nearly $2.5 billion more to maintain the status quo of service for the 2027-29 school years, and nearly $5 billion more to help students meet new accountability and attendance targets, according to a recent estimate unlikely...