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.

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

12:30pm ET
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...
Sen. Wyden’s wildfire tax relief bill passes just before Congress recesses, goes to White House
Oregon

Sen. Wyden’s wildfire tax relief bill passes just before Congress recesses, goes to White House

Aug 10, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
In the final hours of work before members of Congress went on recess for five weeks, a bill backed by Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden to relieve natural disaster survivors from paying federal income taxes on their recovery settlements and...
Eastern Oregon state Rep. Greg Smith will pay $12k to settle latest ethics violations
Oregon

Eastern Oregon state Rep. Greg Smith will pay $12K to settle latest ethics violations

Aug 07, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
This is a developing story and may be updated Oregon’s longest-serving state representative will pay the Oregon Government Ethics Commission $12,000 in fines for breaking state ethics laws and leveraging his position as director of an eastern Oregon public development...
Kotek data center advisors say no moratoriums, call for more state-local partnership, transparency
Oregon

Kotek data center advisers won’t say ‘moratorium,’ want more state-local partnership, transparency

Aug 06, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
Gov. Tina Kotek’s data center advisory committee won’t recommend a statewide moratorium on new data centers, despite local action and growing calls from Democratic lawmakers, conservation groups, farmers and residents in data-center-heavy areas . The committee, which Kotek assembled earlier...
Oregon GOP leaders want constitutional hunting, fishing protections in response to ballot measure
Oregon

Oregon GOP leaders want constitutional hunting, fishing protections in response to ballot measure

Aug 04, 2026
Alex Baumhardt
GRESHAM — To counter a failed ballot initiative from animal rights activists that attempted to ban hunting, fishing and animal slaughter in Oregon, the state’s Republican leaders pledged to introduce their own constitutional amendment to guarantee fishing, hunting and farming...