Karina Brown

For the second year in a row, Oregon’s Republican state senators say they will flee the capitol in order to prevent the Democratic majority from advancing a cap-and-trade bill.

Government lawyers under both the Obama and Trump administrations argued the case should be dismissed because the Constitution doesn’t guarantee the right to a livable climate.

Grizzly bears could soon roam the North Cascade mountains in Washington state and revitalize the alpine forest. People live successfully near grizzlies in eastern Washington state, Idaho and Montana.

Montana can’t outlaw political robocalls, the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday, finding the state’s law violates the First Amendment, hamstrings underdog candidates and fails to protect recipients from financial scams.

The First Amendment doesn’t prevent Montana from requiring a gun rights group to register as a political action committee before mailing fliers to voters that detail candidates’ positions on the Second Amendment, the Ninth Circuit ruled Monday.

Since the Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams’ construction in the 1930s and 1940s halted salmon runs like a pair of concrete guillotines, tribes have urged the government to return salmon to the hundreds of miles of habitat above.

Oregon state officials relaxed rules Friday to make it easier to kill the state’s endangered gray wolves if they are found to have eaten livestock. Under the new rules, the commission can approve wolf kills if a pack is confirmed to have killed livestock twice in nine months.

Two gray wolves were killed in Washington state over Memorial Day weekend, state wildlife officials said. One was shot by a man hiking with his daughter, while the death of a radio-collared female is under investigation.

Oregon’s law will affect state standards on air quality, drinking water and regulations under the Clean Water Act. The Trump administration has proposed rollbacks of the Clean Water Act that would weaken protections and leave wetlands vulnerable to pollution.

Oregon wildlife commissioners, the recent recipients of a public “correction” by the governor on the state’s stance on removing wolves’ protection under the Endangered Species Act, said Friday they may allow wolf kills by private citizens at some point – even on public land.