Ben Botkin
Oregon Capital ChronicleBen Botkin covers justice, health and social services issues for the Oregon Capital Chronicle. Ben Botkin has been a reporter since 2003, when he drove from his Midwest locale to Idaho for his first journalism job. He has written extensively about politics and state agencies in Idaho, Nevada and Oregon.
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A new committee will meet next week for the first time as lawmakers start to look for solutions to Oregon’s drug addiction crisis. -
The Oregon Health Authority’s system that determines whether vulnerable Oregonians receive mental health care has widespread “failures” that hurt the people who need care, an internal audit found.
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The suit says the state Department of Human Services ignored complaints about abuse, injuries and neglect and kept children in the home.
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Oregon officials want to change the system to motivate people suffering from addiction to get help.
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The Oregon Court of Appeals in Salem will decide whether prisoners shouldn’t be held for longer than 15 days.
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A Secretary of State audit found $35.2 million of questionable expenses in 10 state programs that provide social services, mental health care and emergency rental assistance.
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Oregon Recovers, a Portland-based nonprofit, urged state leaders to change – but not eliminate – Measure 110, which decriminalized low-level drug possession.
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The average Oregonian who buys health insurance on the individual marketplace will see costs increase 6.2% in 2024 after state regulators approved final rates.
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A state system that often blocks treatment, with contractors trained by YouTube videos assessing patients, is under review after a whistleblower complained.
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A handcuffed and shackled Oregon State Hospital patient with pending felony charges stole a van and escaped from the state-run psychiatric hospital in Salem late Wednesday night, commandeering it southbound on Interstate 5.
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Lawsuit alleges the agency neglected the child with placements in foster homes with sexual and physical abuse.
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The sergeant was arrested less than a week after the release of a scathing state report about conditions at Oregon’s only women’s prison.
