🐦 Why there are fewer birds over Oregon

Budget Crunch Defers a Crosswalk

Last year’s death of a 71-year-old man crossing a street in the Lents neighborhood brought attention to the city’s repeated delays in improving safety at Southeast Woodstock Boulevard and 97th Avenue. Now the Portland Bureau of Transportation has downsized — and again delayed — the project, this time citing the bureau’s financial troubles. [Willamette Week]

Fewer Oregon Birds

Migrating bird populations have been in decline for years as habitat disappears, but this spring saw a dramatic decline in the number passing over Oregon from April to May — 47% fewer than during the same period last year. This winter’s drought conditions in the Southwest and in Mexico may be the cause. [OPB]

The New Problem With Oregon’s Medicaid Improvements

Oregon has been a leader in lowering the state's medical costs by relying on in-home and community care, but the Trump administration’s Medicaid cuts may cover only the required nursing home care instead — with potentially devastating impacts for patients and families. Similar federal rollbacks after the Great Recession led Oregon to cut per patient home care spending by nearly half. [Oregonian 🔒]