Overdose deaths in Oregon have dropped for a second year in a row, according to the state’s health agency. There were 1,100 overdose deaths in 2025, preliminary estimates from the Oregon Health Authority show — a drop from more than 1,500 in 2024 and 1,800 in 2023. The decline marks the first year-over-year decline since […]
Mid-Columbia Fire & Rescue (MCFR) saw a steady 20 to 21 overdoses a year for the past three years, but has already recorded 20 overdoses just through September of this year.
The Dalles Police Chief Tom Worthy presented Sgt. Doug Kramer with a lifesaving award at the regular city council meeting on June 27.
In the early days of the pandemic — a lifetime ago it seems now — the Columbia Gorge News invited readers to share how the pandemic was reshap…
Rep. Greg Walden, (R-HR) shares status of opioid legislation.
To the editor: Rep. Greg Walden has been busy lately working on, and especially talking about, the opioid crisis. It’s indeed a crisis, with 72,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. in the past year. And it’s indeed far past time to address it. As we listen to Mr. Walden self-congratulate on his current efforts, we might wonder why in the world he’s just now addressing it. Well, it is election season...
The Wasco County Sheriff’s Office has recovered plastic baggies of drugs, or syringes containing residue of an illicit substance, often enough in recent months to issue a public safety alert. “We are not trying to scare people, we are just trying to be proactive,” said Wasco County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Scott Williams.
George Washington, William Shakespeare, and Carl Sagan may be some of history’s greatest minds and most celebrated figures, but they’d all probably be in prison today if they were still alive.
Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill appeared before the county board last week to announce a grant from Lines for Life to equip officers at three agencies with Narcan, a drug that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, citing officer safety as the reason.
Across Oregon, I’ve talked with many families who are struggling with mental illness and drug addiction. These touch every segment of our communities, no matter where you live or what you look like. Tragically, they often carry with them a major stigma in society, and help is hard to find. Fortunately, Congress is working in a bipartisan way to help solve these problems and offer relief to those who need help.
