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Good morning, Northwest.

The city of Camas is considering changes to its form of government to shift power away from an elected mayor and toward City Council.

OPB Southwest Washington reporter Elena Neale-Sacks looks into why this move considered in 2002 and 2018 is gaining traction again. Their story starts today’s newsletter.

Also this morning, “Oregon Experience” premieres a documentary on the history of tattoos in Oregon and the stories behind Oregonians’ ink. Find it in at the end of the newsletter.

Here’s your First Look at Wednesday’s news.

— Bradley W. Parks

Top story

String of short-term mayors fuels pitch to restructure Camas government

Churning through mayors has been common practice in Camas, Washington.

Before the current mayor, Steve Hogan, was elected in 2023, the office had a revolving door of three mayors in three years. Now Hogan, too, is ready to call it quits after his first term ends.

City leaders point to this pattern of turnover as evidence of a foundational problem impacting how local government operates in a growing Southwest Washington community.

“We are one election away from chaos, always,” City Councilor John Nohr said at a Monday meeting.

The council voted to have the city attorney draft a resolution asking voters to shift power away from an elected mayor — who works with an administrator of their choosing — to a professional city manager who would be hired and fired by City Council, fundamentally changing how the city delegates authority. (Elena Neale-Sacks)

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3 things to know

• The Trump administration is moving ahead with plans to rescind a quarter-century-old rule that blocked logging and other development on national forest lands, including about 2 million acres in Oregon. (Susan Montoya Bryan, AP)
• The federal government wants to open up more public lands for livestock grazing across the West, including in Oregon and Washington. But conservation groups say that would benefit only a handful of livestock producers at the expense of the environment and wildlife. (Alejandro Figueroa)
• Merritt Paulson, owner of the Portland Timbers, weighed in publicly for the first time on renovations to the home arena for the Portland Trail Blazers, saying the Blazers “can’t” leave the city. (Kyra Buckley)

Northwest headlines

• OSU-Cascades to lease childcare building to Head Start program (Kathryn Styer Martínez)
• Ferguson, Baumgartner seek meeting with Trump on Washington wildfires (Jake Goldstein-Street, Washington State Standard)
• Curry County pursues more timber revenue and a larger role in federal forests (Theo Greenly, JPR)
• Boarded-up buildings prompt Grants Pass to consider new rules (Jane Vaughan, JPR)
• QB Dante Moore returns and No. 2 Oregon aiming high again in Big Ten, national title chases (Anne M. Peterson, AP)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• New dashboard explores impact of drought on Umatilla first foods
• Tribal native nursery in Eastern Oregon aids in salmon habitat restoration, recovery

One more look

‘Tattoo People’: The stories behind Oregon’s ink

The story of tattoos is far older than the story of Oregon. The art form is so ubiquitous and ancient that it holds deep significance and connection between a wide variety of people.

In Oregon, more and more tattoo artists are getting licensed each year. According to data from the Oregon Health Authority, the number of tattoo licenses issued by the state has steadily increased year after year since 1996.

What makes Oregon a tattoo hotspot? And why are people from Oregon tattoo people? (Francisca Benitez)

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/08/19/camas-government-change-first-look/