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Portal:Oregon

Coordinates: 44°00′N 120°30′W / 44°N 120.5°W / 44; -120.5
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Oregon
State of Oregon
Map of the United States with Oregon highlighted
Map of the United States with Oregon highlighted

Oregon (/ˈɒrɪɡən, -ɡɒn/ ORR-ih-ghən, -⁠gon) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. The 42° north parallel delineates the southern boundary with California and Nevada. The western boundary is formed by the Pacific Ocean.

Oregon has been home to many indigenous nations for thousands of years. The first European traders, explorers, and settlers began exploring what is now Oregon's Pacific coast in the early to mid-16th century. As early as 1564, the Spanish began sending vessels northeast from the Philippines, riding the Kuroshio Current in a sweeping circular route across the northern part of the Pacific. In 1592, Juan de Fuca undertook detailed mapping and studies of ocean currents in the Pacific Northwest, including the Oregon coast as well as the strait now bearing his name. The Lewis and Clark Expedition traversed Oregon in the early 1800s, and the first permanent European settlements in Oregon were established by fur trappers and traders. In 1843, an autonomous government was formed in the Oregon Country, and the Oregon Territory was created in 1848. Oregon became the 33rd state of the U.S. on February 14, 1859.

Today, with 4.2 million people over 98,000 square miles (250,000 km2), Oregon is the ninth largest and 27th most populous U.S. state. The capital, Salem, is the third-most populous city in Oregon, with 175,535 residents. Portland, with 652,503, ranks as the 26th among U.S. cities. The Portland metropolitan area, which includes neighboring counties in Washington, is the 25th largest metro area in the nation, with a population of 2,512,859. Oregon is also one of the most geographically diverse states in the U.S., marked by volcanoes, abundant bodies of water, dense evergreen and mixed forests, as well as high deserts and semi-arid shrublands. At 11,249 feet (3,429 m), Mount Hood is the state's highest point. Oregon's only national park, Crater Lake National Park, comprises the caldera surrounding Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the U.S. The state is also home to the single largest organism in the world, Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus that runs beneath 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of the Malheur National Forest. (Full article...)

Burnside Skatepark
Paranoid Park is a 2007 American drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Blake Nelson and takes place in Portland, Oregon. It stars Gabe Nevins as a teenage skateboarder who accidentally kills a security guard. Van Sant wrote the draft script in two days after reading and deciding to adapt Nelson's novel. To cast the film's youths, Van Sant posted an opening casting call on social networking website MySpace inviting teenagers to audition for speaking roles, as well as experienced skateboarders to act as extras. Filming began in October 2005 and took place at various locations in and around Portland. Scenes at the fictional Eastside Skatepark were filmed at Burnside Skatepark which was, like Eastside, built illegally by skateboarders. Paranoid Park premiered on May 21, at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was given a limited release on March 7, 2008. It grossed over US$4,481,000 from its $3 million budget. The film received mostly positive reviews; some praised the direction and cinematography in particular, though others believed the film to be overly stylized and slow paced. It won one Independent Spirit Award, two Boston Society of Film Critics awards and the Cannes Film Festival's special 60th anniversary prize.

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Kitzhaber in 2008
John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is a physician, member of the Democratic Party and a former Governor of Oregon, who resigned early in his fourth term. He graduated from South Eugene High School in 1965, Dartmouth College in 1969, and then Oregon Health & Science University with a medical degree in 1973. Kitzhaber practiced medicine from 1973 to 1986 in Roseburg, Oregon as an Emergency Room Physician. Kitzhaber began his political career serving in the Oregon House of Representatives from 1979 to 1981. In 1980, he was elected to the Oregon State Senate, where he served three terms from 1981 to 1993, and as President of the Senate from 1985 until 1993. Kitzhaber was elected governor in November 1994, defeating Denny Smith, and becoming the 35th Governor of Oregon, and was re-elected in 1998. Much of Kitzhaber's eight-year first tenure as governor was spent on the defensive with a Republican-controlled legislature. While Oregon's constitution prohibited Kitzhaber from seeking a third consecutive term in 2002, he was elected to a non-consecutive third term in 2010 and was reelected in 2014, becoming the first person in Oregon history to be elected to four terms as governor. Kitzhaber married Sharon LaCroix in 1995 and the couple had one son, Logan, born in October 1997. They divorced in 2003. From 2003 to 2010, Kitzhaber served as President of the Estes Park Institute, a Colorado-based education organization for community hospital and healthcare leaders. During the same period, he served as the Director for the Center for Evidence-Based Policy at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon. Cylvia Hayes, with whom Kitzhaber became romantically involved soon after his 2002 campaign, became his live-in girlfriend. In 2011, when he again became Governor, Hayes became Oregon's first lady, although they remain unmarried.

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North façade of the historic Sisters High School

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Oregon State Capitol
Oregon State Capitol
Credit: Aboutmovies

The Oregon State Capitol in Salem during early spring with cherry blossoms in the foreground. It is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem.

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La Fayette Grover
We are now entering upon an important period of our development as a State. Our infancy as a Territorial Government has passed into history. Our early struggle as a young State of the Union has already turned the point of successful trial,and we now stand in the threshold of coming strength and power. With a territory ranking among the largest of the sisterhood, with a soil equal to the best, and a climate of a salubrity and healthfulness enjoyed by none other,with resources for the employment of industry of great variety and extent, it would seem difficult to predict for Oregon anything short of a most successful career. In fact, with a creditable management of public affairs, nothing stands in the way of our prosperity.
La Fayette Grover, 1870, Inaugural Address

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Lighthouse of Cape Meares, Oregon

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This month's Collaboration of the Month projects: Women's History Month: Create or improve articles for women listed at Oregon Women of Achievement (modern) or Women of the West, Oregon chapter (historical)
Portland, Oregon, in 1898 (Featured picture candidate)

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44°00′N 120°30′W / 44°N 120.5°W / 44; -120.5