Oregon Senate Session Canceled After Militia Threat

Senate floor sessions were planned for this weekend, but Saturday’s session was canceled after militia groups threatened to show up at the Capitol in Salem, state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hayward tweeted Friday evening.

Oregon State Police confirmed to KATU that Saturday’s session was called off. The Associated Press reported a spokeswoman for Senate President Peter Courtney said state police recommended the Capitol be closed Saturday.

For the last two days, Senate Republicans have staged a walkout in protest over a controversial cap and trade bill Democrats say is needed to curb human-caused climate change. The walkout has denied the Senate a quorum.

In her tweet, Steiner Hayward, a Democrat, attached a text message informing members to stay clear of the Capitol.

After media began reporting on her tweet, Steiner Hayward deleted it. But before she did, KATU News had grabbed a screen capture of it.

Before this week’s walkout, rhetoric became heated and Republican state Sen. Brian Boquist made threatening remarks toward other lawmakers and OSP troopers as Gov. Kate Brown and Senate Democrats considered calling in state police to bring missing senators back into the Senate chamber.

Attorney for lone holdout juror in Lindsay Clancy mistrial pushes back on claims of refusing the law

Police hunt sexually violent predator who vanished after GPS ‘tamper mode’ alert

Susie Wiles reveals brutal toll of fighting cancer while running Trump’s White House

Woman found dead with unexplained trauma in Central Park as NYPD searches for answers

John Fetterman accidentally calls himself a ‘lifelong Republican’ at Texas Tribune Festival

University Scrubbed Pentagon-Funded Professor’s Ties to CCP: Report

SCOTUS Climate Suit Could Devastate Family Farms, Give China and Russia an Edge: Expert

Ozempic Maker Teams Up with Big AI for New Drug Development

Breaking: ‘They Were Looking to Do Big Damage’ – Trump Speaks Out on Terror Plot as Photo of Suspects Goes Viral

Texas voters have plenty to say about whether Lone Star State could turn blue

‘Palestinian Rachel Dolezal’: Woke Activist Exposed for Faking Black-Arab Racial Identity – She’s White

Texas clinic owner convicted in $26M military health fraud tied to gold-plated Cybertruck

Trump DOJ Sues California City for Jacking Up Gun Permits, Pricing Citizens Out of Their 2A Rights

Watch: El-Sayed Refuses to Condemn IRGC Even After They Brutally Murdered Tens of Thousands

AI Leader: These Videos Your Kids Probably Watch Are Dangerous – I Won’t Let My Children Near Them

Courtney and House Speaker Tina Kotek, both Democrats, issued a joint statement Friday afternoon condemning Boquist’s remarks.

“We strongly condemn the comments made this week in the Oregon State Capitol by Senator Brian Boquist threatening lawmakers and Oregon State Police troopers. Law enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day in the name of protecting Oregonians and should never be subject to these kinds of threats, let alone from a public official. His comments have created fear among employees in our workplace. We will always defend free speech and welcome frank policy discussions, but threats like these are unacceptable.”

When Republicans began their walk out Thursday, Brown called in state troopers to find the senators and bring them back to the Senate, but most have reportedly left the state.

Shortly after it was announced the Senate had canceled its Saturday session, the Oregon Republican Party tweeted the Democrats had canceled the session because of a “fear that Republican voters may show up.”