Author

Erika Bolstad

Erika Bolstad

Erika Bolstad is a Stateline correspondent based in Portland, Oregon, and the author of Windfall, published by Sourcebooks in 2023. Previously, she wrote for E&E News, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and the Miami Herald.

Oregon’s “Silicon Forest” is dominated by chipmaker Intel, the state’s largest private employer. Since Congress passed the CHIPS Act in 2022 to encourage domestic semiconductor manufacturing design and research, states have been competing for $52.7 billion in federal money to lure chipmakers. (Photo by Erika Bolstad/Stateline)

States sweeten their offers to chipmakers to outdo one other

By: - September 18, 2023

HILLSBORO, Ore. — “Oregon’s been at this for decades,” the governor’s office assures potential investors in its so-called Silicon Forest. The Lone Star State’s governor calls it a “race that Texas must win for our state, our workforce, our national security, and our future.” And New York’s governor boasts on the state’s YouTube channel that […]

Campers visit Steamboat Springs State Park in Colorado. Colorado is the first state to fold a “destination stewardship” department into its state-level tourism office. (Photo by Erika Bolstad/Stateline)

Don’t poo-poo these states’ pleas to keep the parks pristine

By: - August 15, 2023

DENVER — Earlier this summer, Adam Ducharme made an unpleasant discovery while helping volunteers install signs telling visitors where to camp, park or launch boats near Leadville, a mountain town surrounded by 14,000-foot peaks in central Colorado. “We were digging holes, putting in signs, and then backfilling the holes with rocks and sort of compounding […]

Signage directs voters in four languages. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Indigenous language interpreters unite to fill gaps

By: - July 31, 2023

Bethany Fisher was raised in the Marshall Islands, the daughter of American missionaries who spoke English at home but who insisted that she and her siblings speak the Indigenous language of the island republic everywhere else. The parental say-so proved smart when the family returned to the United States. With the fluency they gained as […]

Portland, Oregon, is seen at dusk in an undated photo. (Photo by David Papazian/Getty Images)

It’s time for buildings to stop using a third of US energy, some states say

By: - July 5, 2023

PORTLAND, Ore. — That building looming on the corner? With a few tweaks, it might help with climate change. States with big commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are beginning to require that the owners of large buildings track how much energy they use and improve their efficiency. It’s part of a state, local and […]