Portland police prevented 138,000 fentanyl pills from hitting the streets in a recent bust. (Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office)

By Stephen Sorace| Fox News

Deputies in Oregon made the largest fentanyl bust in their county history last week, seizing tens of thousands of pills and powder packed into gallon-sized plastic bags, authorities said.

The bust happened Tuesday as investigators were watching a wanted person in Portland’s Goose Hollow neighborhood, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said. Deputies took the person into custody “at the opportune time” after watching him walk to a vehicle.

Deputies with the sheriff’s Special Investigations Unit obtained a search warrant for the individual’s car and apartment, finding gallon-sized plastic bags stuffed with fentanyl pills and fentanyl powder, a manual-operated pill press, a commercial grade pill press, $5,000 in cash and a stolen handgun, the sheriff’s office said.

The bags held approximately 58,000 individual fentanyl pills and 16 pounds of fentanyl powder, according to authorities.

Deputies determined that 10 of the 16 pounds of powder was ready to be pressed into an estimated 50,000 pills using the machines. The remaining six pounds of powder, which would have yielded about 30,000 additional pills, was meant to be sold in powder form, officials said.

In total, deputies estimate that their effort prevented approximately 138,000 pills from hitting Portland-area streets. The combined street value of the seizure was estimated to be between $320,000 and $400,000.

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Invasive vine mealybugs have been found in Southern Oregon. Find out more here.

By Rolando Hernandez (OPB)

An invasive vine mealybug was found in Southern Oregon in 2021 and since then, vineyards have been fighting to eradicate the insect. The pest can cause significant damage to Oregon’s grape vines, affecting fruit quality and mold growth. State funding from SB 5506 will invest more than $400,000 to monitor, research and suppress the insect before it becomes widespread in the state.

Brian Gruber is the president of the Oregon Winegrowers Association. Greg Jones is the vice chair on the Oregon Wine Board’s board of directors. And Vaughn Walton is a professor at Oregon State University’s horticulture department . They join us now to share how this bug can potentially affect Oregon’s vineyards and the potential impact of the funding to address the threat it poses.

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