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Oregon Supreme Court undergoes more changes, Local News, Portland local News, Breaking News alerts for Portland city.

Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice Martha Walters announced Tuesday she is stepping down at the end of the year. That gives Gov. Kate Brown a second seat to on the state's high court to fill before she, too, leaves office.

The commission that oversees the state’s beleaguered public defense system voted Thursday to offer the executive director job to Portland lawyer Jessica Kampfe.

Oregon's Public Defense Services Commission decided Thursday to select Jessica Kampfe as the new executive director of the Office of Public Defense Services. Kampfe currently runs Multnomah Defenders Inc., a public defense nonprofit in Portland. Kampfe will inherit a state agency that's currently left hundreds of people without constitutionally-required legal support.

Stephen Singer, who until August was the executive director of the Office of Public Defense Services, says his firing violated state laws designed to protect whistleblowers and charged the head of the Oregon Supreme Court with violating her authority under state law.