OPB Audio

Oregon white oak is one of just three oak species native to Oregon and the primary type of oak found in the Willamette Valley. Today, 90% of white oak habitat has been lost because of development and decades of fire suppression that altered the prairies where oaks once dominated. Most of the remaining white oak habitat is on private land, so private landowners can play a vital role in restoring wh...

The rapid development and spread of AI has affected so many areas of our lives, from how we work to how we learn to the products we’re advertised and content we’re fed on social media. But as AI grows more powerful and pervasive, questions remain about how much trust we can or should place in this technology. Kate Kaye is a Portland-based independent journalist who spent nearly a year researching...

Economists also say the state may be in for more revenue as lawmakers craft a budget next year.

When the parent advocacy group Schools Beyond Screens sent out a survey to local parents regarding their thoughts on the ways PPS utilizes educational technology and screens in classrooms, parents issued remarks that too many videos were used in classrooms, and video games and screens were being used as rewards. There were also concerns about the use of “learning apps,” and many parents called for...

Earlier this month, the Spokane Complex Fires ripped through neighborhoods in the city, damaging more than 800 structures and forcing evacuations of more than 65,000 residents. One person died from medical complications she suffered while evacuating from a nursing home. Despite the loss of homes and other structures, the injury impacts of the fires were less severe, thanks in part to the city’s se...

Residents in the Washington County city of North Plains have been sharply divided for years over whether and how much to expand its urban growth boundary. City leaders passed a plan in 2024 which was overturned in a popular vote and ushered in a new anti-growth majority on the council. In less than 2 years, the majority of those councilors have resigned, along with the mayor and two subsequent rep...

The behind-the-scenes players at Portland City Hall adjust to new normal

Investigators said that the suspect, Benjamin Parker, confessed his crime to his mother before he killed himself.

In 1964, Oregon author Ken Kesey and a group of friends, known as the Merry Pranksters, embarked on a cross-country road trip from California to New York aboard a 1939 customized school bus. They painted the bus in psychedelic colors, added a rooftop platform and made other modifications. The bus known as Furthur became a symbol of the countercultural ethos of the ‘60s, from protesting the Vietnam...

Oregon has given developers $1.4 billion to fund affordable housing as the cost of developing each subsidized apartment has nearly doubled. But thanks to a carve-out in its public records law, the state doesn’t have to provide the details of that spending. Rob Davis, an investigative reporter at ProPublica, joins us with the story.

When a climber was trapped under a boulder on Mount Hood over Memorial Day weekend, the field surgical team at Oregon Health & Science University responded. The team is trained to operate on patients outside of the hospital to free them from collapsed buildings, crashed cars and other emergency situations. Justin Regner is the trauma medical director and division head of trauma, critical care and...

Yesterday, in an emergency opinion, the Supreme Court decided that the Trump Administration can go forward with an executive order that would fundamentally change the way elections are conducted in the U.S. Under the order, the Department of Homeland Security would create lists of U.S. citizens eligible to vote that it would send to states, and the U.S. Postal Service would decide who can get mail...

Portland has more than 10k fruit trees, many unkempt and dropping ripe fruit across sidewalks and parking strips. The Portland Fruit Tree Project has spent the last two decades bringing together volunteers to harvest it and distribute it to folks in need.

In 2015, Shantae Johnson and Arthur Shavers decided to embark on a major life shift and begin a career as farmers. In the past decade, their work has expanded immensely to include a nonprofit, two farms, a commercial kitchen, a food pantry in the Portland-metro area and a soon-to-be Black Community Food Hub opening in Gresham. It’s all dedicated to their mission of empowering, educating and creati...

Last spring, the city of Gresham changed its primary water source from the Bull Run Watershed to groundwater by expanding its current groundwater system. Before the switch, groundwater was primarily used as a backup resource during summer months. The choice to separate from Portland’s water systems stems from Portland’s 2017 decision to build a new water filtration plant after the Oregon Health Au...

Last winter, Multnomah County and four cities in the area created the East Multnomah County Transportation Safety Action Plan. It was created based on survey data the county gathered from East Multnomah County residents to identify problem hotspots for transportation safety Gresham, Troutdale, Fairview and Wood Village. Vince Jones-Dixon is the chair of the East Multnomah County Transportation Com...

The East County Library is the newest library in the Multnomah County system. It officially opened in May, and it’s the most recent renovation in a list of library building or retrofitting projects that the county has taken on since a major library bond project was passed in 2020. It’s the second largest library in the system — around 95,000 square feet. Annie Lewis, the Director of Libraries for...

In Umatilla County, 39% of residents are on Medicaid. In Malheur County, that number jumps to almost 52%. Both of these counties and more in Eastern Oregon have higher than average rates of Medicaid enrollment compared to the rest of the state. Changes to Medicaid made by the Trump administration will mean major cuts to the program that provides healthcare for many in Oregon. Ann Ford is the CEO o...

In the Hermiston and Boardman area, there are more than seven active data centers owned and operated by Amazon Web Services. Last year, the city of Hermiston annexed 800 acres of land to AWS, paving the way for more in the future. And while some have shared concerns about the environmental impact these data centers have, they have brought their communities millions of dollars. For the city of Herm...

Last week, a $6.2 million settlement was made between Madison Ranches and residents living in Morrow and Umatilla Counties whose wells were polluted with nitrates. The Lower Umatilla Basin has been grappling with high levels of nitrates for decades, affecting drinking water in wells in various communities. Food processors and farms using fertilizers are regarded as the source of the problem. J.R....

The Blue Mountains — nearly 5 million acres that span the Malheur, Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman national forests — is long overdue for a new management plan. The current plan was developed in 1990, but efforts to revise it have proved so contentious that they have failed twice. The management plan was supposed to be revised every 15 years to respond to changes in forest conditions. The latest prop...

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have seen lower fish returns this year. According to Jerimiah Bonifer, the program manager for the tribe’s fisheries program, there are a number of factors that could be influencing this, including ocean conditions and drought. At the same time, the tribe has recently completed the Coonskin Creek Fish Passage Project, making it easier for...

Earlier this year, Amazon recently purchased more than 1,000 acres near Boardman, OR. As reported in the Oregonian/OregonLive.com, it could be the site for the state’s first “exscale” data center. Kaleb Lay, director of policy and research at Oregon Rural Action, says that an uptick in data centers brings a number of concerns to the group, including water contamination, water use and growing deman...

Navigating Oregon's navigable waterways laws

The nonprofit Stepping Stones Alliance formed in 2020 to provide a year-round shelter for people experiencing homelessness in and around Umatilla County. The organization partnered with several cities and the county to build a temporary housing project, which opened in 2023. The facility includes an overnight shelter, as well as individual shelter units where “members” can receive wraparound servi...