Beat Check with The Oregonian

On the morning of July 11, 1963, a fisherman made a horrifying discovery: He stumbled across the concealed remains of a 2-year-old boy. The tiny body was wrapped in blankets, tied with wire and held down by iron weights in the Keene Creek Reservoir along Oregon 66 east of Ashland, Oregon. Officials moved the body to a cemetery where his tombstone read, “Unknown Baby Boy 1961-1963.″ The investigati...

There are so many unidentified human remains in the United States that the ⁠National Missing and Unidentified Persons System⁠ calls it “the nation’s silent mass disaster.” Roughly 4,400 human remains are found every year, and nearly one-quarter of those remain unidentified after one year. Some people were never reported missing. Some went missing decades ago. Some remains are incomplete, parts of...

Any newspaper editor will tell you readers love animal stories. The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Samantha Swindler took that axiom to the next level this spring with a 12-part video series on the mysterious disappearance of Cosmo, the talking crow. She joins Editor Therese Bottomly on “Beat Check with The Oregonian” to discuss the narrative, which also was published on Instagram, Facebook and, of course...

Watchdog reporter Ted Sickinger published ⁠an in-depth article ⁠examining a loophole in the Oregon Lottery’s rules. In Oregon, it is perfectly legal to re-sell your winning lottery ticket at a discount, allowing the buyer to claim the prize. Why would anyone do this? Well, if they wanted to avoid having the state seize part of their winnings for taxes or back child support, for example. And why wo...

Environment reporter Gosia Wozniacka joined host Elliot Njus to discuss this dangerous effect of climate change and how the Portland region is preparing for more frequent, more severe heat events. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode was created by students from the University of Oregon’s Graduate School of Journalism and Communication. Listeners producer Kristen Mico speaks with Fiona Conneely  and Shelley Schuler about how food hubbing models offer solutions to small farms, markets and food assistance programs.  At a time when programs that support access to fresh food and livelihoods of small farmers have been...

This episode was created by students from the University of Oregon’s Graduate School of Journalism and Communication. For this episode, we invite listeners into the realities of rural Oregon, where questions of identity, belonging, and resilience are part of everyday life. In this episode, Kristina Path and Leif Olsen travel to Monmouth to meet Amanda Laister, a longtime high school Spanish teache...

This episode was created by students from the University of Oregon’s Graduate School of Journalism and Communication. Listeners producer Daniel Bloomfield speaks with the Executive Director of the Oregon Humanities, Adam Davis, about the Trump administration’s recent cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities and how they’ve impacted the work of the Oregon Humanities. At a time when having...

This episode was created by students from the University of Oregon’s Graduate School of Journalism and Communication. Producer Kaiya Laguardia-Yonamine speaks with Duncan Hwang about the importance of local organizing and turning inward to sustain our communities. Duncan reflects on his experience as the Community Development Director at APANO, as well as his role as an elected official for the Me...

Beat Check with The Oregonian is taking a short break for the summer while we work to bring you our next exciting project and reimagine the format of the show. In the meantime, you can look forward to several episodes of “Oregon Speaks: Voices from this moment,” a limited-series podcast from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication. We’ll also bring around some of our most...

Therese Bottomly, editor of The Oregonian/OregonLive and a frequent host of Beat Check with The Oregonian, is retiring next month after 42 years in the newsroom. On this episode of Beat Check, Bottomly reflects on the stories that shaped her career, and Oregon. She discusses how the newsroom rose to the challenge of covering some of the most significant news events of the era, her decision in 2022...

Features reporter Samantha Swindler talks about the hidden gem stories she finds in some of Oregon's smallest towns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Oregonian’s investigative reporter Yesenia Amaro talks on Beat Check about the recent immigration enforcement ramp-up, Trump’s approach to immigration and the impact on Oregon communities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawmakers in Salem recently enacted a series of substantive tweaks to the state’s beloved Bottle Bill, which allows residents to return cans and bottles for 10 cents apiece. Those changes have helped amplify a growing and complicated debate about Oregon’s first-in-the-nation program, now more than 50 years old. Does Portland and some other pockets of the state have a cash-for-cans crisis? What sho...

In the digital age, true crime content has exploded in popularity across podcasts, social media and streaming platforms. But with this growth comes a troubling trend: The blurring of verified facts and speculative theories.   On a recent episode of Beat Check with the Oregonian, guests Emily Reeder and Ashley Desanno from the Books with Your Besties podcast discussed this challenge while reflectin...

In 2010, digital tools for journalists were emerging, but the gritty, time-intensive methods of traditional reporting still dominated newsrooms. The disappearance of 7-year-old Kyron Horman from his Portland elementary school thrust The Oregonian’s journalists into a high-stakes investigation that demanded old-school techniques now increasingly rare in today’s fast-paced media environment. Learn m...

When a child goes missing, the first hours can be critical. In Kyron Horman’s case, investigators didn’t even know he was missing until about six hours had passed — a devastating delay that may have forever altered the trajectory of one of Oregon’s most haunting unsolved cases. In a recent discussion on the Beat Check with The Oregonian podcast, veteran crime reporter Maxine Bernstein highlighted...

Fifteen years after 7-year-old Kyron Horman vanished from Skyline Elementary School in Portland, his disappearance continues to haunt not just the Pacific Northwest, but parents everywhere. In this special episode of Beat Check, engagement editor Julie Evensen and social media producer Destiny Johnson talk to investigative reporter Noelle Crombie about recent news about the case. Learn more about...

A trio of journalists joined Editor Therese Bottomly on Monday’s episode of “Beat Check with The Oregonian” to talk about the 2020 street protests that started in Portland after the police killing of George Floyd. Multimedia journalist Beth Nakamura, social media producer Ryan Fernandez, and reporter Zane Sparling (who covered protests for the Portland Tribune) join the conversation. On this episo...

When Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen died in 2018 from complications related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, it was matter of when, not if, his beloved professional sports team would be sold. Seven years later, that time has finally arrived. Allen’s estate announced on May 13 that is has initiated a formal sales process for one of Oregon’s most cherished institutions. Even though the sale has b...

Watchdog reporter Ted Sickinger joined Editor Therese Bottomly on this episode of “Beat Check with The Oregonian” to talk about his extraordinary reporting into Skyline CDL School, which operated in Oregon and Washington. On this episode of Beat Check, we talk about: --How the alleged bribery scheme operated, according to regulators --How the newsroom got onto the story --How regulators in Washing...

For this week’s episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, education reporter Julia Silverman tackles a series of burning questions from readers and listeners who are weighing how to vote on the $1.83 billion bond. Have a listen, and don’t forget to turn in your ballot. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is a bleak time for mass transit all throughout the U.S. The challenges here in the Portland metro area are many and pronounced. TriMet is providing about 30 million fewer rides each year than it did in 2019 — and the recovery appears to be slowing way down. Rider safety has been a persistent concern since the pandemic. Fare evasion is rampant. Meanwhile, TriMet’s subsidy per ride has soared by...

In recent months, climate and environmental work have been under threat in the U.S., with the Trump administration dismantling climate legislation, freezing funds and intimidating universities, states and nonprofits. Despite the chaos, there’s still a place for hope, says award-winning environmental journalist Alan Weisman, author of the new book Hope Dies Last. The book profiles scientists, engin...

When President Trump raised tariffs against China and other countries earlier this month, stock markets plunged, chaos rippled through the global economy and anxiety hit business owners across the United States. The specifics of the tariffs — which soared as high as 145% on China and affected virtually every country on earth — have been changing weekly, if not daily. And the helter-skelter nature...