Podcasts about opb

Happy Pride from The Evergreen! June is officially Pride month, and of course, queer visibility isn’t limited to one month of the year; it’s important all the time.    Pride is about celebrating queer communities and it’s also a chance to learn about queer history. This week, we’re revisiting two intergenerational conversations about the importance of history, and combating queer erasure with friendship and resilience.     For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:HushTimber Wars Season 2: Salmon WarsPolitics NowThink Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In Eastern Oregon’s John Day, a 160-year-old building holds one of the biggest collections of traditional Chinese medicine in the world. Kam Wah Chung and Company, once part of a thriving Chinatown, was owned and operated by Lung On and Ing Hay for over half a century. It was a home, a general store, a community center and a medical clinic where Ing Hay served as a beloved doctor to residents across the region. His practice included herbal remedies, non-invasive treatments, essential women’s healthcare and more.   Archaeologists and historians are continuing to deepen our understanding of the legacy of Kam Wah Chung and traditional Chinese medicine in Eastern Oregon. We join them to learn more about Ing Hay’s important contributions to rural communities in John Day and beyond, as part of our special series in collaboration with OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology, and Jefferson Public Radio about unearthing Oregon history.

OPB reporters recently spent months looking into Lakeview, a tiny southern Oregon town with huge financial problems. They were interested in what went wrong in Lakeview, and what lessons the town could offer other places facing similar dynamics. OPB’s podcast The Evergreen just dropped an entire episode looking at this, and it’s so good, we’re putting it in your Politics Now feed this week.

OPB's Jenn Chavez joins with Chelsea Rose, host of JPR's Underground History and director of the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology, to dig into the little-known stories of eastern Oregon's Chinese cowboys.

Lakeview is a small town nicknamed the “Tallest Town in Oregon.” It’s home to hot springs, a round up and about 2,400 people.    But this former timber town is currently millions of dollars in debt it can't pay off, and brown drinking water has become the norm for residents.    OPB reporters Bryce Dole and Joni Auden Land take us inside Lakeview — how it got into such a dire state –  and how residents are trying to save it.    Read Bryce and Joni’s full story here.    For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

 Oregon voters resoundingly rejected a statewide ballot measure that would have raised the state gas tax from 40 to 46 cents and  doubled car title and registration fees to help fund road maintenance and other transportation projects. Measure 120 was widely expected to fail, especially as gas prices continue to soar in Oregon and across the nation.   Last year, Gov. Tina Kotek and Democrats in the Legislature approved a bill that included the gas tax and fee hikes, but Republican lawmakers succeeded in raising enough signatures to put the issue before voters. Democrats, however, countered by ensuring the measure appeared on the May ballot instead of in November, when Gov. Kotek is up for reelection.    Gov. Kotek will now face Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan in a rematch of the 2022 gubernatorial race. On Tuesday, Republican voters selected Drazan to be their gubernatorial nominee over former Portland Trail Blazer Chris Dudley, state Rep. Ed Diehl and other candidates.    OPB political reporter Lauren Dake joins us for more details about Drazan’s victory and the failed gas tax measure.

Children in the foster care system are among the most vulnerable in Oregon. Their mistreatment was one of the key reasons a class action lawsuit was brought against the state. The 2024 settlement included a number of required actions to decrease the rate of abuse and improve the lives of children in the state’s custody. The state recently submitted its first settlement-mandated report of its progress, including increasing the number of kids placed with a member of their family. But the increase in abuse cases is noteworthy, says OPB reporter Lauren Dake, given the policy priorities of the child welfare system after the class action settlement. Dake joins us to share more about the latest numbers and what state officials say they’re going to do about it.  

Everyone who was in the Pacific Northwest on May 18, 1980 has some kind of story about the Mount St. Helens eruption. OPB producer Ian McCluskey revisited that fateful day with some people who remember it very well for both personal and professional reasons. For this week’s episode, we’re revisiting a conversation with Ian about unearthing lost stories from Mount St. Helens.   For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

A series of cascading problems, including financial mismanagement, industry failures and questionable city contracts have pushed Lakeview, Oregon into millions of dollars of debt it can’t pay off. Like many former timber towns, Lakeview has struggled to rebound from the collapse of the logging mills that once powered its economy and helped the community survive in an isolated corner of Southern Oregon. OPB reporter Bryce Dole joins us to explain how Lakeview got into this predicament, and what residents are trying to do to get out of it.

In 1961, JFK set a goal for the United States: send astronauts to the moon and back before the decade was through. But the moon was much more mysterious then, and no one knew for sure what they’d find when they got there.    Scientists debated the possibilities, and speculated that they’d encounter volcanic rock. To prepare its astronauts, NASA turned to a place here on Earth with plenty of that: Central Oregon. From 1964 to 1971, dozens of Apollo astronauts trained on Oregon lava fields, which scientists thought might be similar to the surface of the moon. The region became known as “Moon Country.”Now that Artemis II has sent humans back to the moon for the first time in over half a century, we’re reflecting on the role Oregon has played in lunar exploration.To learn more, watch OPB’s “Oregon Experience” documentary, “Oregon’s Moon Country,”   —   For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:HushTimber Wars Season 2: Salmon WarsPolitics NowThink Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

At the peak of his popularity in the 1950s, no one was bigger than Oregon musician Johnnie Ray. A decade later, Portland’s The Kingsmen recorded one of the greatest rock songs of all time. Both groups helped make rock-and-roll what it is today. What was it about Oregon in the middle of the century that made it so musically innovative? And why don’t we get any credit? You can read more and see the Oregon Experience Documentary about Johnnie Ray produced by Kami Horton here. -For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:HushTimber Wars Season 2: Salmon WarsPolitics NowThink Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.  

What does it mean for community members to have access to foods from their culture? What is it like to take care of an urban forest and hit the trail for your day at the office? How can fitness prioritize strength and community building over weight loss?   Once again, we’ve got questions about all the interesting jobs Pacific Northwesterners have, and so do you. So we’re back with the latest installments of our ‘At Work With’ series, where interview people from different lines of work about what it’s like to do what they do. This time, we meet a worker at a market-style food pantry specializing in Latino cultural foods, a park ranger at Oregon’s Tryon Creek State Natural Area, and a coach focused on making fitness more welcoming and inclusive for everyone.   We’re always open to new ideas for jobs — or volunteer positions — that we can learn about next! If you’ve got a suggestion, email us at theevergreen@opb.org.For more audio postcards about what makes us feel at home in the Pacific Northwest like the one included in this week’s show, check out our very first episode.-For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:HushTimber Wars Season 2: Salmon WarsPolitics NowThink Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.  

Jill Lepore is a Harvard professor and contributing writer to the New Yorker. Her books include The Secret History of Wonder Woman, New York Burning, These Truths: A History of the United States, and her latest, We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution – and instant New York Times bestseller.   This year is the semi-quincentennial of the United States of America and, as Lepore points out, also the anniversary of constitutionalism.  There's no better guide through American history than Jill Lepore, and it is a delight to spend an hour in civics class led by someone who readily references Mel Brooks and AI in a discussion about the Constitution. Lepore is interviewed by OPB's Geoff Norcross, host of All Things Considered. They discuss Lepore's Amendments Project, which catalogues all the amendments that have been proposed throughout history, and explore why it is so difficult to amend the Constitution and the story of how some of the amendments we do have (there are 27, including the 10 in the Bill of Rights) came to be. They talk about originalism and the pessimism of the framers, who believed that any man would be a tyrant if given power, and set up the checks and balances in our Constitution to give the legislature, the court, and the people – with the vote – the power to oust a tyrant.    A few notes to listeners just for clarity:   It's mentioned “what is Congress doing right now,” this was during the November 2025 government shut down.  Jill is not in the room with the audience; Jill was unable to join us in Portland due to a last-minute travel issue (related to the shut down, frankly), but very gamely came in on video while Geoff Norcross and the audience were in the theater.   Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. As a wide-ranging and prolific essayist, and winner of the PEN prize for the Art of the Essay, Lepore writes about American history, law, literature, and politics. She is the author of many award-winning books, including the international bestseller, These Truths: A History of the United States (2018). Her newest book is We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, which was published this September.  As one of the local hosts of OPB's “All Things Considered,” Geoff Norcross shares local and regional stories to audiences of NPR's flagship newsmagazine. Previously, Geoff was the host of OPB's “Morning Edition” for 15 years. He was part of the team that built the program into one of the most listened-to presentations of “Morning Edition” in the country. 

 Over the last year, prediction markets have grown into a multibillion-dollar industry. Prediction markets, such as sites like Polymarket, Kalshi and Robinhood, allow bettors to put down money on the likelihood of an event happening — including for political races in Oregon. Market sites show users are placing their bets on who the Republican candidate will be for Oregon’s governor. OPB politics reporter Dirk Vanderhart covered this story. He joins us to share more.

Renée Watson grew up in Northeast Portland and attended Vernon Elementary. When she was in the second grade, in Ms. Tupper’s class, she wrote a 21-page story.    “I brought it to school, and Ms. Tupper was like, ‘wow, I think you're gonna be a writer one day’.” she said.    Watson is now a New York Times bestselling author and winner of the prestigious 2026 Newbery Medal for her children’s book, “All the Blues in the Sky.” That medal is the nation’s top prize for children’s literature.   She mostly writes for young readers, but she doesn’t hold back for her audience. She’s written books that range from themes of grief, identity, race, to friendship, art and hope.  Watson says sometimes the world we live in is not the world we want, but she can right those wrongs when she’s writing.    “I can change the ending, and ask us to be better,” she said. “I feel very powerful as a writer, to push us to dream and to be better.” In this week’s episode of The Evergreen: how the remarkable writer Renee Watson inspires young Black readers to step into their power.    Watch OPB’s Oregon Art Beat documentary on Renée Watson here.   For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.  

 By 2045, Vancouver’s population is expected to grow by more than 80,000 new residents – a roughly 40% increase. According to Vancouver’s 2025 Housing Report, the city will need to develop 2,500 new units a year to meet housing demand. But the city is falling well short of that goal for both market-rate and affordable housing projects, as OPB recently reported.     City officials point to a range of factors for the slowdown. That includes rising construction costs, high interest rates, the ongoing effects of tariffs and the difficulty of accessing state funds to develop multifamily, affordable housing units.    Meanwhile, Vancouver is close to finalizing a new comprehensive plan to guide the city’s growth over the next 20 years. The draft calls for updating zoning codes to ease higher-density housing development in neighborhoods, for example, which would align with new state requirements to boost housing development.    OPB’s Southwest Washington Bureau Chief Erik Neumann joins us for more details.   

The history of logging is full of tales of lumber barons and lumberjacks. Think flannel-clad men with double-bit axes doing manly things in the woods. But in the forests of Eastern Oregon, new research into daily life in a once-bustling mill town tells a more nuanced story about the extractive timber industry that once dominated the Northwest: one that elevates women and families.   Archaeologists and citizen scientists unearthed thousands of artifacts at the site of the former Baker White Pine Mill, which operated from 1910 to 1918 in the Blue Mountains. What they found provided clues about the role of women in the mill community, and an opportunity to recognize their important contributions to the lumber industry, long absent from the documentary record.   Historical archaeologist Chelsea Rose joins us for the next installment in our special series in collaboration with OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology, and Jefferson Public Radio about unearthing Oregon history — the real stuff. Listen to the first installment of our series, about efforts to reclaim the histories of Chinese cowboys at the historic ranches of Eastern Oregon.And learn more about Oregon’s early logging industry from our episode about the multi-racial community of Maxville   -    For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:HushTimber Wars Season 2: Salmon WarsPolitics NowThink Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Portland Mayor Keith Wilson entered office last year, promising to end unsheltered homelessness in the city. He opened several overnight shelters. And on most nights, the shelters are full. Wilson sees this as evidence that homelessness is decreasing.    But the actual evidence -- the numbers we have -- say there are thousands more people sleeping on the streets each night compared to when Wilson entered the scene   We are going to explain why once again officials from city of Portland and Multnomah County disagree and why the effort to quantify who is without housing is so fraught. Plus we’ll discuss the Portland arts tax and some recent OPB reporting as well. Find the show anywhere you get your podcasts.   

According to Multnomah County, nearly 3,000 more people are living unsheltered in the county than there were when Wilson took office. The Mayor says that data doesn’t match what he’s seeing, and that disconnect doesn’t help when the city and the county share responsibility for the region’s homeless response. OPB’s Alex Zielinski joins us to talk about her latest story.  

In the early hours of November 13, 1988, Mulugeta Seraw was coming home from a going-away party. He had work early the next morning.    Two of his friends, who were also Ethiopian, drove him home. When they arrived at Mulugeta’s apartment complex, they stayed in the car, talking for a bit.    But then a group of racist skinheads pulled up, reportedly chanting racial slurs. It quickly got physical.    One of the skinheads, Ken Mieske, hit Seraw in the head from behind with a bat at least twice. Mulugeta Seraw was pronounced dead at the hospital a few hours later. He was 28 years old.    OPB producers Nora Colie and Dan Evans join us to tell the story of Mulugeta Seraw: a young Ethiopian immigrant who changed Portland. His murder inspired a wave of anti-racist activism and led to a requirement for police to report hate crimes. In the first episode of a two-part series, we learn more about Mulugeta's life from the person who knew him best: his uncle, Engedaw Berhanu.   Watch Nora and Dan’s documentary for OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” “Remembering Mulugeta: Confronting Hate in Portland,” here.   For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now  Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In the early hours of November 13, 1988, Mulugeta Seraw was coming home from a going-away party. He had work early the next morning.    Two of his friends, who were also Ethiopian, drove him home. When they arrived at Mulugeta’s apartment complex, they stayed in the car, talking for a bit.    But then a group of racist skinheads pulled up, reportedly chanting racial slurs. It quickly got physical.    One of the skinheads, Ken Mieske, hit Seraw in the head from behind with a bat at least twice. Mulugeta Seraw was pronounced dead at the hospital a few hours later. He was 28 years old.    OPB producers Nora Colie and Dan Evans join us to tell the story of Mulugeta Seraw: a young Ethiopian immigrant who changed Portland. His murder inspired a wave of anti-racist activism and led to a requirement for police to report hate crimes. In the first episode of a two-part series, we learn more about Mulugeta's life from the person who knew him best: his uncle, Engedaw Berhanu.   Watch Nora and Dan’s documentary for OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” "Remember Mulugeta: Confronting Hate in Portland," here.   For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud  And many more! Check out our full show list here.

On this week's episode of OPB Politics Now, we hand the mic to our friends at The Evergreen.  Producer Julie Sabatier went to Salem with OPB politics reporter Lauren Dake to see what session was like. Take a listen. We'll be back next week with a new episode.

Nestled among the old growth trees in Oregon’s Mt. Hood National Forest, a winding trail leads to the historic bathhouses and hand-carved tubs of Bagby Hot Springs. People have been visiting the springs to soak and commune with nature since time immemorial.   But this beloved place also has a complicated history. Over the years, crowds, misuse, vandalism and other problems have caused it to repeatedly fall into disrepair. And teams of volunteers have repeatedly banded together to restore Bagby to its former glory.   This week on the show: how do we love a place without loving it to death? How do we reckon with the impact our presence has on the natural spaces we feel connected to? And can a place like Bagby Hot Springs be saved for good?   We consider these big questions with OPB “Oregon Field Guide” producer Ian McCluskey, who first visited and fell in love with the springs as a small child.   Watch Ian’s documentary for Oregon Field Guide, “Bagby Hot Springs: Ruin and Redemption” on March 19th on OPB’s YouTube channel and at opb.org.   -   For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:HushTimber Wars Season 2: Salmon WarsPolitics NowThink Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.  

This week features a conversation on humor in fiction featuring two masters of the genre: Kristen Arnett, author of Mostly Dead Thingas and, most recently, Stop Me If You've Heard This One, the story of a lesbian clown navigating life, love, and art in Florida; and Jess Walter, author of Beautiful Ruins and, most recently, So Far Gone, about a journalist living off the grid who is forced back into society to help his grandchildren. The conversation is moderated by OPB's Jess Hazel, host of Morning Edition. As they discuss, Jess and Krisetn are both writers of place, and are often writing about people who might be thought of as outsiders or marginal. Kristen is a Florida writer, by her own description everything she writes is about Florida, specifically Orlando and Central Florida. And Jess ranges in his work but often, including in So Far Gone, returns to the American Northwest, here to the Eastern Northwest; he also delivers a defense of Spokane, his birthplace and long-time hometown. The episode starts with the author's favorite knock-knock jokes, both of which are very personal choices and give some insight into what these funny writers find funny. What comes through as a primary connection between Jess and Kristen's work is their fascination with people. Writing is a way to try to better understand people, including people drastically different from the writer, which is a deeply empathetic project. Humor is a way to understanding other people and to connecting with people across some of the things that might seem to divide us. Kristen Arnett is the author of the novel With Teeth, which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction, and the New York Times bestselling novel Mostly Dead Things, which was shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, TIME, The Cut, Oprah Magazine, and elsewhere. She lives in Orlando, Florida. Jess Walter is the author of eleven books, most recently the novels So Far Gone, The Cold Millions and Beautiful Ruins; The Zero, a finalist for the National Book Award and Citizen Vince, winner of the Edgar Award for best novel. His work has been published in 34 languages and his short fiction has won O. Henry and Pushcart prizes, appeared three times in Best American Short Stories, and is collected in the books The Angel of Rome and We Live in Water. Walter lives in Spokane, Washington. Jess Hazel has hosted Morning Edition for OPB since 2024. They graduated with a BA in Journalism at the University of Montana and have previously hosted Morning Edition in Montana and Southern Colorado. Hazel has a voracious appetite for stories and treasures books that make them laugh, cry or cringe.

OPB's Bryce Dole breaks down Oregon's short legislative session, including budget fixes, immigration policy and transportation debates.

Oregon state lawmakers packed a lot into the 2026 short session before it adjourned last week. It's also been years since lawmakers, lobbyists, the public and the press have worked together in the State Capitol building. The building has been under construction for the past three years and it has only been partially open during that time. Before the construction project, the COVID-19 pandemic made pretty much everything virtual. The short session that just wrapped up brought everyone back together under one roof to work on a range of policies — from transportation funding to foster care — in just 35 days.    Evergreen producer Julie Sabatier tagged along with OPB politics reporter Lauren Dake just before the session adjourned to hear what it was like in the Capitol building.    To keep up with everything our politics team is doing, be sure to subscribe to the OPB Politics Now podcast.    Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

An unassuming house in Southeast Portland’s Buckman neighborhood was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. Once known as “Juniper House,” the building served as one of the first end-of-life care homes for AIDS patients in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s. An OPB documentary at the time explored the lives of some of the patients in Juniper House and the neighboring Assisi House, which provided a range of care for patients with HIV/AIDS. Jan Weyeneth is one of the co-founders of Juniper House. Cayla McGrail is a former associate project manager for Portland’s LGBTQ+ Historic Sites Project, which sponsored the house’s listing. We first spoke with Weyeneth and McGrail in April 2025 about Juniper House and the importance of documenting queer history in Portland.

Oregon lawmakers must end the legislative session by March 8th. Bills are still moving through chambers, but several major issues remain unsettled, among them balancing the state’s general fund budget and solving transportation funding. OPB political reporter Dirk VanderHart joins us to talk about the key bills and developments in Salem as the session nears its end.

A defining feature of the second Trump administration has been its treatment of immigrants. President Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations has been a top priority since his inauguration, and in the year since, it’s been hard to keep up with all the escalating news stories related to the targeting of immigrants: arrests, detentions, surveillance, even shootings. At the same time, mutual aid and community defense efforts have been growing. And like elsewhere in the country, it’s all been happening here in the Pacific Northwest.   So this week, we’re collaborating with the Northwest News Network to bring together three reporters who cover immigration in Oregon and Washington to help us get a sense of how immigrants are being affected across our region. Joining us to share their reporting are Holly Bartholomew, OPB’s suburban communities reporter and a Report for America corps member, Gustavo Sagrero, KUOW’s race, identity and immigration reporter, and Johanna Bejarano, a freelance reporter for the Northwest News Network and former Northwest Public Broadcasting reporter.   For links to stories discussed in this episode, and an extended video version of this conversation, visit our show page. This episode was produced in partnership with the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.   It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.   -For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:HushTimber Wars Season 2: Salmon WarsPolitics NowThink Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Last August, a van carrying seven farmworkers in rural Marion County was stopped by immigration agents. OPB reported on the arrest of the farmworkers, including a man identified as LJPL in court documents. He was arrested even though he had no criminal record and had a pending asylum application. That case and others involving the arrests of workers at dairy farms in Wisconsin and Vermont and a beef processing facility in Nebraska are described in a recent article by Investigate Midwest. The investigation offers a rare glimpse into how the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics are playing out in rural farming communities in different states.    It found, for example, that these arrests happen even when immigration agents know that the individual has no criminal record. Attorneys also face obstacles getting access to their clients to challenge their detentions before they’re moved across state lines or deported. Meanwhile, the immigration raids are leaving employers such as family-owned farms and meatpacking plants scrambling to fill shifts or find reliable, non-immigrant labor for these jobs.   Sky Chadde, senior reporter at Investigate Midwest, joins us to share more details.

National news was focused on Oregon in 2025 as President Donald Trump tried to send National Guard troops to Portland to quell protests at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on the city’s South Waterfront. (Those protests were largely peaceful, despite the president’s statements to the contrary.) After a lot of legal back-and-forth, the Supreme Court weighed in and the president quietly recalled troops from Portland, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Trump Administration recently dropped its appeal of a decision made by a federal judge in Oregon that blocked the president from deploying National Guard Troops to Portland. But the president has made statements implying that he intends to send troops back to Portland and other cities at some point, saying he could still use the Insurrection Act to do so.    Throughout this whole saga, OPB has been reporting and adding context to a story that is both local and national. We learned a lot in the process — about the role of the courts in relation to the executive branch, about the difference between what’s actually happening on the ground, government narratives and public perception, and about the different kinds of protesters and the motivations for dissent. On this episode of “The Evergreen,” we break down some of that work with three smart journalists who’ve been in the thick of it: OPB criminal justice and legal affairs reporter Conrad Wilson, OPB public safety reporter Troy Brynelson and the editor for OPB’s public safety and health team, Michelle Wiley.  Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.  

Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Portland) escorted a family — including a 7-year-old girl — from an ICE detention facility in Texas back to Oregon on Saturday. The Crespo-Gonzalez family was detained last month while bringing their sick child to urgent care. We sit down with Dexter to hear about that experience and her work in Congress focused on ICE funding and policy. OPB reporter Holly Bartholomew covers Portland’s suburban communities as a Report for America Corps Member. We also talk with her about how the family is doing now and the latest developments around federal immigration actions in Oregon.  

This is the English version of this podcast episode. Haga clic aquí para escuchar en español. The 1960s was the start of the Chicano movement: El Movimiento. Activists like César Chávez and Dolores Huerta were on the front lines calling for civil rights and social justice for Mexican Americans after facing decades of discrimination. And right here in Oregon, Chicanos founded an institution that would change education for Latinos across the Pacific Northwest for generations. For this week’s episode, we’re revisiting a story from producer Alicia Avila. She shares the story of Colegio César Chávez – the first accredited, independent Chicano university in U.S. history, and how it continues to inspire as the Latino community in Oregon fights against its erasure. Avila also produced a documentary about Colegio César Chávez for OPB’s “Oregon Experience.” Check it out. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.  

Esta es la versión en español de este episodio del podcast. Click here to listen in English. Los años 60s marcaron el comienzo del Movimiento Chicano denominado: El Movimiento. Activistas como César Chávez y Dolores Huerta lideraban demostraciones, demandando derechos civiles y justicia social para la comunidad Mexicana Americana después de haber enfrentado décadas de discriminacion. Y aquí mismo en Oregon, un grupo de Chicanos fundó una institución que cambiaría por genraciones el acceso a la educación para los latinos en la región del Noroeste Pacifico. En el episodio de esta semana, la productora Alicia Avila comparte la história del Colegio César Chávez – la primera universidad Chicana acreditada e independiente de los Estados Unidos. Y como hasta el día de hoy continúa inspirando a la comunidad Latina en Oregon en su lucha contra la posibilidad de ser borrados. Avila también produjo el documental sobre la historia del Colegio César Chávez para nuestro programa de OPB “Oregon Experience.” Para escuchar más episodios de The Evergreen y compartir tu opinión con nosotros visita nuestra pagina.    Siguenos en nuestra página de Instagram y también sigue a nuestra anfitriona Jenn Chavez. Suscribete a nuestro correo informativo para recibir todas las noticias que necesites directamente en tu buzón de correo electrónico.    No olvides explorar nuestros otros programas de podcasts. Los puedes encontrar en tu plataforma de podcasts favorita:    Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud Y muchos mas! Visita nuestra lista completa aquí.   

In 2016 Tara Roberts was living in Washington DC feeling, in a new way, the deep fractures in America, including the way we understand our history.  She felt called to be part of trying to heal these divisions.   It was a chance encounter with a photograph at the National Museum of African American History and Culture that changed the trajectory of her life.  It was of a group of Black women on a boat in diving gear who she quickly discovered  were from an organization called Diving with a Purpose, an underwater archeology group with a mission to discover and document the wreckage of slave ships scattered on the ocean floor around the world, and by doing so recover a crucial part of history. Roberts soon quit her job and joined the group to document their work, learning to scuba dive in order to do so. She turned that journey into an award-winning National Geographic-produced podcast called “Into the Depths” and became the first Black female explorer ever to be featured on the cover of National Geographic Magazine.  This work also resulted in a memoir Written in the Waters which both invites us into the fascinating and groundbreaking work below the surface of the Ocean around the globe, and her own personal transformation. Roberts has travelled the world as a diver, backpacker, and adventurer,  bringing to this conversation a global view of history and culture, and a devotion to tell the stories that can bring us together.  She is currently Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. Here's Tara Roberts in conversation with Shayna Schlosberg from the 2025 Portland Book Festival, on Literary Arts, the Archive Project. Tara Roberts spent the last six years following, diving with, and telling stories about Black scuba divers as they searched for and helped document slave shipwrecks around the world. Her journey was turned into an award-winning National Geographic-produced podcast called “Into the Depths” and featured in the March issue of National Geographic magazine. Tara became the first Black female explorer ever to be featured on the cover of Nat Geo. In 2022, Tara was named the Rolex National Geographic Explorer of the Year. Currently, she is an Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society. And her book Written in the Waters: A Memoir of History, Home and Belonging hits stands in January 2025. Tara also worked as an editor for magazines like CosmoGirl, Essence, EBONY and Heart & Soul and edited several books for girls. She was a Fellow at the MIT Open Documentary Lab. She founded her own magazine for women who are ‘too bold for boundaries..’ And Tara spent an amazing year backpacking around the world to find and tell stories about young women change agents. The journey led to the creation of a nonprofit that supported and funded their big ideas. Shayna Schlosberg is the Vice President of Community Connections at OPB and KMHD, where she leads initiatives to ensure that both organizations authentically reflect and serve the diverse communities of the Pacific Northwest. In this role, she shapes and drives the strategy, vision, and implementation of community representation and inclusion across all aspects of OPB and KMHD's work. Shayna joined OPB and KMHD in 2022. Prior to that, she was the Director of Operations and Strategy at Women of Color in the Arts, a national service organization committed to advancing racial and cultural equity in the performing arts. From 2017 to 2021, she served as Managing Director of The Catastrophic Theatre, an acclaimed experimental theater company in Houston, Texas. Before that, she was Associate General Manager at the Alley Theatre, where she played a key role in expanding the theater's international programming, particularly through partnerships with Latin American artists and companies. Shayna's expertise has been recognized nationally—she has served on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. She is a graduate of several leadership programs, including the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture's Advocacy Leadership Institute, Women of Color in the Arts' Leadership Through Mentorship program, and the 2020 New Leaders Council Fellowship. She was also a founding advisory committee member of the Houston BIPOC Arts Network Fund, a groundbreaking effort born out of the Ford Foundation's America's Cultural Treasures initiative. Shayna served in the Peace Corps in Armenia from 2010 to 2012.

Lawmakers wasted no time this week, considering substantive policy bills in their first week in the 35-day legislative sprint. Plus, activity escalated around the South Portland ICE building last weekend, with tear gas use from the federal officials prompting outcry and a legal response. On this week’s OPB politics now, we’ll talk about  how much money the state is expecting to have in Salem, their efforts to push back on the federal govt and the latest on the ICE building and the politics surrounding it. Find the show wherever you get your podcasts.   

 Over the weekend thousands gathered to peacefully protest in S. Portland to speak out against  increased immigration enforcement across the country. But demonstrations did not stay peaceful as federal agents near the ICE facility deployed tear gas that traveled several blocks, affecting many who gathered, including families, children and elderly people. Soon after these events, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson released a statement, asking for those who are working for ICE to resign and said that the city will “swiftly” work to enforce an ordinance that passed earlier this month, which would fine the detention center for using chemical munitions. Alex Zielinski is OPB’s Portland city government reporter and joins us with more details.

In the U.S., there are about 100,000 monkeys, baboons, and other primates living in captivity to support scientific research. About 5,000 of them are at OHSU’s Oregon National Primate Research Center. That’s where researchers do experiments on monkeys to try to get clear data about things like cannabis use during pregnancy, and to find cures for diseases like HIV. Animal rights activists have argued for decades that the center should be closed. And they’re gaining momentum with support from Oregon’s governor and some lawmakers. In addition, scientists who oppose using animals in research argue that the practice has become obsolete and is hindering, not helping the effort to find cures.    Today, we’re bringing back our episode about the Oregon National Primate Research Center because just a few weeks ago in January, OHSU’s board of directors had a meeting to hear about what it would take to close the center or significantly reduce the size of its primate population.    OPB health reporter Amelia Templeton shares what she learned from a visit to the Oregon National Primate Research Center and conversations with a lot of smart people on all sides of this complex topic.    Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Oregon lawmakers are heading back to Salem next week for the short legislative session. They have big issues to tackle this session, including immigration, transportation and a looming hole in the state budget.    Plus, the race to be the Republican candidate for Oregon’s governor is heating up. It now features two new candidates who will run in the upcoming May primary.    We’ll discuss all that and more on the latest episode of OPB politics now. Find the show anywhere you get your podcasts.  

The U.S. Constitution likely would not have been ratified in 1788 without Article 5, which allowed for amendment. Many of the original founders championed the idea that the document would need to change as the country changed. As historian Jill Lepore points out in her newest book most of the 27 amendments to the constitution have happened just after times of war or conflict, and after 33 years without an amendment, we may be headed that way again. OPB’s Geoff Norcross speaks to Lepore in front of an audience at the 2025 Portland Book Festival about “We the People: A history of the U.S. Constitution.”

Next week, Oregon lawmakers are heading into a short, five-week legislative session with a very long to-do list. At the top of it is how to keep the state's transportation system from falling apart. Today on City Cast Portland, we're talking with Dirk VanderHart, OPB's state politics and government reporter. He's going to help us make sense of the options, the legal chaos, and what else lawmakers are trying to squeeze into this short session. Become a member of City Cast Portland today! Get all the details and sign up here.  Who would you like to hear on City Cast Portland? Shoot us an email at portland@citycast.fm, or leave us a voicemail at 503-208-5448. Want more Portland news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter and be sure to follow us on Instagram.  Looking to advertise on City Cast Portland? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about the sponsor of this January 27th episode: The Ascent by Christopher Walker

Populations of the Greater Sage Grouse have dropped by 80 percent over the last 60 years. That’s because the iconic bird depends on high desert sagebrush for food and habitat. And that habitat has been threatened for decades by wildfire, human activity and invasive species. A historic agreement that came together in 2015 to protect these birds and keep them off the endangered species list has helped turn that trend around. But now, a potential lithium mine could blow up the whole deal.  OPB “Oregon Field Guide” producer Cassandra Profita fills us in on the details and you can see the video and article she recently produced about sage grouse here. We also hear from journalist Ashley Ahearn, who created an 8-episode podcast series called “Grouse” all about the birds and what they can teach us about compromise and life in rural America. Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

President Trump’s second term hit the one-year mark this week and – surprise! – Oregonians and Southwest Washington residents have divergent takes on how things are going. On this week’s episode of the podcast, we hear about what OPB learned when our reporters fanned out to check in with people all over the region.

State lawmakers and business leaders have argued high taxes and stringent regulations are hurting Oregon businesses. In 2025, not long after a CNBC report ranked Oregon near the bottom of states to do business, Gov. Tina Kotek announced a plan to change that. Among other goals, it aims to sharpen the state’s competitive edge through changes to permitting and taxation, partnerships with the private sector and incentives to invest in Oregon.  Angela Wilhelms is the president and CEO of Oregon Business and Industry, the state’s largest business advocacy organization. She joins us to discuss why businesses are leaving Oregon and whether the state can improve its business climate to keep them. We also talk with OPB business reporter Kyra Buckley about Gov. Kotek’s roadmap and the challenges currently facing Oregon’s business community.

The cowboy is one of the most potent symbols of American Western mythology. But while pop culture might call John Wayne or the Marlboro Man to mind, real history tells a different story than Hollywood or history books. Cowboys in the West were racially diverse, and in Eastern Oregon, Chinese Americans played a big role in ranching and local economies.   As part of work to reclaim histories of the early Chinese diaspora in rural Oregon, archaeologists and community historians are on the trail of Eastern Oregon’s Chinese cowboys. That pursuit takes us to the historic Stewart Ranch in Grant County to learn more about Buckaroo Sam, cook Jim Lee and others who lived and worked there. We're joined by historical archaeologist Chelsea Rose to kick off a special series in collaboration with OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” the Southern Oregon University Laboratory of Anthropology and Jefferson Public Radio about unearthing Oregon history — the real stuff. -   For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:HushTimber Wars Season 2: Salmon WarsPolitics NowThink Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.  

OPB spent over a dozen years following a group of students from Kindergarten through the end of High School in 2025. The result was an amazing body of stories of the real lives and experiences of students, teachers, and families as they negotiate our public education system. One of the questions we have now is: how do you measure the success of education? We’ve gathered a group of big thinkers for a conversation about public education – what it is designed to do, who it is for, and how it might be changing for a new generation of students. We talk to Kali Thorne Ladd, CEO of the Children’s Institute, Ann Ishimaru, professor at the University of Washington College of Education, Jeffrey McGee, Director of Education at Rosemary Anderson Prep, and Ryan Carpenter, Superintendent Of Estacada School District.

For more than a decade, Oregon pursued one of the most ambitious education goals in the country: that every student who entered kindergarten in 2012 would graduate by 2025. To see how that promise played out, OPB followed 25 students for 13 years, from their first days of school to the brink of adulthood. Today on City Cast Portland, OPB's Rob Manning and Elizabeth Miller join host Claudia Meza to recap the Class of 2025 project and break down what worked, what fell apart, and what Oregon's schools are still struggling to fix. OPB is hosting a screening of “Class of 2025: Growing Up in Oregon Schools,” tonight at The Redd on Salmon Street. Registration is free but tickets required; sign up at opb.org/growingup.  Become a member of City Cast Portland today! Get all the details and sign up here.  Who would you like to hear on City Cast Portland? Shoot us an email at portland@citycast.fm, or leave us a voicemail at 503-208-5448. Want more Portland news? Then make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter and be sure to follow us on Instagram.  Looking to advertise on City Cast Portland? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about the sponsors of this January 12th episode: West Lombard D'Amore Law OMSI Cascadia Getaways SkillCharter

Yesterday afternoon, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent opened fire on a man and woman during an attempted traffic stop in East Portland, according to local and federal law enforcement officials. Responding to a report of a shooting, Portland Police found the man and woman who were shot and applied first aid before the two were transported to local hospitals for treatment.    U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the Portland shooting occurred as Border Patrol agents were stopping a vehicle. She claimed the driver and passenger were members of a Venezuelan gang and that the driver attempted to run over the federal agents, prompting one of the agents to open fire in self-defense.    According to Portland Police Chief Bob Day, the FBI is leading an investigation into the shooting. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the Oregon Department of Justice would open its own investigation. Federal, state and local officials, including Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek condemned the shooting. Portland Police said they made six arrests during a protest Thursday night outside the ICE facility in south Portland that attracted hundreds of people.    The shooting in Portland happened just one day after a U.S.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen, Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis.    Joining us for more details is OPB reporter Joni Auden Land.

 On Jan. 2, 2016, a dozen armed anti-government militants led by Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan, took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters outside of Burns in Harney County. The 41-day siege at the bird sanctuary in rural Eastern Oregon attracted national and international media attention. On Jan. 26, one of the militants, Arizona rancher Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, died during an armed confrontation with the FBI and Oregon State Police. Law enforcement also arrested the Bundys and several of their supporters that day, although prosecutors failed to secure convictions of the Bundys and five other defendants during a trial in the fall.  OPB legal affairs reporter Conrad Wilson and OPB visual journalist Eli Imadali recently traveled to Harney County to see how the Malheur occupation reverberates within the community 10 years later. Wilson joins us to share what he learned and the perspectives of former officials and community members he spoke with about the occupation and the challenges the county grapples with today.

 It’s been one year since Portland welcomed its new 12-member city council, which was a part of a major voter-approved overhaul of the city’s government. Since January 2, 2025, the city has seen 48 council meetings, more than 190 pieces of legislation passed and nearly 40 resolutions. The new council has seen some wins, such as broader representation on the council and bureaucracy for bureaus moving more quickly. But has also brought challenges, such as ethical questions around state public meeting laws and lengthy meetings. Alex Zielinski covers Portland city government for OPB. She joins us to share more about the first year of the new council.