PHAME, an experiential arts academy designed for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, has been around for decades. Students take classes in visual art, photography, improv, voice acting and much more. The academy has put on plays, musicals and even rock operas before, but it’s never undertaken anything quite like this weekend’s show, says Jessica Dart, who co-directs “Stop Making Sense” with her husband and PHAME teaching artist Jason Rouse. The show recreates the Talking Head...
Aug 24, 2023•25 min
The acute lack of public defenders in Oregon has been nothing short of a constitutional crisis. An American Bar Association study released last year confirmed the state had only a third of the public defense attorneys it needed to ensure the civil rights of those accused of crimes. There were about 600, but about 1,300 more were needed. Defendants have had to be released because there were no public defenders available to take their case, and others are still in jail awaiting representation. A y...
Aug 23, 2023•17 min
In 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure 109, a ballot initiative that made Oregon the first state in the nation to legalize the use of the psychedelic drug psilocybin. It directed the Oregon Health Authority to create a framework to regulate and issue licenses for the manufacture, testing, sale and use of psilocybin in supervised settings. Clients 21 and older can buy and consume psilocybin in licensed service centers in Oregon without a doctor’s prescription. In 2021, the Oregon Health Authority ...
Aug 23, 2023•36 min
Kwame Alexander has written many books and picture books for children, tackling a range of different topics. His newest book, “The Door of No Return,” is the first in a trilogy starting in Ghana in the 1800’s when white colonizers began the slave trade. The book is written as a series of poems, following a young boy, Kofi, who is captured and sold into the slave trade. Kwame Alexander joins us to talk about the 10-year process of working on this book.
Aug 21, 2023•53 min
We spend the hour with one of Oregon’s most celebrated writers and thinkers, Barry Lopez. His new book, “Horizon,” knits together his decades of travel all around the world. It’s a book full of wonder and sadness, hope and despair, about the natural world… and the way humans are changing it.
Aug 18, 2023•54 min
The Portland-based Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative has a mission of bringing the art to underserved communities and performing in nontraditional spaces — like prisons and homeless shelters. And it’s deliberately financially accessible as well, with $10 ticket prices well below most admission prices for similar kinds of productions. Its new show “Happy Days” is a 1961 classic by Samuel Beckett, the late playwright best known for “Waiting for Godot.” Northwest Classical’s production is i...
Aug 17, 2023•22 min
California firefighters have come to Oregon to help battle blazes. The Bedrock Fire continues to burn in the Willamette National Forest and evacuation orders are in place. The governor has declared an emergency conflagration over the Lookout Fire in Lane County which allowed resources to be quickly dispatched to affected areas. Meanwhile, the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s office released a report detailing the progress it’s made with wildfire funding from SB 762. We check in with Alison Green, the...
Aug 17, 2023•15 min
The wildfires that rampaged through Maui began last week, killing more than 100 people and destroying over 2,500 acres on the island, including homes and businesses of the historic town of Lahaina. Ka’Aha Lahui O’Olekona Hawaiian Civic Club of Oregon and SW Washington has been taking donations to aid in relief efforts. Currently they are only accepting gift cards to Safeway, Costco and Target. Leialoha Ka’ula is the executive director of KALOHCC. She joins us to share more on the efforts being m...
Aug 17, 2023•16 min
The Oregon Sweet Cherry Commission recently sent a letter to Gov. Tina Kotek asking her to issue a State Disaster declaration for the cherry industry. The commission’s request for assistance follows a similar appeal made by a state lawmaker on behalf of growers in Hood River and Wasco Counties, as reported earlier by the Oregon Capital Chronicle. A wet, cold spring impacted cherry growers not only in Oregon but throughout the West, and led to a glut of cherries from California, Washington, Orego...
Aug 16, 2023•28 min
Our Children’s Trust got its first definitive win in court this week in one of the many climate change lawsuits it's filed in state courts and federal jurisdictions all over the country. The group was challenging a law involving carbon emissions in Montana on the grounds that it violated environmental protections enshrined in the state's own constitution. And while Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen called the ruling “absurd” and promised to appeal, the case’s significance cannot be oversta...
Aug 16, 2023•25 min
A new Oregon law will allow health facilities to return amputated body parts to patients for cultural, traditional and spiritual reasons. For some members of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and others, the practice is necessary to ensure a smooth transition to the spirit world. Shilo Tippett is the manager of caregiver inclusion and experience at St. Charles Health System. Wilson Wewa is an oral historian and spiritual leader with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. They join us wi...
Aug 15, 2023•19 min
Charlene Williams was appointed to head the Oregon Department of Education earlier this year by Gov. Tina Kotek. She is the first Black woman to lead the department. As the past principal of Portland’s Roosevelt High School, she used a $7.7 million grant to support students, boosting graduation rates and overall academic performance. She also served as principal of the district’s alternative high school, Rosemary Anderson, and helped lead the Evergreen and Camus public school districts in Washin...
Aug 15, 2023•18 min
Extreme heat has again reached the Pacific Northwest. Portland temperatures have surpassed 100 degrees, and the dangerous heat continues today. What does that mean for important infrastructure like utilities? How are state agencies responding to the relentless weather? Larry Bekkedahl is the senior vice president of advanced energy delivery for Portland General Electric. Matt Marheine is the deputy director for the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. They join us with details of how Orego...
Aug 15, 2023•16 min
Little oversight, a disorganized office and an uncertain future are just a few issues plaguing the Oregon Racing Commission, a state audit finds. The agency, which oversees animal racing in the state, generates little state revenue compared to the Oregon Liquor & Cannabis Commission and the Oregon Lottery. Ian Green is the audit manager with the Oregon Secretary of State’s Audits Division. He joins us to share his team's findings.
Aug 14, 2023•19 min
Across the U.S., COVID-19 cases are on the rise. The new variant EG.5, also known as Eris, has been circulating the country for the past six months and currently makes up more than 17% of new cases, according to the CDC. At the same time, a new vaccine and booster is expected to be available by the end of September. Corey Casper is the president and chief executive officer of the Access to Advanced Health Institute in Seattle. He joins us to share more on the new variant and the booster expected...
Aug 14, 2023•20 min
Oregon’s older adult population is growing rapidly, with over 1 million residents who are at least 65 expected by 2030. By the same year, the number of older adults experiencing a mental health disorder such as anxiety or depression is expected to double. Aging presents unique mental health challenges, with factors like isolation, dementia and other co-occurring conditions compounding those challenges. And access to treatment is often limited for older adults. According to the Pan American Healt...
Aug 14, 2023•14 min
When Tom Swearingen wrote his first poem to remember a friend who had died, he didn’t consider himself a poet. But the small group of friends and family he read it to told him to keep writing. He did, and he says because he long enjoyed Western music, art and literature, including the cowboy poetry of Baxter Black, that was the style that fit. Within 10 years, Swearingen had published a collection of poetry which was named the 2020 Cowboy Poetry Book of the year by the International Western Musi...
Aug 11, 2023•16 min
Earlier this week, Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade announced that Republican state senators who staged a six-week-long walkout during this year’s legislative session will not be eligible to run for reelection as a consequence of Measure 113. Ten conservative lawmakers - including six who face reelection next year - ran afoul of the voter-backed measure which bars a lawmaker from running for reelection after accumulating 10 or more unexcused absences in a single legislative sessi...
Aug 11, 2023•17 min
It’s perhaps fitting that “Spirit Rangers,” an animated series on Netflix made for preschool-aged audiences, premiered last October on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Now in its second season, the show revolves around three Cowlitz and Chumash Indian siblings - Kodi, Summer and Eddy Skycedar - who magically transform into a bear cub, red-tailed hawk and turtle. They then embark on adventures in a fictional California national park where they live and where their parents work as rangers. The creative te...
Aug 11, 2023•20 min
"Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell about Fear" explores danger and culture through stories about wolves. Portland-based author Erica Berry weaves in her own experiences and encounters with "big, bad wolves." She also charts the journey of OR 7, a radio-collared Oregon wolf who wanders throughout the state and into California. We listen back to a conversation with Berry from April, 2023.
Aug 10, 2023•53 min
Thomas Dambo, a recycle art activist, is building giant trolls in Washington and Oregon. Northwest Trolls: Way of the Bird King includes six pieces in the Pacific Northwest. The Portland sculpture has an unveiling on Friday. Dambo uses recycled materials for his pieces and the trolls typically interact with their environment. He’s built pieces around the world and has recently finished Rita, a troll who lives in Colorado. He’s also traveling across the country building trolls and documenting his...
Aug 09, 2023•17 min
The USDA’s National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Corvallis houses thousands of species of berries, tree fruits, nuts, hops and more. It’s one of a handful of national centers dedicated to preserving diversity in the country’s key crops. Unlike a seed bank, the repository also stores whole plants, pollen, buds and other cuttings. But much like a seed bank, it provides an important library of genetic traits that could help modern agriculture adapt to a warming world. Nahla Bassil is a plant gene...
Aug 09, 2023•21 min
Washington, Multnomah and Clackamas counties are working together on a series of climate reports that document the health impacts of extreme weather in the Portland metro area. Findings from the most recent report show that more than 200 people have died from extreme weather events. In 2021 alone, more than 90 people died from the heat dome. The report also discusses mental health and found that extreme weather events have compounded trauma from the COVID-19 pandemic and there’s a lack of mental...
Aug 09, 2023•15 min
Multnomah County leaders say drugs smuggled into the county's two jails are among the reasons that six people have died in custody in less than three months, the largest spike in at least 15 years. Overdoses are suspected in at least two of the deaths, and the medical examiner ruled that two others were due to suicide. Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O’Donnell has implemented new security measures, including strip searches of people entering the facilities. Sheriff Morrisey O’Donnell joins us to share m...
Aug 08, 2023•19 min
From 2018 to 2021, fatal overdoses from synthetic opioids – mostly from fentanyl – jumped more than 500% in Multnomah County. County leaders say the increase in overdose deaths comes from a rapid change in the drug supply leaning towards fentanyl. Anthony Jordan is the addictions services manager for the county’s health department. Teresa Everson is the interim health officer. They join us to share more on what overdoses look like in the county and what is being done to address it.
Aug 08, 2023•20 min
The Sherman County Medical Clinic in Moro is using a pilot tool kit to talk to patients about cognitive decline, which includes diseases like Alzheimer’s. Healthcare can be difficult to access in rural areas and patients needing care from a specialist face long wait times. The American Academy of Physician Associates has collaborated with health care organizations across the country to test the tool kit. PAs, also known as physician assistants, are often on the frontlines of a patient’s health c...
Aug 08, 2023•13 min
Pride events in small communities across the Pacific Northwest have been disrupted this summer by masked protesters touting extreme right-wing views. OPB’s Jonathan Levinson reports it’s a coordinated effort by a new coalition of groups espousing neo-Nazi and white supremacist beliefs. Levinson joins us with more details on the effort and the impact it’s having on LGBTQ+ communities.
Aug 07, 2023•18 min
Caregivers in Oregon group homes are asking Governor Tina Kotek to fire their boss, the Oregon Department of Human Services manager who oversees direct support crisis specialists. The request comes after these workers continue to face long hours, little pay and severe understaffing. Currently, there is a vacancy rate of almost 15%. Christina Sydenstricker-Brown is a direct support crisis specialist and the president of the union representing these workers. She joins us to share what has changed ...
Aug 07, 2023•17 min
Geothermal energy is a renewable energy resource with enormous potential, but the number of plants has been limited by several factors. However, a breakthrough in geothermal technology that was announced recently in Nevada could change that. Industry officials say it could mean a huge increase in the percentage of electricity that’s generated from the heat beneath our feet. And some Western states are gearing up to make the transition more possible. Seattle-based environmental reporter Alex Brow...
Aug 07, 2023•18 min
The Cedar Grove apartments in Beaverton were created by Community Partners Affordable Housing, or CPAH. The nonprofit has been working to create homes that Oregonians can actually afford to live in for 30 years now. This is part of a series of conversations we’re having this year about some of the biggest problems Oregon is facing, along with possible solutions.More than half of renters in Oregon don’t have enough money after they pay rent to be able to afford basics like food, child care or tra...
Aug 04, 2023•53 min
