OPB's daily conversation covering news, politics, culture and the arts. Hosted By Dave Miller.
Oregon lawmakers will have a one-day special session this week before the legislature begins officially in January. The governor has called them there to allocate over $200 million dollars in emergency spending for this year’s unprecedented wildfire season. We’ll get a preview of the session with OPB’s Dirk VanderHart and April Ehrlich.
You may know them best for the songs they released in the '90s, but Portland rockers The Dandy Warhols have been going strong for 30 years, and have just released their 12th studio album. The new album includes collaborations with The Pixies’ Frank Black, Blondie’s Debbie Harry and Guns N’ Roses’ Slash. We talk to keyboardist Zia McCabe about the band’s legacy.
As a drag queen, environmentalist and community organizer, Pattie Gonia uses her platform to advocate for inclusive outdoor spaces. From mountain biking to skiing, she shares her love of the outdoors and has built a sizable following on social media. Pattie Gonia is based in Bend and she joins us with more on connecting with nature … in heels.
Whether it’s smartphones or sneakers, toys or tents, about 80% of commercial goods are transported to markets around the world using giant container ships. As global shipping routes grow to meet increasing demand, so too does the likelihood of fatal collisions with whale species whose ranges overlap with them. Researchers at the University of Washington led a team of international scientists who measured, for the first time, the risk of ship strikes worldwide among humpback, blue, fin and sperm ...
The Ashland Daily Tidings was established as a newspaper in 1876 and ceased operations in 2023. But local readers may not have known that. The Daily Tidings website re-emerged after the closure with a claimed staff of eight contributors, none of whom are reporters working in Southern Oregon. The website features a regular slate of "stories" that appear to be written by artificial intelligence. OPB editor Ryan Haas joins us to talk about his investigation into the AI takeover of the Southern Oreg...
Though the title of sheriff comes historically from England, the role is inextricably linked to the myth of the American West. It is also inextricably linked to the racist foundations of democracy in this country, according to Jessica Pishko in her new book, “The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy.” Pishko writes about the so-called ‘constitutional sheriffs’ movement, which holds that sheriffs, because they are elected directly by the people, are beh...
An exhibit at the Oregon Historical Society highlights the stories of transgender people in the American West during the frontier era. “Crossing Boundaries: Portraits of a Transgender West” runs through Jan. 5. The exhibit looks at the lives of several individuals in the Pacific Northwest who didn’t conform to gender norms through four themes: visibility, identity, acceptance and history. Peter Boag is a professor and the Columbia Chair in the History of the American West at Washington State Uni...
In 2019, the Oregon Legislature created the Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District to manage levees and pump stations in Multnomah County. Last month, voters elected new board members to help guide infrastructure updates to the century-old flood system. As extreme weather events become more common, catastrophic flooding is a growing concern. We check in on the work of the district and learn more about disaster preparedness from Jim Middaugh, the executive director of the district and Kayl...
According to recent federal data, workers in the logging industry are roughly 33 times more likely to die from a workplace injury compared to those in other civilian occupations. In Oregon, the industry has been in decline since the ‘90s due to a mix of environmental restrictions around timber harvests, wildlife protections for endangered animals and competition from lumber imports. But the lure of high wages can outweigh the physical risks loggers face, especially in rural parts of the state, a...
Willamette University’s Pacific Northwest College of Art will feature student artists at the Holiday Makers Market. The event runs from Thursday through Saturday and will feature original artwork and crafts made by students. The college will also project animations and art created by students, staff and faculty during First Thursday in Portland’s Pearl District. Meghann Gilligan is the assistant director of public programming for the school and Dylan Mead is a student organizer of the market. We...
Ski season has begun, and along with the many recreational enthusiasts hitting the slopes, professional ski patrollers join them too. These patrollers are responsible for transporting injured skiers, providing first aid, mitigating hazards and more. Cathleen Calkins is a professional ski patroller and board member of Women of Patrol, a nonprofit aimed at supporting and highlighting female patrollers. She also wrote a piece earlier this year about her experience working in the industry. She joins...
If you follow college football and you live in Oregon, there is little chance that you don’t already know that the University of Oregon Ducks are having their best season since 2010. Last weekend, the No. 1-ranked team completed a perfect 12-0 winning season - for just the second time ever - with a victory over rivals Washington Huskies. If you have high hopes that they’ll win their upcoming Big 10 Conference Championship game on Saturday and go on to take the title, then you’re definitely not a...
Project Turnkey began as a way to house people who lost their homes in the 2020 wildfires and to provide a COVID-safe alternative to congregate shelters. The Oregon Legislature provided funding for communities to purchase underused buildings, typically motels and hotels, and turn them into shelter spaces where residents could stay for months at a time and engage in support services. A recent report from Portland State University’s Homeless Research & Action Collaborative found that several m...
Every week in Corvallis a group of service providers, police and others sit down together to talk about the people in their community who are in crisis. Together, the group decides on a plan of action and works to help a few individuals with whatever they need, like housing, mental health services or health care. They call these meetings "the Situation Table," and it’s modelled on a system in use in Canada. Joel Goodwin, captain of the Corvallis Police Force, Dan Easdale, program director at Cor...
Portland’s historic charter reform resulted in nearly 100 candidates running for a seat on the expanded city council and 19 Portlanders running for mayor. For those running for office, Portland’s Small Donor Election program promises to match funding to donations and provide their campaigns with taxpayer dollars. Exactly 52 candidates qualified for the program this election cycle. But reporting from Willamette Week shows some of the “creative” ways candidates met the threshold to receive funds, ...
The indie-folk band Blind Pilot has released its first new album in eight years. The band has been on tour and will perform in Portland in February. The group, which was formed in Oregon, joins us for an in-studio performance and to talk about the album, “In The Shadow Of The Holy Mountain.”
Donna’s Law is a voluntary registry that lets people flag themselves, prohibiting them from purchasing a firearm. The registry is meant to allow people who are concerned about their own mental health and safety to restrict their own gun rights. At least 20 states have considered the law, while three states have successfully passed the measure. Washington, Utah and Virginia all have Donna’s Law in place, but new reporting from The Trace shows that within the past six years, only about 132 people ...
Oregon middle and high schoolers have a new tool to help them explore career pathways. Sassy, an AI career coach, launched in September as part of the state’s Career Connected Learning initiative. The tool was developed by Ed Madison, an associate media professor at the University of Oregon and executive director of the nonprofit Journalistic Learning Initiative. Madison also developed the JLI’s extensive suite of AI coaches, which help students generate ideas and hone their skills in everything...
Portland author David F. Walker and illustrator Marcus Kwame Anderson have worked together before - on a 2021 graphic novel about the Black Panther Party. This time they’ve teamed up on something a little different: an update of the classic American novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” In their version, the escaped slave Jim is more than just Huck’s companion; he’s a fully imagined character. Walker joins us to talk about the work of updating an American classic.
In 2012, photographer Matika Wilbur sold everything in her Seattle apartment and set off to document the 562 federally recognized indigenous tribes in the country. Over a decade and hundreds of thousands of miles later, she released a book called “ Project 562 .” We talked to Wilbur in June 2023 about her journey, her book, and her mission to provide Native Americans images that are more “useful, truthful, and beautiful.” The Native American sketch comedy group, the 1491s , initially said "no" w...
Some might argue that pie is the quintessential American dessert. Certainly Stacey Mei Yan Fong makes that argument in her cookbook. Fong’s “50 pies, 50 states” is an “immigrant’s love letter” to this country as told through pie. OPB’s Crystal Ligori talked to Fong at the 2023 Portland Book Festival.
Indigenous author, botanist and professor Robin Wall Kimmerer is best known for her book “Braiding Sweetgrass,” which was published in 2013 and is about the reciprocal relationships between humans and the land. Her first book, “Gathering Moss,” was published a decade earlier by Oregon State University Press. Kimmerer is in Corvallis to accept Oregon State University’s 2024 Stone Award for Literary Achievement. She will give a lecture on Friday, May 17th at 7pm.
In 2019, Isabeau Waia’u Walker quit her job as a teacher with the aim of becoming a full-time musician. Despite the disruptions of the pandemic, Waia’u Walker has succeeded. Waia’u Walker, who sometimes sings in her native Hawaiian, released her second album, “Heavyweight,” last month. Waia’u Walker joins us in the studio for a conversation and performance.
Over the last eight years, Oregon has seen growth in the number of primary care providers, but according to experts, the state will need more than a 40% increase in practitioners to meet growing demand in the next decade. Betsy Boyd-Flynn is the CEO of the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians. Jane Akpamgbo is a family physician for Kaiser Permanente and president-elect of OAFP. Eva McCarthy is a core faculty physician for Samaritan Health Services’ Family Medicine Residency Program and current p...
Just a couple of years ago, agricultural and public health officials were hopeful that they could keep avian flu from thriving in Oregon. But thrive it did, and some Oregonians’ so-called backyard bird farms have been devastated by infections, as the birds must be euthanized if the virus is detected. It wasn’t too long before the bird flu jumped to dairy cows, whose milk must be dumped if infected. Commercial farms are eligible for payments from the the USDA to compensate for those losses, but s...
Thanksgiving cooking could mean hours in the kitchen -- and it can be stressful, managing timing or different dietary needs. Do you have menu questions? Or tips for pulling off a successful meal for family and friends? OPB “Superabundant” contributor and food writer Heather Arndt Anderson joins us to answer your questions
The Native American Youth and Family Center has hosted a series of events throughout November that celebrate survival and solidarity with the Portland Native community. The tending days at NAYA’s gardens at the Neerchokikoo Campus allow people to connect with the land and honor indigenous resilience. We learn more about the events from Lucy Suppah, Indigenous Food Sovereignty Coordinator for NAYA.
The tune you hum along to from your favorite podcast may come from the Portland band Wonderly. The duo, made up of Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk, have recorded theme music for many podcasts, including the New York Times’ “The Daily.” They have also recently released a new album called "Wolves." Brunberg and Landsverk join us in studio for a performance and conversation.
Adults who decide to not have children have faced criticism for being “selfish” or derided as “childless cat ladies.” The term DINK has been used to describe people who have dual incomes and no kids. In the Portland metro area, Erika Abdelatif and Kristen Myers have created “Dinky,” a podcast which takes a lighthearted approach about their lifestyle and features other guests who are similarly childfree. The show covers news and pop culture, with past episodes featuring a range of topics, includi...
For some Oregonians, their medical needs are too high to be discharged from a hospital, but they also don’t need the emergency care that hospitals provide. They remain at the hospital while waiting for space at another facility that can provide the appropriate level of care. Oregon lawmakers created the Joint Task Force on Hospital Discharge Challenges to address the issue. Earlier this month, the task force approved its recommendations, after studying the issue for more than a year, according t...
