White pelicans are distinctive. Their 9-foot white wings are black tipped, and can create a bit of a mirage when they fly, seemingly appearing and disappearing as they go. Some observers have mistakenly reported them as UFOs. The birds also have notable long orange beaks and the largest wingspan of any other bird in Oregon. Their populations have increased considerably over the past few decades, and more recently, some pelicans have been spotted staying along the coast and in the Columbia River ...
Jan 03, 2025•10 min
About a dozen years ago, Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill became aware of a growing need for treatment services for residents experiencing mental health crises in his county. Faced with a lack of residential care services in the region, he struggled to find help for people experiencing homelessness or veterans who suffered from PTSD. The surge of fentanyl-related overdoses in the county since 2021 also highlighted the link between behavioral health and substance use disorders, and the lack of lo...
Jan 03, 2025•20 min
An Ashland educator is helping to develop lesson plans about Ukrainian history and current events for American high school students. Paul Huard, an AP U.S. History teacher at Ashland High School, has traveled to Poland and Ukraine in recent summers to do humanitarian relief work as the country continues to resist a Russian invasion. From a colleague there, he learned about the “On Ukraine” project through Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Huard and a handful of other educa...
Jan 02, 2025•15 min
A report from the Oregon Kelp Alliance found that nearly two-thirds of the state’s kelp forests have died out over the last decade. A multitude of factors appear to be behind the decline, including rising ocean temperatures and booming populations of purple sea urchins, which eat the kelp. The report also outlines future research and conservation strategies that could help protect the state’s remaining kelp forests. Sara Hamilton is the scientific coordinator for the Oregon Kelp Alliance and one...
Jan 02, 2025•21 min
J.H. Baxter & Co. has faced numerous fines from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for violating state environmental regulations. The Eugene plant treated wood products with creosote and other chemicals from the 1940s until it closed in 2022. Now, the company and its owner are facing federal criminal charges for allegedly boiling off 1.7 million gallons of toxic waste and venting the fumes into the surrounding air. Christian Wihtol covered the federal charges for Eugene Weekly. H...
Jan 02, 2025•16 min
Jack Reacher may be one of the most iconic action book heroes of all time. Over 100 million copies of author Lee Child’s books have been sold. But the author who has taken over the series is perhaps a little less well known. Andrew Child, who also writes under the name Andrew Grant, is now carrying on the legacy of Jack Reacher for his older brother. He came to Portland for the 2024 Portland Book Festival to talk about the 29th book in the series, “In Too Deep.”
Jan 01, 2025•52 min
In 2024, Oregonians saw a record-breaking wildfire season, the end of drug decriminalization, the start of a new form of government in Portland and more. We’ll look back on the year’s biggest news stories from the Pacific Northwest with a panel of local commentators. Lisa Bates is a professor of Black Studies at Portland State University; Scott Bruun is the president and CEO of the Oregon Bankers Association; and Anna Griffin is the vice president of news, talk and podcasts at OPB.
Dec 31, 2024•52 min
In Courtney Gould’s latest young adult love story, “Where Echoes Die,” two sisters travel to a strange desert town to investigate the death of their mother … and find that everything is not as it seems. In Jennifer Dugan’s novel “The Last Girls Standing,” two survivors of a summer camp massacre search for the truth of what happened that terrifying night. OPB’s Jenn Chavez talked to Dugan and Gould at the 2023 Portland Book Festival about psychological thrillers and writing queer love stories for...
Dec 30, 2024•43 min
Chris La Tray didn’t grow up understanding that he was Indigenous. In fact, his father actively avoided the story. But as he got older, La Tray began to uncover the roots of his Indigenous identity. His book, “Becoming Little Shell,” follows his journey to understanding his place as a Métis storyteller, a descendent of the Pembina Band of the mighty Red River of the North, and an enrolled member of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe grew up surrounded by her Upp...
Dec 27, 2024•53 min
In the last few decades, writing about romance has become big business -- from Fabio-adorned paperbacks in the 90’s, to self-published e-books like “50 Shades of Gray” in the early 2000s, to more than 39 million print copies of romance novels sold in 2023 alone. Even Portland public libraries said they’ve seen the number of romance novels being checked out double since 2018. OPB’s Crystal Ligori talked with Lily Chu, author of “The Takedown,” and Katelyn Doyle, author of “Just Some Stupid Love S...
Dec 26, 2024•53 min
Pull up a map of Portland's urban core, and you'll see a tidy checkerboard of right-angled roads. The city's blocks pack together like snugly fit teeth. Its streets run crisp lines — north to south, east to west. The system's simple, elegant. And then there's Sandy Boulevard. Sandy cuts a wide, reckless scar through Portland's otherwise orderly grid. It scoffs at your roundabouts. It laughs at your stop sign. We wanted to get a better feel for this decidedly punk rock boulevard. And so we decide...
Dec 25, 2024•51 min
Danez Smith has won and been nominated for a lot of big prizes for their poetry, including the UK’s Forward Prize, the National Book Critic Circle Award and the National Book Award. But in 2020, Smith stopped writing. In the depths of the pandemic, after the death of George Floyd in Smith’s hometown of Minneapolis, poetry began to feel less powerful as a place for social change. Danez Smith joined poet Diannely Antigua, author of two poetry collections including “Good Monster,” for a conversatio...
Dec 24, 2024•52 min
Ani DiFranco is best known for getting up on stage and belting out hard-hitting feminist songs while playing her guitar. But when she walked out in front of an audience recently at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, there was no guitar in sight. She was there for the 2024 Portland Book Festival to talk about the picture book she wrote for young readers about a child who accompanies her mother to their local polling station. DiFranco was interviewed on stage by OPB’s Prakruti Bhatt.
Dec 23, 2024•53 min
As 2024 comes to a close, the staff of OPB’s “Think Out Loud” look back on some of their favorite conversations from the past year. Producers Sage Van Wing, Elizabeth Castillo, Gemma DiCarlo, Rolie Hernandez and Sheraz Sadiq join host Dave Miller in conversation.
Dec 20, 2024•52 min
Music can provoke powerful emotional responses. Sometimes your favorite song, or album played on repeat, can be just what you need to get through. What song or album has helped you get through this year? What music have you had on repeat? OPB’s Prakruti Bhatt will join us to talk through the year in music.
Dec 19, 2024•29 min
Earlier this year, Oregon lawmakers passed a bill to implement new criminal penalties for drug possession and end the state’s three-year experiment with drug decriminalization. The legislation also allows law enforcement in counties that have opted into the program to deflect drug users away from the criminal justice system and into treatment as a way to avoid charges. In Multnomah County, 127 deflections have been initiated since the program started in September. Portland Police Commander Brian...
Dec 19, 2024•24 min
Earlier this month, the celebrated and prolific poet, author and professor Nikki Giovanni died at the age of 81 from a third bout of cancer, according to Virginia Tech. She taught at the university for 35 years as an English professor before her retirement in 2022. Giovanni published her first collections of poetry, “Black Feeling Black Talk” and “Black Judgment,” in 1968, and was a leading figure in the Black Arts Movement that emerged during the Civil Rights Era. We listen back to an interview...
Dec 18, 2024•33 min
U.S. Fish and Wildlife are proposing federal protections and label the Western monarch butterfly as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The federal agency will be accepting public input until March 12. At the same time, a federal grant of $300,000 was awarded to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation to aid in habitat restoration. The Portland nonprofit will be using the funds to continue offering free kits containing milkweed and wildflowers for community spaces and working, ...
Dec 18, 2024•21 min
If you’re not a fan of traditional holiday movies, “Breakup Season” might be for you. It follows a young couple that plans to spend Christmas together, only to break up on the first night of their vacation. A snowstorm makes travel impossible, meaning they’re stuck together for the holiday. The movie was entirely filmed in Eastern Oregon, featuring shots of downtown La Grande and the surrounding snow-capped hills and valleys. Filmmaker H. Nelson Tracey developed “Breakup Season” through a reside...
Dec 17, 2024•16 min
Earlier this month, the City of Portland and Multnomah County released data and survey results about Portlanders’ experience with ranked choice voting. According to the survey, 91% of voters said they understood how to fill out their ranked choice ballots. But only 55% of voters in East Portland’s District 1 turned in those ballots, compared to rates of turnout that ranged from 74 to 76% for the other three districts. District 1 voters were also more likely to turn in ballots that had no candida...
Dec 17, 2024•15 min
During an interview on “Think Out Loud” last month, Portland Mayor-elect Keith Wilson said that he was “an admirer” of Interim City Administrator Michael Jordan when describing whom he would want to hire to oversee the day-to-day operations of city bureaus. Outgoing Mayor Ted Wheeler announced Jordan’s appointment in May as part of the voter-approved changes to Portland’s new form of governance and elections using ranked choice voting. Jordan’s contract was set to expire on June 30, 2025 to ease...
Dec 17, 2024•21 min
New federal data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis found that Oregon’s outdoor industry continued to see growth last year, earning more than $8 billion. Kate Porche is the director for Oregon State University’s Center for the Outdoor Recreation Economy. Randy Rosenberger is an economics professor in OSU's department of forestry. They both join us to break down the growth the industry has seen and what its future may look like.
Dec 16, 2024•20 min
Acadia Healthcare runs methadone clinics around the country and the clinics bring in millions of dollars in annual revenue. A New York Times investigation found that the for-profit company is accused of failing to provide counseling, falsifying records and enrolling patients who aren’t addicted to opioids. The company already faces federal investigations over practices at its psychiatric hospitals. Jessica Silver-Greenberg is a business investigations reporter for The New York Times. She reporte...
Dec 16, 2024•16 min
Last week, Troy Price was sworn in as the new chief of police in Vancouver. A 27-year veteran of the department, he takes the helm a month after Vancouver voters rejected a proposition that would have helped fill staffing shortages. Proposition 4 would have raised property taxes starting next year to pay for hiring 80 fulltime sworn officers and other police positions, along with funding for new equipment, technologies and investments in other areas. As the city’s population has risen in the pas...
Dec 16, 2024•17 min
Tom Cole moved to Southern Oregon in 1995 with the thought of starting a new regional chapter of Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Instead, what he saw around Medford made him realize the community was full of families whose children weren’t getting the educational support they needed, many of them low-income and from households that didn’t speak English. In 1998, Cole piloted an after-school program at one school, serving 50 students with a $500 grant. Since then, his efforts have turned into a full-f...
Dec 13, 2024•20 min
This fall, the Meadowlark Day Program held an official ribbon cutting ceremony, to celebrate the unique mental health program for Salem-Keizer students in need. Trillium Community Health Plan and the school district had an existing partnership to provide lower levels of mental health care in some schools. But for some kids, their challenges from depression, anxiety, PTSD and other disorders are so steep as to make it impossible for them to be able to get any educational benefit in school. Meadow...
Dec 13, 2024•20 min
Willamette Springs Memory Care, a senior living facility in Corvallis, was under 'enhanced supervision' by the state, but continued to operate. As reported in Willamette Week, within the past two years the facility has been cited with upwards of 50 instances of abuse. In September, the Oregon Department of Human Services considered removing the facility's license. However, last month the facility passed its latest inspection, removing admission restrictions and regulatory oversight. Lucas Manfie...
Dec 13, 2024•13 min
For the fourth year in a row, jazz fans can find the holiday music they’re looking for at Portland Center Stage next week. Local musicians and bandleaders Domo Branch and Charlie Brown III will direct a 15-piece lineup of regional and national musicians performing traditional scores with a modern twist. Domo Branch, drums, and Charlie Brown III, keyboard, join us to play some songs and talk about their collaboration. The Brown Branch Big Band plays Dec. 16 and 17 at Portland Center Stage....
Dec 12, 2024•27 min
Disney’s long-awaited sequel to its smash hit, “Moana,” is already one of the top-grossing movies of the year after its premiere at the box office just two weeks ago. Moana, however, is not your typical Disney princess. In fact, she forcefully pushes back on that characterization during an exchange with Maui, the Polynesian demigod, with whom she teams up on journeys of adventure and self-discovery. For “Moana 2,” Disney once again sought guidance from the Oceanic Cultural Trust, a team of schol...
Dec 12, 2024•26 min
From office settings to plastic recycling, workers were exposed to at least 14 chemicals in their daily lives, according to a new study from the International Pollutants Elimination Network. To measure exposures, participants in the study wore silicone bracelets which are able to mimic skin. This technology was invented at Oregon State University and has been used not only to measure human exposures to pollutants, but for animals such as cats and dogs as well. Kim Anderson is the director of OSU...
Dec 11, 2024•16 min
