OPB Audio

With steep Medicaid cuts coming, austerity measures are well underway at Blue Mountain Health District.

Last week, officials in the Willamette Valley city of Independence closed its parks, the museum and threatened closure of the library, although state law forestalls that action. A $30,000 grant from a nonprofit, Friends of the Community Parks, has allowed two city parks to remain open through the end of the year. The closures come after voters shot down an operations levy in November 2024. In June, the city council passed fees totaling a net increase of $12.65 a month per household to pay for city parks, a museum and the library. The city says it has no choice but to suspend its services after a referendum to reverse fees on residents qualified for the November ballot.Greg Ellis, the former city manager of Independence, led this referendum effort, and he joins us to discuss the closure of city services. Also joining us is Kate Schwarzler, the mayor of Independence.

“Think Out Loud” kicks off a series of monthly conversations with Meg Samples, general manager of member-supported KMHD jazz radio. Each month, we’ll hear about artists to add to your playlist, along with concerts and community events to attend. In September, that includes the annual Montavilla Jazz Festival. The three-day festival kicks off today and features performances by local artists, with a lineup this year that includes Jessie Marquez. The Portland vocalist joined “Think Out Loud” last month for an interview and studio performance of Cuban filin music. In honor of the centennial birthday of jazz legend John Coltrane, KMHD presents “A Month Supreme,” a series of events held across Portland celebrating Coltrane’s music, influence, and legacy. Fans of Coltrane’s seminal album “Blue Train” will want to check out a live performance of the entire album on Sep. 16 at the Aladdin Theater featuring Portland saxophonist MAE.SUN and other jazz artists. KMHD General Manager Meg Samples joins us for more details and music.

The University of Oregon Ducks will play their first game of the college football season against Boise State at Autzen Stadium in Eugene on Saturday. The Ducks enter the season ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll – the highest ranking in their program’s history. Hopes are running high for Ducks fans that this just may be the season when they win their first national championship. Quarterback Dante Moore returns to helm the offense with defensive depth that includes A’Mauri Washington, Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti. But the Ducks face a brutal schedule with November match-ups against powerhouses Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan and Washington. Tyson Alger, a sports writer who covers UO athletics for Lookout Eugene-Springfield, joins us for a preview.

Amid all the challenges facing higher education, first-year students are excited and anxious about the new chapter of their lives.

Oregon is one of seven states that uses prison labor to fight wildfires. Incarcerated firefighters make significantly less money than other firefighters but face the same safety risks. Still, it's among the most sought-after jobs in prison.

The annual Oregon State Fair in Salem wraps up on Labor Day. The multi-day event features live music, food, demonstrations, carnival rides and competitions that showcase excellence in Oregon art, livestock, agriculture and more. From the tallest sunflower grown to blue ribbons awarded for beef and dairy cattle, the fair is also an opportunity to honor the hard work of future farmers, ranchers or hobbyists who’ve waited months to compete and show off their skills. We visited the fair on opening day in 2025 to talk with folks about what brought them there, whether it was livestock to judge, veggies to show off, deep-fried Oreos to sell or childhood memories to rekindle.

The weather pattern known as El Niño is still gathering strength, and climatologists say it could be one of the biggest on record. The phenomenon is caused by rising surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. The weather pattern is expected to bring big impacts to Oregon come winter. State Climatologist Larry O’Neill says that’s likely to mean warmer and wetter weather. He joins us to tell us more.

The Trump administration is trying to loosen regulations around development projects on historic and culturally significant land. Proposed changes to the National Historic Preservation Act would make it optional for federal agencies to consult with Native American nations about these projects, as reported locally in Underscore Native News. The proposal would also change the definition of a historic property to exclude mountains, rivers and other landscape features that tribes consider sacred or culturally significant.Crystal Miller is the cultural sovereignty director for the Association on American Indian Affairs. She joins us to talk about what the changes could mean for tribal sovereignty.

Oregon lawmakers passed the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (RMA) in 2021. It was the first law of its kind, putting much of the responsibility to reduce waste on producers and manufacturers. California, Washington, Colorado and a handful of other states have now passed similar laws. The Oregon law took effect July 1, 2025 and the state began collecting fees from producers to expand recycling infrastructure. A recent report highlighted Oregon’s progress in the first year, including dozens of new producer-funded collection sites, 36,000 new recycling carts and $30 million dollars to improve and modernize recycling facilities. The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors sued the state to block the law shortly after it went into effect, but a federal judge has now rejected those arguments and upheld the constitutionality of Oregon’s law. We talk about what’s next with Dan Leif, policy implementation director at The Recycling Partnership, a nonprofit helping municipalities all over the country create and implement these kinds of laws.

In 2021, the city of Portland officially legalized living in mobile dwelling units on private property. MDUs include recreational vehicles and tiny homes on wheels, which are different from accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. According to a recent survey reported in Sightline Institute, MDUs have been seeing an increase in popularity since 2020.Kol Peterson conducted the survey, owns Accessory Dwelling Strategies and is an ADU and MDU expert. He joins us to explain more on MDUs and why they are growing in popularity.

Kimberly Lining remembers calling the information number on a flyer for a missing Indigenous woman and learning that the photo on the flyer didn’t even belong to the missing woman. The frustration born in that moment led Lining to launch the MMIW Search and Hope Alliance, a group of volunteers she mobilizes to help look for missing Indigenous women and girls. Lining partners with the Oregon State Police, families, tribes and others to help get the word out on social media and in-person searches. We talk to Lining about her work.

The largest known source of lead emissions is leaded aviation fuel, most commonly used for small aircraft in small, regional airports. A new study from Oregon State University has found that this fuel leads to more lead pollution in surrounding urban areas and neighborhoods, which can affect human health through poor air quality and soil contamination. The study looked at air quality surrounding regional airports near Hillsboro and Troutdale, two of the top three lead-emitters in Oregon.Alyssa Shiel, an associate professor in the college of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at OSU, has been studying lead and heavy metal contaminates for nearly a decade. She joins us to share her findings and what concerns they raise.

In Culver, a Central Oregon food desert, residents say they’re tired of the 40-minute round-trip drive to buy fresh produce, so the city is trying to attract a grocery store.

Oregon State University's master gardener program has been running for 50 years and provides advice for gardeners in all but nine counties in Oregon. It has evolved since its 1976 conception to include plant clinics, an internet helpline and counsel for gardening questions via phone by a master gardener who lives and gardens in your county.But what is the evolving role and importance of this kind of guidance when information is so widely available online? To answer that, we’ll hear from Chris Rusch, president of the Oregon Master Gardener Association, and Pat Kolling, who’s been a master gardener volunteer for the last two decades, based in Bend.

After more than a decade, a new facility that aims to spur the development of wave energy technology opened last week off the Oregon Coast. AP first reported the opening of PacWave, which features two sites in the open ocean near Newport where companies can test devices they’re building to convert energy from waves into electricity. Oregon State University developed PacWave with $140 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s the first such testing facility connected to the continental U.S. energy grid and is pre-permitted. Director Dan Hellin says that can save companies time and money since they don’t need to secure additional state and federal approval for testing, which he expects to start next summer. The Bonneville Power Administration has an exclusive agreement with OSU to buy all the electricity generated by PacWave. But hurdles remain. As OPB’s “All Science, No Fiction” previously reported, companies trying to develop this technology have hit federal funding delays. The Trump administration has also cancelled offshore and solar wind projects, raising concerns about the future of renewables in the U.S. Hellin joins us for a discussion.

More than 2,500,000 acres have burned so far during Oregon’s record-breaking wildfire season. Earlier this summer, smoke from the wildfires led to air quality advisories being issued across most of the state, including in Southern Oregon. John D. Sutter, an independent climate journalist and assistant professor of environmental media at the University of Oregon, traveled to the region in July for a reporting assignment for The Guardian. He headed to Josephine County, which was tied with Trinity County in California for the highest number of deaths linked to wildfire smoke during a 15-year period ending in 2020, according to a study published last year in the journal Nature. Sutter spent a week hearing from dozens of residents in places like Cave Junction and Grants Pass, from frontline healthcare workers to medically vulnerable seniors and business owners. Sutter joins us to share some of those perspectives and the toll worsening wildfire smoke is taking on the tight-knit communities he visited and wrote about in his recently published story.

As Oregon's school year begins, leaders look beyond instructional hours to other challenges like quality of instruction and high absenteeism rates.

Since 2015, almost every year a child in the faith-healing sect Followers of Christ in Idaho have died from a treatable condition. That’s according to new reporting from ProPublica.In Oregon, where Followers of Christ are also present, lawmakers have previously removed faith-healing protections that Idaho has. Authorities in the state say this has led to a reduction of these kinds of incidents as parents are more likely to seek medical care for their children when needed. Audrey Dutton is a reporter for ProPublica. She joins us to share more on her reporting.

How do climate-driven events like wildfires affect tourism in communities like Bend? That’s one of the questions the Oregon State University Sustainable Tourism Lab is trying to answer. A recent analysis examined how wildfire smoke impacted visitor demand. It found that while one or two smoky days may not affect travel plans, people are more likely to reschedule or cancel their trips during prolonged smoke events. Todd Montgomery is a hospitality professor at OSU and director of the Sustainable Tourism Lab. Nate Wyeth is the chief of staff for Visit Bend. They both join us to talk more about how climate change is affecting communities that depend on tourism dollars.

A recent study from Portland State University assessed the likelihood of environmental hazard risks, identifying many “multi-hazard hotspots” — areas that are at risk of overlapping climate hazards — along I-205. The study looked at four climate risks, including fire, urban heat, flooding and landslides. The researchers note that these hotspots for climate hazards are the same areas that have dealt with chronic underinvestment and that these areas are home to a higher proportion of lower median incomes. Justin Huber is a doctoral student and research assistant at Portland State University, and he joins us to tell us more about this research and how identifying these high-risk areas can help cities approach more equitable emergency services and mitigation of these hazards.

Cascadia Tech's Maritime program is kicking off its second year at the Port of Vancouver. High school juniors and seniors are learning skills that will land them industry jobs right after graduation. The program is part of a broader effort around the state to meet a growing demand for maritime workers as the industry braces for a serious shortage.

Cancer survivors say crewing a dragon boat together helps them deal with diagnoses.

The band Orquestra Pacífico Tropical has had at least 19 different members over the years, and at any given time there are at least 10 people playing on stage. David (Papi) Fimbres, who founded the band with Carlos Segovia, has been a drummer in a number of Northwest bands over the years and an essential part of Portland’s music scene. We talk to Fimbres and hear band members perform cumbia music in our studio.

The impact of the new changes on frequent riders range from minor inconveniences to changing commutes.

An inspection contractor found a chemical tank at a Washington state paper mill “not fit for continued service” 10 months before it failed in May, killing 11 in one of the deadliest U.S. workplace disasters in recent decades.

The band Orquestra Pacífico Tropical has had at least 19 different members over the years, and at any given time there are at least 10 people playing on stage. David (Papi) Fimbres, who founded the band with Carlos Segovia, has been a drummer in a number of Northwest bands over the years and an essential part of Portland’s music scene. We talk to Fimbres and hear band members perform cumbia music in our studio.

This weekend, Portlanders can enjoy food, music, dancing and more with ties to Jewish culture. The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland is putting on its first Jewish cultural festival at Zidell Yards on Sunday. Marc Blattner is the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. He joins us to share more on what attendees can expect and why this event is important to have.

For nearly 50 years, the Clinton Street Theater in Portland, Ore. has hosted weekly screenings of the cult classic Rocky Horror Picture Show starring Tim Curry. After news of Curry's death, a impromptu memorial for the actor was held with more than a hundred attendees. Fans brought flowers, dressed in drag and shared stories of the impact Curry and his work has had on them.

Oregon State University will play its first game of the new college football season next Saturday. The Beavers will also be competing this year in an expanded Pac-12 Conference that features six other football teams joining OSU and Washington State University. Gonzaga is also now a member of Pac-12, competing in basketball and other sports. The Pac-12’s new roster brings some relief for the future of the 110-year-old athletic conference. OSU and WSU were the only teams left in the Pac-12 after the 2023 football season following the departure of the Oregon Ducks, Washington Huskies and eight other teams for other conferences. Fans will be able to see all of the Pac-12 football games this season on broadcast TV or via streaming under media distribution deals the conference secured with CBS, The CW, CBS Sports and USA Network. Kevin Griffin is vice president and director of athletics at OSU. He joins us to talk about the new Pac-12 and the team’s prospects this season under new head football coach JaMarcus Shephard.

Oregon white oak is one of just three oak species native to Oregon and the primary type of oak found in the Willamette Valley. Today, 90% of white oak habitat has been lost because of development and decades of fire suppression that altered the prairies where oaks once dominated. Most of the remaining white oak habitat is on private land, so private landowners can play a vital role in restoring white oaks and the dozens of other plants and animals they support, from western meadowlarks to the endangered white rock larkspur. Since 2010, the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District has been working with private landowners to restore white oak habitat. That effort includes providing them with technical assistance and cost-sharing support from the district or the Natural Resources Conservation Service for restoration projects that can last several years and cost tens of thousands of dollars. Brendan Addis is a conservation specialist at the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District. He joins us along with Michael Hayes, a landowner he has been working with since 2024 to restore five acres on Hayes’ property south of Oregon City. They join us to share the changes they’ve seen on that project as it nears completion this fall.

The rapid development and spread of AI has affected so many areas of our lives, from how we work to how we learn to the products we’re advertised and content we’re fed on social media. But as AI grows more powerful and pervasive, questions remain about how much trust we can or should place in this technology.Kate Kaye is a Portland-based independent journalist who spent nearly a year researching and interviewing experts about trust in the age of AI. That work has culminated in “Trust Control,” a seven-part podcast series she created and hosts that explores concepts such as efforts to quantify and measure trust that go back to World War II and still reverberate today. The series also examines trust in the media and the limitations of trying to score or certify the trustworthiness of news content or images shared online. Meanwhile, the rise of AI agents, or bots assigned to do tasks human employees do, present new challenges around trust in the workplace. Kaye joins us to share more details about “Trust Control.”

Economists also say the state may be in for more revenue as lawmakers craft a budget next year.

When the parent advocacy group Schools Beyond Screens sent out a survey to local parents regarding their thoughts on the ways PPS utilizes educational technology and screens in classrooms, parents issued remarks that too many videos were used in classrooms, and video games and screens were being used as rewards. There were also concerns about the use of “learning apps,” and many parents called for more paper-based learning. Some raised concerns that classroom technology usage didn't align with the rules surrounding tech in their homes.The organization took this feedback, what they learned from the district and their own experiences as parents to create a draft revised tech and AI policy for Portland Public Schools. We’ll hear from Miranda Rake and Holly Hofkamp, two of the co-founders of the Portland chapter of Schools Beyond Screens, about what the draft policy entails.

Earlier this month, the Spokane Complex Fires ripped through neighborhoods in the city, damaging more than 800 structures and forcing evacuations of more than 65,000 residents. One person died from medical complications she suffered while evacuating from a nursing home.Despite the loss of homes and other structures, the injury impacts of the fires were less severe, thanks in part to the city’s second-ever evacuation drill in April.Sarah Nuss is the Director of Emergency Management for Spokane. She joins us to share more details about the drill and its effectiveness in helping get tens of thousands of individuals out of danger safely.

Residents in the Washington County city of North Plains have been sharply divided for years over whether and how much to expand its urban growth boundary. City leaders passed a plan in 2024 which was overturned in a popular vote and ushered in a new anti-growth majority on the council. In less than 2 years, the majority of those councilors have resigned, along with the mayor and two subsequent replacement mayors.North Plains also saw the departure of its city manager and had two interim city managers resign one after the other. The current interim has a contract that expires on Sept. 1.In June we went to North Plains to talk to people inside and outside of the North Plains city limits to hear about their different ideas about growth and maintaining their rural identity — and the other issues fueling the turnover in local government.Austin De Dios is a politics reporter focused on Washington and Clackamas counties for The Oregonian/Oregonlive, and he joins us to share the latest on the community and city government of North Plains.

The behind-the-scenes players at Portland City Hall adjust to new normal

Investigators said that the suspect, Benjamin Parker, confessed his crime to his mother before he killed himself.

In 1964, Oregon author Ken Kesey and a group of friends, known as the Merry Pranksters, embarked on a cross-country road trip from California to New York aboard a 1939 customized school bus. They painted the bus in psychedelic colors, added a rooftop platform and made other modifications. The bus known as Furthur became a symbol of the countercultural ethos of the ‘60s, from protesting the Vietnam War to ushering in the LSD-tinged anthems of the Grateful Dead in San Francisco. And now, for the first time since 1969, Furthur has left its home at the Kesey family farm outside Eugene to open a new generation of hearts and minds. As first reported by the New York Times earlier this month, the bus is returning to San Francisco as the centerpiece of “Forever Grateful, Golden Gate Park,” a Grateful Dead-themed exhibition in San Francisco opening on Sep. 5. The Oregon nonprofit Furthur Down the Road Foundation has been working for years to raise funds to restore the bus, which it hopes to start after the exhibit ends in late October. Ken Kesey’s son, Zane, joins us to discuss Furthur’s legacy, the plans for its restoration and what lessons he thinks this countercultural icon can offer us today.

Oregon has given developers $1.4 billion to fund affordable housing as the cost of developing each subsidized apartment has nearly doubled. But thanks to a carve-out in its public records law, the state doesn’t have to provide the details of that spending. Rob Davis, an investigative reporter at ProPublica, joins us with the story.

When a climber was trapped under a boulder on Mount Hood over Memorial Day weekend, the field surgical team at Oregon Health & Science University responded. The team is trained to operate on patients outside of the hospital to free them from collapsed buildings, crashed cars and other emergency situations.Justin Regner is the trauma medical director and division head of trauma, critical care and acute care surgery at OHSU. He oversees the field surgical team and joins us to share more about its work.

Yesterday, in an emergency opinion, the Supreme Court decided that the Trump Administration can go forward with an executive order that would fundamentally change the way elections are conducted in the U.S.Under the order, the Department of Homeland Security would create lists of U.S. citizens eligible to vote that it would send to states, and the U.S. Postal Service would decide who can get mail-in ballots. Though this isn’t the final legal word, the ruling creates a new level of uncertainty just ten weeks from the midterm elections.Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read joins us for a discussion.

Portland has more than 10k fruit trees, many unkempt and dropping ripe fruit across sidewalks and parking strips. The Portland Fruit Tree Project has spent the last two decades bringing together volunteers to harvest it and distribute it to folks in need.

In 2015, Shantae Johnson and Arthur Shavers decided to embark on a major life shift and begin a career as farmers. In the past decade, their work has expanded immensely to include a nonprofit, two farms, a commercial kitchen, a food pantry in the Portland-metro area and a soon-to-be Black Community Food Hub opening in Gresham.It’s all dedicated to their mission of empowering, educating and creating economic opportunity for Black, Indigenous and People of Color who want to work in food systems. This work is done under the nonprofit “The Feed’em Freedom Foundation.” Executive Director Shantae Johnson joins us to talk about their work.

Last spring, the city of Gresham changed its primary water source from the Bull Run Watershed to groundwater by expanding its current groundwater system. Before the switch, groundwater was primarily used as a backup resource during summer months. The choice to separate from Portland’s water systems stems from Portland’s 2017 decision to build a new water filtration plant after the Oregon Health Authority ordered the city to treat its drinking water for the parasite cryptosporidium.But the change has been noticeable to some Gresham residents. Groundwater is harder than the water from the Bull Run Watershed due to higher mineral content, and the treatment method changed along with the source, which has left some Gresham residents tasting or smelling the shift.We’ll speak with Steve Walker, Gresham's water operations manager, for more information on the switch and what Gresham residents can expect.

Last winter, Multnomah County and four cities in the area created the East Multnomah County Transportation Safety Action Plan. It was created based on survey data the county gathered from East Multnomah County residents to identify problem hotspots for transportation safety Gresham, Troutdale, Fairview and Wood Village. Vince Jones-Dixon is the chair of the East Multnomah County Transportation Committee. We’ll check in with Jones-Dixon about the issues the county has identified, and the steps that are being taken to improve traffic safety in the area.

The East County Library is the newest library in the Multnomah County system. It officially opened in May, and it’s the most recent renovation in a list of library building or retrofitting projects that the county has taken on since a major library bond project was passed in 2020. It’s the second largest library in the system — around 95,000 square feet. Annie Lewis, the Director of Libraries for Multnomah County, joins us to share more about it.

In Umatilla County, 39% of residents are on Medicaid. In Malheur County, that number jumps to almost 52%. Both of these counties and more in Eastern Oregon have higher than average rates of Medicaid enrollment compared to the rest of the state. Changes to Medicaid made by the Trump administration will mean major cuts to the program that provides healthcare for many in Oregon.Ann Ford is the CEO of GOBHI, a mental healthcare provider for this side of the state. She's also the president of Eastern Oregon CCO, the organization that manages the Oregon Health Plan for much of the east side of the state. Ford joins us to share the challenges of providing care and what Medicaid cuts could mean for patients.

In the Hermiston and Boardman area, there are more than seven active data centers owned and operated by Amazon Web Services. Last year, the city of Hermiston annexed 800 acres of land to AWS, paving the way for more in the future. And while some have shared concerns about the environmental impact these data centers have, they have brought their communities millions of dollars. For the city of Hermiston, Amazon’s operations have funded renovations to the library, city hall and most recently, a water treatment facility for Umatilla County.Mark Morgan is the assistant city manager of Hermiston. He joins us to share the impact Amazon dollars have had on the community.

Last week, a $6.2 million settlement was made between Madison Ranches and residents living in Morrow and Umatilla Counties whose wells were polluted with nitrates. The Lower Umatilla Basin has been grappling with high levels of nitrates for decades, affecting drinking water in wells in various communities. Food processors and farms using fertilizers are regarded as the source of the problem.J.R. Cook is the founder and director of the Northeast Oregon Water Association. He joins us to share irrigator's perspective on the issue and solutions they’d like to see.