Info
Oregon Public Broadcasting Newsroom
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
2 NOV 2026 · Brian Libby’s new book “In Search of Portland: Exploring a Transforming City” weaves together personal stories, architectural observations, historical facts and musings about how the structures of the Rose City form and change its character.
2 NOV 2026 · Terry Cummings is a pastor who has spent the past 25 years serving as a chaplain to first responders in Washington and Oregon. The work requires a fortitude not many people would have for a job that is more akin to a calling. It might mean counseling paramedics after they couldn’t save a 911 caller who had suffered a heart attack, or accompanying a police officer in the middle of the night to inform a mother her child has died in a car crash.
The Hermiston Herald reported in September that Cummings is retiring as the lead chaplain and chaplaincy program services coordinator for the Umatilla County Fire District #1 and Hermiston Police Department. He helped launch the program in Hermiston 15 years ago and today oversees four other chaplains, including two Spanish speakers.
Cummings joins us to share his work and the importance of being there for first responders and others on their darkest days.
2 NOV 2026 · When Keizer resident Jim Carlisle was growing up, local repair shops and service centers for household appliances, clothing, and furniture were ubiquitous. He says they were on “every streetcorner.” But repair shops and mending saw a massive decline in the late 20th century with the rise of mass production and trends toward disposable products. Carlisle is trying to keep repair culture alive. He attends repair cafes - community events, often free, where people can bring their broken items and have them repaired by a volunteer.
Terra Heilman used to run these repair cafes, and she now runs a repair program at ReTails Thrift Store in Clark County. While working in waste reduction, the culture around these repair cafes caught her eye as something that could really make a difference. We’ll talk to Heilman and Carlisle about what they’re doing to keep repair culture alive
2 NOV 2026 · Ubiquitin is a tiny cellular molecule that has a part in regulating some of the most vital functions of the body. And researchers are finding out more and more that, like its name, it’s ubiquitous in many seemingly unrelated illnesses and diseases. Researchers across many disciplines: Infectious disease, inflammation, gastroenterology and chemical physiology, are using this grant funding to see how all of these systems interact with the small protein. It could be key to gaining a deeper understanding of how a wide range of diseases are developed and can be treated.
Jonathan Pruneda is an Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at OHSU, and joins us to talk more about the Ubiquitin process and this collaboration across research disciplines.
2 NOV 2026 · A literary walking tour of Portland’s architecture
1 NOV 2026 · For OPB’s “At Work With” series, we spent a day with Tillamook County Clerk Christy Nyseth as she geared up for Election Day.
30 OCT 2026 · The Lullaby Project was created more than a decade ago by the Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. The program pairs singer-songwriters with parents who are incarcerated or experiencing homelessness, and together they create a lullaby. In Oregon, those songs are arranged for the Oregon Symphony and then publicly performed.
Ada McGraw was one of the first women to participate in this program after it expanded to the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility last year. While serving her sentence, McGraw was paired with singer-songwriter Bre Gregg. The lullaby they wrote was for her son Legend and included a poem from Legend’s father.
Jessica Katz is the director of The Family Preservation Project and facilitated their meeting. We talk with Katz, Gregg and McGraw to hear about this creative process and learn more about the larger impact of The Lullaby Project.
On Thursday, musicians drove down to Coffee Creek to begin work on the next set of lullabies with women in custody. We’re rebroadcasting this segment that first aired live on May 5, 2026 to kick off Staff Picks, an occasional series highlighting some of our production staff’s favorite segments
30 OCT 2026 · Election Day arrives in just four short days, with mail-in voting already underway in Oregon and Washington. The Trump administration is continuing to challenge the country’s ballots, methods of voting and state voter rolls all around the country. Trump is sending federal election observers to Oregon, Washington and a handful of states. In Washington, the state has also been dealing with allegations that the state’s voter rolls are rife with noncitizens.
Washington’s Director of Elections Stuart Holmes joins us to talk about the accuracy and security of the state’s voter rolls and election system more broadly in this political moment. We also get an update from Tim Scott, director of the Multnomah County Elections office, about Election Day observers and recommendations for where and how county residents can cast their ballots.
30 OCT 2026 · As the need for critical minerals like lithium and magnesium grows, scientists are looking for new ways to extract them. Rather than trying to pull them out of the ground, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Lab are working to pull those minerals out of seawater. The team has created a system to extract magnesium hydroxide from seawater, which can then be processed into magnesium metal for cars, airplanes and construction materials.
Chinmayee Subban is a chemist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. She joins us to share more about the effort to mine ocean water.
30 OCT 2026 · Keith Z's new photography book "Outside" hopes to documente the beauty and dignity, strength, and intelligence of the Portland homeless community.
Oregon Public Broadcasting Newsroom
Information
| Author | Oregon Public Broadcasting |
| Organization | Oregon Public Broadcasting |
| Categories | News |
| Website | - |
| - |
Copyright 2026 - Spreaker Inc. an iHeartMedia Company
