Beat Check with The Oregonian The Oregonian/OregonLive

Laura Hill was about 30 years old when she helped create one of Portland’s most-iconic designs.
When the Port of Portland was redesigning Portland International Airport in 1986, architecture and design firm SRG Partnership led the project.
Hill retired from the firm in 2008, but at the time she was a principal interior designer for SRG.
In this bonus episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, reporter Lizzy Acker shares her interview with Hill.
Hill explains how the famous design came to be, the research SRG did at other airports and what other designs were pitched. Here's their conversation.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

True crime is popular in the podcast world, and romance novels are seeing a surge in popularity. The Oregonian/OregonLive’s new podcast, in partnership with Wondery, marries the two topics for a six-part exclusive look at the case of Nancy Crampton Brophy, who was convicted of murdering her husband, Dan.
Reporters Zane Sparling, who covered the trial, and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, who reported on her arrest and its aftermath, joined Editor Therese Bottomly on “Beat Check with The Oregonian” to discuss the new podcast, which is available on all major platforms today.
In this episode of Beat Check, we talk about:
--Why investigators zeroed in on Crampton Brophy
--How Crampton Brophy took the stand at trial and it backfired
--Her previous role in the Portland community of romance writers
--Why humans can’t resist anthropomorphizing animals -- that is, attributing human behaviors and motives and emotions to our pets
“Happily Never After: Dan and Nancy,” with Wondery, now has two of the six episodes available.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recent years, people have killed increasingly larger numbers of wolves in Oregon as the animals have rebounded in the state. And poisoning has emerged as one of the most common tools used to target wolves. Roblyn Brown, wolf program coordinator with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, talked on Beat Check about the poisonings, what they mean in the context of Oregon’s stagnant wolf population and how to bridge the divide between people who love wolves and those who want them gone.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Portland and Multnomah County voters are casting ballots this week in a number of local contested races. Candidates in each of them have offered competing visions for how to best address some of the most pressing issues facing Oregon’s most populous county — be it crime, livability concerns or the deadly fentanyl crisis.
In particular, the outcome in the race between Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt and challenger Nathan Vasquez, a longtime prosecutor in that office, could have a profound impact on key policy decisions and priorities in those areas — and provide a telling look at where the Portland area stands politically after weathering some of the most chaotic years in recent memory.
On the latest Beat Check, reporters Shane Dixon Kavanaugh and Noelle Crombie discuss the state of that closely-watched race.
Read More:

Multnomah County DA Mike Schmidt and challenger Nathan Vasquez locked in tight election battle as drug use, crime distress voters

Nathan Vasquez leads in matchup against Multnomah County DA Mike Schmidt, poll finds

Multnomah County DA race: Fact-checking candidate claims about crime, caseloads and convictions

Multnomah County DA candidates trade barbs, blame in televised debate


Portland protests shape District Attorney Mike Schmidt’s young tenure: Now what? (from May 2021)


Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Oregonian/OregonLive last week published the results of a series of polls that shed light on the sentiments of Portland-area residents heading into a May election.
John Horvick, senior vice president of polling partner DHM Research, joined the podcast Beat Check with The Oregonian to review the results and discuss some of the most interesting findings. Also on the panel are reporters Mike Rogoway and Shane Dixon Kavanaugh.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Any newspaper editor will tell you readers love animal stories. The Oregonian/OregonLive’s Samantha Swindler took that axiom to the next level this spring with a 12-part video series on the mysterious disappearance of Cosmo, the talking crow.
She joins Editor Therese Bottomly on “Beat Check with The Oregonian” to discuss the narrative, which also was published on Instagram, Facebook and, of course, OregonLive.
Cosmo first came to the newsroom’s attention after a viral story out of Williams about a talking crow that had “befriended” an elementary school. Swindler, who works on the Here is Oregon features team, reached out to obtain audio or video of this supposed talking crow.
She quickly learned Cosmo was missing and the crow may not have been the beloved local fixture we first envisioned. Originally conceived as a podcast, “The Mystery of Cosmo the Talking Crow” quickly morphed into an experiment in creative multimedia storytelling on TikTok, the social media platform so much in the headlines these days.
In this episode of Beat Check, we talk about:
--Why Swindler was drawn to the quirky story
--The reporting challenges she faced
--The question of whether Cosmo really did talk
--Why humans can’t resist anthropomorphizing animals -- that is, attributing human behaviors and motives and emotions to our pets
Within the episode, Swindler refers to “Serial,” the groundbreaking and hugely popular true crime podcast (We are careful to note nothing about the Cosmo story involves actual true “crime.”).
She also makes reference to a “milkshake duck” moment, a reference to a fictional duck that is cute and beloved until it is revealed to be racist. Like that internet meme, Cosmo, too, was cute on the outside but perhaps had a touch of evil within, depending on who is talking.
And Swindler still hopes for “The Jinx” reveal, as in the HBO docuseries hot-mic moment where Robert Durst appears to confess. Alas (spoiler alert), Swindler and the rest of us are still waiting for the final word on Cosmo’s fate.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices