The Evergreen Oregon Public Broadcasting

Over a decade ago, former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber announced an aspirational goal to improve the state’s low-ranking high school graduation rate. His mission: a 100% graduation by 2025.

 

If successful, Oregon would catapult its rock-bottom national ranking to the top. It was a very ambitious goal. And so back in 2012 - when ‘Call Me Maybe’ was the song you heard everywhere - OPB set out on a very ambitious goal too. We decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school.    

 

Now, the twenty-seven students we met when they were six years old are all on different paths – one student is even graduating early. But most are about to enter their senior year of high school in the fall. Education reporter Elizabeth Miller has been following the class of 2025 for years, and she gives us a window into their lives. 

 

OPB Class of 2025 podcast: https://www.opb.org/article/2020/11/30/listen-now-class-of-2025/

 

OPB Class of 2025 reporting: https://www.opb.org/specialreport/class-of-2025/

For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:



Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars



Politics Now



Think Out Loud



And many more! Check out our full show list here.

NBA Hall-of-Famer, Portland Trail Blazers legend and Northwest icon Bill Walton died recently at the age of 71. He’s known as one of the most beloved Blazers of all time, credited with leading the team to its first NBA Championship in 1977. He’s also remembered as a freewheeling sportscaster, a devoted Deadhead, a young activist, a bike-lover and so much more. It’s clear from the many remembrances of him since his death how much he meant to fans across the basketball world, especially here in Oregon. We got together with two of OPB’s biggest Blazers fans, politics and government editor Andrew Theen and investigative editor and reporter Tony Schick, to share memories of Bill Walton and reflect on his legacy in Rip City and beyond.For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:



Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars



Politics Now



Think Out Loud



And many more! Check out our full show list here.

The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a case out of Grants Pass that asks whether cities can punish people for living outdoors if there’s not enough shelter space for them to go to instead. Clinton Triangle, a large, low-barrier, outdoor shelter in Southeast Portland, is supposed to be the city’s model for how to serve chronically homeless Portlanders, and allow the city to enforce its camping ban policy. We visited the shelter with OPB’s Portland city government reporter Alex Zielinski, who shares the voices of people who’ve lived and worked there, and considers how the shelter’s approach has been working for residents trying to leave homelessness behind.For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:



Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars



Politics Now



Think Out Loud



And many more! Check out our full show list here.

A case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court centers around this question: can cities punish people for living outdoors if there’s no other place for them to go? The court’s ruling, which is expected as early as June, could change homelessness policy nationwide — and it all started in Grants Pass, Oregon. Street Roots Newspaper reporter Jeremiah Hayden spent time in Grants Pass & covered oral arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson in Washington, DC. He joins us to share some of the voices of Oregonians behind the legal case, and consider what the case could mean for cities in the Pacific Northwest and across the country.-For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:



Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars



Politics Now



Think Out Loud



And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Everyone who was in the Pacific Northwest on May 18, 1980 has some kind of story about the Mount Saint Helens eruption. OPB producer Ian McKluskey recently revisited that fateful day with some people who remember it very well for both personal and professional reasons. We talk with Ian about unearthing lost stories from Mount St Helens. 

 

For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:



Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars



Politics Now



Think Out Loud



And many more! Check out our full show list here.

A water pollution crisis has been unfolding in Eastern Oregon for decades. Contamination of the Lower Umatilla Basin’s groundwater with excess nitrates — a naturally occurring chemical also found in fertilizer — has meant residents of Morrow and Umatilla Counties who get their water from private wells are struggling to access clean drinking water. Though the issue has been a known problem for over thirty years, nitrate pollution there is only getting worse, and some residents are still just learning about the risks to their health.

Monica Samayoa, OPB’s climate and environment reporter, and Antonio Sierra, OPB’s rural communities reporter, have been covering the area’s worsening nitrate pollution for years. They join us to talk about how we got here, what’s being done about it, and what locals without clean water still need.

For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:



Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars



Politics Now



Think Out Loud



And many more! Check out our full show list here.