Allison Frost

An Amazon data center in Boardman, Ore., on April 2, 2026. Many of the data centers across Oregon rely on diesel generators to provide backup power. This is in sharp contrast to the Verrus model, which uses batteries and what it calls "power orchestration technology" to provide power backup. The company says its design allows data centers to be operated sustainably.

In this undated photo provided by the Oregon Justice Resource Center, an adult in custody stands with their arms stretched out inside a cell used for solitary confinement. In June, a group of incarcerated people filed a class-action lawsuit, arguing Oregon's prison system is violating the state Constitution. Separately, a number of lawmakers, led by Rep. Farrah Chaichi, send a letter to the Dept. of Corrections asking the DOC to sharply limit its use of solitary confinement.

Caution signs warn of radioactive materials outside a tank farm holding radioactive waste on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The DOE is now narrowing the size and scope of the longstanding advisory board that has provided input on the cleanup. This photo was taken on September 24, 2024 as part of an OPB-NWPB collaboration for a week of "Think Out Loud" shows about Hanford broadcast live from the WSU, Tri-Cities campus.

A cloudy afternoon in the city of North Plains on May 19, 2026. The Washington County town has fewer than 4,000 residents, and people inside and outside the city limits have been sharply divided over expanding the urban growth boundary. The rancor over differences of opinion about whether and how to plan for growth has spurred massive turnover in city government in the last two years.

Broadcast: Thursday, Sept. 3 The weather pattern known as El Niño is still gathering strength, and climatologists say it could be one of the strongest on record

Broadcast: Thursday, Sept. 3 Oregon lawmakers passed the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (RMA) in 2021.

We talk with the editor of the Falcon Flyer, Kennedy Tandrow, a junior at Prairie High, and Rye Geilenfeldt, the managing editor and founder of Your BGPs.

We learn more from Dr. David Peterson , an atmospheric scientist at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, CA, and the principal investigator.

Broadcast: Thursday, Sept. 10 If you live in the Portland-metro area, you might've heard about the plan to improve and expand I-5 through the Rose Quarter.

Broadcast: Friday, Sept. 11 For adults of a certain age, the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001 were a defining event, just as the assassinations of John F.