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4 days ago | 
publicnewsservice.org | Isobel Charle
AARP Oregon has opened up nominations for its prestigious award for volunteerism. Geneva Craig, a volunteer for AARP Oregon, won the award in 2019 for her work organizing educational sessions for her community around Medford in Southern Oregon. She said when she was a child, her mother taught her to volunteer by supporting their sick neighbors. "There's no age group where you can say, 'Oh, I don't have a skill, I don't have a talent,'" Craig emphasized.
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5 days ago | 
publicnewsservice.org | Isobel Charle
Advocates for immigrants' rights in Washington state are voicing concerns about the possible expansion of the H-2A visa program, which they say exploits migrant workers. Washington is one of five states most dependent on H-2A workers in the country -- whose numbers have .
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5 days ago | 
publicnewsservice.org | Isobel Charle
As outdoor recreation picks up for summer, a clean-water advocacy group reminds people that some fish around Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River are not safe to eat due to high levels of pollutants. The area was used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for chemical storage and waste disposal for decades, starting in the 1930s. Kate Murphy, senior community organizer with Columbia Riverkeeper, said the Army Corps of Engineers hasn't prioritized the cleanup.
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1 week ago | 
publicnewsservice.org | Isobel Charle
By Seth Millstein for Sentient. Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service CollaborationThe avian flu outbreak is entering its fourth year, and egg prices are still sky-high. Donald Trump won the presidency in part on a pledge to lower egg prices, and in February, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins rolled out a five-point plan for defeating bird flu and making eggs cheaper. Unfortunately, it probably won't work.
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1 week ago | 
publicnewsservice.org | Isobel Charle
Advocates for homeownership in Oregon are celebrating a new bill which sets targets to boost the state's homeownership rate, currently at 64%, just below the national average but among the lowest in the country. The bill sets a goal of 65% by 2030, with incremental increases every five years until 2045.
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1 week ago | 
publicnewsservice.org | Isobel Charle
Washingtonians cannot help but feel the emotional weight of political violence after this weekend's assassination of a top Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota, and the shooting of a fellow legislator. Former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed in their home. Sen. John Hoffman, D-Champlin, and his wife were wounded. Washington Gov.
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1 week ago | 
publicnewsservice.org | Isobel Charle
By Nina B. Elkadi for Sentient Climate. Broadcast version by Isobel Charle for Oregon News Service reporting for the Sentient-Public News Service CollaborationTeresa Mitchell Clausen was almost finished with her shift at a local farm store when a customer came in looking to buy a fruit tree.
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1 week ago | 
mckenzieriverreflectionsnewspaper.com | Isobel Charle
Oregon maintained a troubling ranking, holding at 43rd in the nation for children’s education, according to the 2025 Kids Count Data Book, a national report developed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Jenna Marie, data and research manager for the advocacy group Our Children Oregon, said both fourth grade reading and eighth grade math proficiency have hit all-time lows in the state, with only about a quarter of students meeting benchmarks. The numbers are not far from the national average.
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1 week ago | 
publicnewsservice.org | Isobel Charle
Washington's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has revised its public school discipline policies, and advocates for children said the changes weaken student protections and OSPI did not seek enough community feedback. One of the new rules removes requirements for schools to consider alternative forms of discipline before suspensions or expulsions.
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1 week ago | 
publicnewsservice.org | Isobel Charle
In the last few weeks of the Oregon Legislative Session, wildlife advocates say the state has an opportunity to make needed progress in conservation efforts with three bills still in play. The 1% for Wildlife bill would protect more than 300 imperiled species by funding the State Wildlife Action Plan, which is a federally-mandated blueprint for conserving fish and other wildlife. The bill would fund the plan by raising the state Transient Lodging Tax by 1%, up to 2.5%.
