The Evergreen

At Fiesta Mexicana in Woodburn, joint Mexican and American flags fly in the air. Colorfully dressed Aztec dancers take the stage. And elote is everywhere.    It’s a celebration, but this year it’s become something more: an act of resistance.    “We have to continue to do this despite everything, despite the harm, despite the oppression, despite the discrimination. We must persevere because that’s la lucha (the fight), that’s what it's about,” said Juan Cervantes Morales, a Fiesta Mexicana Vendor, in Spanish.    Despite several cultural events being cancelled around the state and country, Fiesta Mexicana decided to carry on and provide a space for community members to be together and celebrate their culture.    “It is critical that our new generations learn about these cultural practices, because it is through these same practices that they will inherit so many of the cultural values that will strengthen their lives,” said Eduardo Cruz Torres Amictlan of Huehca Omeyocan in Spanish.    On this week’s episode, OPB’S Jenn Chávez and Alicia Avila share the story of Fiesta Mexicana — its history, how it represents cultura, resilencia y resistencia today, and what it means to Mexicans around Oregon.    A thank you to Alicia Avila, who produced a documentary for OPB Oregon Experience called “Fiesta y Resistencia.”    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: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.  

In October 1923, three brothers held up a train headed south from Ashland. Instead of making off with the loot, however, they killed four people and led police on a worldwide manhunt. Newspapers called it “the crime of the century.” It came to be known as “The Last Great American Train Robbery.” But it was actually a total failure. So why do people still talk and write songs about it? What was so great about this heist?   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.

On September 5th, 2023, Jesse Johnson walked out of jail a free man. He’d spent a quarter century incarcerated, including 17 years on death row, for a crime he always insisted he didn’t commit: the 1998 murder of Harriet Thompson in Salem, Oregon.Two years after his release, Johnson is suing the state of Oregon and the Salem police detectives who locked him up for much of his life. The lawsuit argues that flagrant racism played a key role in the investigation into Johnson that led to his imprisonment.The case against Johnson was the focus of the first season of OPB’s investigative podcast series “Hush,” reported by Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas. Today, Ryan joins us for an update.

Portland may not be known as a hub of hip-hop on par with New York or Los Angeles, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a hotbed for sonic experimentation and incredible talent for decades.    We had all the elements: historic Black neighborhoods in Northeast Portland, jazz dripping out of clubs, funk bands, block parties, dances, and plenty of good ol’ fashioned youthful angst. So why isn’t Portland hip-hop bigger?   Marlon “Vursatyl” Irving, a long-time Portland rapper and founding member of the Lifesavas hip-hop group, says local nightclubs and venues discriminated against artists, denying artists access to performance spaces   “It was hard for us to get into clubs,” he says. “I think had there been more racial diversity in Portland, and just more understanding about hip-hop culture at the time that the foundation was being laid, we would've got to hear some of the greatest, we would've had recordings from the greatest, we would've seen their careers blossom.”    On this week’s episode, we hear from pioneers and new wave artists about Portland hip-hop, why it isn’t bigger and what keeps it going.    A special thank you to J Jackson, who produced the documentary “Beyond the Beats” in collaboration with OPB’s Oregon Experience, KMHD Jazz Radio, and Albina Music Trust.    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: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.  

In the U.S., there are about 100,000 monkeys, baboons, and other primates living in captivity to support scientific research. About 5,000 of them are at OHSU’s Oregon National Primate Research Center. That’s where researchers do experiments on monkeys to try to get clear data about things like cannabis use during pregnancy, and to find cures for diseases like HIV. Animal rights activists have argued for decades that the center should be closed. And they’re gaining momentum with support from Oregon’s governor and some lawmakers. In addition, scientists who oppose using animals in research argue that the practice has become obsolete and is hindering, not helping the effort to find cures.    OPB health reporter Amelia Templeton recently visited the Oregon National Primate Research Center and talked to a lot of smart people on all sides of this complex topic. She joins us to share her reporting.    Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Meet Irene Gilbert, a 76-year-old retired state employee, former gun store owner and avid elk hunter from La Grande, Oregon. She’s a citizen activist, who considers herself an environmentalist, and is on a mission to keep wind turbines and transmission towers from blighting the rural landscape.    She’s using regulations originally set up to address concerns about nuclear power plants in Oregon to oppose renewable energy projects. She has filed more challenges to energy projects than any other individual in the state. And some renewable energy advocates say the processes Gilbert uses could be one reason that Oregon is lagging behind almost every other state when it comes to green energy projects.    OPB investigative reporter and editor Tony Schick joins us to talk about the story he recently did for OPB and ProPublica featuring Gilbert and examining Oregon’s renewable energy challenges.    Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Five years ago, for some Oregon residents, the world burned down. A severe windstorm and dry conditions saw out-of-control fires explode around the state on September 7th and 8th in 2020. They raged through communities like Gates, Detroit and Otis in Northwest Oregon, and Talent and Phoenix in Southern Oregon. What became known as the Labor Day Fires burned more than four thousand homes and more than a million acres of land in Oregon, making 2020 the state’s most destructive wildfire season on record.   So, what do you do? When a catastrophe strikes? When your community turns to ash? When you lose things that made you who you are? OPB environmental reporters Cassandra Profita and April Ehrlich covered the 2020 fires in different parts of Oregon, Cassandra for OPB and April for our news partner, Jefferson Public Radio. They both join us this week to talk about fire recovery: what makes it so hard, how it changes us, the ways we help each other, and what recovery even means.

On the morning of May 15, 2025, officers from multiple local, state and federal agencies raided the West Coast Game Park Safari and seized more than 300 animals. The park had a wide variety of animals, including lions and other big cats, capybaras, camels and a chimpanzee. They also had chickens, sheep, llamas and goats. People had been complaining about dangerous conditions at the park for years and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited them for violating the Animal Welfare Act numerous times. Law enforcement also found over 80 grams of meth, eight grams of cocaine, 44 guns, and $1.6 million.    Justin Higginbottom is a reporter for Jefferson Public Radio based in southern Oregon, and he joins us to share what he’s learned about the raid and what led up to it. His stories come to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.   For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, host Jenn Chávez and Oregon Field Guide. 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: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

It’s the summer. The days are longer, and the nights are hotter.    It’s the perfect time to talk about romance, specifically romance novels. They’ve become so popular in recent years, with over 39 million copies sold in 2023, according to The New York Times.     That doesn’t exclude the Pacific Northwest. Here, we’ve also seen a rise in romance books being checked out of libraries. In the Portland metro area alone, we have two bookstores dedicated to romance books.   On today’s episode, OPB’s Crystal Ligori and Sukhjot Sal warm our hearts by telling us how the genre got so popular and why they love it so much.    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: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

“At Work With” is a series in which we talk to Pacific Northwesterners with cool jobs and ask them your questions about what it’s like to do what they do. In our latest episode, we bring you along as we go to work with a bike bus captain, a tattoo artist and a coastal lifeguard.   Let us know who you want to hear from next! You can also send us questions you have for our next “At Work With” interview. Email us at theevergreen@opb.org or visit our web page to submit questions.   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.

The land where the Willamette and Columbia rivers meet has been home to dozens of different Native nations since time immemorial. For thousands of years, tribes such as the Multnomah, Wasco, Cowlitz, Clackamas and many, many others created communities here. Since settlers first forcefully occupied this land in the mid-1800s, the city of Portland has failed to build trust with sovereign Tribal leaders and Indigenous residents.    In 2017, Portland created a Tribal Relations Program to bridge the relationship between Tribal governments and the city and to strengthen city government ties to its Native communities. It was a trailblazing program at the time, but in the years since it’s had three different managers and has been without a leader for months.   OPB reporter Alex Zielinski recently teamed up with Nika Bartoo-Smith, a reporter for Underscore Native News and ICT, to dig into the city of Portland’s relationship with tribal governments and Native communities. They join us to talk about what they’ve found.    For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, host Jenn Chávez and Oregon Field Guide. 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: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

The 1930s were a golden age of aviation, as famous pilots like Amelia Earhart made flights once thought impossible and inspired new curiosity about the skies. At the time, more and more women were learning to fly in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, some of the first Chinese American women ever to earn pilots licenses grew up in the same tight-knit Chinese community in Portland. On this week’s show, we learn about two of these barrier-breaking pilots: Hazel Ying Lee and Leah Hing. Their passion for flying cemented their roles in the history of a country which sought to exclude them. We’ll hear how they’re remembered today - by their loved ones, by Portlanders, by Americans - at a time when so much history is intentionally being forgotten.   Watch the OPB “Oregon Experience” video about Hazel Ying Lee, “Her Name Means ‘Hero.’”For episodes of The Evergreen, 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: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Where do you go to find community when you’re older?    That’s a question OPB’s Winston Szeto wanted to answer, specifically for senior communities of color.    The Yat Sing Music Club was founded in 1942 by Chinese immigrants in Portland, Oregon. The club was started to raise funds for China’s defense against Japan during World War II.    Over 80 years later, Yat Sing preserves Cantonese opera through ongoing rehearsals and community outreach. The club is particularly important for the older generation. This is a space where they can be themselves and celebrate their culture.    There’s a similar experience at Ikoi no Kai, a senior meal program in Portland that opened in 1979. It offers a space for local Japanese Americans coming together over food and connection.    In Oregon, the need for social connection is more important than ever. The latest census data says the state ranks among the highest in the country for residents who report feeling lonely.    OPB’s Winston Szeto researched this topic by looking into these two groups — and why it's important to focus on those rarely covered in the media: seniors.    Check out OPB’s Oregon Experience documentary on the Yat Sing Music Club and story on Ikoi no Kai.    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: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

If you’re drinking a beer anywhere in the Pacific Northwest, chances are it’s an IPA. Whether you’re grabbing something from the cooler at your local convenience store or choosing a pint at a pub, you’re sure to find a wide selection of this hoppy, crisp style of beer. The letters stand for India Pale Ale, but the IPAs widely available today actually have a strong connection to Oregon. Author and journalist Jeff Alworth brings us the story of how a specific variety of hops grown by breeders in Oregon changed America’s beer scene almost by accident. Also, watch the Superabundant video about Pacific Northwest hops! 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.

This episode involves sexual abuse. Please keep that in mind in choosing when and where to listen. And if you or someone you know may be a victim of sexual abuse, confidential support, information and advice are available at the National Sexual Assault Hotline by calling 800-656-4673.   Description:  In November of 2024 protests erupted in the small Oregon city of St. Helens. Students and parents called for more accountability after two teachers were arrested for allegedly abusing students. A police investigation led to the arrests of choir teacher Eric Stearns and recently retired math teacher Mark Collins, who were charged with sexually abusing multiple students between 2015 and 2024. This is not the first time that a teacher at St. Helens High School has been accused of abusing students.    OPB reporter Joni Auden Land covered the upheaval in St Helens as it unfolded late last year. Around that same time, they got an email from someone who graduated from high school there in 1988. The email was from Jodie Westing, and she said that when she was a 17-year-old senior at St Helens High School, a 31-year-old teacher groomed and manipulated her into a sexual relationship with him. The teacher Westing says abused her was Gene Evans, who later became a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Education and the Department of Human Services. Westing’s email launched a months-long investigation by OPB. Joni joins us to tell the story and give us a window into their reporting process.    For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, host Jenn Chávez and Oregon Field Guide. 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: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

At the Oregon Country Fair, there are fairies and gnomes walking around in colorful costumes. A 40-person marching band also bursts out of nowhere and plays down a path.  “Feels like you stepped into a wonderland or something magical,” one fairgoer told OPB in 2024.  The fair grew out of a 1960s vision of a better world: a paradise for hippies. But the history of the fair is complex. It takes place on a native ancestral gathering site.  “I think there's a part of hippie culture that thinks that they can take any culture from any part of the world and make whatever they want of it,” said David Lewis, PhD, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at Oregon State University and a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.   In this week’s episode, we sit down with OPB’s Oregon Art Beat producer Eric Slade and freelance producer Kunu Bearchum to talk about the Oregon Country Fair and how it houses hundreds of artists every year – and its history, from hippies to Native belonging.    Check out OPB’s hour-long documentary on the Oregon Country Fair.    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: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In 1988, Deborah Atrops was reported missing to police by her husband Robert. When she was found dead, police quickly honed in on her husband as the prime suspect, but without enough evidence to charge him, the case went cold. Until more than three decades later, when Washington County prosecutors declared they’d finally solved the case, and charged Robert Atrops with Deborah Atrops’ murder — thanks, in part, to DNA.Since its introduction, DNA has been considered the “gold standard” of evidence. And advances in DNA testing over the years have sometimes provided the opportunity for a second look at decades-old cases like this one. But DNA evidence isn’t always as simple as it seems on television. Sometimes what it tells us isn’t so clear.OPB legal affairs reporter Conrad Wilson and public safety and health editor Michelle Wiley have been closely following the Atrops case for months, and join us to explain.For more episodes of The Evergreen, 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:HushTimber Wars Season 2: Salmon WarsPolitics NowThink Out LoudAnd many more! Check out our full show list here.

When Rodger Kennedy was 17 years old, he dropped out of high school. He worked to survive on his own.   Over a decade later, right before Rodger turned 30, he decided to get his GED. He wanted to prove a point to his son Sam.  “I did it to show them that it's never too late to follow through and finish that goal,” Rodger said. In this week’s episode, we finish our three-part series on OPB’s “Class of 2025.” It’s a project we created back in 2012 when former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared the ambitious goal of one-hundred percent graduation by 2025.    That’s when OPB decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school: to capture what it’s like to grow up in the Oregon education system, and all the other life experiences that make us who we are along the way. Thirteen years after Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, one-hundred percent high school graduation is no longer the goal.    Today, we tell the stories of the unsung heroes we’ve met along the way: the parents and guardians of the class of 2025 students.    Education reporter Elizabeth Miller tells us the story of Rodger and his son Sam, plus all the other ways parents have impacted their kids in the project.    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: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

“High school didn't really go the way I expected it,” said Leyna, who didn’t graduate with her high school class in early June.    Leyna’s dad died right before her freshman year. Since then, she’s struggled to complete her work, and she switched to online school her senior year. She was dealing with some health issues and helping her mom take care of her little sister.    School wasn’t her main priority.   In this week’s episode, we continue to tell the stories of OPB’s “Class of 2025.” It’s a project we created back in 2012 when former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared the ambitious goal of one-hundred percent graduation by 2025.    That’s when OPB decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school: to capture what it’s like to grow up in the Oregon education system, and all the other life experiences that make us who we are along the way. Thirteen years after Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, one-hundred percent high school graduation is no longer the goal.    Today, we tell the stories of two students who aren’t graduating. Education reporter Elizabeth Miller gives us insight into their lives.    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: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In 2012, former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared an ambitious goal in his State of the State Address.    “Next year’s class of kindergarten students is a benchmark,” he said. “They are the class of 2025. And 2025 is the year we’ve set to have 100 percent high school graduation in the state of Oregon.”   OPB decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school; to capture what it’s like to grow up in the Oregon education system, and all the other life experiences that make us who we are along the way.    Thirteen years after Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, that once tall order of a one-hundred percent high school graduation rate is no longer the goal.    “We’re not gonna meet it,” Kitzhaber said.    Now, it’s both the Class of 2025’s last year of high school and OPB’s last year of this long-term project.    In the next few weeks, we’ll hear three unique stories from the class of 2025 students we’ve been following.    In this episode, we present the story of two cousins: Anna and Austin. As little kids, they lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same elementary school. But now they go to different high schools, in two different zip codes.   How did Austin and Anna’s high schools affect their decisions about college? Education reporter Elizabeth Miller finds out.    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: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.