Gov. Tina Kotek is convening a panel of local elected officials, business executives and civic leaders to focus on how to best bolster downtown Portland’s economic future. The move comes as Portland’s urban core remains among the nation’s slowest to recover in the aftermath of the pandemic amid blocks of empty offices and storefronts as well as pervasive homelessness, open drug use and public safety concerns. On the latest Beat Check with The Oregonian podcast, city hall reporter Shane Dixon Kavanaugh speaks with Kotek about her initiative. 

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Join The Oregonian's Lizzy Acker and Destiny Johnson as they discuss your conundrums for Lizzy's advice column "Why Tho?" This week they discuss the freedom to have bodily autonomy and making the right choice for your kids and the judgement that can come from it. For a more distilled version of this, check out Lizzy's column, which will publish at Oregonlive.com/whytho the Tuesday following the airing of this podcast!

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Maxine Bernstein has covered a lot of stories in her more than two decades with The Oregonian and now OregonLive. A recent Saturday run along the waterfront quickly gave way to a long day’s work when she heard reports of a shooting at Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center, not far away in Northwest Portland’s Nob Hill District.

In this episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, Bernstein and Editor Therese Bottomly walk listeners through the chaotic day, which took Bernstein from Good Sam to the Stadium Fred Meyer to Gresham and then home, where she confronted an unusual ethical challenge.

Bottomly recently wrote about challenges that day, July 22, in getting solid and accurate information from official sources to reassure the public, which had been told an assailant was on the loose and Good Sam under lockdown. The Portland Police Bureau gave detailed responses explaining their reasoning in releasing what information they did and describing what they must consider before letting information out to the public. Read the responses here.

Bernstein, meantime, was able to confirm key details through the day to keep OregonLive readers informed hour by hour, along with breaking news reporter Austin De Dios, who was at the hospital much of the day.

The Oregonian/OregonLive followed the day’s news with a deeper story about the victim, Bobby Smallwood; concerns Legacy Health and other health care workers have about safety; and measures Legacy pledged to take to increase security at its hospitals.

Bernstein describes two conversations she had with Smallwood’s father.

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Join The Oregonian's Lizzy Acker and Destiny Johnson as they discuss your conundrums for Lizzy's advice column "Why Tho?" This week they discuss the Jonah Hill controversy with his former girlfriend Sarah Brady and what boundaries actually are. For a more distilled version of this, check out Lizzy's column, which will publish at Oregonlive.com/whytho the Tuesday following the airing of this podcast!

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In this episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, environmental reporter Gosia Wozniacka talks to the executive director of Willamette Riverkeeper Travis Williams.

His Oregon City-based nonprofit, which aims to protect and restore the river, had spent the past two decades cleaning up trash up and down the watershed. But since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the organization had watched massive and unprecedented amounts of garbage accumulate in and along the river as a rising number of people experiencing homelessness set up tents, shacks and makeshift cabins along the shore. 

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Join The Oregonian's Lizzy Acker and Destiny Johnson as they discuss your conundrums for Lizzy's advice column "Why Tho?" This week they discuss "birthday people." For a more distilled version of this, check out Lizzy's column, which will publish at Oregonlive.com/whytho the Tuesday following the airing of this podcast!

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Climate change is upon us – it’s a reality affecting us personally. Hot days are getting hotter and more frequent in Oregon, across the U.S. and in other parts of the world. Wildfires and “unhealthy air” days are becoming more frequent. As extreme heat becomes common and more severe, it’s leading to more heat-related illnesses, emergency room visits and deaths. 

The 2021 heat dome killed 69 people in Multnomah County, which until then had been known for its typically mild summer weather. Five more people in the county died of overheating last year. And this summer, we’re again likely to see temperatures climbing over 100 degrees.

CIties, in turns out, are particularly vulnerable to heat – from the way they’re designed to the materials used for decades to build homes and businesses. Local leaders here and across the globe are rethinking how urban development and how to prepare for severe public health emergencies related to extreme heat. 

Why and how should Portland best protect its residents from heat? What can people do individually to ease the burden of extreme heat? 

Vivek Shandas, a professor at Portland State University in the geography department, studies the impact of climate change on cities and figures out the strategies they can use to reduce those impacts. 

He talked about a new effort to map temperatures across the tri-county region, how Portland can require developers to dial down the heat inside buildings and what strategies we can all adopt to prevent heat illness.

Read more about what extreme heat does to neighborhoods in and around Portland at The Oregonian/OregonLive:

Multnomah County sues big oil, coal companies for $51 billion over deadly heat dome

Study after deadly Portland heat dome shows air conditioners not the sole answer in public housing

Hundreds sought refuge at cooling centers during record Portland heat wave

What the heat dome tells us about Oregon’s future climate

Report: 2021’s heat dome produced 53 times the number of E.R. visits for heat illness

Historically racist housing policies exacerbating climate change effects in low-income Portland neighborhoods

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Join The Oregonian's Lizzy Acker and Destiny Johnson as they discuss your conundrums for Lizzy's advice column "Why Tho?" This week they discuss the Jonah Hill controversy with his former girlfriend Sarah Brady and what boundaries actually are. For a more distilled version of this, check out Lizzy's column, which will publish at Oregonlive.com/whytho the Tuesday following the airing of this podcast!

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Voters last fall delivered a stinging rebuke of Portland’s status quo and handily backed a sweeping ballot measure to reshape the city’s form of government and expand the City Council from five to 12 members.

The crucial, painstaking work of delivering that package of reforms is now well underway.

On the latest Beat Check, I talk with Portland Chief Administrative Officer Michael Jordan about one of the most consequential efforts in the city’s recent history.

(Programming note: This interview took place before news surfaced Wednesday that a pair of Portland city commissioners, Rene Gonzalez and Dan Ryan, are exploring potential changes to the voter-approved measure.)

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Join The Oregonian's Lizzy Acker and Destiny Johnson as they discuss your conundrums for Lizzy's advice column "Why Tho?" This week they discuss if it's okay to pick fruit if it's hanging over a sidewalk or is on a parking strip? For a more distilled version of this, check out Lizzy's column, which will publish at Oregonlive.com/whytho the Tuesday following the airing of this podcast!

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