We got to speak with Marcus LeGrand and Anthony Broadman, founders of "The State of Bend" podcast, about being a platform through podcasting and being involved in the city of Bend.

Riccardo Waites is a local leader dedicated to unifying and empowering the black/BIPOC community of Central Oregon. He is the founder and executive director of the Central Oregon Black Leaders Assembly (C.O.B.L.A.), founder of We Black Radio (WBR), Navy submarine veteran, father of nine, and Central Oregon resident of 22 years. Waites was compelled to organize his efforts in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

This Episode, Waites discusses C.O.B.L.A. programs, WBR, and the fight for racial equality in Central Oregon.

Eric Lint has worked in politics across the Northwest, approaching it from a variety of perspectives. From newsroom to lobbyist, congressional office to campaign trail, Lint now informally consults for civic groups and candidates across Central Oregon with a focus on data and outreach. He maintains the local politics blog Bend Votes at bendvotes.com. In this podcast, Lint talks about the landscape of politics in Bend and Deschutes County and what trends he sees emerging during this 2022 election season.

Nicola Carpinelli is the founder of Hearts Unknown Education, a spinoff of the nonprofit, "Dead Poets Foundation." In this podcast, Carpinelli talks about the genesis of Dead Poets from an art exhibit on suicide awareness to a full nonprofit, and details the art therapy work he's now doing with kids in Bend.

Andrea Breault is the Transportation Director for Cascades East Transit. She has 18 years of 18 years of transit, parking and fleet management experience mainly from campus operations, having worked at two universities prior to working at CET. She’s also an avid bike commuter for 18 years. In this podcast we chat about Central Oregon's transit system, plans for expansion and how the staffing shortages felt nationwide are impacting CET's ability to offer more services.

The Source sits down with a leader the Greater Idaho movement, the effort to move Oregon’s border and fold more counties into the state of Idaho.

Matt McCaw is the Crook County Move Oregon’s Border Captain and has been actively involved with both Move Oregon’s Border and Citizens for Greater Idaho for almost two years. I am a lifelong Oregonian raised in Bend, father and foster-parent of 8. He and his wife and own several small businesses. They currently live in Powell Butte.

The Source sits down with Steven Ames of the Bend Vision Project—Part of Envision Bend—to talk about this new process for envisioning Bend's future. Ames is a consulting long-range planner and principal of NXT Consulting Group of Bend and Portland, Oregon. Author of the American Planning Association’s award-winning Guide to Community Visioning, Steven has worked with more than 80 communities across the U.S. and overseas in planning for the future. Steven is a recipient of the Oregon APA Award for Distinguished Leadership by a Professional Planner. He holds degrees from Drew University and the University of Michigan’s School of Environment and Sustainability, and has studied with faculty of the London School of Economics.

Roger Worthington lives to ride his mountain bike, play with his dog Diggy, and drink beer with friends. He owns Worthy Brewing; Indie Hops - a hop breeding company in the valley and a law firm in Los Angeles that specializes in asbestos cancer. He’s the president of the Worthy Garden Club, a non profit whose mission is to help connect people to the natural world so we can become better stewards. Worthington joins the Bend Don't Break podcast to talk about his environmental stewardship, and his take on the recent extraction of big, carbon-storing trees in the Phil's Trail area of the Deschutes National Forest.

Jill Mahler recently stepped down from her role as station manager and executive director of KPOV, Bend's local non-profit community radio station. Mahler started her KPOV career in 2008, as part-time office manager of the then-fledgling station, with a passion for community and no media experience.

Over the years she aided KPOV in growing from a small low-power station to a Central Oregon institution, overseeing operations with a small staff and about 100 volunteers. Needless to say, it was an exciting ride and a great learning experience. Mahler left her position in 2020, but has stayed involved with the station, assisting the new staff and sharing her institutional knowledge. She's currently focused on reviving her neglected art practice and being a hands-on grandma to her two grandchildren, while staying open to whatever new opportunities and experiences come along.

We chatted with Mahler about her experiences at the station and her hopes for the future of KPOV.

As Jack Zika finishes up his last legislative session, we talk about some of his biggest accomplishments during his time in office. He tells us about dollars brought back to Central Oregon from Salem, the controversial changes of the boundaries of House District 53 and his hopes for the future of the district.