Environmental activists in Eugene have started gathering signatures to get a new climate tax on this fall’s ballot.

Salmon advocates say recent cuts could hurt efforts [in Washington state] to get salmon and orcas off the endangered-species list.

[National Nature Assessment, canceled by Trump, to be published this fall

BP-FX-NATURE RECORD.WAV -Feature- ERT:4:30

4-21-2026 Bellamy Pailthorp/Jennifer Wing

Note: this story is pegged to Earth Day - should be good all week, but I would kill it after that.]

[Host’s intro]

It’s Earth Day. Four years ago today [4/22], President Joe Biden announced an executive order in Seattle that created the first-ever national assessment of nature. President Donald Trump rescinded the effort two and a half years later, on his first day in office. But the team that had started the work – led by a professor at the University of Washington – refused to give it up.

Now, an almost 9-hundred page [868 pp] draft of the assessment is out for public comment, with plans for publication by the end of this year.

KNKX environment reporter Bellamy Pailthorp has the story of how it all came about.

[Tacoma activists push for stronger renter protection enforcement

(ERT 1:01)

04/21/2026 Nate Sanford/Jennifer Wing]

Organizers in Tacoma are gathering signatures for a ballot initiative this fall that could strengthen renter protections.

The Department of Justice is investigating University of Washington for its quote-’handling of antisemitism.’

KUOW’s Scott Greenstone has more.

King County’s tax assessor faces fresh calls to step down amid an ongoing stalking case.

Oregon state Senator Christine Drazan holds a commanding lead in the Republican race for governor, according to a new poll. Dirk VanderHart reports.

A federal agency accidentally killed two protected wolves in Southern Oregon last summer. As OPBs Alejandro Figueroa reports, a lot of details are still unclear.

University of Oregon faculty and staff are moving into the newest building at the Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact. KLCC’s Zac Ziegler reports:

The owner of a roadside zoo in Coos County has pleaded guilty to dozens of charges after police raided his business last year. Jefferson Public Radio’s Justin Higginbottom reports.