This is episode one of Public Plea, a five-part series reported and produced by current and former University of Oregon journalists and professor Ed Madison.

We talked with Ed Madison and Jordan Bentz, a freelance producer who worked with Madison and the students on the documentary and podcast project, on our regular episode this week. Listen to that episode to learn more about the project.

We're sharing the five-part series here over the next few days. Subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts to get the episodes in your Beat Check feed.

Here's the Public Plea website.

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