The Debrief

The JPR news team gathers for a roundtable discussion of the top news stories they've been working on this week. Top stories include:

Wolves roaming Oregon in search of a meal may soon hear something alarming in the night air: a scene of marital strife from the 2019 film Marriage Story. Or, possibly, the predators might hear crunchy riffs from Australian rock band AC/DC.

On Monday, nearly 5,000 Providence nurses, physicians, midwives and other health care workers at eight hospitals and six clinics across Oregon, including in Medford, gave notice of their intent to strike on Jan. 10.

As Oregonians ring in 2025, nearly two dozen bills passed by lawmakers early last year will quietly take effect. From stricter penalties for drug use on transit, to an easier path to fixing your broken device, to nabbing drivers who don’t yield to school buses, these new statutes cover a lot of ground.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently released its annual report assessing homelessness across the country. California and Oregon continue to have large numbers of people without permanent housing.

The JPR news team gathers for The Debrief, a roundtable recap of the top stories reporters have worked on. This week's top stories are:

Commissioner John West recalled in Josephine County
Preliminary results from Tuesday night show that almost a third of voters in the county participated in the recall election, removing Commissioner John West with 62% of the vote.

Huge anonymous donation helps Ashland School District temporarily avoid fiscal crisis
Ashland School District had been on track to be in the hole by over $1 million at the end of this fiscal year.

Southwestern Oregon saw 30% increase in overdose deaths last year
Finalized data released by the Oregon Health Authority this month shows over 300 people died from overdose in Southwestern Oregon last year, an increase of 30% from 2022.

Many Oregon students find it hard to return to school since COVID
"Students that are chronically absent year after year, they get out of sync with their peers," said Jeff Bullock, school improvement director with the Klamath County School District. "They fall behind academically."

The JPR news team gathers for a roundtable discussion of the top news stories they're working on this week. Top stories include:

After reading and discussing the books, a review committee voted to remove two from the Grants Pass High School Library: "All Boys Aren’t Blue" by George M. Johnson and "Flamer" by Mark Curato. The first title is a memoir focusing on the author’s Black, queer identity. The second title is a memoir about the author’s sexual assault.

City of Yreka now has the power to clear homeless encampments, and passed an ordinance to do so. But authorities are waiting for the county’s first adult homeless shelter to open before they enforce the new law.

Shasta County supervisors want the U.S. Justice Department to look into two election system contractors the county uses: Runbeck for printing ballots, and Hart InterCivic for voting equipment.

The JPR news team gathers for a roundtable discussion on The Debrief. Reporters talk about the top news stories they're working on this week.

Topics include:

• The nonprofit Opportunities for Housing, Resources and Assistance (OHRA) in Ashland has hired a new executive director.
• The City of Ashland has expanded its Enhanced Law Enforcement Area (ELEA) from the downtown area to include areas of south Ashland where circumstances of people exhibiting repeated negative behaviors have increased.
• And more...

The JPR news team gathers for a roundtable discussion of the top news stories they're working on this week. Top stories include:

The Oregon Department of Education released its statewide data report

California condors are suffering from lead poisoning

The Oregon Bureau of Land Management is named in a new lawsuit

The JPR news team gathers for a roundtable discussion of the stories they're working in this week.

Top stories include: The PACE center in Grants Pass is closing at the end of the year. PACE is an acronym for "Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly." Also, Medford was the venue for the state’s first legal psilocybin concert.

The JPR news team gathers for The Debrief to discuss the top news stories they are working on this week. Stories include: Jackson County confirms the presence of highly lethal bird flu in the region; Pacific Power turns off a setting in Talent that was apparently causing power outages; and the state delays sending out notifications to homeowners in living in high hazardous wildfire areas.

JPR news reporters gather to discuss their top news stories of the week. Stories include: America First is now aboard the Umpqua Transportation District; an Oregon pilot program provides wildfire liability insurance coverage for companies performing prescribed fires; and OSU scientists feed seaweed to cows to reduce methane emissions.

JPR news reporters gather to discuss their top news stories of the week, which include: a verdict has been reached in the case of a kidnapper in Klamath Falls, a former fire chief is launching a legal suit, and residents are upset over pesticide use in Easter lily farms along the Oregon-California border.

Stories of the week: Josephine County proposes a new tax to support the Veterans Service Office; Klamath Falls kidnapping trial update; and the Douglas County clerk race are among the list of news stories JPR reporters are working on this week. The news team gathers to discuss them in The Debrief.