The Evergreen

In the early hours of November 13, 1988, Mulugeta Seraw was coming home from a going-away party. He had work early the next morning. 

Two of his friends, who were also Ethiopian, drove him home. When they arrived at Mulugeta’s apartment complex, they stayed in the car, talking for a bit. 

But then a group of racist skinheads pulled up, reportedly chanting racial slurs. It quickly got physical. 

One of the skinheads, Ken Mieske, hit Seraw in the head from behind with a bat at least twice.

Mulugeta Seraw was pronounced dead at the hospital a few hours later. He was 28 years old. 

OPB producers Nora Colie and Dan Evans join us to tell the story of Mulugeta Seraw: a young Ethiopian immigrant who changed Portland. His murder inspired a wave of anti-racist activism and led to a requirement for police to report hate crimes. In the first episode of a two-part series, we learn more about Mulugeta's life from the person who knew him best: his uncle, Engedaw Berhanu.

Watch Nora and Dan’s documentary for OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” “Remembering Mulugeta: Confronting Hate in Portland,” here.

For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

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Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now 

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And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In the early hours of November 13, 1988, Mulugeta Seraw was coming home from a going-away party. He had work early the next morning. 

Two of his friends, who were also Ethiopian, drove him home. When they arrived at Mulugeta’s apartment complex, they stayed in the car, talking for a bit. 

But then a group of racist skinheads pulled up, reportedly chanting racial slurs. It quickly got physical. 

One of the skinheads, Ken Mieske, hit Seraw in the head from behind with a bat at least twice.

Mulugeta Seraw was pronounced dead at the hospital a few hours later. He was 28 years old. 

OPB producers Nora Colie and Dan Evans join us to tell the story of Mulugeta Seraw: a young Ethiopian immigrant who changed Portland. His murder inspired a wave of anti-racist activism and led to a requirement for police to report hate crimes. In the first episode of a two-part series, we learn more about Mulugeta's life from the person who knew him best: his uncle, Engedaw Berhanu.

Watch Nora and Dan’s documentary for OPB’s “Oregon Experience,” "Remember Mulugeta: Confronting Hate in Portland," here.

For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush 

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud 

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Nestled among the old growth trees in Oregon’s Mt. Hood National Forest, a winding trail leads to the historic bathhouses and hand-carved tubs of Bagby Hot Springs. People have been visiting the springs to soak and commune with nature since time immemorial.

But this beloved place also has a complicated history. Over the years, crowds, misuse, vandalism and other problems have caused it to repeatedly fall into disrepair. And teams of volunteers have repeatedly banded together to restore Bagby to its former glory.

This week on the show: how do we love a place without loving it to death? How do we reckon with the impact our presence has on the natural spaces we feel connected to? And can a place like Bagby Hot Springs be saved for good?

We consider these big questions with OPB “Oregon Field Guide” producer Ian McCluskey, who first visited and fell in love with the springs as a small child.

Watch Ian’s documentary for Oregon Field Guide, “Bagby Hot Springs: Ruin and Redemption” on March 19th on OPB’s YouTube channel and at opb.org.

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For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:
Hush
Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars
Politics Now
Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Oregon state lawmakers packed a lot into the 2026 short session before it adjourned last week. It's also been years since lawmakers, lobbyists, the public and the press have worked together in the State Capitol building. The building has been under construction for the past three years and it has only been partially open during that time. Before the construction project, the COVID-19 pandemic made pretty much everything virtual. The short session that just wrapped up brought everyone back together under one roof to work on a range of policies — from transportation funding to foster care — in just 35 days. 

Evergreen producer Julie Sabatier tagged along with OPB politics reporter Lauren Dake just before the session adjourned to hear what it was like in the Capitol building. 

To keep up with everything our politics team is doing, be sure to subscribe to the OPB Politics Now podcast. 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

When Gwen Trice dug into her family history, she learned that her father had come to Oregon from Arkansas in a boxcar to live and work in the logging town of Maxville. 

Maxville was once one of the largest towns in the county. It had a post office, hotel, roundhouse and many homes. Nine decades later, a broken down railroad trestle and one building are the only remaining evidence of this company town. The Missouri-based Bowman-Hicks Lumber Company created it in 1923 to house loggers and their families. The company recruited experienced loggers, including immigrants, Native Americans, and Black men from southern states. This was at a time when Oregon’s constitution explicitly banned Black people from the state. Housing and schools were segregated in Maxville, but the workforce was integrated. Even after the town essentially closed down in 1933, some Black families, like Gwen’s, remained in Oregon.

You can watch the Oregon Experience documentary focused on Gwen Trice called “The Logger’s Daughter” here and find recent coverage of the archeology dig at Maxville here.

And there’s a new multimedia exhibit called “Maxville & Vanport: Hidden Histories of Everyday Life” at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts on the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis February 27 through April 11, 2026. 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

A defining feature of the second Trump administration has been its treatment of immigrants. President Trump’s campaign promise of mass deportations has been a top priority since his inauguration, and in the year since, it’s been hard to keep up with all the escalating news stories related to the targeting of immigrants: arrests, detentions, surveillance, even shootings. At the same time, mutual aid and community defense efforts have been growing. And like elsewhere in the country, it’s all been happening here in the Pacific Northwest.

So this week, we’re collaborating with the Northwest News Network to bring together three reporters who cover immigration in Oregon and Washington to help us get a sense of how immigrants are being affected across our region. Joining us to share their reporting are Holly Bartholomew, OPB’s suburban communities reporter and a Report for America corps member, Gustavo Sagrero, KUOW’s race, identity and immigration reporter, and Johanna Bejarano, a freelance reporter for the Northwest News Network and former Northwest Public Broadcasting reporter.

For links to stories discussed in this episode, and an extended video version of this conversation, visit our show page.

This episode was produced in partnership with the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

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For more episodes of The Evergreen, and to share your voice with us, visit our show page.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:
Hush
Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars
Politics Now
Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

National news was focused on Oregon in 2025 as President Donald Trump tried to send National Guard troops to Portland to quell protests at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building on the city’s South Waterfront. (Those protests were largely peaceful, despite the president’s statements to the contrary.) After a lot of legal back-and-forth, the Supreme Court weighed in and the president quietly recalled troops from Portland, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Trump Administration recently dropped its appeal of a decision made by a federal judge in Oregon that blocked the president from deploying National Guard Troops to Portland. But the president has made statements implying that he intends to send troops back to Portland and other cities at some point, saying he could still use the Insurrection Act to do so. 

Throughout this whole saga, OPB has been reporting and adding context to a story that is both local and national. We learned a lot in the process — about the role of the courts in relation to the executive branch, about the difference between what’s actually happening on the ground, government narratives and public perception, and about the different kinds of protesters and the motivations for dissent. On this episode of “The Evergreen,” we break down some of that work with three smart journalists who’ve been in the thick of it: OPB criminal justice and legal affairs reporter Conrad Wilson, OPB public safety reporter Troy Brynelson and the editor for OPB’s public safety and health team, Michelle Wiley. 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Esta es la versión en español de este episodio del podcast. Click here to listen in English.

Los años 60s marcaron el comienzo del Movimiento Chicano denominado: El Movimiento.

Activistas como César Chávez y Dolores Huerta lideraban demostraciones, demandando derechos civiles y justicia social para la comunidad Mexicana Americana después de haber enfrentado décadas de discriminacion.

Y aquí mismo en Oregon, un grupo de Chicanos fundó una institución que cambiaría por genraciones el acceso a la educación para los latinos en la región del Noroeste Pacifico.

En el episodio de esta semana, la productora Alicia Avila comparte la história del Colegio César Chávez – la primera universidad Chicana acreditada e independiente de los Estados Unidos. Y como hasta el día de hoy continúa inspirando a la comunidad Latina en Oregon en su lucha contra la posibilidad de ser borrados.

Avila también produjo el documental sobre la historia del Colegio César Chávez para nuestro programa de OPB “Oregon Experience.”

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This is the English version of this podcast episode. Haga clic aquí para escuchar en español.

The 1960s was the start of the Chicano movement: El Movimiento.

Activists like César Chávez and Dolores Huerta were on the front lines calling for civil rights and social justice for Mexican Americans after facing decades of discrimination.

And right here in Oregon, Chicanos founded an institution that would change education for Latinos across the Pacific Northwest for generations.

For this week’s episode, we’re revisiting a story from producer Alicia Avila. She shares the story of Colegio César Chávez – the first accredited, independent Chicano university in U.S. history, and how it continues to inspire as the Latino community in Oregon fights against its erasure.

Avila also produced a documentary about Colegio César Chávez for OPB’s “Oregon Experience.” Check it out.

For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage.

Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too.

You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush 

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In the U.S., there are about 100,000 monkeys, baboons, and other primates living in captivity to support scientific research. About 5,000 of them are at OHSU’s Oregon National Primate Research Center. That’s where researchers do experiments on monkeys to try to get clear data about things like cannabis use during pregnancy, and to find cures for diseases like HIV. Animal rights activists have argued for decades that the center should be closed. And they’re gaining momentum with support from Oregon’s governor and some lawmakers. In addition, scientists who oppose using animals in research argue that the practice has become obsolete and is hindering, not helping the effort to find cures. 

Today, we’re bringing back our episode about the Oregon National Primate Research Center because just a few weeks ago in January, OHSU’s board of directors had a meeting to hear about what it would take to close the center or significantly reduce the size of its primate population. 

OPB health reporter Amelia Templeton shares what she learned from a visit to the Oregon National Primate Research Center and conversations with a lot of smart people on all sides of this complex topic. 

Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps:

Hush

Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars

Politics Now

Think Out Loud

And many more! Check out our full show list here.