Our topic today is the $8 million bond issue on the November ballot to expand and modernize the Astoria Public Library. Our guests are interim library director Suzanne Harold and library board member Sue Stein.

The Clatsop County Circuit Court includes two specialty courts – one for mental health treatment, one for drug addiction.  Both help people to work their way out of a life in the criminal justice system.  It’s a group effort involving probation officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys and treatment providers.  Listen in to portions of a drug...

It’s Pledge Drive on KMUN, that short period each summer when we ask for your support for this community driven radio station. We don’t interrupt KMUN programs with commercials and we depend on our listeners to help make ends meet. The Human Beat is one of several public affairs programs on KMUN, where you get a deeper understanding...

To honor Juneteenth I want to revisit a 2020 conversation with four friends about race and justice, and where things stand for people who look like them.  All are black. We’ll hear from Denise Reed, Bereniece Jones-Centeno, Amber Hope Duffy and Charles Withers. Oregon is still mostly white, and I started by asking what it...

This morning we’re talking with a local person who is homeless. This will be the first in what I hope will be a series of discussions to help us better understand the individuals among the human beings we may tend to lump together as, “The Homeless.” I went to Lifeboat Services downtown, which houses both...

Today we’re discussing homelessness – with Teresa Barnes, the Executive Director of the Astoria Warming Center.

Welcome to the Human Beat!  I’m Roger Rocka.   The City of Astoria is engaged in a process intended to provide some affordable housing downtown, in the area bounded by Duane, Exchange, 11th and 12th streets.  Some additional units would be used by Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare to provide housing and treatment for their clients.   The City is engaged in exclusive...

The United States is facing a national blood crisis, brought on by complications from the pandemic. A significant portion of hospital blood needs for patients is not being met.  Doctors are forced to make difficult decisions about who receives blood transfusions and who has to wait until more becomes available. The American Red Cross is...

On the north side of Commercial Street in Astoria – between 10th and 11th streets – is a building housing the Beacon Clubhouse and Filling Empty Bellies. The two organizations are filling gaps in the community – meeting vital needs – but they serve and attract homeless people and that has caused concern from some neighbors....

Welcome to the Human Beat!  I’m Roger Rocka. Clatsop Community Action is a non-profit agency that has been providing services to low-income residents of the county for over 30 years.  CCA tries to help people meet their critical needs like shelter and food.  Their clients include people who are homeless. The executive director of Clatsop...