Affordable housing options that prioritize people with disabilities are limited and waitlists are long. Community Vision, an advocacy organization for Oregonians with disabilities, develops accessible units for residents in the Portland metro area. We hear more about the effort from Jennifer Knapp, executive director of Community Vision. We'll also hear from Christin and KeJon Carter, recipients of a unit.

Until recently, doctors didn’t think it made a difference which arm patients got their COVID-19 vaccine in. But a new study from Oregon Health & Science University shows that switching arms between doses could lead to as much as a fourfold increase in immune response. Though further studies are necessary, researchers suspect the improvement has to do with how the body learns to protect itself against viruses, meaning the results could be replicated in other multi-dose vaccine regimens. 

Marcel Curlin is an associate professor of medicine and the medical director for occupational health at OHSU. He joins us to talk about what these findings could mean for future vaccine protocols.

In Oregon, large commercial dairies follow rules by the Oregon Department of Agriculture that help regulate animal waste. Confined animal feeding operations can house hundreds or thousands of animals. Rules governing large commercial dairies didn’t always apply to small, mom and pop operations. But a reinterpreted regulation from the Oregon agency might affect smaller farms, and now several small dairies in Oregon have filed a lawsuit over the interpretation, as the Statesman Journal reported.  

Waneva LaVelle is the owner and operator of Pure Grace Farm. She says the change in rules could put her out of business if she needs to install new infrastructure for her farm that houses a handful of goats. She joins us with more about her concerns and the lawsuit.

Even though the Roman empire came to an end thousands of years ago, we still tell stories about the emperors who ruled during that time. From Caligula, who threatened to make his horse a senator, to Nero, who killed his own mother and set fire to the city to make room for his palace, classicist Mary Beard argues that the stories we tell about the Roman emperors might say more about us than they do about the emperors themselves. Beard joins us to talk about her latest book, “Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World,” which attempts to break down what we can actually know about the lives of the Emperors and how they ruled.

The mission of Portland’s August Wilson Red Door Project is to “use the power of narrative art to bridge divides.” Its show "Evolve" does that by presenting scenes and monologues based on the real life experiences of Black Americans, police officers and others in the justice system. But it’s not just powerful stories on stage. The performances are interspersed with pauses throughout  with opportunities for the audience to participate in guided reflection and sharing, based on their reactions to what they’re seeing and hearing. "Evolve" has been presented to general audiences and police departments, including Lake Oswego, Beaverton and West Linn. The next shows are at Beaverton’s Reser Center, Feb. 23-24. We’re joined by Red Door Project Artistic Director and Co-Founder Kevin Jones and Interim Portland Police Chief Bob Day, who has been integrally involved with this project for many years.

College-bound students in Oregon and around the nation would typically be receiving their financial aid packages from colleges and universities right about now to help them decide where to enroll in the fall. But many students may now have to wait until April because of the U.S. Department of Education’s delay in sharing financial aid information to colleges and universities. 

The delay adds to the troubled rollout of the new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid which the education department recently overhauled to make it easier for families and students to apply for federal grants and loans. But the FAFSA update failed to adjust for inflation when calculating financial aid eligibility – a mistake education officials are scrambling to fix, and which has resulted in nearly $2 billion in additional federal aid becoming available to applicants. The many delays and technical problems have added to an already stressful experience of . OPB higher education reporter Tiffany Camhi joins us to share how the new FAFSA application has been impacting Oregon high school students and college and university administrators in the state. 

After years of pressure from climate activists and others, Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read has put forth a plan to divest state investments from fossil fuel interests. He presented a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emission impacts of pension funds to net zero by 2050 to the Oregon Investment Council this week. The plan includes a target of an interim 60% reduction by 2035. Oregon and other states have faced challenges to make significant changes while also fulfilling the mandated mission to maximize retirement investments for pensioners. Currently, the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund serves more than 405,000 people and is worth more than $90 billion. Read joins us to share more about the details of the plan.

For the 10th consecutive year, U.S. News and World Report has named Oregon State University one of the top 10 places in the nation to obtain an undergraduate degree online. OSU is ranked fourth, along with Arizona State University and North Carolina State University, for best online bachelor’s programs which were evaluated on factors such as faculty credentials and graduation rates.  

OSU was an early adopter of remote learning, making its first leap into the space more than 20 years ago. Today, students in all 50 states and nearly 60 countries attend courses virtually through OSU’s Ecampus. The online offerings cover more than 100 different subjects that are taught and developed by the same faculty who teach students seated in lecture halls or science labs. According to Lisa Templeton, the vice provost of Ecampus, online enrollment grew more than 10% last year, with about 3 in 10 students learning exclusively online last fall. Templeton joins us to talk about the expansion of online learning at OSU, along with Joann Malumaleumu, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, who graduated last year with an online bachelor’s degree from OSU.  

If a patient or a coworker makes a racist comment to a Black person working as a nurse in Oregon, that nurse may have no one who looks like them to turn to for commiseration and understanding. Nurses of color in Oregon work in predominantly white spaces, which can be very isolating on top of a job that is already emotionally and physically draining. A new podcast, Black Care Matters, focuses on the challenges and successes of Black nurses in Oregon. We talk to Erica Bailey, president of the Alliance of Black Nurses Association of Oregon, Violet Larry, vice president of ABNAO, and Rashida Quinn, host of the podcast, about their work.

It’s been over a year since residents of Morrow County recalled two of their commissioners. Now residents are considering recall petitions again. For months, the county and its ambulance service, Morrow County Health District, have been in deliberations over a new service contract. Some residents feel that there has been a lack of transparency in the commissioners’ handling of negotiations. Berit Thorson is a reporter for the East Oregonian. She joins us to share more on what’s happening in the county.