The two middle-aged white men shared a common backstory: Both were raised in the rural Pacific Northwest and found a sense of greater purpose and belonging on opposite sides of radical politics. Then both ended up dead. The moment Jay Danielson and Michael Reinoehl collided was a random encounter between two armed men with extreme political beliefs. It was also a dangerous harbinger of what the election could bring. OPB’s Conrad Wilson shares his latest story.

Racial justice protests have continued in Portland for five months, and the 2020 election is just around the corner. We sit down with two young Black men and a teenager to hear about their experiences growing up in Portland and how they are thinking about this historical moment.

Jamartae Brown teaches in the Brothers Reflecting Brotherhood program at Self Enhancement Inc. and is a paraeducator for special education students in Portland Public Schools. Jalen Ladd is a junior project manager at Thesis. And Mekhi Gardner is a seventh grader at Faubion School.

This week we're talking with voters in Washington and Clackamas counties before Nov. 3, Election Day. They’re sharing how their political perspectives inform the issues most important to them ahead of the election. Today we're joined by voter Itsel O’Dee, a Washington County Republican who lives in Tualatin.

Black Americans have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic across the country and that’s true in Oregon as well. Professors in the Black Studies department at Portland State University have been offering direct aid to students through an Oregon Community Foundation Grant. Students are using one-time stipends of $500 or $1000 to help with everything from medical bills to food and rent assistance and other expenses associated with both economic and health impacts from the pandemic. But the demand for funds has already exceeded what is available. We hear from Ethan Johnson, chair of the Black Studies department at PSU and Quinn Foster, a senior at PSU majoring in Black Studies.

There are nearly 3,000 designated historic landmarks across the country, each with their own set of descriptive plaques and associated tours. But how many of those monuments contain information about the racial injustice or white supremacy that were inherent in their history? That’s a question University of Oregon professor Laura Pulido has set out to answer. Pulido joins us to discuss how these monuments reflect what the U.S. chooses to remember and represent in history.

Violence at political events in Bend earlier this month led to criminal charges against seven people today, far short what police officials recommended to the Deschutes County District Attorney for prosecution.
The cases reveal starkly different responses from two of Central Oregon’s largest law enforcement agencies. The charges stem from a confrontation between racial justice demonstrators, people at a pro-Trump rally, and police at Pilot Butte Neighborhood Park on Oct. 3. Reporter Emily Cureton joins us to explain.

This week we’re talking with voters in Washington and Clackamas counties before Election Day. They share their perspectives and how they’re voting on a variety of issues ahead of the election. Sara Koppy is a senior at Southridge High School in Beaverton. She joins us to talk about her experience voting for the first time as a Democrat.

The Oregon Health Authority has developed a plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines and submitted it to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The plan involves prioritizing distribution to those in health care and other essential workers. In addition, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and California have all agreed to independently review vaccines before distributing them to the public. Patrick Allen, director of the Oregon Health Authority, joins us to explain Oregon’s approach to vaccines.

The vast majority of K-12 students in Oregon are going to school online. How is attendance being tracked for these students? What counts as “attending” online school and how are different districts handling that? We hear from Jennifer Patterson, assistant superintendent of the Office of Teaching Learning and Assessment at the Oregon Department of Education and Alexa Pearson, director of Standards and Instructional Support at ODE.

This week we're talking with voters in Washington and Clackamas counties before Nov. 3, Election Day. They share their perspectives and how those inform the issues most important to them ahead of the election. Today we're joined by Molalla voter Aaron Palumbo, who describes himself as a libertarian-leaning Republican.