Hundreds of thousands of Oregonians were left without power last week due to ice, snow and fallen trees. As severe weather becomes more common, experts say that these types of power outages will too. We hear from Robert McCullough, an energy consultant in Portland, about what needs to change to make Oregon’s power grid more resilient.

Extreme weather delayed vaccine shipments headed to Oregon and forced the cancellation of many appointments. Despite this, officials say Oregon’s vaccination plan remains on track. We hear an update from Patrick Allen, the director of the Oregon Health Authority, on the state’s latest vaccination efforts.

White Oregonians are vaccinated against COVID-19 at higher rates than many Oregonians of color. But they are less likely to contract COVID-19 than Black, Indigenous and Pacific Islander people. Earlier this year, Oregon’s Vaccine Advisory Committee was tasked with deciding which groups to prioritize in order to make vaccine distribution more equitable. Dr. Kalani Raphael, an associate professor at OHSU, represented the Oregon Pacific Islander Coalition on the committee. Musse Olol represented the Somali American Council of Oregon. They join us to talk about racial disparities in vaccine distribution, and their work on the Vaccine Advisory Committee.

Students, parents and teachers at Summit High School in Bend have been on a pandemic rollercoaster. The school closed down for in-person instruction just days after it had transitioned from online learning. Dozens of its students tested positive for COVID-19 in an outbreak connected to a party. The high school reopens Monday. We ask the Regional Director of School Safety Julianne Repman and Emily Freeland, Branch director of the COVID-19 Response team with Deschutes county public health about the incident and efforts to prevent future outbreaks.

Oregon Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Diego Hernandez, has faced allegations of harassment for months. On Sunday he resigned. OPB reporter Lauren Dake has the story.

The pandemic has increased everyone’s dependence on technology, but that technology is out of reach for thousands of people in the Portland area alone. According to 2018 data from the American Community Survey, 32,000 households in Multnomah County are not connected to the internet, and at least 16,230 households do not have computing devices of any kind. The City of Portland allocated $5 million in CARES Act funding from the federal government to help bridge the digital divide that has left so many already vulnerable communities without access to critical resources. The project was able to help 25% of those who requested technology devices, training and internet access support.

We hear about this effort, and the work still left to be done, from Christine Kendrick, Smart City PDX coordinator and Alan Hipolito, executive director of Suma, who worked on the project as well.

Portland biomedical engineer Arlyne Simon has been interested in science and invention ever since she was a small child. Later, she realized women are vastly underrepresented in professional science fields. Now she is determined to help change that. Simon is also an inventor, and an author of a series of books aimed at girls called “Abby Invents.” Simon mentors girls and young women as part of her work with the IF/THEN nonprofit, which provides resources and opportunities for middle school girls in a wide range of scientific fields.

Violence and harassment against Asian Americans has increased significantly across the country over the past year. In Portland, several Asian-owned businesses were recently vandalized. That came after two other recent bias crimes that targeted Asian Americans. We talk with Allie Yee, development and communications director at APANO; Yaejoon Kwon, assistant professor of Sociology and Comparative Race and Ethnicity Studies at Reed College; and Artthew Ng, a student at Portland State University.

While some schools in Oregon have in-person instruction, others remain closed. We hear from John Larson, president of the Oregon Education Association, about getting more kids back in schools.

Billy Williams has served as Oregon’s top federal law enforcement officer since 2015, but has been asked by the Biden administration to step down at the end of this month. We’ll talk to Williams about his tenure as Oregon’s U.S. Attorney, including his role prosecuting protesters in Portland this summer, and his pledge to charge Oregonians who took part in last month’s insurrection.