The University of Oregon is among the colleges who object the Trump Administration’s edict this week mandating that international students must take at least one in person class in the fall or lose their student visas. Dennis Galvan, the dean and vice president for global engagement at UO joins us to talk about what he’s hearing from students and the approach the university is taking to push back on the policy.

Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has been leading the charge to change policing in Portland for decades. Now, during the global uprising against police violence and anti-Black racism, Hardesty is at the forefront of many police reform conversations in Portland and the state of Oregon. Last week, she wrote an open letter to Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell requesting changes to the way police handle protests. And yesterday, Hardesty was appointed to Gov. Kate Brown’s Public Safety Training and Standards Task Force, which will review police training and hiring practices. Hardesty joins us to talk about her work on police reform and what she’s working on next.

On Thursday evening, Open Signal will broadcast short films created by a group of young men incarcerated at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn. They started working on their projects before Oregon Governor Kate Brown issued her “stay at home” order in March to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The films include personal narrative, documentary, a breakdance film, sketch comedy and a cooking show. Morpheus Youth Project co-founder and executive director Carlos Chavez worked with the young men on their films. He joins us along with Ezequiel Vasquez, a 24-year-old incarcerated at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility who worked on many of the films.

Ekansh Mittal is an incoming freshman at West View High School in Beaverton. While he was in middle school, he came up with the idea that gut bacteria could be used to diagnose early stage cancer. He’s one of 10 finalists in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge. Mittal joins us to tell us more about his project and the promise the idea holds.

There are only a few dozen living speakers of the indigenous language Ichishkiin. Keegan Livermore wants to change that. Livermore is a masters student in Language Teaching Studies at the University of Oregon and a descendant of the Yakama Nation. He created a smartphone keyboard in Ichishkiin to help others learn the language. He joins us.

Nearly 13% of the population in Eastern Oregon is living without reliable access to enough food. In Malheur County, a recent emergency food drive saw over 150 families wait in line for hours in their cars to get boxes of food. Lindsay Grosvenor [GOVE-eh-nor] is a nutritionist for Valley Family Health Care in Ontario. She helped to organize the emergency food drive.

Over 3% of Newport’s population tested positive for coronavirus, according to a random sample study from Oregon State University last week. Despite those numbers, thousands of people flocked to the beach over the holiday weekend. Newport Mayor Dean Sawyer tells us the challenges Newport is facing.

The controversial plan to expand Interstate 5 in Portland’s Rose Quarter has lost the support of the Albina Vision Trust. The Black-led community group sent an email to Oregon Department of Transportation officials June 30 saying that after engaging with the project for over two years, “we do not see our engagement resulting in meaningful changes to the project or its anticipated outcomes.” The group had hoped to see the scope of the project expand to include revitalization of the once-thriving Albina community, which was torn apart by the original construction of I-5 in the 1960s. We hear from Albina Vision Trust board members Mike Alexander and Zari Santner.

Eric Ward recently wrote an essay called “Hate Crimes: The Gateway Drug.” In it, the civil rights activist and executive director of the Western States Center argues that addressing hate crimes is key to reimagining community safety. We talk with Ward about his ideas and a recent experience with a hate crime in his own neighborhood.

Last year, Cindy Werhane tried to become the first person to swim all the way around Sauvie Island. She swam for 20 straight hours — and almost completed the loop — before she had to call it quits. We listen back to our conversation with Werhane.