© 2026 | Jefferson Public Radio
Southern Oregon University
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, OR 97520
541.552.6301 | 800.782.6191
a listener-supported service of Southern Oregon University
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
TOP STORIES >
State officials are holding Oregon’s 197 school districts accountable for progress on metrics including graduation, third grade reading and four-year graduation, beginning with this school year’s results.
Illustration by Ron Chan
/
OPB
Education
Set up for success or destined to fail? Oregon’s accountability plan is latest test for a long-struggling schools system
Elizabeth Miller
Oregon has been chasing quick-fixes to its education system for decades. Will a new initiative finally lift student outcomes or become another plan that doesn’t make the grade?
Birds flock over the San Luis Canal in Kettleman City on March 8, 2025.
Jae C. Hong
/
AP Photo
Elections
How would Xavier Becerra and Steve Hilton manage California’s most precious resource, water?
Rachel Becker
Allie Palomera
/
SCCOE
Music, Arts & Culture
Why California rural schools struggle to expand arts education despite Prop. 28 windfall
Vani Sanganeria
FILE - A federal agent wears an Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge in New York, June 10, 2025.
Yuki Iwamura
/
AP
Immigration
Federal agents tear-gas Salem protestors after group blocked ICE vehicles, police say
Jireh Deng
JPR NEWS | FEATURED >
On The Jefferson Exchange
The Medford Mail Tribune, established in 1909, will cease publication this week.
  1. Beyond old headlines, Mail Tribune archives preserve a newsroom’s history
  2. Oregon governor debate, a nickel mine deal and a Grants Pass shelter dispute
  3. Why scientists are removing trout from Klamath mountain lakes
JPR MUSIC >
NPR | FEATURED >
NPR Headlines
Chief Warrant Officer Kevin Fennessy lifts an Ocean County Sheriff's Office DJI Matrice 300 RTK drone out of the custom-built bed of a department SUV at Robert J. Miller Airpark on Sept. 4.
  1. U.S. restrictions on Chinese drones are hurting cash-strapped police departments
  2. Here's what to know if you're unsure about your measles immunity status
  3. 2 Americans win Nobel Prize in economics for work on boom-bust cycles
OREGON NEWS >
The Oregon Department of Transportation has built six wildlife crossings, including this tunnel beneath U.S. 97 south of Bend.
Oregon Department of Transportation
Wildlife
Nonprofit recruits volunteers to help track wildlife impacted by Oregon’s roads
Mia Maldonado
Environment Oregon, a conservation nonprofit with affiliates across 29 other states, is recruiting volunteers for its 2026 Roadside Wildlife Count Oct. 17 to 25 to help track any wildlife dead or alive on Oregon’s roads.
FILE - Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, right, talks with twins Joey and Aubrey Hager, left, and their mom, Kelly Hager, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars cowboy breakfast before the Pendleton Round-Up on Sept. 18, 2026.
Eli Imadali
/
OPB
Elections
Facing tight race, Gov. Tina Kotek taps friendly influencers to spread message
Dirk VanderHart, Lauren Dake
A forested trail opening to the beach is blocked by barbed wire.
Courtesy of the Surfrider Foundation
Outdoors, Leisure and Sports
New trail restores Lighthouse Beach access near Coos Bay
Theo Greenly
Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan, during the gubernatorial debate in Eugene, Ore., at the University of Oregon, on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026.
Will Yurman
/
Pool/LookOut Eugene-Springfield
Elections
Christine Drazan reports $1 million check in tight race for Oregon governor
Lauren Dake
Eight people are seated at a wooden dais. A blond woman in the middle speaks into a microphone.
Screengrab from RVTV
Housing
Medford moves toward taking over former hotel that housed wildfire survivors
Jane Vaughan
CALIFORNIA NEWS >
State workers march along 16th Street during a SEIU Local 1000 picket outside the CalHR building in Sacramento on July 22, 2026.
Fred Greaves
/
CalMatters
Labor & Employment
California’s biggest state worker union authorizes strike in Newsom’s last months
Lynn La
Demanding better pay and a more flexible work-from-home policy, state workers in SEIU Local 1000 voted to authorize a strike as the union negotiates with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Exterior of a data center with rooftop equipment, exposed pipes and large metal ducts in Silicon Valley, South San Francisco Bay Area, California.
Sundry Photography
/
stock.adobe.com
Politics & Government
Humboldt County pauses new data centers, but leaves an exception
Roman Battaglia
From left, Cameron Winklevoss and Richard Uihlein.
Photos via Noam Galai, Getty Images and Uline Corporate Video
Elections
Why are out-of-state billionaires funding a California voter ID measure?
Nadia Lathan
Artificial intelligence evaluators are increasingly called upon to audit powerful new models, including in legislation. Dreamforce conference attendees explore an agentic exhibit in San Francisco on Sept. 15, 2026.
Anna Hoch-Kenney
/
CalMatters
Science & Technology
‘Evaluators’ are supposed to keep AI from killing us all. No pressure
Khari Johnson
A screenshot from a recent campaign ad by Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton.
CalMtters
Elections
Republican Hilton’s ‘Just try it’ ad courts liberals — and angers his own base
Jeanne Kuang
MORE >