Liam Moriarty

The walk-outs staged by outnumbered Senate Republicans to stop legislation they opposed during the just-concluded session of the Oregon Legislature left a particularly bad taste in the mouths of many Democrats. Freshman senator Jeff Golden held a press conference in Medford Tuesday afternoon to discuss the session.

The Trump Administration has withdrawn the previous administration’s support for the removal of four dams on the Klamath River in Southern Oregon and Northern California. 

Fifty years ago today, on May 21st, 1969, Jefferson Public Radio’s flagship station KSOR signed on the air for the first time.

JPR News Director Liam Moriarty recently sat down with JPR Executive Director Paul Westhelle to share some reflections – and some archival audio -- from our past half-century. 

Thanks to former JPR executive director Ron Kramer and former program director and current Jefferson Exchange producer John Baxter who helped with this story.

Many Oregon educators say their public schools are in crisis after decades of inadequate state funding. The teachers’ union is organizing one-day walk-outs and other actions across the state Wednesday. They want to bring attention to the issue and pressure the state legislature to pass an ambitious school funding bill.

But there’s a good chance that bill will already be passed and on its way to the governor’s desk for signature by the time they hold their rallies and marches. 

The State of Oregon has told the Jordan Cove liquid natural gas project that the state needs a lot more information before it could issue a key permit. 

UPDATED: Friday, April 12, 10:00 a.m. -- President Donald Trump has signed a pair of executive orders meant to ease the development of gas and oil pipeline projects. The orders could have implications for a controversial gas pipeline proposal in Southern Oregon. 

Three related cases of measles have been reported in Northern California. Health officials are moving quickly to try to contain the infection. 

For 12 years, Artistic Director Bill Rauch led Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Festival in a direction that has made OSF one of America’s best-known and most-respected regional theaters.

Rauch’s newly-named successor, Nataki Garrett, hopes to build on that legacy. She also hopes to help bring new stability to an organization that’s facing a range of challenges.

JPR’s Liam Moriarty caught up with Garrett by phone in Philadelphia, where she's working on the production of a new play.

Federally designated wilderness areas are strictly protected. So it raised eyebrows last summer when fire managers brought bulldozers and other heavy equipment into wilderness areas to fight wildfires in Southern Oregon and Northern California. JPR’s Liam Moriarty visited a wilderness area in the Klamath National Forest, to get a look.  

An ambitious bill meant to curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon got a hearing in Medford over the weekend. Members of a joint legislative committee listened as supporters and detractors of the legislation made their cases.

The Holly Theatre in Medford, built in 1930, was southern Oregon’s first true movie palace. Over the decades, it fell into disrepair and was once scheduled for demolition. Now, an eight-year effort to restore the theater to its former glory has taken a big leap.

The latest chapter in the long-running dispute over how to manage water in the Klamath Basin is playing out in northern California communities. 

The Jordan Cove liquid natural gas project has been kicking around in Oregon for more than a decade. The plan to build an export terminal and pipeline in the southwest part of the state was shot down by federal regulators in 2016, but it resurfaced under the Trump Administration. A final federal decision on the project could come by the end of the year.

Projects like this are huge and complex and there are a lot of moving parts. So, where does it stand? JPR's Liam Moriarty spoke with OPB environment reporter Jes Burns to get an update. 

With term limits looming, Kate Brown can't run for Oregon governor again. 

Which means she's got most of four years left to press for the programs she wants to see in Oregon state government, without having to stop for an election. 

The legislature is just getting started on its all-important budget-making session, and the governor is touring the state making the case for her priorities. 

A panel of state and local fire officials told the audience at a forum in Medford Thursday night that the longer, more intense wildfire seasons the region has been experiencing are not going away anytime soon. 

Rising housing costs and lingering effects of the Great Recession are making it increasingly hard for many people to find an affordable place to live. Officials in Medford held a community meeting Tuesday evening to discuss the problem and possible solutions.