At OPB, investigative reporting is at the heart of our mission to serve the public and strengthen and protect our democracy. Local news coverage in our region has diminished considerably over the years. Many journalism jobs in Oregon have disappeared, and today, a large portion of the remaining media outlets are controlled by companies based outside the state. OPB remains committed to holding powerful people and institutions accountable despite that decline. We are a nonprofit. We operate independently and rely on the support of community members to fund our work and keep it from being locked behind a paywall.
OPB also frequently partners with media outlets like ProPublica and InvestigateWest to bring broader accountability for the people of the Northwest. Got tips? Reach out to opbnews@opb.org or learn more about what we look for in news tips and our commitment to protecting whistleblowers on our tips page.
In interviews with OPB, former St. Helens High School students say teachers have crossed lines for decades. A teacher who allegedly had a sexual relationship with a student in the 1980s later represented state agencies responsible for protecting Oregon’s children and holding accountable those who abuse them.
In one of the fastest-growing areas of Oregon, the emergence of a locally-owned print newspaper seems like good news. But a close examination of Hoodview News shows something more complex.
The newly signed legislation follows reporting from Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica that underscored the risks and costs associated with a plan to migrate salmon past hydroelectric dams using a giant fish collector and tanker trucks.
The Ashland Daily Tidings — established as a newspaper in 1876 — ceased operations in 2023, but if you were a local reader, you may not have known because of an elaborate scam using artificial intelligence.
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Podcast
'Hush' is an investigative podcast from OPB, uncovering the buried truth about critical stories in the Pacific Northwest. In the first season, we look at the case of Jesse Lee Johnson, a Black man who lived for 17 years on Oregon’s death row for a crime he says he didn’t commit, and we try to understand why the state tried for so long to kill him.
Series
Oregon regulators are supposed to safeguard sustainable water supplies, but instead officials managing groundwater have fueled crises and inequities, leaving the state ill-prepared to meet the growing challenges of human-caused climate change and drought. Is it too late to stop a race to the bottom?
In Oregon’s Coast Range, mature forests can absorb more carbon per acre than almost any other on the planet. Yet logging here continues at a steady pace, putting the environment at risk.
New details from Skye Baskin's autopsy and interviews indicate that his medical emergency had started long before he arrived at the Oregon State Hospital.
Washington’s Yakama Nation received both a solar grant and a $100 million federal loan. Held up by a series of bureaucratic hurdles, the funding could expire before the government lets the tribal nation touch a dime.
The company that owns Sizzle Pie, Rudy’s Barbershop, See See Motor Coffee Co. and Bamboo Sushi is facing evictions and lawsuits.
The organizers of TwinRay moved to Southern Oregon in 2020, opened a store and started hosting retreats. They claim to offer enlightenment. Not everyone is convinced.
In 2020, Portland’s racial justice protests brought five women together over the shared interest of keeping their community safe. Two years later, their lives were torn apart when an enraged stranger opened fire on them at a park in Northeast Portland. The women’s stories provide a new perspective on a chaotic scene, illuminate cracks in the systems built to protect them and shine a light on the complex trauma that comes with surviving a targeted shooting.
Several women at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility who made allegations of sexual abuse to detectives never had their accounts considered by local prosecutors, raising questions about how seriously authorities took the case.