<p>Sometimes all you need to get through a given day is an unexpected ray of light in the form of a <a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/trending/2021/12/friendly-foul-mouthed-crow-befriends-entire-oregon-elementary-school-before-state-police-are-called-in.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cursing crow</a> (or raven) named Cosmo who befriended an entire Oregon elementary school.</p><br><p>On the latest episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, we chat with Lizzy Acker, reporter for the Oregonian and OregonLive. Acker talks about how she got the story, why it resonated so much and a lot more about Cosmo than could make it into print. </p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>

<p>This is episode four of Public Plea, a five-part series reported and produced by current and former University of Oregon journalists and professor Ed Madison.</p><br><p>We're sharing the five-part series here over the next few days. Subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts to get the episodes in your Beat Check feed.</p><br><p>Here's the <a href="https://www.publicplea.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Public Plea website.</a></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>

<p>This is episode four of Public Plea, a five-part series reported and produced by current and former University of Oregon journalists and professor Ed Madison.</p><br><p>We're sharing the five-part series here over the next few days. Subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts to get the episodes in your Beat Check feed.</p><br><p>Here's the <a href="https://www.publicplea.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Public Plea website.</a></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>

<p>This is episode three of Public Plea, a five-part series reported and produced by current and former University of Oregon journalists and professor Ed Madison.</p><br><p>We're sharing the five-part series here over the next few days. Subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts to get the episodes in your Beat Check feed.</p><br><p>Here's the <a href="https://www.publicplea.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Public Plea website.</a></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>

<p>This is episode two of Public Plea, a five-part series reported and produced by current and former University of Oregon journalists and professor Ed Madison.</p><br><p>We're sharing the five-part series here over the next few days. Subscribe anywhere you listen to podcasts to get the episodes in your Beat Check feed.</p><br><p>Here's the <a href="https://www.publicplea.net/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Public Plea website.</a></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>

Measure 11 and Oregon juvenilles

Episode 1 of Public Plea

Dozens of restaurants opened their doors in the past two years and are still standing – creating a business and winning customers in a pandemic and thriving in some cases despite the odds. So where does a hungry person go when there are so many great o...

Winter break is just around the corner. Then it will be 2022, somehow. Portland Public School teachers have a new year’s resolution: more time to prepare lessons, grade and help students falling behind. Their bosses say – not so fast.On the latest e...

[This is a rebroadcast of an episode from March]Nora the polar bear has lived a tough life, and the fact that she’s alive — and back in Portland at the Oregon Zoo — is a miracle of sorts. Nora’s story represents so much more than the life and strugg...

For millions of Oregonians, Thanksgiving 2020 was smaller than expected.But with widespread vaccination – and now booster shots – Delta subsiding, many families are getting back together and can feel safer about doing it.&nbsp;The CDC has some...

The conservative majority on Newberg’s school board tripled down last week on its controversial policy to ban so-called political symbols like the Pride Flag and Black Lives Matter from classrooms and campuses.&nbsp;The board voted 4 to 3 to oust...

One of the country’s most famous companies is expanding in Oregon, and one city is carrying the water, legally speaking. That town sued to the public from knowing key details about the company’s plans.I’m Andrew Theen and this is Beat Check with The...

The University of Oregon’s track and field program is one of the best in the world, and the school has pushed the limits for decades to help athletes trim their times, boost their throws and jumps and live up to Eugene’s Track Town USA nickname.But ...

Sometimes in journalism, it’s like pulling teeth trying to obtain records from public agencies. Other times, the state accidentally sends sensitive records to your email box. Then it’s decision time.Therese Bottomly, the editor of The Oregonian and ...

Oregon’s state run prisons have had some of the worst workplace outbreaks during the pandemic. Now as the clock ticks toward a key deadline where prison staff must be vaccinated, a large number of workers are not. The state’s top prison official is say...

Portland is on pace to shatter the record for most homicides in a calendar year. It’s a confluence of factors. People lost their lives in all corners of the city, and there is no clear consensus on how to address the crisis&nbsp;&nbsp;On the ...

Willamette Falls is one of Oregon's most impressive natural wonders, but chances are you've never seen it up close.That may eventually change.On the latest episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, travel and outdoor writer Jamie Hale (...

Perhaps nothing in our lifetimes has so universally affected humans than the coronavirus pandemic, and a new book from a Portland-based journalist has the ambitious goal of sharing&nbsp;more than two&nbsp;dozen&nbsp;stories from all around ...

--Students at Reynolds high school will be learning from home once again this week. Dozens of students have had to isolate so far for potential exposure on school buses in Portland and Lake Oswego.But all in all – students are back in classrooms and t...

The summer doldrums are here and fall is just around the corner – but some things don’t seem to change – Portland City Hall is filled with uncertainty and the mega project to expand I-5 through the rose quarter is once again filled with question marks....

Eighteen months into the pandemic, healthcare workers in hospitals and intensive care units in Oregon are still at it. They are tired, frustrated and feeling forgotten. It’s a tense time and unvaccinated Oregonians continue to show up at their doors, s...

It’s the first week of class for Portland public school students and many others around the state return in a matter of days. But the Delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading and most students are still unvaccinated. It’s an exciting and nerve-wracking t...

Public students are going back to school full-time in the coming days for the first time in 18 months. We figured this was worth a couple episodes of the podcast. My colleague, Julie Evensen, interviewed Dr. Whitney Casares, a Portland pediatrician, ab...

Beer is part of the culture in Oregon, and a year and a half into the pandemic, the renowned industry is tired, but still standing.&nbsp;Some big names are gone. Others expanded. And Beervana is once again seeing new businesses enter the crowded ...