U.S. House Rep. Earl Blumenauer reflects on 50-year journey of leadership, advocacy, and transformation for Portland and beyond.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

During his time as mayor, Portland endured civil unrest, weather emergencies, wildfires, the COVID-19 shutdown and record-high homelessness, homicides and crime. In this episode of Straight Talk, Ted Wheeler reflects on his two-terms as Portland Mayor and talks where the city needs to fully revitalize.…

Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, the incumbent, narrowly beat Republican Joe Kent for Washington House District 3 in the November 2024 election.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

Senator Ron Wyden gives his stance on President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks so far and discusses how the proposed tariffs would affect Oregonians.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

Portland is a little over a month away from a major political reset. A whole new form of government will debut in January, with an expanded 12-member council, a city administrator redefined role for the city's mayor. The first person to take on the updated top job is Mayor-elect Keith Wilson, who was a guest on this week's episode of Straight Talk.…

A tentative picture of Portland's next city council formed quickly on election night, but while the roster of leading candidates hasn't changed in the days since, it also hasn't solidified. There are still only two projected winners as of late Friday afternoon, according to The Oregonian: Steve Novick in District 3 and Olivia Clark in District 4. T…

Two political analysts from both the Republican and Democratic party join on this episode of Straight Talk to breakdown what to expect Election Day.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

Two years ago, Oregon's congressional districts were redrawn, and former Happy Valley Mayor Lori Chavez-Deremer flipped the 5th district seat, which had been held by Democrats since 1997, for Republicans. Now she's trying to hold onto that seat, while Democrats are hoping Oregon state representative Janelle Bynum can flip it back.…

One of the most competitive races in the upcoming November election is the open seat for Oregon attorney general.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

Former Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Shannon Singleton are locked in battle for Multnomah County commissioner in District 2, covering North and Northeast Portland.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

The 2024 election is now a little more than a month away, and the candidates in Portland's mayoral race are entering the final stretch ahead of what will likely be the city's biggest-ever election in terms of the number of seats on the ballot. The winners will be the first to hold office under Portland's new form of government, with the new mayor i…

The winner of Portland's November 2024 mayoral election will become the first mayor under the city's new system of government in 2025, working with a professional city administrator to manage the city's executive functions and implement policy at the direction of a new 12-member city council.The race includes three of the four current city commissi…

Rep. Andrea Salinas and Republican Mike Erickson rematch for Oregon's 6th Congressional District includes parts of southwest Portland, Salem, Woodburn, Yamhill County, and Lake Oswego in Clackamas County.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

The general election is an historic one in Portland as it is the first time voters will pick elected leaders under the new city government — and voting system.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

September is Recovery Month, celebrating the recovery community and highlighting the importance of evidence-based treatment and recovery practices. Coincidentally, Sept. 1 is also the day that drug recriminalization takes effect in Oregon, following the passage of House Bill 4002, which rolls back a key provision of Measure 110, Oregon's 2020 drug …

The start of the new school year is just a week or two away, which means students across Oregon are likely dreading having to start setting early alarm clocks once again. School start times vary across the state, but a local group of students has begun pushing for a conversation about pushing those start times later into the morning — no earlier th…

From concerns over A.I. surveillance, Israeli athlete participation, climate and Olympic opposition, controversy mounts amid start to 2024 Paris Olympics Games.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

From the Portland Rose Festival and music festivals to the women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament, how events are helping Portland rebound.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

Oregon Dept. of Corrections Director Mike Reese said his main focuses are employee wellness, reducing recidivism, and addressing aging infrastructure and technology.Oleh Laural Porter, Mike Reese

With ranked-choice voting, voters will have the option to rank candidates in order of preference. It's a new system that largely came about as a more expansive way for voters to choose candidates and has largely been driven by dissatisfaction with the status quo both locally and nationally.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

With a larger bridge footprint proposed, the Interstate Bridge replacement could need to fully or partially acquire 176 parcels, including homes and businesses.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nicholas Kristof discusses the war in Gaza and possible implications on the U.S. presidential election.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

Pulitzer Prize Journalist Nicholas Kristof talks about his new book that details life on a farm in Yamhill County to becoming a daring reporter at the New York Times covering war.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

From peer support to partnerships with police, Portland is exploring several treatment options to solve its drug and addiction crisis.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

Two political analysts from both the Republican and Democratic party join on this episode of Straight Talk to breakdown which races in Oregon’s primary election are worth keeping an eye on. And, Andrew Hoan, president and CEO, of the Portland Metro Chamber joins as a special guest to discuss how the results could affect the Portland metro area.…

Oregon’s 5th Congressional District is one the most closely watched races in the nation as the winner of the general election could determine which political party controls the U.S. Congress.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

One of the most consequential and closely watched races coming up in Oregon's primary election heats up with accusations of outside money entering the race.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

How will the Oregon Health Authority deal some of the states biggest challenges from drug abuse to the behavioral health system — and lack of access to treatment.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

The guests of Oregon's Congress members at President Joe Biden's State of the Union address talk takeaways from his speech.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

This episode was recorded prior to the announcement that Day would be appointed permanent chief of Portland Police, which is why he is still referred to in the show as serving on an interim basis, and why he says he has not made any commitments yet when asked about staying in the role past June 2025.…

There's a new sheriff in town in Portland — or rather, three sheriffs over the past four years. And now for the first time in history, all three sheriff's in the city's tri-county area are women: Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell, Washington County Sheriff Caprice Massey and Clackamas County Sheriff Angela Brandenburg.All three she…

There's a new sheriff in town in Portland — or rather, three sheriffs over the past four years. And now for the first time in history, all three sheriff's in the city's tri-county area are women: Multnomah County Sheriff Nicole Morrisey O'Donnell, Washington County Sheriff Caprice Massey and Clackamas County Sheriff Angela Brandenburg. All three sh…

Coming this November, Portlanders will face many decisions on the ballot, including picking the city’s next city mayor. Whoever wins will become the first mayor under Portland's new system of government starting in January 2025. So far, there are three leading candidates in terms of money raised, and they're all current Portland City Commissioners:…

Central City Concern’s President and CEO Andy Mendenhall and Senior Director of Supportive Housing and Employment Sarah Holland join Straight Talk’s Laural Porter to discuss Portland’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis. The organization has been serving Portland for 45 years as an affordable housing developer and service provider.…

As foreign aid and border security remain as hot topics in U.S. Congress, Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives unveil a new funding bill to provide aid and security — one week after Speaker Mike Johnson rejected a similar bill. The $66.3 billion bipartisan package, titled the "Defending Borders, Defending Democracies …

The race for district attorney in Multnomah County in the 2024 election is stacking up to be one of the most important races, as crime and homicide rates have spiked in recent years. Nathan Vasquez, a career prosecutor and senior deputy district attorney, is running against his boss Mike Schmidt, who was elected as the district attorney in a lopsid…

While Portland leaders have touted recent progress on metrics like crime, new polling shows that many people in the metro area remain deeply pessimistic about their quality of life and how it compares to the area's cost of living. The polling comes from the Portland Metro Chamber, formerly known as the Portland Business Alliance. The group takes an…

Portlanders will face a large number of decisions on the ballot in November, but one of the most of important and consequential will be choosing the city's next mayor. Whoever wins will take office right when the city switches to a brand new form of government, one completely different from the one Portland has used for more than a century. The new…

Oregon’s 2024 legislative session got underway last Monday, tackling big state challenges like housing, homelessness and the drug crisis. On this week’s episode of Straight Talk, Gov. Tina Kotek stopped by to discuss her own bill that she hopes will make big gains on Oregon’s critical housing shortage, plus what she would like to see come out of ta…

While the race for Portland City Council has gained a lot of attention as the city transitions the form of government it has used for over a century. At Multnomah County, the four seats on the ballot, have high stakes too. Elected officials will have the responsibility of dealing with some the region's toughest challenges, like homelessness, behavi…

Portland is now less than a year away from abandoning the commission-style form of government that the city has used for more than a century. It's a dramatic change, and the plan that Portlanders approved in late 2022 gave the city only two years to prepare. With half of that time already gone, city leaders are racing against the clock to meet that…

Portland city commissioner Dan Ryan has announced that he will be run for City Council this year. As a longtime resident of North Portland, Ryan said he will be aiming for one of the three seats that will represent District 2 on the expanded 12-person council that will take over city governance at the start of 2025. Ryan is the first of the city's …

Four out of five Black Portlanders once lived in Albina, a portion of inner Northeast Portland that includes the Elliot, Boise, King, Humboldt, Overlook, Irvington and Piedmont neighborhoods, but many of those residents were displaced by the construction of Interstate 5, during which Black-owned homes and business were destroyed through eminent dom…

This week, Laural Porter sat down with two key figures organizing the project to replace the Interstate Bridge that links Oregon and Washington. Unlike the last time this happened, the project is making slow but steady progress and appears to have much of the necessary funding lined up. Construction is expected to begin in late 2025.…

U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas is nearing the end of her first year in Congress representing Oregon's 6th Congressional District, and she called in to this week's episode of Straight Talk from Washington DC to talk about the ups and downs of her first term so far. Salinas won the first election for the newly-created district in November 2022 after previo…

When Oregon legalized recreational cannabis use eight years ago, people flocked from all over the country to either use it for themselves or get in on the ground floor of the burgeoning business. Today cannabis is a billion-dollar industry, producing hundreds of millions of tax dollars each year for state coffers. Oversaturation remains a big probl…

On this week's Straight Talk, KGW's Ashley Korslien speaks to three experts about how to identify domestic violence and access resources for victims.Oleh Laural Porter/KGW

When students of Portland State University head back to class on Tuesday, there will be a new leader at the helm of Portland's public research university, located right in the heart of the city. PSU's board of trustees voted unanimously to name Dr. Ann Cudd the university's 11th president. She takes over from former president Stephen Percy, who ret…

Portland is about to switch to an entirely new form of government, following a charter reform plan that voters approved last November. The transformation won't happen in earnest until January 2025, when the winners of the November 2024 election will take office as the first mayor and city councilors under the new system. But there's an enormous amo…

Portland's 2024 election is likely to be the busiest in recent memory. The city council is expanding from four commissioners to 12 councilors, and every one of those seats will be up for grabs at the same time. The mayor's office will be on the ballot as well, and whoever wins will become the first mayor under Portland's new system of government st…