OPB

If you have garlic chives, regular chives, or onion grass in your yard, you might have noticed that it’s responding enthusiastically to all the warm, rainy weather. Why not dehydrate some for later? Once you have a jar of bright green powdered garlic chives kicking around the kitchen, you’ll want to sprinkle it on everything — popcorn and jojos are two obvious choices, but can you think of any other ways to use it? Let us know in the comments, and head to the link in the bio for this week’s #Superabundant non-recipe. #foodpreservation #springtime #spices #chives 📝 📸 by @heatherarndtanderson

With voting for Oregon’s 2026 primary election underway, you can rely on us to help you make informed voting decisions. OPB is a fully independent nonprofit news organization, and we’re committed to providing you with essential election coverage that is free of political and funder influence. That means you won’t find any political ads on our digital or broadcast platforms, or endorsements for candidates or ballot measures. 🗳️ Here are a few ways you can stay connected and informed with us this election season: - Use our ballot guide resource to find key information about the primary at opb.org/elections. - Follow our political reporting on opb.org, here on social media or by listening to OPB radio. - Get analysis from our OPB politics team on the “OPB Politics Now” podcast every week. - Stay up to date on important stories when you sign up for our email newsletter “First Look” at the link in our bio. - Send us tips and feedback anytime at [email protected]. Thanks to the generous support of our members, this critical coverage remains free from outside influence for our whole Northwest community. Learn more about how OPB is covering the 2026 primary election at the link in our bio. #insideopb

Portland Community College president Adrien Bennings will leave her post at the end of June, the PCC Board of Directors announced Thursday evening. Bennings will resign after four years leading Oregon’s largest community college, and two years before her contract is up. Under the separation agreement between Bennings and the board, she will receive $261,000 in salary, plus a $25,000 retention bonus and benefits for nine months. Bennings’ final day as president is a month and a half away on June 30, but as of Friday, May 15, she is on leave and not expected to return to work at the college before her official departure. Bennings’ resignation comes after a tumultuous time for the college. PCC was the site of Oregon’s first-ever community college strike. During the nearly three-week strike, students expressed frustration with Bennings’ actions and in the weeks before the strike, staff and student government each passed a vote of no confidence in Bennings’ leadership. Read more at the link in bio. 🖊️ Elizabeth Miller/OPB 📸 FILE - PCC President Adrien Bennings on campus in an undated photo. (Meerah Powell/OPB)

Eleven years ago, a rare, dead, 70-foot-long blue whale washed up on a beach in southern Oregon. It was malnourished and likely hit by a ship. Now, the skeleton of that whale is being installed at @oregonstate ’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. How do you turn a giant whale into a giant whale skeleton? It's not simple or quick. It started with submerging the body in Yaquina Bay for three years, where marine invertebrates and seawater cleaned the bones. Then the bones were shipped to Canada, where a team from @dinosaurvalleystudios spent 3 years preserving and articulating them. Now they're back in Newport, where a team is installing them over the weekend. Oregon State University is planning to hold a celebration to mark the completion of the blue whale's journey later this year. ✂️ by Cameron Nielsen/OPB ✏️ by Jes Burns/OPB 🎵 Courtesy of Audio Network

Drone dreams in Pendleton, Oregon's state fruit faces pests and documenting old apple trees — a weekly recap of stories from OPB you may have missed in the PNW. 🖊️✂️ by Joey Lovato/OPB 🖊️📹 by Jennifer Ng/OPB 🎨 by Frankie Benitez/OPB 📸 by Kristian Foden-Vencil / OPB, Jen Baires, Cassandra Profita/OPB 🎵 by Steven Kray/OPB & Joey Lovato/OPB #itsbeenaweek

Jesse Coon is a fourth-generation fisherman born and raised in Tillamook County. His great-grandfather moved to the area during World War II and fished for salmon out of Pacific City, back when they used rowboats with outboard motors. Last month when troll salmon season opened, Coon considered tying up his boat for a week until the season ramps up to save on fuel costs. Rising diesel prices are not just squeezing fishermen, but the fishing industry across the Pacific Northwest. It’s cutting into profits and adding new uncertainty to an already volatile business. Read more at the link in bio. 🖊️: Rachel Miller-Howard for OPB Pictured: Capt. Hank Slavens was out to sea for three days aboard the Nedian fishing for salmon. He says he spent $1,500 on fuel and his earnings were slim. Courtesy of Joe Bentley. Nedian deckhand Joe Bentley, left, and Capt.Hank Slavens stand with salmon barrels after they unloaded their catch in Garibaldi, Ore. on April 29, 2026. (Rachel Miller-Howard for OPB) Fisherman Jesse Coon unloads a catch from a recent fishing trip, at Garibaldi, Ore. on April 29, 2026. (Rachel Miller-Howard for OPB) Fisherman Jesse Coon holds up a Chinook salmon in Garibaldi, Ore. on April 29, 2026. (Rachel Miller-Howard for OPB)

Oregon Shakespeare Festival is staging a comeback for the 2026 season. 🎭 Wildfires and Covid almost sent the curtain crashing down on the well-loved festival. When Tim Bond became artistic director in 2023, OSF was in dire straits. Bond says OSF had to reduce the staff from 600 to 400 employees and make other budget cuts to save the 91-year-old organization. 📹 by Dan Evans/OPB ✂️ by J Jackson/OPB 🖊️ by Geneva Chin/OPB Additional footage provided by Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Footage of an arrest on Sunday in Clackamas County by a bystander shows a man being beaten by deputies and has circulated widely on social media. The incident was also captured on body cameras worn by the deputies and that footage was shared by the sheriff’s office. According to the man's mother, he was experiencing a mental health crisis. Find the full story and footage at the link in bio. 🖊️: Holly Bartholomew/OPB & Report for America 📸: Courtesy of Debi Olsen

Plans from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to draw down Detroit Lake to record-low levels to improve habitat for endangered fish have prompted lawsuits from nearby counties. In one lawsuit, Marion County is asking a judge to stop the drawdown until the federal agency finishes a report on how it could affect their water treatment systems. The cities of Albany and Millersburg also sued the Army Corps over their own drinking water concerns. Read more at the link in our bio. 🖊️ by Courtney Sherwood/OPB 📸 by Eli Imadali/OPB Pictured - The Detroit Dam operates as Detroit Lake sits at a low water level during its typical winter drawdown, in Detroit, Ore., on Dec. 6, 2025. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering a plan to gradually lower Detroit Lake to its lowest levels ever starting in the fall of 2026 in an effort to help threatened Chinook salmon swim downstream.

How should Pendleton address its growing homelessness crisis? That question has supercharged the Eastern Oregon city's council race in a place that sometimes has struggled to attract candidates at all. Five seats – a controlling portion of the council – all have multiple candidates this election season. Since city council candidates have to receive a majority of votes to win their seats, the local campaign season could extend past the May 19 primary and into November’s general election. Read more at the link in bio. 🖊️: Antonio Sierra/OPB 📸: Kathy Anney for OPB Pictured: A bike and trailer sit outside the Salvation Army building in Pendleton, Ore., on May 3, 2026, during Sunday lunch provided by Altrusa of Pendleton, a local community organization. Pendleton City Councilor Addison Schulberg waits on customers at the Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Co. on Pendleton's Main Street on May 3, 2026. Dance instructor and Pendleton City Council candidate Debbie Kishpaugh leads a dance rehearsal on May 5, 2026, at her Jr. Jam Dance Studio.

This week marks 40 years since the tragic loss of nine lives in what is still Mount Hood’s greatest climbing disaster. The team at "Oregon Field Guide" shares this tribute. You can learn more about climbing Oregon’s highest peak at the link in the bio. 🖊️✂️: Jule Gilfillan/OPB 📹: KGW Nick Fisher/OPB

Data centers and other large industrial power users in Oregon will soon pay more to access electricity through Portland General Electric. This comes after state utility regulators issued an order last week under Oregon’s POWER Act, which creates a new rate class for these large energy users requiring them to pay for their share of electricity usage. Before that law passed, PGE’s data center customers paid about 8 cents per kilowatt hour of electricity, while residential customers paid more than twice as much — closer to 20 cents per kWh, according to a state utility watchdog group. PGE has until June 3 to determine how these changes will affect its customers. Read more at the link in bio. 🖊️ Monica Samayoa/OPB 📸 FILE: A Portland General Electric substation in Sherwood, Ore., on March 17, 2026. PGE will soon start charging data centers more to reflect the costs they are imposing on the electrical grid. (Saskia Hatvany/OPB)