Chuks Ndive started playing soccer (“it’s football,” he laughed) when he was just a kid in Nigeria.

“ Right from when I could walk, I started playing football,” he said. “So that’s over three decades now.”

In kindergarten, he broke his arm during a game, but even that – and his parents’ worries – couldn’t keep him away. Now, he and some friends get together every Saturday to play soccer in Pasco.

“ I love the excitement,” Ndive said. “I love the sense of unity. You have people from everywhere. We don’t need to be talented. We don’t need to be very skilled. Just show up, have the passion, and interact with people. So I love the sense of belonging, the togetherness it fosters.”

That togetherness was a big goal of the inaugural Tri-Cities World Relief Cup on Saturday. World Relief is a Christian organization that helps resettle and support refugees.

Organizers said they hoped to offer people something fun and joyful to mark World Refugee Day, which officially takes place on June 20.

The refugees World Relief helps out have been displaced for a variety of reasons, like violence or natural disasters in their home countries. With recent ICE deportations, many people are scared, said Steve Vollmer, who directs the Tri-Cities arm of World Relief.

“There are a lot of people who don’t want to leave their house. There are a lot of people who don’t wanna go in crowded areas,” Vollmer said.

With that in mind, organizers didn’t promote the event heavily ahead of time. Still, eight teams turned out for the 7-on-7 soccer tournament in Pasco. Family members and friends cheered from the sidelines.

Some teams had practiced for the tournament for months. A few teams hoped a league could eventually start up. But that’ll take some time and organization, Vollmer said.

The teams played in brackets, each game consisting of 20-minute halves and a five-minute halftime. Like the World Cup, the tournament used a point system.

“ We have a couple of just recreational teams, and then the rest are like really excited to win,” Vollmer said.

People from all different countries passed the ball back and forth. French, Dari, and Spanish could be heard from the sidelines. Interpreters lined the field to help.

But, Ndive said, they were all speaking the language of soccer.

“I don’t know the language they’re speaking, could be Spanish, could be anything. But we know what it means. It means, ‘Hey, go for the ball. Hey, run over there,” Ndive said. “You don’t need to speak the language.”

You just need to have fun and play, he said. And part of that fun was scoring the first goal for his team, the Indomitable Lions, he said, smiling.

The Lions ended up winning the tournament, earning each team member a medal.

Vollmer said that while this might be the first World Relief Cup, he thinks the tournament will only get bigger in the years to come.

Courtney Flatt is a reporter with Northwest Public Broadcasting.

This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains, and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

If you’ve ever hiked in native Palouse or Camas prairies, you may have spotted wildflowers with bright yellow blossoms.

Rough goldenweed and Palouse goldenweed, two related plants native to the Northwest, are named for the color of their yellow blooms.

Rough goldenweed is often found south of the Clearwater River in Idaho, in Washington, and in some parts of Oregon. Palouse goldenweed is found farther north in Palouse prairieland in Washington and Idaho.

Now, the Center for Biological Diversity is petitioning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to add both to the Endangered Species Act list.

Most of the remaining habitat for those native plants is on small sections of private land, said Gwendolyn McManus, a staff scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

“ They’re only found in the bunchgrass prairies of the Pacific Northwest, most of which has been lost because it was converted to agriculture,” she said.

According to the organization’s petition for Palouse goldenweed, only about 0.1% of the plant’s habitat type may remain today. Remnants of its populations are often found where the land is too steep or rocky to farm.

That federal protection would add an extra layer of consideration when decisions about public land use or road projects are made. But McManus said right now, the timeline for a species to be listed is over a decade.

“Just because the Fish and Wildlife Service has lost a lot of funding, and a lot of the staff that they need to actually do their jobs,” she said.

She said the petition also increases awareness among landowners and the public.

One of the biggest threats to native plants is invasive species like cheatgrass and Russian Thistle. One thing everyone can do to protect native plants, McManus said, is clean their shoes and gear before a hike.

“One of the most common ways that invasive plant species are introduced into new habitats is on people’s hiking boots,” she said.

The petition was filed thanks to the work of local botanists who brought the wildflowers to the organization’s attention.

“There are thousands upon thousands of species that are probably at risk of extinction,” McManus said. “It’s impossible for us to know about all of them, so we rely on the experts to bring them to us.”

The wildflowers play an important role in pollination, help move nutrients, and aerate soil, McManus said.

“Pollinators rely on having a constant resource of flowering plants, so each plant that blooms in a different window of time is providing a unique resource for those pollinators,” she said.

Rachel Sun is a reporter with Northwest Public Broadcasting.

This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

Advocates believe Asian American households in the Eugene, Springfield area may again be targeted by organized burglars.

The warning comes about a month after prosecutors said they had made significant progress disrupting an organized burglary ring that had been targeting Asian American households and business owners.

Local Police and federal law enforcement arrested seven people linked to a larger burglary ring that was targeting Asian American business owners and households last fall. Police said dozens of Asian American families across Washington and Oregon were singled out because of their race.

In a press release Wednesday, leaders from the Asian American Council of Oregon said they’d been told by local law enforcement that there had been an increase in organized burglary activity targeting Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander households.

Eugene Police sent out their own warning last week, saying they had received information that similar crimes had recently occurred in two other Oregon cities.

7 arrested in burglary targeting Asian American household in Eugene

Jenny Jonak, President of the AACO, said the repeated targeting has made many local Asian American families feel frustrated and unsafe.

“Despite the arrests, despite prosecutions, despite the public meetings and the repeated warnings, these burglaries are still continuing and there doesn’t seem to be an end to that pattern of targeting Asian-American households,” she said.

She urged people across the region to be vigilant on behalf of their neighbors and call police if they see anything suspicious.

“Making connections with your neighbors, checking in on them, making sure that things are as they look like they’re supposed to be,” Jonak said. “That can be really helpful and it also helps people feel secure and that they’re a valuable part of the community.”

She said those that have already been targeted, or are worried they might be, can contact the Asian American Council of Oregon anonymously for assistance.

In their warning, Eugene police urged the public to entrust cash and valuables to financial institutions where they can be kept in safety deposit boxes. They also asked those with surveillance systems to consider hardwired video equipment, which is harder to use technology to disrupt.

Those involved in the burglary ring have been known to pose as delivery drivers or construction workers. Police urged neighbors to keep an eye out for unfamiliar people in neighborhoods when no work is going on, or people watching a home or business that seem suspicious.

Rebecca Hansen-White is a reporter with KLCC. This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

It was a sweltering Saturday evening in Passaic County, in Northern New Jersey, when a team of about 60 kids took to the soccer field, flushed and dripping sweat. For these young athletes training just a short commute from the FIFA NY/NJ Stadium, the sport is an outlet for big dreams and big emotions.

“I’m telling you, without soccer the world has no meaning,” said Taim Nadin, during a quick water break.

“Without soccer in life there’s nothing. If I didn’t play soccer, I’d be nothing, right?”

It’s a heavy sentiment for a 13-year-old, but one shared by many of the players here, who train as Palestino Soccer Academy, a youth club built around Northern New Jersey’s large Palestinian-American community.

Coach Omar Abdulaziz said the club, which now serves children of all backgrounds, began three years ago as a way to teach about soccer in Palestinian culture and address the impact the conflict in Gaza was having on some of the kids.

“We could hear their frustrations, they were emotionally unwell,” said Abdulaziz in Spanish. He could relate, having moved from the West Bank to Puerto Rico as a teenager in the 1980s.

“Soccer, to us, is a moment to disconnect, a moment of tranquility, a moment to detach from the suffering of reality,” he explained.

The Palestinian national soccer team did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup. In Gaza, training and playing has been made impossible. Palestinian officials told NPR that 90% of the sports infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed, and 450 people involved in the sport, including athletes, coaches, referees, and soccer officials, have been killed in Israeli attacks.

The boys in New Jersey have found other teams and star players to root for, especially Lamine Yamal, the 18-year-old striker for Spain.

“When he gets on the pitch he forgets about everything and just focuses on the game, on the players, on how they play,” rhapsodized 14-year-old Obaida Al Amleh.

It’s not just Yamal’s sportsmanship that these kids admire. Yamal, the child of immigrants to Spain, recently took a vocal stance about anti-Muslim chants at Spanish soccer games, and when his club, FC Barcelona, won Spain’s La Liga championship in Spain last month, the star player waved a Palestinian flag during the celebratory parade. The video went viral, and photos of the moment live on as wallpaper on many of the New Jersey boys’ cellphones.

“I thought it was very special for the people who are going through the worst right now,” said Obaida, who was born in the West Bank and spent part of his childhood there. He says five of his close family friends were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The day he got the news, Obaida remembers, there was no official soccer practice scheduled, but he needed to work out his emotions on the field.

“You can ball in the pitch, or you can bawl at home, I guess,” he said.

So he called up some teammates and “we just came here, and balled out. We just kept playing and playing for hours straight.”

It’s always on his mind, he said, but soccer helps him process.

NPR’s Anas Baba contributed to this report from Gaza.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has accused President Trump of fabricating a story that she “begged” him for a photo at the G7 summit, in a stunning public break between the two leaders once considered allies.

“Donald Trump’s statements are completely fabricated. I am frankly stunned,” Meloni said in a video posted on X Friday. “I don’t ‌know why ⁠the president of the United States behaves like this toward his own allies. After all, it is not the first time.”

She added: “I can only say it’s a shame he doesn’t show the same resolve toward with the enemies of the West and toward the enemies of the United States — toward leaders with whom he, on the other hand, is much more accommodating. But there is one thing he should remember: Italy and I do not beg.”

Meloni was responding to comments Trump allegedly made during a phone interview with an Italian journalist. NPR has not been able to independently verify what Trump said.

Italian television broadcaster La7 aired a dubbed version of the interview and Italian politicians have been reacting to it. According to La7’s Italian translation, Trump said that Meloni was likely happy he talked to her and “begged” to have their picture taken together.

Trump and Meloni had just wrapped up the three-day political summit in Evian, France, where they held a number of photo ops together.

The journalist who conducted the interview, Daniele Compatengelo, did not immediately respond to NPR’s request to hear the original recording. La7 has only released a dubbed Italian translation of the audio, making independent verification of Trump’s exact words in English impossible.

The White House did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment on the issue and the accuracy of Trump’s quotes.

But the Italian government is pushing back forcefully.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he was canceling a planned trip to the U.S. this weekend, calling the alleged comments “serious and offensive” to all of Italy.

Across Italy, politicians on all sides rallied around Meloni.

“Whoever attacks Giorgia Meloni attacks all of us,” Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini said on X.

Even Meloni’s political opponents came to her defense.

Matteo Renzi, a center-left former prime minister, called Trump’s statements “horrifying, as always” — adding a pointed jab at the far-right Meloni, that she had “finally” noticed too.

In a lengthy post on X, Renzi called on Meloni to abandon her ties to Trump and said “the global right has failed.”

Meloni, who took office in 2022 as Italy’s first female prime minister, was once seen as one of Trump’s strongest allies in Europe. She was the only European Union leader invited to Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025.

But their relationship started to fracture in April, when Trump began attacking Pope Leo XIV on social media after the pontiff condemned U.S. military action in Iran.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, adding, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

Meloni then called Trump’s attacks “unacceptable.”

Trump shot back at Meloni, telling the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: “I thought she had courage, but I was wrong.”

AP contributed to this report.

Iran’s military said it has closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to Israel’s latest strikes in Lebanon, even as Iranian and U.S. negotiators prepare to meet Sunday in Switzerland for talks.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, denied the claim that the strait was closed, leaving a key piece of the freshly signed Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries up in the air.

On Saturday Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the strait closed, according to state-controlled Iranian media, citing what it called “the explicit breach of the first clause of the post-war memorandum of understanding by the United States” and the latest exchange of fire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Iran’s state broadcaster Press TV reported the IRGC Navy was warning all vessels to “absolutely refrain from any movement in the Strait of Hormuz until further notice.”

But U.S. Central Command said shipping through the strait was proceeding normally, insisting on social media that 55 commercial vessels had completed the transit successfully, carrying more than 17 million barrels of oil, and that “safe passage through the international waterway remained intact.” The U.S. added that its forces remained “present and vigilant” to ensure all terms of the agreement with Iran were being honored. Even with this disagreement over the vital waterway, both nations appear to be proceeding toward the next phase of diplomatic talks.

Vice President Vance confirmed Saturday morning on Fox News that presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and former senior White House adviser Jared Kushner had already arrived in Switzerland. “Jared and Steve have been on the ground now for a few hours dealing with some of the technical elements of this negotiation,” Vance told Fox and Friends, adding that full talks could begin “as soon as tomorrow.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if Vance, who was scheduled to travel to Switzerland for Friday’s talks before they were postponed, would attend Sunday’s meeting.

Meanwhile an Iranian state-controlled news agency said Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi would also travel to Switzerland to “follow up on the implementation” of the MoU signed by Washington and Tehran. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the location and timing of what it called “technical-level” talks, in the Swiss resort town of Bürgenstock, adding that Pakistani and Qatari mediators would be participating alongside the U.S. and Iranian representatives.

The stakes for these talks are considerable.

A 2015 agreement between the U.S. and Iran brokered under the Obama Administration, the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, took almost two years to negotiate and placed hard limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for international sanctions relief.

The first Trump administration withdrew from it unilaterally in 2018. Years of diplomatic dead-ends followed, including indirect talks via the Omanis and again in Geneva earlier this year, before a joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign launched against Iran in late February.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed this week does not involve other nations, as did the JCPOA, but commits both countries to 60 days of talks, which could be extended, on a final nuclear agreement, with significant incentives for Tehran including reconstruction funds and eventual sanctions relief.

Lebanon conflict remains a potential dealbreaker

The more immediate threat to this broader peace process are events in Lebanon. Israeli forces and Hezbollah exchanged heavy fire throughout Saturday, hours after a ceasefire announced Friday appeared to — very briefly — take hold. The Lebanese National News Agency reported strikes on the southern town of Nabatiyeh and surrounding villages killed at least 16 people, with civilians among the dead.

Israel’s military said Hezbollah fired more than 50 projectiles at its forces overnight who were operating in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah said it was responding to Israeli advances toward Lebanese territory and insisted it remains committed to any genuine ceasefire.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah signed the U.S.-Iran MoU, though the agreement explicitly calls for a halt to military operations in Lebanon and respect for Lebanese sovereignty — a provision Iran says the United States is obligated to enforce.

Talks originally scheduled for Friday in the Swiss resort town were postponed because of the fighting in Lebanon.

Officials are investigating a fire that broke Thursday evening at a family farm and event venue in Molalla, Oregon.

Fire crews responded to a rapidly escalating fire at the Coleman Ranch, located at 15151 S. Feyrer Park Rd., after receiving reports of a hay barn filling with smoke.

Officials with the Molalla Fire District say conditions quickly deteriorated when they arrived at the barn just before 7 p.m. Thursday. A fourth-alarm fire — meaning a severe emergency that requires a huge deployment of resources — broke out within a few minutes.

While there were no injuries of civilians reported, three firefighters were transported to a nearby hospital where they were evaluated for minor injuries.

Crews remained on scene for several hours to contain and prevent the fire from spreading. The scene was later turned over to Coleman Ranch for continued monitoring, according to officials. The barn appears to be a total loss.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Good morning, Northwest.

Did you have a chance to swim in the Willamette River over the Juneteenth holiday? If so, you may have benefited from the work of someone OPB’s Jenn Chávez recently spoke with: Willie Levenson, the founder and executive director of the advocacy group Human Access Project. Through years of advocacy, Levenson has helped make the river more accessible and inviting for recreation.

Juneteenth celebrations took place across Oregon and Southwest Washington yesterday. Did you attend one? OPB’s Bryce Dole visited the celebration at Vance Park in Gresham to learn more about what the holiday means to community members.

Here’s your First Look at Saturday’s news.

— Winston Szeto

Top story

Willamette River recreation advocate Willie Levenson retires

For those choosing to plunge into the Willamette River this weekend, they have one man to thank: Willie Levenson.

Levenson is the founder, executive director and ringleader for the Human Access Project, the advocacy organization with the goal to change Portland’s relationship with its river.

Levenson has been with the organization since its inception in 2010. He’s pushed for urban beaches and swimming docks, held community events, and more.

After almost two decades, Levenson is set to retire at the end of the month.(Rolando Hernandez)

Learn More

3 things to know

1. People are gathering across the Pacific Northwest this weekend to mark Juneteenth, which commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. A celebration in Gresham yesterday drew hundreds of attendees.(Bryce Dole)
2. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has declined an invitation to debate Sen. Christine Drazan, her Republican challenger in this fall’s election, in Salem on July 24. Kotek, a Democrat, has challenged Drazan to at least three other debates in Medford, Portland and Eugene.(Bryce Dole)
3. Central Oregon’s transit system has launched a seasonal shuttle service to help floaters, cyclists and other recreationists reach popular trailheads and river runs without a car.(Kathryn Styer Martínez)

Northwest headlines

• Portland City Council begrudgingly adopts $8.5 billion budget (Alex Zielinski)
• Hillsboro mayor’s absence looms large in heated data center discussions (Holly Bartholomew)
• Bend approves fee on new homes with gas appliances (Kathryn Styer Martínez)
• WSU-Vancouver faculty, staff anxiously await details of 15% budget cuts (Tiffany Camhi)
• Portland’s outdoor public pools are now open (Alex Zielinski)
• A popular Oregon coastal bike route gets an updated map (Rachael McDonald, KLCC)
• Oregon’s ancient landslides store lots of carbon, UO study shows (April Ehrlich)

One more look

Oregon welcomes pro softball with sold-out crowd in Hillsboro

The Portland Cascade, Oregon’s new professional softball team, played their first home game Thursday night, treating the sold-out crowd to a 3-0 win over the Oklahoma City Spark.

Pitcher Sam Landry led the Cascade to the shutout victory as the crowd — filled with area youth softball teams — coordinated chants for the new team.

After the game, Landry told reporters her teammates will not take any minute of the short season for granted. Instead, they’re building a culture that celebrates growth and fosters inclusiveness.

The team is starting play as support for women’s sports in Portland and Oregon has hit a fever pitch.(Kyra Buckley)

Learn More

Subscribe to OPB’s First Look to receive Northwest news in your inbox six days a week.

This Juneteenth holiday weekend Portland is expected to have sunny days and high temperatures. Many people will likely be looking for ways to cool off, including by taking a swim.

For those choosing to plunge into the Willamette River this weekend, they have one man to thank: Willie Levenson.

Levenson is the founder, executive director and ringleader for the Human Access Project, the advocacy organization with the goal to change Portland’s relationship with its river.

Levenson has been with the organization since its inception in 2010. He’s pushed for urban beaches and swimming docks, held community events, and more. After almost two decades, Levenson is set to retire at the end of the month. He joined OPB’s “Think Out Loud” to discuss his accomplishments, departure and the future of the organization as he steps down.

Responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Proudest moments

“There’s no better feeling for me than to go to any of these places that we’ve helped shape on the water’s edge and see people loving it. That’s really just very powerful for me. When I started the work, I just imagined one day that people would never be able to remember when you didn’t swim in the river.

“When people see that the river is an asset with value for them personally, then suddenly they treat it differently. We spearheaded the first public beach in 100 years, Poets Beach. In 2022, we worked with [Portland] Parks and Recreation to designate six swimming areas on the Willamette, we removed 150 tons of concrete, 300 derelict piles and raised $1.2 million to replace the Cathedral Park dock.

“Duckworth Dock, that’s become an iconic swimming place in Portland. It took us six years of work to get permission to add eight swim ladders that took less than four hours to install. That is the grind of bureaucracy, but now we have this world-class swim dock.”

Work ahead for the organization

“From here, all of these places that we’ve started, it’s gonna be an opportunity to build them out even more. And as far as we’ve come with our culture change work, we’re nowhere near our ceiling in terms of our reach and being able to connect more people with the river.”

On retirement

“I’m looking forward to being an observer and not being the adult in the room. I’d say the hardest thing about choosing to leave is I still do want to make myself available to people who are trying to do good and just kind of take these skills that I’ve learned to navigate bureaucracy and help people do what they want quicker, and be smarter with their time. I hope I have a chance to mentor some people and pass this knowledge that I’ve developed.

The first Splashdown of the season will be on June 26 at Audrey McCall Beach, celebrating the city’s growing river recreation culture.

Willie Levenson spoke to “Think Out Loud” guest host Jenn Chávez. You can listen to the full conversation here.

Just in time for summer, there is a newly updated Oregon Coast Bike Route map.

“This route is incredibly popular,” said Ian Davidson, Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager with the Oregon Department of Transportation. “We get requests from all across the country, and folks from all across the world come to Oregon to ride this route.”

Davidson said this is the first update to the map in about a decade. It includes new route changes and helpful information for cyclists.

“For example, we encourage people to bike from north to south because of the prevailing winds,” he said. “That may not be something that you realize right from the get-go if you’re not familiar with the coast and the wind patterns during peak riding season.”

Most of the route is along coastal Highway 101 from Astoria to the California border.

Davidson said the map offers safety information and reminders about state law. He said Oregon’s safe passing law requires drivers to slow down and wait until it’s safe to pass a cyclist, giving them plenty of room.

He said to be mindful of people out on the road, whether they’re cycling, walking, or driving.

On June 11, there’s an event at the state capitol in Salem to unveil the new map and celebrate the 55th anniversary of Oregon’s “Bike Bill.”

The bill requires all governments in Oregon to build bicycle and pedestrian assets whenever there is a construction, reconstruction, or relocation of a road or street.

People can pick up physical copies of the new map at the event. They’re also available online at oregoncoastbikeroute.com.

Rachael McDonald is a reporter with KLCC.

This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.

It is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit our journalism partnerships page.

When it comes to carbon storage, trees get a lot of attention. But researchers are now finding carbon trapped in unusual places, including ancient landslides.

Scientists at the University of Oregon co-led a study modeling how much carbon is stored in landslides along the Oregon Coast. There are nearly 10,000 landslides across the region, ranging in age from 4 to 480,000 years old. It turns out that these mixtures of rock and soil hold onto much more carbon than scientists initially thought.

The findings could help other researchers understand how mountainous areas mitigate climate change by keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. And that understanding could inform carbon markets, in which businesses earn financial incentives by conserving areas that hold onto or absorb carbon.

“When there’s an opportunity to think about carbon as a commodity, we are going to need this information,” said Josh Roering, professor of earth science at University of Oregon.

A giant Oregon wildfire shows the limits of carbon offsets in fighting climate change

Landslides are made up of rocks, plants and soil. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to build their stems, leaves and roots. When they decompose, they become the organic material contained in soil, and that soil continues to hold onto carbon.

The more dense soil is with nutrients, the more carbon it can store.

But carbon storage in soil isn’t Roering’s area of focus, so it wasn’t what he was looking for when he initially set out on this research. He specializes in geomorphology, the study of landforms and the processes that shape them.

“This is one thing that is really fun about science,” Roering said. “A lot of the most interesting discoveries you make are ones that you didn’t set out to answer at the beginning, you just sort of happened upon.”

Roering has been studying landslides in western Oregon since the 1990s. Since then, he has focused on studying what triggered these massive deposits.

To see if Oregon’s landslides happened around the same time, Roering and his colleagues looked at the trees killed during those landslides. By measuring tree rings, they could determine roughly when each landslide occurred.

That’s when they noticed that the soil and rocks in these landslides were much more rich with nutrients than they originally thought.

“And it just happened that my student, Brooke [Hunter], came around and she got really interested in this,” Roering said. “And so we looked at this interface between the soil carbon world and our world of geomorphology.”

So Roering and Hunter, a doctoral student in his lab, used an auger to drill into a handful of landslides along the Oregon Coast. They found that the older a landslide was, the more dense its soil, the more carbon it held onto.

Their results showed how scientists have dramatically underestimated how much carbon landslides can hold. They used that information to extrapolate how much carbon all of Oregon’s documented landslides are holding onto, based on age.

Forested swamps on the Northwest coast are some of the biggest carbon storehouses around, research finds

Hunter is now an assistant professor at Appalachian State University. Roering hopes to build off this research by doing similar research in mountainous areas where landslides haven’t occurred.

Their peer-reviewed study was published June 12 in the journal Science Advances.

Hundreds of people gathered in Vance Park in Gresham on Friday to celebrate Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.

Despite the mid-June heat, attendees came together from across the region. For many, the holiday served as a joyous reminder of the resolve among Black Americans who come together to build community, remember their history and chart a path forward.

“It feels like freedom,” said Anisa Ali, who works for a social services nonprofit. “It feels like we still have hope. We still have roots. We’re creating them for not only ourselves but for our children and the future generation.”

Juneteenth celebrates the day in 1865 when, more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, word finally reached the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, that they were free.

Juneteenth only recently became a state and federal holiday. This weekend, people throughout the Pacific Northwest will be coming together for parades, block parties, bike rides and even a rodeo.

The event in Gresham was hosted by Multnomah County REACH, a government health program. Attendees hugged their friends, danced to R&B music, lounged in lawn chairs and enjoyed a stepping and dancing performance from Rose City Pep Academy.

They walked among vendors who sold clothes, food and plants and raised awareness for a wide range of issues. Children played on a playground, kicked soccer balls, got haircuts and ate free barbecue: ribs, salmon, beans, greens and more.

For Sudi Nur, a manager with the Center for African Immigrants and Refugees Organization, the gathering was special: “It means community. It means love.”

“A lot of the time, we don’t have spaces where you feel like you belong,” said Nur. “Just having something that is dedicated today, where all the history and everything to have to celebrate is an amazing day.”

Many consider Juneteenth an opportunity to mark progress for Black communities. Still, the celebrations come at a pivotal moment.

An April U.S. Supreme Court ruling weakened the landmark Voting Rights Act by holding that Louisiana lawmakers broke the law when they used race to help draw up a voting map for a majority-Black district. Critics contend the ruling could suppress Black political power by allowing Republicans to gerrymander voting districts to maintain power in Congress.

But in Gresham — one of Oregon’s most racially diverse areas — the ruling wasn’t dominating conversations. Instead, people like Charles Hysaw, a retired City Hall receptionist, were using the occasion to pass down lessons to the younger generation.

“Freedom is just one of those things you don’t take for granted,” he said.

Standing beside Hysaw was his grandson.

“Today’s been really special to me because my grandpa brought me here, brought me out of the house, and opened me up to a whole community that I didn’t know about,” said Isaiah Worthen. “I just feel like I’m a new person because I’m being opened up to new stuff that I never knew about.”

Here are some places to celebrate the holiday this weekend:

Portland

• The Juneteenth Oregon Festival and Clara People’s Freedom Trail Parade will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday at King Elementary School. The parade will continue down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and end at Lillis-Albina Park. The free event will include stage performances, guest speakers, music, vendors, and activities for kids. Learn more
• The 8 Seconds Rodeo is a Black rodeo that will return to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Sunday. The event, which will include elite riders, vendors, and more, will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are required. Learn more

Lake Oswego

• A Juneteenth celebration will be held at Lakeridge Middle School at 1 p.m. on Friday. The free event will include poetry, music, vendors, speeches and more. Learn more

Tigard

• The Juneteenth Freedom Day celebration will be held at Cook Family Park at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The free event will feature food, drinks, performers and other activities. Learn more

Vancouver

• The Juneteenth Freedom Celebration will be held at Esther Short Park at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The event will include live music, art and vendors. Learn more

Milwaukie

• A Juneteenth celebration, which will include music, free food, free face painting and other activities, will be held at Scott Park at 11 a.m. on Saturday. Learn more

Bend

• The Open Space event studio is hosting a Juneteenth event at 2 p.m. on Saturday. It will feature food, a cake walk, drinks and more. Learn more

Medford

• A Juneteenth celebration will be held at Pear Blossom Park at 11 a.m. on Saturday. There will be music, a DJ, vendors, a kids zone and more. Learn more

Corvallis

• The Juneteenth Homecoming Celebration will be held at the Corvallis Community Center at 2 p.m. on Saturday. There will be food, games, dancing, and music. Learn more

Hermiston

• The Juneteenth Freedom Day Celebration will be held at McKenzie Park at 4 p.m. on Saturday. The event will feature games, music, Zumba, poetry, a bouncy house, a tie-dye station and more. Learn more

The U.S. national soccer team advanced to the knockout round at the World Cup despite the absence of injured forward Christian Pulisic, beating Australia 2-0 on Friday.

A deep U.S. roster overcame Pulisic’s absence to clinch a knockout berth after only two matches for the first time. The last time the Americans served as World Cup hosts in 1994, they advanced by being one of the best third-place teams. They then lost to eventual champion Brazil in their next match, which was in the round of 16.

Pulisic, who plays for AC Milan and has 33 goals in 87 international appearances, missed Friday’s match because of a calf injury.

Alex Freeman, the youngest player on the team at 21 and son of Super Bowl champion Antonio Freeman, gave the Americans a 2-0 lead in the 43rd minute off a set piece. Freeman headed in a deflected shot by Sergiño Dest for his first career World Cup goal. The goal was confirmed after a video review.

The U.S. took a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute after a run down the left sideline by Folarin Balogun, who scored two goals in the 4-1 victory over Paraguay on June 12.

Balogun directed a centering pass towards striker Ricardo Pepi, who started in place of Pulisic. The ball never reached Pepi, deflecting off Australia defender Cameron Burgess and into the Socceroos’ net for an own-goal.

___

AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

More than 3,000 fans joyfully welcomed professional softball to Oregon Thursday night as the Portland Cascade defeated the Oklahoma City Spark at Hillsboro Ballpark.

The Athletes Unlimited Softball League’s inaugural Oregon game treated the sold-out crowd to the league’s third-ever shutout.

Pitcher Sam Landry led the Cascade to the 3-0 victory as the crowd — filled with area youth softball teams — coordinated chants for the new team.

After the game, Landry told reporters her teammates will not take any minute of the short AUSL season for granted. Instead, they’re building a culture that celebrates growth and fosters inclusiveness.

“There aren’t any cliques on this team,” Landry said. “I feel like everybody just kind of mingles. So when you get out there and you’re playing, and you’re playing for somebody else. When you love the people around you and can genuinely trust the people around you, I think you just play more freely, and I think that’s what we’re doing right now.”

The Cascade are starting play as Oregon’s support for women’s sports has hit a fever pitch. Portland’s NWSL team, the Thorns, draws some of the highest attendance in its league. The success of the Thorns helped its owners see the potential for a WNBA team, and the rekindled Portland Fire started play at Moda Center this summer — also in front of a sold-out crowd.

The historic support for female athletes helped convince leaders in the AUSL that one of its six teams should be located near the Rose City. While Athletes Unlimited softball has existed in some capacity for a handful of years, this season is the first time its teams are connected to cities.

The six teams, with rosters of 16 players, travel to play each other over the next five weeks. Players make an average salary of $35,000, with bonus opportunities to earn up to $80,000, according to the AUSL website. The championship game is scheduled for July 25 in College Station, Texas.

Softball joins Oregon lineup of pro women’s sports with Cascade coming to Hillsboro

The Portland Cascade play home games at Hillsboro Ballpark, which seats more than 3,000 fans.

Tiffany Michalski was among the fans at Thursday night’s game. Her 8-year-old daughter has already played softball for four years and is currently part of Blast Fastpitch, which runs multiple youth teams in the area.

Michalski said a handful of teams from the organization were at the Cascade’s inaugural home game.

“It’s super exciting to see these girls play at this level,” Michalski said of the professional players, and then pointed to her daughter, “and for these guys to see what they can achieve if they keep going.”

Justin Littlejohn drove about 50 miles from Kalama, Washington, to bring his 10-year-old daughter — and big fan of Landry — to the game. Littlejohn said his daughter plays with the Devils Fastpitch club, and that having an idol like Landry gives the girls a “north star” to look toward.

“With or without professional women’s sports, my daughter is going to conquer and dominate,” Littlejohn said. “But with this opportunity, she has a channel to explore, to really go get it. And it’s one that she doesn’t have to blaze the trail completely on her own.”

Softball fan Lindsay Dillard and her partner traveled from Seattle for the game. It’s the third professional women’s team the pair have seen play in the Portland area. Last year they traveled for a Thorns game, and on Wednesday night they watched the Fire defeat the Seattle Storm at Moda Center.

“The energy in Portland is just great,” Dillard said. “The Thorns game we watched last year — I forget which team you were playing, but it was somebody that was lower down in the rankings. But the stadium was just crazy on fire and yelling and screaming and cheering, and the energy here is just great, especially for women’s sports, so keep it up.”

Inside the new $153 million stadium in Hillsboro

Cascade pitcher Landry said she felt the love of the Portland crowd Thursday night as she rendered her opponent scoreless.

“Most crowds, if you’re 3-0 in a count and then you randomly throw a strike, they’re going be like, ‘Oh, great job,’” Landry said after the game.

But not Thursday’s crowd. Landry said they were pumped up, which in turn fired her up.

“Portland’s bought in,” she said. “And we’re bought in for Portland as well.”

The Cascade play Oklahoma City again Friday night in Hillsboro. That game is already sold out. The third and final game of the series is Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

When her son began receiving free books in the mail at his grandmother’s Washington house, Claire Catt jumped into action.

A mother of two “program graduates” from a program which now provides free books every month to children under the age of 5 in states across the country, Catt began pulling volunteers together in 2018. She wanted to see the program come to life in Oregon, setting an initial goal of enrolling 500 kids.

“We’re currently serving 1,500 kiddos just in our small rural county,” Catt, the executive director of United Way of Northwest Oregon and a former leader of United Way of Columbia County, told the Capital Chronicle. “Add the joy of not just getting a book, but having it addressed to you and checking the mailbox, I think that practice was really good.”

Stories like Catt’s fueled the state-backed development of Oregon’s version of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program. The initiative, named after the famous country singer, has already given free books to about 35% of Oregon children younger than 5. Since 1995, it has worked across the United States by delivering books to their doorsteps, and it received nearly $2 million in 2023 from Oregon legislators.

On Thursday, Gov. Tina Kotek signed a bill officially codifying the program into state law, surrounded by local and national advocates for the program and families with their kids. She joined them at the newly opened Gresham-based East County Library with first lady Aimee Kotek Wilson, who narrated a children’s book to the kids in attendance.

Massive library in Gresham opens to great fanfare

“Can everyone raise their hand if they love books? That’s amazing. Look at all those hands,” said Rep. Jules Walters, D-West Linn. “Well, today is your lucky day, because we just made a law that says every baby and every kid in Oregon, from the day they’re born until they turn five, gets a brand new book delivered right to their front door every single month for free.”

The program’s development comes as Oregon continues to struggle with literacy rates, with test scores for fourth graders taking reading assessments ranking at some of the lowest levels in the nation. Kotek on Thursday framed the program as part of a broader push to support young Oregonians, recalling how she had just finished reading the fantasy novel “The Everlasting” by American writer Alix Harrow. She said Oregon will continue to support the program “into the future.”

“Literacy is so important,” she said. “It’s about the children, it is about their future, it’s about economic opportunity, it’s about learning, it’s about imagination, it’s about inspiring each of us to think about where the future will take us.”

Advocates argue Oregon literacy initiative is not targeting high needs schools as law requires

The program has continued to rapidly expand in the state, with 4 million books mailed out in total as of this February, according to Laurie McNichols, Oregon’s statewide director of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. She said that she expects that number to reach 5 million by 2027 due to partnerships with Oregon officials, pointing to a story a mother shared about the impact of the library program on her family relationships.

“The books arriving each month not only make her daughter feel incredibly special, but they also remind her, they remind mom, to make time to read together,” McNichols said.

Catt, meanwhile, sat as the governor spoke alongside her 10-year-old and 6-year-old. She calls her kids “program graduates” as they have now aged out of eligibility.

Along with providing books for her kids, the program helped Catt. A book they have includes parenting strategies for literacy, and that information allowed her to more effectively read and communicate with children, she said.

“It’s not just reading,” she said. “There’s so many other ways to experience a book.”

Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: info@oregoncapitalchronicle.com. Follow Oregon Capital Chronicle on Facebook and Bluesky.

This republished story is part of OPB’s broader effort to ensure that everyone in our region has access to quality journalism that informs, entertains and enriches their lives. To learn more, visit opb.org/partnerships.

The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine advisory committee voted unanimously today to recommend Moderna’s mRNA influenza vaccine, mFlusiva, for adults 50 and over. This was its first time reviewing a new vaccine application since 2023.

The vote by the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, or VRBPAC, is a step towards what may be the first vaccine filed and approved under the second Trump administration despite sustained criticism of vaccines from President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Indeed, last year, Kennedy pulled back almost $500 million in contracts to develop mRNA vaccines.

“It’s such a breath of fresh air, considering what we’ve gone through with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.” says Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and former committee member of the FDA panel that voted Thursday.

The rocky road to the review

In February, the FDA declined to review Moderna’s application for the mRNA flu vaccine but then reversed its decision two weeks later after criticism.

Messenger-RNA, or mRNA, provides instructions for the body to produce flu antigens to develop immunity. Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine includes microscopic doses of mRNA for three to four strains of the flu — totaling about the same weight that a fingerprint leaves on a mirror.

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Researchers used the technology to develop the COVID-19 vaccine – another reason why Kennedy has been critical of its use during the pandemic with vaccine mandates.

In addition to the flu vaccine providing potentially stronger protection, many public health and infectious disease experts are excited about the shot because mRNA vaccines can be produced much more reliably and quickly — and potentially faster than traditional flu vaccines. That could make the mRNA vaccine far more effective when a new flu strain suddenly emerges.

While some public concerns have persisted, Moderna and the FDA did not find credible safety risks in Thursday’s review. Moderna wrote in its brief that the vaccine “does not enter the cellular nucleus, does not interact with the genome … and does not persist in the body.”

The research

Results from Moderna’s phase 3 trial were also published in the New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Immunology. Hanover Matz, postdoctoral researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues examined the vaccine response from 75 patients in the trial in detail — looking at not only how many antibodies patients produced, but how good the antibodies were and why that might be the case.

“It’s not something that is typically evaluated when anybody looks at vaccine research, whether it’s a company or in academic research,” Matz says. They found that the mRNA vaccine produced a longer-lasting response and antibodies that recognized more flu strains — which Matz says could explain why the mRNA vaccine may be better than today’s flu vaccines.

“There were no shortcuts taken. There was a full efficacy evaluation done per standard FDA guidance … phase 3 efficacy studies conducted in tens of thousands of individuals,” Dr. Anna Durbin, director of the Center for Immunization Research at Johns Hopkins University and VRBPAC member, said to NPR.

Dr. Jesse Goodman, former director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, acknowledges that the mRNA vaccines became politicized and that there has been a tremendous amount of false information about them — like that they cause cancer or that they get into your cells’ DNA. He says “these things are not possible [and] disproven.”

Durbin points to the figure that over 6 billion doses of mRNA vaccines have been administered since 2020 and says they have an “incredibly safe safety profile” and “there is not a risk of DNA integration.”

“The mRNA platform has really been a game changer for vaccines, and it’s an incredibly important advancement in medical science,” Durbin says. “We have to do a much, much better job in educating the public around that, but I have the highest confidence in the vaccine.”

Goodman agrees. “It’s not going to change overnight. And I’m sure there are people who are going to remain concerned about [m]RNA-based vaccines, and there will be people who spread erroneous information about it,” he notes. “However, people will also look at the evidence.”

The review

In the meeting, Dr. Lisa Grohskopf from the CDC presented that there have been at least 32 million flu cases, 390,000 hospitalizations and 24,000 deaths in the U.S. in the past 2025-2026 flu season. She said, “approximately 85% of those eligible for vaccination were not fully vaccinated against influenza.”

Dr. Evan Anderson, vice president of epidemiology at Moderna, acknowledged flu prevalence and highlighted the issue of strain mismatch with current vaccines. Anderson said the proposed mRNA vaccine could shorten the window of time it takes to get a vaccine that targets a specific strain of flu from about 6 months now to 2-3 months — as used for COVID-19 vaccines — potentially improving the strain-selection accuracy and vaccine efficacy.

Dr. Gauri Raval, medical officer of the FDA’s Division of Clinical and Toxicology Review, presented that “[the Moderna mRNA flu vaccine] may offer greater efficacy than the standard dose comparator in preventing more severe influenza-associated illness[es].” The FDA found no “major safety issues or deficiencies.”

After six and a half hours, the committee voted. All nine members recommended the vaccine.

Durbin commended the FDA, Moderna and the rest of the committee — calling the meeting excellent and discussions robust. She says the public should be very confident in the vote.

What this means for the future of the FDA

The FDA’s reversal on reviewing the vaccine was unusual, Offit says. “You can’t say, yes, go ahead, spend tens of millions of dollars, and then, when they present data, say, no, we’re not even going to look at this data. You can’t do that.” Dr. Vinay Prasad, who made the initial call and has since left FDA, “ultimately backed down,” Offit says.

The FDA did not provide NPR a comment by the time of publication.

Offit says he was relieved to see the VRBPAC was left mostly intact in contrast to the CDC’s gutted Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. “It’s great. It’s just what you want. You want to have a lively, open discussion, a discussion that’s open to the public.”

Goodman concurs: “I’m encouraged that this is happening, and in what appears to be a balanced way that’s paying attention to the feedback of the FDA vaccine experts and also the outside experts who really wanted to see this vaccine come forward and get reviewed in the light of day.”

In the public hearing portion of the meeting, Michael Abrams, a senior researcher with non-profit organization Public Citizen, echoed those sentiments. “We urge the FDA to frequently convene this committee as well as many other expert advisory committees the agency, since January 2025, has insufficiently utilized.”

There have been 44 vaccines approved between 2000 and 2019. Of those 44, the VRBPAC convened for 21 of them — meeting about once a year to review a new vaccine application.

Yet the VRBPAC hasn’t convened for over three years for a new vaccine application. The most recent was May 18, 2023, for Pfizer’s Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccine.

Durbin agrees the VRBPAC has had fewer meetings since January 2025. A flu meeting normally held every spring did not happen in 2025, Durbin says as an example.

Durbin is more concerned about the other vaccine committee, CDC’s ACIP, however. She explains, “ACIP has a different purpose than VRBPAC — they will determine how these vaccines are used.”

“The ACIP members who were fired were highly qualified,” Durbin says. “Right now it’s not clear how recommendations would be made for the fall.”

She notes Kennedy “could reconvene the ACIP committee that he disbanded at any time, as long as it meets the charter.”

If the agencies Kennedy oversees do approve and recommend the new vaccine, Moderna says it could be available for the next flu season.

NPR Health Correspondent Rob Stein contributed to this report.

Labour’s Andy Burnham, the current mayor of Greater Manchester, has won a special election for a seat in Parliament that puts him in a position to challenge embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer for leadership of the country.

Burnham decisively won the seat of Makerfield in northwest England over Rob Kenyon of the anti-immigration party Reform UK.

The victory announced early Friday cements the status of Burnham, a 56-year-old politician nicknamed the King of the North, as the top contender to replace Starmer as leader of the Labour Party and the country. Burnham won almost 55% of the 45,510 votes counted, over 9,000 more than Kenyon.

Burnham’s victory speech left no doubt that he wants to lead the country, and not just be one of the more than 400 Labour lawmakers in the 650-seat House of Commons.

“Everyone knows that politics isn’t working,” he said. “Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could, just could, be the turning point.”

Starmer, who has previously maintained he will fight any leadership challenge, took to social media to congratulate Burnham. “Voters chose Labour’s campaign of hope and optimism over division and hate,” the prime minister wrote on X.

Burnham has led Manchester since 2017, overseeing rapid regeneration for the city where the Industrial Revolution was forged. He is pledging to repeat his signature brand of “Manchesterism” on a national scale.

Burnham said he would work to ensure that “the name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs.”

He said Labour had “a final chance to change” and win back voters’ trust.

“But it is a chance now, from this result tonight, to build a new politics based on unity and hope, turning away from the path that takes us to a divided, dark politics of the kind we see in the United States,” he said.

Labour is in power but unpopular

Starmer’s popularity has cratered since he led the center-left Labour Party to a landslide election victory in July 2024.

He has struggled to deliver promised economic growth, repair tattered public services and ease the cost of living, and been hamstrung by repeated missteps, including his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson, a scandal-tarnished friend of Jeffrey Epstein, as the U.K. ambassador to the United States.

Labour is losing liberal voters to the growing Green Party, and facing a rising Reform UK, which consistently leads in nationwide opinion polls. The Nigel Farage -led party has rapidly gained ground in post-industrial northern England areas like Makerfield, some 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of London.

A dismal performance by Labour in May’s local elections spurred scores of lawmakers to demand Starmer’s resignation. He has refused to budge, but senior colleagues are trying to force a change.

Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary in May, saying that “where we need vision, we have a vacuum.” Streeting has said he will run in a leadership contest if there is one.

Then Josh Simons, the Labour lawmaker for Makerfield, stepped down to trigger a special election and give Burnham the chance to return to Parliament.

Britain’s parliamentary system allows governing parties to change leaders midterm, with the winner becoming prime minister without the need for a national election. Under Labour rules, a lawmaker can challenge the leader if they have backing from a fifth of the party’s House of Commons lawmakers — a number that stands at 81.

The victorious Burnham will head to London to be sworn in as a lawmaker as soon as Monday. He’s likely to seek a meeting with Starmer to argue that the prime minister should exit gracefully and set a timetable for his departure.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Burnham and Starmer would in the next few days have to “have a conversation about what comes next.”

Labour lawmaker Louise Haigh, a Burnham ally, said Starmer should “do what’s best for both the country and the Labour Party” and “consider an orderly and managed transition.”

“Andy won’t be doing anything rash or hasty,” she told Sky News. “I’m really hopeful the prime minister and Andy can come to an agreement.”

Burnham’s victory piles pressure on Starmer to quit

Starmer has so far insisted he has no intention of leaving his post.

“I will fight if there’s a challenge,” he said at the G7 summit in France this week. “We won a significant general election result in 2024, with a mandate to bring about change. I’m not going to walk away from that.”

Starmer suggested that he could offer Burnham a Cabinet post, telling Sky News on Wednesday that “I want him to have a big role in government.” Allies of Burnham indicated that he wasn’t interested.

Despite his stubborn determination, Starmer could be forced out if several members of the Cabinet tell him the game is up and quit, or threaten to quit, in protest.

There could then be a leadership contest, or a coronation, depending on whether other potential candidates think Burnham has an unassailable lead.

Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said “the pressure on Starmer will be very hard to resist” now that Burnham is back in Parliament.

Ford said defeating Reform UK in Makerfield strengthens Burnham’s claim to be Labour’s biggest asset.

“The narrative he can bring is, ‘No one else could have won that seat. I won that. I bring something unique. I bring an ability to renew our appeal,” Ford said.

On a hot late afternoon in Bend, families and friends pulled inner tubes from the Deschutes River after a lazy float. Many people drove two personal vehicles to be able to float the river from point to point, but starting this week, they’ll have the option to take public transit to help them get back upriver.

Cascades East Transit launched two seasonal shuttle services on June 17 as Bend’s busy summer tourism season gets underway. The service offers three routes in Bend and Sunriver, to help locals and tourists access some of the most popular destinations in the region — including trailheads and river runs — without needing a car.

“Central Oregon is built around outdoor adventure, and these services make it easier for everyone to enjoy it,” said Andrea Wasilew, CET Outreach & Engagement Administrator.

The Trails to Transit Shuttle Service, Ride the River Floating Shuttle, and a Lava Butte Shuttle are scheduled to run until Sept. 7. Fares run from $5 to $10.

The Ride the River service is one of Cascades East Transit’s most popular summer shuttle services and was conceived over a decade ago, said Wasilew.

The mid-sized bus, outfitted with a trailer to carry a mountain of inner tubes, transports people between a 1.5 mile stretch of river that is often thick with water users during summer. About 300,000 people floated or paddled the river last summer, said Julie Brown, Bend Park and Recreation District’s communications and engagement director.

The agency would get complaints about parking in adjacent neighborhoods during summer as people flocked from near and far to enjoy the body of water, she said.

River levels are consistent with previous summers, said Brown, but this year’s drought could pose issues for recreators if water levels dip later in the summer. Metal scraps left in the river from old logging operations could pose a hazard if flow levels drop, she said.

Cascades East Transit also ferries mountain bikers and hikers to higher elevation trailheads.

Mo Elwefati rode his titanium mountain bike to catch the shuttle to the Wanoga Sno Park for an afternoon ride. He chose the shuttle because he said, it’s a cheap way to get to upper trails in the Deschutes National Forest without climbing almost two thousand feet in elevation.

“I’ve been taking the shuttle for the past two or three years, so I’ve been looking forward to this day,” he said. “It’s just easier and overall better for the environment if less people are driving around.”

Before the shuttle service started, Elwefati, 26, would either ride to trails from his house or use multiple cars with friends to drive between trailheads.

The Transit to Trails service began in 2023 and is outfitted with a 20-bike trailer. Wasilew said it’s one of Oregon’s few dedicated public bus routes that help people hit the trails without needing a car.

The public transportation option is a win for the mountain biking community and the forest, said Casey Andrews, executive director of Central Oregon Trail Alliance, a local non-profit that promotes access and stewardship of mountain bike trails.

“I do think (the shuttle) will provide an alternative, an environmentally sound alternative, and something that is a little bit more accessible for people that don’t have easy access to a vehicle,” Andrews said.

Shuttle schedules, fare information and how to purchase passes can be found at Cascades East Transit’s website.

Portland’s outdoor public pools are open for summer, just in time for another warm weekend.

The city will open its seven outdoor swimming pools on Thursday.

It comes days after the state reversed a controversial new order requiring all children under the age of 14 to be accompanied by an adult at public pools.

After receiving public backlash, the Oregon Health Authority now only requires pools to post a sign that recommends this level of supervision.

Portland Parks & Recreation will continue to require adult supervision for any child under the age of 10 at a public pool – and the city urges parents and guardians to keep an eye on children of all ages.

“Parents and caregivers remain responsible for determining whether a child is capable of safely participating in aquatic activities without direct adult supervision,” reads the city’s June 15 press release.

Portland operates 11 swimming pools, with four indoor facilities open year-round. The city’s seven outdoor pools will remain open until Aug. 23 (with Peninsula Park’s outdoor pool closing Sept. 7).

Drop-in swimming costs between $4 and $6, depending on a visitor’s age.

Pools will each offer a free open play swim session every week this summer. Visitors can also apply for discounted entry fees online.

The state will reconsider its adult supervision rules for public pools in the fall.

Editor’s Note: This episode of Think Out Loud was recorded on Thursday, June 11. Four days after we recorded the episode, the North Plains City Council voted to terminate the employment of city manager Bill Reid. At that same meeting, our first guest, library director Robin Doughty, was named interim city manager.

The city of North Plains has a population that hovers around 3,500. Like so many small communities in Oregon, it has a strong sense of identity and a closeness among residents that bigger cities just don’t have.

As part of our effort to cover both urban and rural communities all over the state, we sent out a community survey to find out what people in this Washington County town value and the challenges they face.

We heard predominantly about the quality of life in North Plains and the challenges of reconciling different views on how to improve life here and plan for growth.

We invited the community to participate in a conversation about the city at the Atfalati Ridge Elementary School in North Plains on June 11, 2026.

About 55 people filled the seats of the gymnasium, and many shared their thoughts about what they think makes North Plains special, and why they think the urban growth boundary should be left alone or expanded.

Our guests included Robin Doughty, director of the North Plains Public Library; Rowan Maiorano, assistant planner for the city; Daniel Stinchfield, who sits on the UGB Public Advisory Committee; Patti Burns, director of the Senior Center and Vice President of the North Plains Events Association; Lora Dexheimer, founder of the North Plains Food Bank; Russ Sheldon, business owner and former city councilor; and Emily Waldron and Elizabeth Beaupain with Friends of Smart Growth North Plains.

“Think Out Loud®” broadcasts live at noon every day and rebroadcasts at 8 p.m.

If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983.