First Look

OPB’s First Look: A tale of 2 transit agencies

By Bradley W. Parks (OPB)
Nov. 21, 2025 3:30 p.m.

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


THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:

Good morning, Northwest.

Service reductions are on the horizon for Oregon’s largest transit agency, TriMet, which serves the Portland metro area.

Meanwhile, across the Columbia River, cities in Clark County appear to have reached an agreement to keep its transit agency, C-TRAN, together.

OPB’s Lillian Karabaic and Erik Neumann report on the state of public transportation on both sides of the river.

Also this morning, how to bring a little bit of Oregon to your Thanksgiving table.

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

—Bradley W. Parks


FILE - A TriMet bus drives through downtown Portland, Ore., June 29, 2024.

FILE - A TriMet bus drives through downtown Portland, Ore., June 29, 2024.

Anna Lueck / OPB

TriMet announces layoffs and service cuts to address $300M shortfall

Oregon’s largest transit agency, the Portland metro area’s TriMet system, announced on Wednesday that 26 administrative employees were laid off.

The agency said it eliminated 68 positions in total, and half of these roles were already vacant.

The staffing cuts are part of a broader strategy to fill TriMet’s $300 million budget gap over the next two years.

The agency said it’s in a challenging financial position with lower ridership and higher expenses due to inflation. (Lillian Karabaic)

Learn more

A sign outside of an office building with a Clark Transit logo

FILE - The C-TRAN office in Vancouver on Aug. 12, 2025.

Erik Neumann / OPB

Debate over representation on Clark County transit board reaches possible resolution

A monthslong debate over which cities in Clark County should get a voice on the local transit board, C-TRAN, came to a possible conclusion Tuesday night. Member cities appeared to reach a compromise on who and how to fund light rail on a replacement Interstate Bridge over the Columbia River. (Erik Neumann)

Learn more


📨 Are you enjoying First Look? Forward this email your friends.

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:

People walk through a new gallery space at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. The museum's new $111 million addition connects the former Masonic Temple built in 1927 and the 1932 original museum complex by Pietro Belluschi.

People walk through a new gallery space at the Portland Art Museum in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. The museum's new $111 million addition connects the former Masonic Temple built in 1927 and the 1932 original museum complex by Pietro Belluschi.

Saskia Hatvany / OPB

3 things to know this morning

  • The Portland Art Museum opened its doors yesterday celebrate the new Mark Rothko Pavilion — a $111 million project almost a decade in the making. (Saskia Hatvany) 
  • Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read joined top elections officials from nine other states in a letter to the Trump administration, demanding answers about how voter data is being used and shared. (Geoff Norcross) 
  • The 1803 Fund, a Portland initiative to restore and redevelop historically Black areas in the city, is investing $70 million to transform key pieces of riverfront real estate into mixed-use neighborhoods. (Kyra Buckley)

Oregon education report card — budget woes, enrollment issues and the Trump effect

00:00
 / 
27:10

On this week’s episode of “OPB Politics Now,” the newsroom’s education reporters discuss the major issues facing Oregon’s K-12 system and higher education world right now. (Lauren Dake, Elizabeth Miller, Tiffany Camhi and Andrew Theen)

Listen


FILE - A bump stock is attached to a semi-automatic rifle at the Gun Vault in South Jordan, Utah, Oct. 4, 2017.

FILE - A bump stock is attached to a semi-automatic rifle at the Gun Vault in South Jordan, Utah, Oct. 4, 2017.

Rick Bowmer / AP

Headlines from around the Northwest


Sticky cranberry-glazed wings are just one way to bring Oregon to the Thanksgiving table

Sticky cranberry-glazed wings are just one way to bring Oregon to the Thanksgiving table

Heather Arndt Anderson / OPB

Superabundant recipe: Sticky cranberry-glazed wings and other ways to bring Oregon to the holiday table

There’s no shortage of Thanksgiving fare right here in Oregon.

Mashed potatoes? The potato is the state vegetable. Green bean casserole? The state is the fourth-largest green bean producer in the country, and chanterelles are the state mushroom.

And then there’s cranberries, another bountiful state crop and the inspiration for this recipe — cranberry-glazed wings.

Sweet and sour cranberry sauce goes beautifully with fatty, salty and earthy flavors.

While wings provide a perfect snack during as you watch sporting events, this glaze can also zhuzh up your holiday bird (or even your Tofurky). (Heather Arndt Anderson)

Learn more


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

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR:

THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR: