OPB’s First Look: Cooking up a hunger solution in Portland

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Good morning, Northwest.

The number of Oregonians experiencing hunger continues to rise.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the state don’t know where their next meal will come from and grocery prices are going up for everyone.

OPB’s Kyra Buckley starts this morning’s newsletter in the Milk Crate Kitchen, which uses donated foods and funds to prepare no-strings-attached meals to deliver to Portland families.

Also this morning, what Oregonians are learning from the recent death of a beached humpback whale.

We’re off tomorrow for the holiday and will be back in your inbox Friday. Here’s your First Look at Wednesday’s news.

—Bradley W. Parks

A nonprofit cooks up a small-scale solution to Oregon’s big hunger problem

Milk Crate Kitchen uses donated food from Portland-area restaurants and farms to cook up restaurant-quality meals for families.

With a staff of two aided by more than 30 volunteers each week, the group delivers meals to community-based organizations across Portland and prepares 100 meals for families delivered to their door or available for pick-up every other week.

But it began in 2020 as a project started by the nonprofit’s founder, Michael Casper, in his own kitchen.

Now a fully fledged 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Milk Crate Kitchen is able to coordinate volunteers, accept tax-deductible donations and partner with businesses and nonprofits.

The grassroots nonprofit is working to reduce hunger in the region while minimizing food waste. (Kyra Buckley)

Learn more

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3 things to know this morning

• The pipeline that delivers 90% of Oregon’s fuel supply partially restarted yesterday after a leak forced a total shutdown for more than a week. (Kyra Buckley)
• Oregon’s attorney general and three metro county prosecutors have warned the Trump administration that they will criminally investigate federal officers who appear to use excessive force. (Conrad Wilson and Troy Brynelson)
• Opponents of a recently passed transportation bill say they have gathered more than 150,000 signatures on their petition, enough to refer the package and its related gas tax increase to Oregon voters in the November 2026 election. (Bryce Dole)

‘Hush’ Episode 8: The allure of an answer

The “Hush” team sits down with the Zuber family for a final interview to lay out the facts of this case and seek some accountability from the people who have let this family down. (Ryan Haas, Leah Sottile)

Listen

Headlines from around the Northwest

• ‘An honor and such a blessing’: People come together to mourn and learn from beached whale in Oregon (Courtney Sherwood)
• A federal defense contractor is seeking hundreds of coastal Oregon hotel rooms, city of Newport says (Dirk VanderHart)
• Phil Knight puts another $3 million behind Oregon Republican candidates (Dirk VanderHart)
• Indigenous chefs are training the next generation of culinary students (Crystal Ligori)
• Portland Thorns part ways with coach Rob Gale (Associated Press)

Take a scenic 3-hour river journey up Columbia River Gorge

Sometimes it seems like the world is moving too fast. So the “Oregon Field Guide” team tried something new: We wanted to see what happens when we take it slow. Really slow.

Inspired by the Norwegian genre of Slow TV — in which viewers spend hours watching the camera feed from a ferry or a train — we decided to launch a new experiment called “OPB’s Slow TV.”

Our foray into the genre: Follow the course of the Columbia River on a barge for three glorious hours as it motors from Vancouver, Washington, through the Hood River Bridge, passing iconic landmarks including Multnomah Falls, Beacon Rock and Bridge of the Gods. (Brandon Swanson, Aaron Scott)

Learn more

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