
Emily Cureton Cook
Emily Cureton Cook is OPB’s Central Oregon Bureau Chief. Her reporting seeks to hold powerful people to account, promote honesty and transparency in public affairs, and amplify voices of rural Oregon. She formerly contributed award-winning programming to Georgia Public Broadcasting and Jefferson Public Radio, and reporting to community newspapers like the Del Norte Triplicate in Crescent City, California, and the Big Bend Sentinel in Marfa, Texas.
Emily graduated from the University of Texas in Austin. Send her feedback and story ideas at ecureton@opb.org.
Latest Stories

Oregon 5th Congressional District candidates raise more than $2M in heated race
With all 435 U.S. House seats on the ballot, one Oregon district is an especially contested battleground.
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Race to the bottom: How Central Oregon groundwater sells to the highest bidders
As more wells go dry, a developer in Oregon's fastest growing region maneuvers for water rights.
Oregon wildlife officials kill cougar in Deschutes County
Officials shot the cat after it attracted the attention of armed residents south of Bend.
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Oregon’s long history of enabling extremists
At hearings scheduled next week, U.S. House lawmakers plan to reveal further findings of a congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. But the 2021 insurrection was in-step with extremist actions long tolerated, and even encouraged, by some Oregon Republicans.

Oregon’s incumbent Schrader poised to lose to McLeod-Skinner in 5th District Democratic primary
A presidential endorsement and a deluge of campaign advertising didn't protect U.S. Rep Kurt Schrader from an insurgent challenger on the cusp of historic victory.
Bend homeless shelter code moves ahead, with compromises
Bend city councilors approved new zoning to draw homeless shelters, but not without making some concessions.
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Incumbents lead in contested DA races in Marion, Washington counties
In two contested district attorney races, voters are leaning towards the incumbent in early returns; new prosecutors will take their seats in four uncontested races.

In Oregon’s 5th District primaries, Democrat McLeod-Skinner leads Schrader, while Chavez-DeRemer tops GOP
In a potential major upset, Democratic U.S. Representative Kurt Schrader could lose his seat in Congress, if early primary election returns hold. In the Republican primary, meanwhile, former Happy Valley Mayor Lori Chavez-DeRemer held a slight lead over Jimmy Crumpacker.
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Bend Mayor Sally Russell resigns ahead of election
“To my fellow councilors, I say, ‘Good Luck,’ Mayor Sally Russell wrote in her statement.
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Protesters rally in Oregon, Washington in support of abortion rights
In Oregon and Southwest Washington on Tuesday, hundreds of people gathered in Portland, Vancouver, Bend and Eugene in protest of a leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion suggesting Roe v. Wade could be overturned.