In 2013, 50,000 Wilsonville bees dropped dead after being exposed to pesticides used on European linden trees. Since then, Oregon has implemented the Oregon Bee Project to improve bee habitat and track bee populations across the state. Oregon bee expert Andony Melathopoulos tells us how the project works — and why it includes interactive “bee petting zoos."
Suicide was the second leading cause of death in Oregon for 15- to 24-year-olds in 2017, and Oregon has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. A bill propelled by high school students passed this legislative session expands the definition of sick days at school, allowing students to take mental health days in hopes of destigmatizing mental illness. Hailey Hardcastle, a student who pushed to pass the legislation, and Robin Henderson, chief executive of behavioral health at Providence Health and Services, speak to us about the new law.
A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Janus v. AFSCME Council 31. The ruling put an end to mandatory union dues for public employees. Some predicted that this would weaken unions in Oregon and other states where unions had been allowed to collect “fair share” dues from nonmembers. A year later, we check in with Sherman Henry, a career instructor at the University of Oregon’s Labor Education and Research Center about how the decision has reverberated in Oregon’s public sector unions.
Ron Spendal
/Mason bees are early pollinators.
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