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All those home goods you may have been buying to make the last year a little more comfortable have led to significant delays at ports. And that means industries that rely on exporting products, like Northwest hay or apple farmers, are not able to get their crops to market. Pandemic-related shutdowns and labor shortages at ports have exacerbated the problem. Jessica Fu, a reporter for The Counter, explains the impact of this global shipping delay.

When Ash Beckham was misgendered in front of her niece, she wasn't sure how to respond. Her eventual choice taught her a lesson about handling uncomfortable moments — and finding a middle ground.

Susan McMillan, 76, lost her home and all of her possessions in the Almeda fire that decimated the southern Oregon towns of Talent and Phoenix. Luckily, she was able to evacuate the fire with a handful of possessions and “all the beating hearts in the house” — her dogs Chico, Boehne and Sammy, and cat Kiki. We talk with McMillan about her experience, and how she is thinking about rebuilding her life in the wake of the disaster.

The fire chief for the Idanha/Detroit area works part time, and leads a team of 24 volunteers. When the Beachie Creek Fire roared into the Highway 22 corridor, chief Will Ewing and volunteer firefighters helped to lead nearly 80 people to safety. Most of the buildings in Detroit burned to the ground, including the district office and one of their fire trucks, and Ewing says the road to recovery is very long indeed.

A volunteer group has set up a relief center in the Lane County community of Rainbow to give food, gas and other resources to survivors of the Holiday Farm Fire.

Enrollment in virtual charter schools is up and some say lawmakers should raise the cap on how many students can choose this option. The statewide teachers’ union — the Oregon Education Association — is against that idea, arguing that virtual charter schools are less equitable for students with special needs or who speak English as a second language.

As confrontations between police officers and protesters become increasingly common, the Civil Liberties Defense Center is suing the city of Eugene and police officers from the Eugene Police Department over the treatment of activists and city residents during Black Lives Matter protests last year. We hear from Lauren Regan, the executive director and a senior staff attorney with the center, about updates to the lawsuit.

Local filmmaker Dawn Jones Redstone's new short film "See Me" premiered at the Portland International Film Festival. It tracks the lives of three Black Portlanders during last year’s statewide shutdown — and how their lives intersect with the chaotic world outside.

Viral genetics now lie at the heart of the most important question about the pandemic: Will we eradicate COVID-19 for good, or will it be something, like the flu, we live with — and die from — every year? Brian O’Roak, co-director of the SARS COV-2 genome sequencing center at Oregon Health and Sciences University, is searching for and studying viral variants in Oregon. OPB health reporter Amelia Templeton tells us more.

Today, Joe Biden takes the oath of office in Washington, D.C., and becomes the 46th president. OPB reporter Sergio Olmos is in the capital to follow potential protests there. OSU historian Christopher McKnight Nichols will help to put this day in historical context. Eric Ward, executive director of the Western States Center, will tell us about how the country should deal with extremism and conspiracy theories going forward. And we’ll talk to two young Oregonians from different political backgrounds about what this moment means to them.