April Ehrlich

Rogue Rock Gym in Medford announces sudden closure | Rogue Valley Times Indoor climbing community reacts to announcement, rallies to find solutions to save the 21-year-old space; GoFundMe could help it reopen

This is heartbreaking. Rogue Rock Gym is a community space for so many people in the Medford-Ashland area. It’s the only rock gym here — the nearest other gym is 3 hours away. rv-times.com/2026/02/17/r...

Me, on my death bed: "It was... literally... the funniest thing... I've ever said... and you... didn't... laugh... 🪦"

Like 10yrs ago I was telling my husband how much food to feed our cat, Sam: "He gets two cans — Because he's Two Can Sam 😀😀😀" & he didn't laugh & I'm bitter about it to this day.

Snobs will be like “I prefer real butter” but they don’t know the joy of scooping out a mound of country crock out of a tub

More businesses demand pause on Oregon’s new recycling fees, following court decision A small part of Oregon’s new statewide recycling system is on hold, after a judge issued an injunction in response to a lawsuit filed by product distributors.

A small part of Oregon's recycling system is on hold after a judge issued a preliminary injunction. The new system charges corporations for their product packaging. Today, more businesses called on lawmakers for a broader halt. www.opb.org/article/2026...

Nonprofit says Portland’s Leach Botanical Garden will close in March without additional funding The 17-acre public park in outer southeast Portland is part of a coalition that provides environmental education to Black and brown children and teenagers.

The 17-acre Leach Botanical Garden in far southeast Portland says it will close if it doesn't get more funding soon. The public park is owned by the city, but managed by a nonprofit. The city hasn't provided funding since last year.
www.opb.org/article/2026...

Oregon’s on track to break low snowpack records, but there’s still hope for snow Oregon is experiencing its lowest snowpack for this time of year. But that could change, as mountain areas are expecting snowfall this weekend, and low-lying valleys might see snow later this month.

But, not all hope is lost — Oregon's state climatologist says valley areas like Portland could see snow in the coming weeks. What matters most is how much snow we get between now and April. www.opb.org/article/2026...

The whole West is in a snow drought, but it's especially bad in Oregon.

False spring or never winter?

How Portland is using city policies to try and punish an ICE facility Local officials are also looking toward a number of bureaucratic sanctions within their control to limit ICE’s actions against protesters.

Weekend protests in Portland against federal immigration actions were again met with thick clouds of tear gas outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. Here's what to know about how the city is reacting to tear gas, ICE’s use of force and other factors tied to the facility.

The Dalles’ mayor called OPB’s data center story inaccurate. Here are the facts Officials in The Dalles issued a public statement criticizing an OPB investigation into data centers, Google and water. Here are the facts underpinning that story, and why OPB stands by this reporting.

Officials in The Dalles issued a public statement criticizing an OPB investigation into data centers, Google and water. Here are the facts underpinning that story, and why OPB stands by this reporting.

As someone has corrected me: pored*

Thanks! Pored*

Through our fact checking, we did find one mistake. I originally thought that residential water rates would increase by 7% by 2036. They’ll actually increase by 99%. That is not an error that The Dalles highlighted in my reporting.

The Dalles’ mayor called OPB’s data center story inaccurate. Here are the facts Officials in The Dalles issued a public statement criticizing an OPB investigation into data centers, Google and water. Here are the facts underpinning that story, and why OPB stands by this reporting...

The Dalles city officials issued a public statement criticizing my investigation into data centers, Google and water. My editors and I have poured over every sentence. Here are the facts underpinning that story, and why we stand by it.
www.opb.org/article/2026...

DO NOT PLUG SPACE HEATERS INTO POWER STRIPS

DO NOT PLUG SPACE HEATERS INTO POWER STRIPS

DO NOT PLUG SPACE HEATERS INTO ANYTHING BUT A GROUNDED, WALL SOCKET

So the Trump Administration is refusing to promise not to look at materials seized from a WaPo reporter even though that seizure is being challenged in court and may have been illegal

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

Onion headline that reads Nation vies for approval of cool dog

The funny thing is people always want to pet him but he wants nothing to do with anyone but his two humans and his lil sis.

Huckleberry soaked in hose water

Clarification: Huckleberry does participate in a summer backyard hose down.

Huckleberry the border collie looking regal af

Can you imagine just waking up and looking like this? With no effort whatsoever? He doesn’t even shower.

Contrast this with Google in The Dalles, where it makes up a third of water use (using more than 1 million gallons a day) and gets a 97% discount on property taxes amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

“The company plans to build new data centers using a closed-loop water system that recycles the water… Microsoft also pledged not to accept tax incentives or subsidies from local communities, and made other commitments around workforce training.”

To be clear, Google makes up a third of the city’s overall water use.

It’s not clear how much water The Dalles actually has available. It has the right to pump a bunch of water from underground, but it depends on how much is available in the aquifer.

The Dalles aims to expand its reservoir by acquiring the federal forestland around it through a bill sponsored by Oregon Congressman Cliff Bentz.

Bentz told me he doesn’t know how the additional water will be used.

Google execs say they are all about transparency.

Their track record says otherwise. They tried to keep their water use secret. The Oregonian had to sue to make that information public.

This was one Google executive’s response when I pressed him about the lawsuit.

As Google’s water demands grow, The Dalles aims to pull more from Mount Hood forest The Dalles, a rural city in north-central Oregon, wants to expand its reservoir in the Mount Hood National Forest so it can store more water. While city officials say the water is needed for a growing...

The Dalles wants to pull more water out of the Mt Hood forest. It says it’s for a growing population, but the city hasn’t grown much in recent years. What has: Google’s footprint.

The tech giant uses a third of the city’s water.

www.opb.org/article/2026...

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek taps Republican rival to boost business relations Tim Knopp, a former state senator from Bend, will join Kotek’s administration.

Not something anyone I've talked to was expecting. Former state Sen. Tim Knopp, who led the longest legislative walkout in Oregon history, now works for Gov. Tina Kotek. #orleg #orpol

www.opb.org/article/2026...

As the climate data for 2025 continues to be released, it's time to update various data visualisations.

First - the global climate stripes for 1850-2025. A third darkest red stripe is added.

The last 11 years have been the warmest 11 years on record. A sequence that is unlikely to be broken soon.

@aprilehrlich.bsky.social shares for our “what our audience doesn’t know” series.

"Many of these managers make 6 figures, a salary that many of us may never reach, and OPB is paying for a negotiator. The more they prolong this process, the more money it costs." -April Ehrlich, OPB Reporter/Producer

DEQ announced the cyber attack about a week after it internally warned its staff not to click a link within a statewide press release the agency sent widely. That email went to other agencies, media orgs, and the general public. The agency didn’t warn the public not to click the link.