Jacob Lewin

More than one in four of Oregon's high school students don't graduate...or at least don't graduate on time.  The U.S. Department of Education ranks the state 47th, although that's up from 49th a year ago.

The United States has five percent of the world's population, but twenty-five percent of its prison inmates.  The state of Oregon mirrors the national numbers.  Now, a bipartisan prison  reform movement is picking up steam and Oregon is playing a part.

There's a difference between the terms Hispanic and Latino. Or maybe there's not. An Oregon comic artist wanted to find out, and the result has sparked a national conversation.

The agriculture industry in California is in the midst of its worst drought in decades and that may inadvertently be having a positive impact on Oregon. It's caused some growers to look north.  One Oregon crop that is being affected is hazelnuts, which are drawing record sales and prices. 

Half of all Oregonians play the state lottery and up to five percent of them are problem gamblers. The Lottery is now aiming more help at Latino problem gamblers.  At the same time, in a departure from the past, it is also now promoting its games to Latinos and other minorities. 

Octavio would head to the video poker machines at Shari's before work and Denny's after work every day and all day on weekends:

"El juego no fue algo divertido despues, fue una necesidad..."

Oregon spends Cadillac prices to teach English Language Learners in its public schools, but only gets Chevy results.  That's because the formula for spending more than 200-million-dollars a year on tens of thousands of students provides an incentive to keep kids in E.L.L. as long as possible. E.L.L. was formerly known as E.S.L.  The Oregon Department of Education is now proposing to make some major reforms. 

When she was in elementary school, this was about the extent of Stephanie Castañeda's Spanish:

"Hola...adios."

It's a milestone for Oregon's only professional Latino theater group...30 years of performances.  Milagro Theater comes to Roseburg next month.

(sounds of set building)

Milagro is getting a show ready to go on the road. The painted cloth, canvas and rope emulate a circus. Co-founder Dañel Malan says that goes back to the roots of Latin American peasant theater:

"The campesino came from the old tradition of carpa, so that was how they would do the shows, in a tent."

It's a milestone for Oregon's only professional Latino theater group...30 years of performances.  Milagro Theater comes to Roseburg next month.

(sounds of set building)

Milagro is getting a show ready to go on the road. The painted cloth, canvas and rope emulate a circus. Co-founder Dañel Malan says that goes back to the roots of Latin American peasant theater:

"The campesino came from the old tradition of carpa, so that was how they would do the shows, in a tent."

This Christmas, Catholic churches in Oregon will likely be seeing a decline in the number of Latino parishioners.   A new Pew Research Center study shows that Latinos are increasingly leaving the Catholic church with a quarter of the Latinos in the U.S. saying they are ex-Catholics.

(Sound of church bells)

At Mount Angel seminary, there's been a sustained effort to recruit students from Latin American countries.  Still, while more than 50-percent of Catholics in Oregon are Latinos, fewer than 10-percent of priests are:

"I think we've been falling short."