For decades, Craig Coyner III served Bend as a city councilor, prosecutor, defense attorney and mayor. But in the twilight of his life, he experienced homelessness. How could a man, once revered in his community, have fallen so far?

In 2001, Jason Thomas’ mother was murdered by five teenagers. One of them was his brother, Adam Thomas. At the time of the crime, Jason firmly believed in law and order. But for 15 years, he visited Adam in prison. Then, in June 2022, he wrote an email to Oregon’s governor. He wanted each of his mother’s killers to be released.

This is the story about why.

Medically vulnerable infants seldom survive cardiac emergencies. When six-week-old Brody Thomas came home from the hospital and stopped breathing, his father, Jack, knew he had to act quickly. He began performing CPR. What followed would loom in Jack’s memory for weeks.

The language of the Warm Springs Indians — Ichishkiin — is at risk of being forgotten. The COVID-19 pandemic cut short the lives of many elders who know the language best, imperiling the tribe’s traditions and culture.

One teacher has dedicated his life to teaching this language to students. Now, with his new class at Madras High School, he is fighting to keep the tradition alive.

A former Navy SEAL says psilocybin — the psychoactive ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms — helped him cope with PTSD and addiction. In a state ranked among the lowest in the country for mental health treatment, can the drug’s use in therapy help others?

One out of five community college students in Oregon experience homelessness. This is the story about one man’s fight to stay in school.

This story was part of The Bulletin’s ‘Faces of Homelessness’ series, which won the 2022 award for best enterprise reporting from the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association.

By July 2020, half of the Oregonians who had died during the pandemic contracted coronavirus in a nursing home. One family transferred their father to a Portland care facility so he could receive better treatment for Parkinson’s disease. When the pandemic struck his nursing home, this family was left clinging to their memories of him.

Before the Bend Safeway shooting, there was little reason to believe Travis Connor and Ray Shields would become friends.

But, in a way, they saved each other that night. Their lives have been intertwined ever since.