In 2007, the KBOO Evening News and Public Affairs Department has built up a large pool of ‘citizen reporters’ through a new training program, as well as developing a number of special programs.We have greatly increased the number and quality of locally-produced news segments for daily newscast, and now have over fifty contributing reporters.Trainings that have been developed through the PM News Department include:Newsroom OrientationNews ProductionWriting for RadioCommunity ReportingInterviewingField RecordingThe Department has also assisted in the development of curricula and trained trainers for other classes now being offered on a regular basis at KBOO. These include:Intro to AudioAudio ProductionDigital EditingVoice and MicWebsite training We held a wildly successful Newsroom open house on July 13th to facilitate dialogue between existing and new volunteersThe PM News and Public Affairs Director conducted program evaluations in August and September for all public affairs showsSpecial programming this year included:14-hour Katrina Special (August 29th):Pre-Katrina: history, previous levee breaks, wetland destructionFirst-hand accounts of the stormPrisoners/police – accounts, analysisForum: Government response to disaster-people speaking from their personal experiences doing relief work in New Orleans, New York on Sept. 11, 2001, and Kansas in June after tornadoes-ongoing government problems/FEMA trailers-commentary on posse comitatus and the role of the militaryForum: Community responses to Katrina -guests included Reverend Mary Overstreet Smith, Pastor Bruce Davenport, Sunshine Dixon, Malik RahimCurrent events:Civic works project Live report from People’s Tribunal for Justice in New Orleans The ongoing struggle to re-open public housing:Interview with housing activist Jamie LoughnerHealthcare: Government failures, small grassroots clinics 6 hour End Police Brutality Special (October 22nd):A day of programming focusing on the National Day to End Police Brutality. Interviews with Wayne Madsen about the use of private companies like Blackwater to train police forces nationwide, local Indymedia activist Deva about assaults on journalists by local police, Aaron James about being racially profiled and beaten on an airplane. We did a close examination of the case of Fouad Kaady, a burn victim who was tasered and shot to death by Portland police two years ago.We also examined the cases of Jose Santos Mejia Poot, Kendra James, James Jahar Perez, and James Chasse, Junior. Alejandro Queral hosted a two-hour forum of community leaders on the community responses to police violence, and the effectiveness of the Independent Police Review and the racial profiling committee of the Portland Police Department. And we spoke with Mesha Irizarry of the Idriss Stelley Foundation about alternative policing methods, and the concept of restorative justice in the communities most affected by police violence. In 2008:We are looking forward to celebrating the 40th anniversary of KBOO with lots of special programming and archive material. Now's the time to get involved as a citizen reporter on your community radio station KBOO.