OPB Audio

Four times a week, you’ll find Camas resident Martins Licis working out in his home garage. Like many people, he will lift repetitions of weights to build strength. But most people don’t do 600 to 900-pound deadlifts or 500 to 700-pound squats. Licis is a professional strongman who is currently training to compete in the Giants Live Strongman Classic in London on July 4 and another international competition three weeks later. The Columbian recently profiled Licis before his return to the World’s Strongest Man, which he won in 2019 and finished in sixth place this year. The four-day competition features grueling feats of strength like pulling a truck along a 100-foot course or throwing 30-pound sandbags over a 16-foot-high bar. But it’s more traditional feats of strength that Licis is particularly interested in these days. In 2022, he launched with his friend and manager the YouTube series “Strength Unknown.” As host and co-producer, Licis has traveled to more than 15 countries to document and participate in ancient strength traditions, from sumo wrestling in Japan to stone lifting in Pakistan, and to meet the people who are keeping them alive. Licis joins us to discuss the series, which is currently on hiatus, and how it’s expanded his understanding of strength.

High Country News recently reported on how residents within the city limits of White Salmon, Wash. have lacked free mail delivery from the U.S. Postal Service for years now. The agency also does not provide free Post Office Boxes for those residents. High Country News’ reporting also revealed that at least 10 other towns in Washington, Oregon and Idaho also lack both free home mail delivery and free P.O. Boxes provided by the USPS. Meanwhile, White Salmon Mayor Marla Keethler has been trying to no avail since 2020 to work with the agency to create a new mail delivery route or provide free P.O. boxes. Susan Shain is a freelance journalist based in White Salmon. She joins us to share more details of her recent reporting.

Volunteers needed to count pikas, cute fluffy animals that are also indicator species.

The production found women who worked in factories during World War II — often centenarians — to invite them.

Danielle Jester spent the last year trying to cover Lake County remotely, from Northern California. This month, she returned to Lakeview to be the Examiner's sole reporter.

Soccer fans around the globe have spent the last few days cheering on their favorite teams in the FIFA World Cup. The five-week tournament is being co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States. While there has been a lot of excitement about what’s happening on the pitch, there’s been not as much fanfare about the pitch itself — much of it made with Oregon grass seed.

“Drag Me Outside,” where field biology meets fabulousness.