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October 26, 2025 29 mins
Portland Police have a pilot program using drones as a first responder.  More people are becoming victims of the 'Gold Bar Scam.'  Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue installs the Haas system to alert you when their fire rigs are coming.
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to local voices. I'm brad Ford. Port and Police
have a new pilot program using drones as first responders.
They get there often before the first officer arriots. The
gold barscam is costing Oregonians, in many cases, elderly Oregonians
hundreds of thousands of their retirement dollars. Twalleton Valley Fire

(00:24):
and Rescue has new technology to alert drivers that their
fire rigs are coming. We'll tell you how it works.
And Halloween is loaded with treats, We'll have some tips
on how to teach children moderation. Porten Police has started

(00:45):
using drones to respond to incidents before officers arrive on
the scene. Port And Police folksman Mike Benner has some background.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
In early twenty twenty three, city council gave us the
green light to start using drones. These are small, unmanned
aircraft to help document scenes and crime scenes, monitor critical
incidents from a safe distance, of course, provide real time
information to officers on the ground, and de escalate tense situations.

(01:12):
Since the spring of twenty twenty three, drones that are
flown by trained officers have helped us to do our
jobs more safely, more efficiently. And often with less disruption
to the public. These drones are used in line with
strict privacy and safety standards. Last fall, after a successful
pilot program, City Council unanimously approved expanding the program citywide.

(01:35):
That meant more equipment, more training, and broader use across
all precincts, everything from helping recover stolen cars to street
racing interdiction. This work was conducted by utilizing drones in
a select number of our patrol vehicles. This work was
done carefully, It was done responsibly, and always with community
safety and trust in mind. This program is seeing great

(01:57):
success in Portland, with over four hundred six sucessful deployments
this year alone and growing community support. With that foundation
in place, we're excited to take the next step deploying
drones as first responders. A pilot programmer launching and collaboration
with our great partners at the Gresham Police Department. GPD
has been flying drones as first responders for more than

(02:19):
a year, and they are now inviting PPB into that
space to work right alongside them.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Portland Police Commander Front Chaning explains how the program works.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Unlike traditional vehicle based drones that require setup, in travel time.
These drones are prepositioned and launch ready from the rooftop
of East Precinct. When an eligible emergency call comes in
within a two and a half mile radius covering approximately
nineteen square miles, the drone can be launched immediately. Each
drone is operated remotely by a Portland Police pilot stationed
at Gresham's Drone Operations Center. A visual observer remains at

(02:52):
the launch site to monitor airspace safety. Once the drone
is on scene, it provides real time video footage to officers,
giving them a clearer picture of what's happening before they
even arrive on scene. This capability delivers several key benefits. First,
it reduces response times. Drones often arrive faster than both
police officers and vehicle based drone systems. Second, it enhances

(03:14):
safety for officers and the community provided by providing eyes
on a scene without placing personnel in immediate danger. Third,
it helps us right size our responses, deploy the appropriate
number of officers, or sometimes redirecting a call to a
non police responder like Portland Street response. It also helps
us locate suspects more quickly, often without having to set
up large perimeters that disrupt neighborhoods. Most importantly, this technology

(03:37):
can act as a de escalation tool, giving us more
time and more information to decide whether an armed response
is necessary. We also recognize that with new technology comes
community concern particularly around privacy and civil liberties. I want
to assure you that strict safeguards are in place. We
work with the Bureau of Planning Sustainability Smart City PDX
to conduct privacy impact assessments at this program at each

(03:59):
stage of its The safeguards they put in place and
are a number of safeguards, including the fact that drones
do not record while they're in transit. Their cameras face
the horizon and only begin recording if there's a reasonable
belief that criminal activity is occurring or has occurred. The
program is fully compliant with state law and Portland Police
BORIOU policies. No drone can be used to surveil private residences, yards,

(04:22):
or any place where a person has a reasonable expectation
of privacy unless there's a warrant, a criminal incidence, incident,
or a life threatening emergency. These drones will not be
used for mass surveillance or surveillance of First Amendment events.
Every flight is tracked, internally tracked and reviewed, and every
flight is externally transparent. We post the data to our

(04:43):
dashboard where you can see it publicly. Let me also
reiterate this is a pilot program. Only two drones will
be an operation of East Precinct. No new drones are
being purchased, and the equipment is owned by Gresham and
Portland is only contributing trained personnel. Due to staff and constraints,
Joane operations will be limited to specific time windows and
all deployment data will continue to be posted publicly on
our website and we welcome community feedback. If the pilot

(05:06):
proved successful, we will explore expanding the program to other
areas of the city, but only with full transparency and
ongoing community engagement. At its core, this initiative compliments our
existing drone program that aims saving lives, protecting our neighborhoods,
and making better informed decisions and fast moving emergency situations.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Gresham Police Chief Travis Goldberg explains their program that's been
running for two years.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
In July of twenty twenty three, the Gresham Police Department
became among the first agencies in Oregon to launch at
Drones's first Responder program. We did this so we with
a clear goal to respond faster, to respond smarter, and
to respond safer for our emergencies in our community. Today,

(05:49):
we proudly stand beside our partners at the Portland Police
Bureau as they launched their own drones's first Responder program.
This is a necessary step forward and we commend their
cammitment to innovation, transparency.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
And community engagement.

Speaker 4 (06:05):
What I'd like to do, because I know Franz shared
a lot of the detailed information with you, I'd like
to tell you about a story that happened within Gresham
as to why I believe in a decade from now,
we will look back and wonder how we got the
work we get done without the technologies that we leverage
every day. So, as we launched our early on and

(06:28):
we launched our drones' first responder program, one of the
initial calls that our operators went to was a robbery
in progress. The idea again trying to make it safer
for our entire community. As they responded to that call,
it quickly resolved itself. Then what happens with the jones

(06:49):
as first responder program, Because it's not a patrol program,
they return to our home location. While en route, they
were diverted to a call of a structure fire that
ended up being a house, a house that was fully
engulfed in fire. That technology did for our street response,

(07:10):
including fire department, was to provide information that individuals were
in the backyard trapped with the inability to get out
of the backyard. Our drones first responder operators were able
to give that information to the street level police officers
who then devised a plan, went to a neighbor asked

(07:31):
for a chainsaw. They were able to cut through bushes
and a fence and provide an exit for people that
were trapped in that fire.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
So as we move.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Forward with this partnership and this technology that I think
will benefit our community, I think it's important to understand
that technology helps us to enhance the work we do,
but also makes our community safer.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
Port and Police Jate bomb Day said this is a
step forward for the police bureau.

Speaker 5 (08:02):
The economist author Peter Drucker once said, the greatest danger
in times of turbulence is not the turbulence, it is
the act with yesterday's logic, And we are no longer
an organization that responds with yesterday's logic. We are an
organization that's a learning organization that's moving forward on a
daily basis, and this is another step in that. You know,

(08:24):
there are several of these programs around the country, and
I'm proud of the model that we have used. It's
already been highlighted. The level of transparency, the information sharing
that we provide and the successful operations both highlighted by
Chief Goldberg, and I'm sure that our team could share
as well. The technology is the future for us in policing.

(08:49):
We are seeing this in a variety of ways, and
to be able to embrace this and to engage in
this pilot program at this point I really see as critical.
This is going to further support our goals which have
been laid out since I started around transforming the dynamic
between the police and the people we serve, reducing crime
and the fear of crime, and organizational growth and development.

(09:10):
It was made clear by Counsel in the spring that
they wanted to see a reduction in over time, they
wanted to see lower crime rates, they wanted to see
an increase in hiring the police. Brewers moving in that
direction in all those areas, and I'm anticipating that this
program is going to further support that by the efficiencies
already outlined. So I'm just really encouraged. This is an
example of a learning organization. This is an an example

(09:34):
of maximizing the resources we have available to provide the
highest level of safety and security to the community, Recognizing
the necessary steps we are taking around transparency and all
that we do, and just really looking forward to reporting
back and hopefully maybe expanding the program in the future
depending on the results that we see in the coming months.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Residents have expressed concerned about having drones flying over their homes.
Chief Bob Day says they have an online dashboard to
show how the drones are being used.

Speaker 5 (10:03):
That concern is genuine, It's real, you know. I don't
discount that at all. Fully understand that this is new territory,
you know, and certainly the history of law enforcement has
not always demonstrated at a credibility around the use of technology.
And a couple of things that I would say to

(10:25):
Portlanders won we have a demonstrated work product around this
particular tool over the last year or so that we've
had it up. I mean, you can go to our dashboard.
Everything is very public. You can see where they're flying,
what they're doing, you know, how they're being used. So
I think that has shown that we are being very
open in that. We have been clear in our communication.

(10:48):
This week, we spoke with counsel, with chiefs of staff.
You know, this isn't something that we're you know, trying
to hide. That's why we're having the press conference trying
to be open about that as well. And we will
continue to engage with port on this. We will continue
to make ourselves available to hear their concerns. Certainly, you know,
complaints or things like that. We will be responsive too.

(11:09):
This is one aspect of you know, many other aspects
of policing that we're going to be leaning into. But
I think it's essential that we don't shy away from technology,
even if it seems a little bit, a little bit scary,
er a little bit uncertain, because it is a way
for us to increase, as we said, safety efficiencies, things

(11:30):
like that. But recognize those concerns exist, and we welcome
that feedback, and we welcome an opportunity to try and
mitigate those.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
PPB spokesman Mike Benner says, when responding to the scene
of an incident, the drones cameras pointed forward and not down.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
When these drones lift off the roof of Ease Precinct,
they will be trained on the horizon because they are flying.
Think about it, if the camera's pointing down, that drune
could hit something. So we are looking at the horizon
as we fly. So I hope the community understands these
drones are not flying looking into backyards. As as it goes,

(12:06):
they're trained on the horizon and they will get to
the scene that they're dispatched to see.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
Bob Day says several law enforcement agencies are using drones
across the country as first responders.

Speaker 5 (12:16):
This has been growing across the country as a number
of agencies that are using this, you know, particularly on
the West Coast, but even you know, cities like Detroit
and others. I was recently in Philadelphia. They've been looking
at it. You know, so many major cities are seeing
the opportunities, as Sergeant Jensen outlined, right to be able
to be on scene coicker, to be able to identify

(12:36):
the need to better user resources. You know, there's a
de escalation component, there there's a triage component, there's distance,
there's time, safety, all of the elements that we use
to evaluate the effectiveness of policing. This really provides. But
as mentioned earlier, you know, all of us are you know,
sensitive and aware of the fact that it is new

(12:59):
and there are concerns around how we use technology, how
we gather information, how we store it, keep it, share it,
all of that, and so we are constantly in conversation
you know, with both legal counsel here, city attorney, et cetera,
but also learning from our partners around the country to see,
you know, what are some of the challenges they've faced,
how have they managed that. I'm seeing this to be

(13:21):
more common than not. I just read an article today
about an agency in Colorado that's looking at it. And
I will be at a major City Chiefs and International
Association Chiefs of Police conference in October, and I know
that it's part of the conversation there. And there's also
a lot of conversation nationally about drones and safety for
community in terms of being private operators. Right when you

(13:44):
have drones over large scale events, you know, you see
more and more discussion about you know, when they're over
stadium events or open air events, and you know, trying
to really understand the complexity of the program as a whole,
and so this really by having the expertise of Sergeant
Geny and others, this gives us a leg up to
be able to understand potential threats that could come from

(14:05):
people who would use drones unethically or inappropriately in our community.

Speaker 1 (14:10):
That's part on Police Chief Bob Day explaining their new
program that uses drones as first responders. Oregonians have been
losing hundreds of thousands of retirement dollars to the gold
bar scam. Jason Horton with the Oregon Division of Financial

(14:31):
Regulation joins us on local voices. Jason, how does the
gold bar scam work?

Speaker 6 (14:36):
Yeah, so this is kind of a one that's been
popping up all over the country, and it involves the
scammers contacting people and saying they're a government official, many
times from the Department of Treasury or some other government agency,
and they are telling the victim that they need to

(14:58):
convert money held in their financial accounts that is no
longer safe into gold bars and that's how they can
protect those assets. Once the victim agrees to convert the
funds to gold, then they'll either come to the victim's
front door or arrange for them to pick up the

(15:20):
gold bars and usually this happens through text, email or
a phone call and then they're told that their accounts
are at risk, and that's kind of how it gets started.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
There have been several Oregonians that have lost thousands of
dollars to this scam.

Speaker 6 (15:40):
Yeah. The DJ just recently put out some information on
someone that several hundred thousand dollars got taken from them
and that someone else was contacted as well.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (15:50):
The thing that people need to remember is the government,
no government, no person from the government is going to
contact you and ask for any power words or for
you to give them money to convert to anything, whether
it's gold or cryptocurrency or whatnot. And the other thing
is they'll never ask for your passwords for anything.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Also, good advice to not click on links and give
out passwords.

Speaker 6 (16:20):
Yeah, absolutely, especially if it's an unsolicited one or if
it looks suspicious and it comes from an email or
a text. The best thing to do is just delete it,
do not open it. If it's from someone that or
from a sender that you're not familiar with.

Speaker 1 (16:35):
Now, one part of this scam is the person who
transports the money from the victim to the suspect that's
organizing this thing. They call them money mules. Yeah.

Speaker 6 (16:48):
The sad part is there are people out there that
are looking for legitimate work, and they will come across
these advertisements for work and they will, unknowingly, at least
the beginning, go to work for these nefarious people. And
work is the in between between the victim and the scammers.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
And they have no idea that they're part of the scam.

Speaker 6 (17:14):
No, that is correct. They don't have an idea, and
that's why you should be contact. You should be cautious
when random job postings come up, especially that are going
to pay you in cash, or that seem a little
murky in the description and whatnot.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
What advice would you give someone who may be contacted
by the scammer at the start of the gold bar scam?
Is there anything they can do to verify whether it's legitimate.

Speaker 6 (17:52):
Yeah, always be cautious if somebody is contacting you, and
especially if they're claiming to be a government official, because
government officials will never threaten you or demand that you
have to make some sort of payment in different ways
like gold or gift cards or cryptocurrency. That's just not

(18:15):
going to happen. So that's your first warning sign. And
if you do get contacted with somebody, look up their contact.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Information, anything else you'd like to ann Yeah, I.

Speaker 6 (18:25):
Would also remind people to never give out any personal
or financial information to anyone that calls you randomly or
that tried to contact you randomly or out of the blue.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
That's Jason Horton with the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation
and details on the gold bar scam. This happened just
last week. A twenty year old California man was arrested
in Lincoln County in connection with a gold bar scam.
An eighty one year old Lincoln County woman lost two
hundred and eighty four thousand dollars after the scammers convinced
her that her money was at risk and she needed

(18:59):
to buy gold bars and surrender them for safe keeping.
The organizer is in India and they hire couriers to
collect the gold. The courier was arrested near Toledo, Oregon.
He told police that he was unaware of the scheme
and he's cooperating with the investigation. Twallet and Valley Fire

(19:22):
and Rescue is using new technology to alert drivers that
their fire rigs are coming. Derek Weiss is the chief
of Toilet and Valley Fire and Rescue. This system is
called the HAS system. How does it work.

Speaker 7 (19:34):
Well, it's actually not as complicated as you as you
might imagine. There's a small device that goes in emergency
response vehicles. Some apparatus like our fleet of Pierce fire
engines and other apparatus, it comes standard. In some you
have to install it. So we have a lot of
aged apparatus, so we put the device in retroactively and

(19:55):
we've done eighteen pieces of equipment thus far of our
front line. We plan to have of eighty three of
our primary frontline apparatus equipped by the end of next year.
So what this device does is when an emergency apparatus
has its lights on Code three siren driving down the road,
it will forewarn people through their radio or their mapping

(20:18):
system that an emergency apparatus is either approaching or behind them,
and it gives them a little more time to think
about it, plan their action and slow down and move
to the right. And the beauty of it is that
it will prevent collisions and it will keep our drivers
and apparatus operators safe as well as the community that

(20:40):
we're serving.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Now, are there certain types of in vehicle I guess
navigation systems that receive this information?

Speaker 7 (20:48):
There are, and right now through HAST Alert, they've partnered
with your Apple Maps and your Ways Maps. So if
you're using one of those two systems as you're driving
down the road, you will be alerted. And and a
fun fact for you, while all of our rigs aren't
up and running yet, just the month of August, there
was over ten thousand vehicle drivers notified that an emergency

(21:10):
apparatus was around them.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Wow, so it's kind of hard to be going yeah, okay,
so ways, for example, it'll tell me if I have
an activating and I'm driving if an emergency vehicle is
on the side of the road. So well, the HAU
system tell ways to tell me that a fire vehicle
is approaching.

Speaker 7 (21:27):
That is exactly how that safety cloud works. So we
saw it in action today live and what it'll do
is you have your radio on and maybe you're mapping
with your ways mapping. It will quickly turn off the
sound or turn it down so you can't hear it.
It'll give you a couple beeps that are fairly soft,
and then it'll alert you with the visual on your

(21:49):
mapping system.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
Does it tell me what direction the vehicle's approaching?

Speaker 7 (21:54):
Great question. I don't have the answer for that. But
what I do know is like, if you're on a
divided highway and the apparatus is on the opposite side,
going in the opposite direction, it doesn't need to alert
you as you're coming towards it. On a divided highway,
there's emergency response vehicle there, so it doesn't alert on
the opposite side of the road when you're coming at
it on.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
It interesting, so it must alert when it's coming from
behind them. That makes sense. If I don't have Ways
or Apple Maps running on my phone, will it still
alert my phone?

Speaker 7 (22:23):
It all depends actually not your phone. It will do
your vehicle if you have it equipped in your vehicle.
I don't actually know for sure. If you just have
your phone on if it will do it. That's not
my understanding. My understanding is that you have to have
your maps up and running one of the two, or
it's previously equipped built into your vehicle.

Speaker 1 (22:43):
Got it. What's necessary for TVF and R to put
the system into effect? Does it have to be installed
in the rigs. How long does that take?

Speaker 7 (22:51):
It's a great question. So Pierce apparatus they put it
in standard and all of the equipment that they sell.
So if you have a brand new or newer fire
engine sometimes fire rescues and other vehicles, it'll already be
in there and.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
So you can just activate it.

Speaker 7 (23:07):
If you have vehicles that are older or you don't
have that brand or that manufacturer of emergency vehicle, you
would put in an aftermarket version that host Alert has.
So a lot of our apparatus that we have today
does not have it built in. So we partner with
Haas and we get those small devices and they install

(23:27):
them as our vehicles go in for standard maintenance. In
terms of what looks like, if it's an aftermarket it'll
be on the dash front dash of a fire engine,
fire truck and small box and that's where it sits.
Otherwise it's built in.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
And you don't see it well like in sure see
the safety benefits of this? Is it expensive for TVF
and R.

Speaker 7 (23:51):
You know, I don't know how to quantify expenses. Our
job is to create a safer community, and by doing so,
I need to make sure that our crews are safer.
One of the things that I always talk about is
total response time, and that is the time from dispatch
to the time that emergency emergency responders arrive on a scene.

(24:13):
There's very little in that that I can control. I
can't really control the dispatch, I can't control traffic. I
can control people getting out of the station. So we
constantly ask our people get out as fast as you can,
and I will work on ways to get you to
the scene faster. I would never ask any of our
personnel to drive faster, to be more dangerous or more reckless,

(24:36):
to get to a scene faster. So we have to
look for devices like these that can help us get there.
Some of this new technology and electronics that can get
us there faster and safer. I honestly can't put a
price on that. I don't want to have a collision
with a fire engine and a privately owned vehicle. I
don't want to have a collision between multiple fire resources,

(24:57):
and I don't want folks that are out there the
community they hear the alarms, the sirens, the horns, and
they have an adverse reaction and they get in a collision.
So what this proves is that it gives people enough
warning so they can slow down, they can figure out
their escape which has moved to the right, and then
we avoid those types of collisions. So again, I there

(25:20):
is you know, there is a fee that the district
pays to have that service turned on, but I think
it's it's well worth the cost of you know, what
could happen in the event we don't have it.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Sure. You know, as a driver, you hear a siren coming,
you know, way off in the distance, and you're looking
around trying to figure out all right, especially if you're
an intersection. Is it behind me, is it to the right,
to the left, or is it in front? And so
this system will really make it easier to know where
the rig is coming from.

Speaker 7 (25:49):
That is yeah, that is absolutely part of the intent
is to give people that awareness so they can plan
what they're going to do next.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
Do any other emergency service agencies in Oregon have the
high system or is TVF and other First, here's.

Speaker 7 (26:02):
What I know. We are the largest, hands down that
have implemented the host alert system. There are other smaller
rural areas and I believe maybe even Portland that have
some of these units on their equipment. I do not
know whether or not they're activated and they're.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
Being used nationwide. How many emergency service agencies used the
high system.

Speaker 7 (26:26):
Oh boy, that's a huge number, and I could not
tell you.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
I think it's over four thousand.

Speaker 7 (26:32):
Yeah, it's a significant number. And that doesn't include how
they've partnered with probably some law enforcement. I know they've
partnered with public works. I know they've partnered with some
emergency management areas. So they're really expanding their reach so
that not just emergency vehicles, but other natural disasters or emergencies,
you can be notified safely in your vehicle.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
Great Now, this is TVF and ours on the west
side for people who don't know what are your general
service areas where your trucks would be running and where
this people might get these alerts.

Speaker 7 (27:04):
So we operate in eleven cities, primarily in Washington County,
but we also serve parts of all four counties in
the area, so it's everywhere from Newburgh to West Lynne
up to North Plains, Beaverda and Tigered the Soole west
side of Portland.

Speaker 1 (27:21):
Do you have any information on how well the system works.

Speaker 7 (27:24):
On One statistical piece is that the data shows that
it reduces collisions and the risk of those by up
to ninety percent. Are it cuts hard breaking events down
by eighty percent, and drivers who receive the alerts reduced
speed by an average of seventeen percent. And they can
get that information through the host alert and those mapping systems.

Speaker 1 (27:44):
That's twelve in Valley Fire and Rescue Chief Derek Weiss
explaining how the new has system on their fire rigs
will alert drivers that they're coming Halloween ushers in the
season of suites, treats, and feasts, but it can also
lead to bad habits. According to the National Institutes of Health,

(28:05):
child obesity is an epidemic in the US. Kaiser Permanente
pediatrician doctor Lisa Danike sees it in her clinic.

Speaker 8 (28:13):
We are seeing more and more teenagers being diagnosed with
type two diabetes. When I trained as a resident in pediatrics,
we didn't learn anything about type two diabetes because we
never saw it in people under the age of twenty
one or even forty.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
She blames a combination of factors, but says simple steps
can help kids get back on track.

Speaker 8 (28:31):
I see kids at drink a soda a day. If
you can come back to one or two a week.
That can make a huge difference over a year. I've
seen kids lose ten or fifteen pounsand a year just
by that change. Eat whole foods, eat of fruits and vegetables.
If you can have them be fresh, that's even better.
Stop drinking soda.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Doctor Danike says encouraging healthy habits in your kids does
not mean not enjoying the upcoming holidays. Everything in moderation.

Speaker 8 (28:53):
Kids should have fun. Part of Halloween's trigger treating. You're
outside walking, that's a good thing, right, But I also
think when you get home, having the candy out of
sight is out of mind, and so let your kids
have a little bit of candy on Halloween night, put
it away.

Speaker 1 (29:05):
Doctor Danaik also encourages parents to consider whether they are
setting a good example. Thanks for listening to Local Voices.
I'm brad Ford. You can hear past episodes on the
iHeartRadio app under the podcast tab. Local Voices is a
public affairs presentation from iHeartRadio.
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Ruthie's Table 4

Ruthie's Table 4

For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

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