PODCAST

Think Out Loud

Oregon Public Broadcasting

OPB"s daily conversation covering news, politics, culture and the arts. Hosted By Dave Miller.

news

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18:11

Oregon’s largest natural gas company is selling as...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/16

NW Natural told Oregonians it had a new source of clean energy: renewable natural gas derived from decomposing organic waste at sites like landfills or dairy farms. In 2017 the company helped to write a law promoting the development of the new fuel, with the promise that it could replace fossil natural gas in our pipelines. Internal documents obtained by ProPublica reveal how the company painted a picture of going green while it has continued to sell as much fossil natural gas

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52:08

REBROADCAST: Gov. Barbara Roberts looks back over her...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/13

In 1990, Barbara Roberts became the first woman elected governor of Oregon. She began her political career as a member of the Parkrose school board and then the board of Mount Hood Community College. She was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1980 and was chosen by her colleagues to be the House majority leader two years later. Two years after that, she became Oregon's Secretary of State, before going on to the top office. We spoke to Roberts in front of an

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16:02

OSU researchers awarded $2 million to study...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/12

Each year, there are nearly three million cases of antibiotic-resistant infections in the U.S. caused by MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While many of these infections happen during hospital stays, less is known about the role wastewater treatment facilities can play in the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment.Researchers at Oregon State University aim to change that with a new

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19:48

Report outlines struggles, successes Pacific...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/12

Coastal tribes in the Pacific Northwest are set to face some of the most dramatic effects of climate change in the region, from rising seas to more severe storms. The University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group and the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians conducted a series of listening sessions with leaders and citizens of 13 coastal tribes to hear how they were responding to climate challenges. A new report outlines the obstacles tribes described, including

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16:37

Portland city council candidates swapped donations,...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/12

Portland voters will decide 12 city council races and choose a new mayor this November. Willamette Week’s Sophie Peel found that some of the candidates running agreed to swap campaign donations in order to qualify for the city’s system of matching funds. That practice violated campaign finance law, according to attorneys and experts quoted in the stories, although the secretary of state’s office had declined to weigh in without having done its own full

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13:20

Investigating porcupine populations in the Pacific...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/11

Like beavers and woodpeckers, porcupines play an important role in their ecosystem. But, because they have a tendency to damage trees, porcupines are often considered a nuisance species. In the Pacific Northwest, it’s becoming harder to find living porcupines, according to a Columbia Insight report. We learn more about the rodent from Dawn Stover, a freelance writer and regular contributor to Columbia Insight.

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15:49

Portland Clean Energy Fund supports student-driven...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/11

The new Climate Friendly Public Schools program is just beginning. It will provide as much as $10,000 per school for public middle and high school students in seven districts over the next five years. The Portland Clean Energy Fund is providing the program $50 million. Portland Public Schools' share is close to $20 million. The idea is to support public school students to create their own projects and spur innovation in the climate solution space. Joining us to give us more

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23:27

Three Oregon county clerks share perspectives and...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/11

The November general election is just eight weeks away. In Oregon, the responsibility for local, state and federal races falls to the state’s 36 county clerks. But that job has gotten harder in recent years with budget cuts, staffing shortages, the spread of misinformation, physical threats and intimidation of election workers in Oregon and around the nation. A survey of Oregon county clerks released last autumn by researchers at Reed College revealed the increasing stress

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13:34

Report documents how wildfires affect pregnant people

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/10

Human Rights Watch and Nurturely released a report last month that shows how pregnant people are affected by wildfires. It also suggests that officials and agencies place an emphasis on reproductive justice when providing support and information around disasters. Additionally, it recommends better education for health workers on environmental determinants of health. We learn more about the report from Skye Wheeler, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, and Aver Yakubu,

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24:44

OHSU physician on ways parents can deal with stress

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/10

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy recently issued an advisory saying stress from parenting is a public health issue. The nation's doctor shared his concerns over the well-being of parents, noting overwhelming stressors affecting parents today – from financial pressures to worries around kids' health and safety. The advisory notes that nearly half of parents say most days their stress is overwhelming and more than 40% say they are so stressed they cannot function

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14:06

No more drafts for Portland Thorns players

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/10

month, the National Women’s Soccer League announced it’s getting rid of the draft. This winter, promising college players will instead choose among their favorite teams and negotiate a contract. The NWSL will still have roster limits and a salary cap, but under its new collective-bargaining agreement, no player may be traded without her consent. The League is the first in the U.S. to grant unrestricted free agency to all players. Rachel Bachman, reporter for the Wall

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17:09

A Vancouver nonprofit’s program to remove trash helps...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/09

Since 2017, the Vancouver nonprofit Share has been operating a program that removes roughly 20 tons of trash each month from homeless encampments, parks and other sites in the city. As reported by The Columbian, the Talkin’ Trash program recently received a grant to purchase three large containers and a donated dump truck to improve efficiency and safety for its work crew.But perhaps the biggest impact the program is having is in the lives of the workers it hires, all of

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19:47

Federal and local partners collaborate on Willamette...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/09

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced the creation of the Willamette Valley Conservation Area last month. The area is part of an effort to protect oak and prairie habitat and the species that live there like the monarch butterfly and Western Meadowlark. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service published a conservation study in 2017. It found that grasslands, oak woodlands and riparian habitat in the Willamette Valley needed more protection. We hear more details from Damien

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15:31

Case of missing Indigenous woman in Portland points...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/09

Wilma Acosta, an unenrolled Pascua Yaqui woman living in Portland, went missing in November of last year. Her body was found in the Willamette River in January 2024. The Portland Police Bureau said she was suicidal. Her family insists she was not. Communication between Acosta’s family and the Portland Police Bureau illustrates some of the challenges in Missing and Murdered Indigenous People cases. Luna Reyna, Northwest Bureau Chief at Underscore News, wrote about this case

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52:21

Poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil on ‘World of...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/06

The award winning poet, writer and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s genius lies in making connections between the astonishments of the natural world and the particular wonders of her own - and all of our - lives. Nezhukumatathil is the author of four collections of poems, including “Oceanic, and her latest book, a bestselling collection of essays, is called “World of Wonders.” Nezhukumatathil is a professor of English at the University of Mississippi, and

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52:13

Author Charles Yu talks about ‘Interior Chinatown’ at...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/05

Charles Yu has written a lot about the nature of reality, how we understand what is real, and the assumptions we make about each other and the universe we live in. Yu’s first novel, “How to live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe,” follows a time machine repairman who is searching for his father who is lost in time and memory. His latest book, National Book Award winning “Interior Chinatown,” takes place in a Chinese restaurant that’s also

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22:18

Three Oregon movie theaters compare notes

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/04

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal shows that movie ticket sales are still lagging behind from prepandemic numbers. At the same time, one in three TikTok users say the app drove them to watch a movie in theaters, according to marketing research from the company. What has pandemic recovery looked like for Oregon theaters? Did Barbenheimer save some cinemas? To answer these questions and more we’ll hear from three different theaters. Loretta Miles is the owner of

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17:19

Street Roots investigates claims Portland is having a...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/04

The Portland Police Bureau’s annual budget has risen by nearly $90 million - roughly 40% - since 2016. But increased funding doesn't always equate to reduced crime. A recent investigation by Street Roots shows that Portland hasn't been having a crime wave. It found that reported crimes have increased less than 10% over the past four years, according to data from PPB. K. Rambo is the editor-in-chief at Street Roots and has been reporting on this. They join us to share

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12:55

Portland Head Start nonprofit sues federal agency...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/04

Albina Head Start provides free daycare and preschool for nearly 900 low-income children who qualify for the Head Start program at 20 locations across Portland. But the nonprofit is now at risk of losing nearly $50 million in funding after it was found to be “deficient” by the federal agency which administers the program. It must now also recompete for grant funds despite decades of serving thousands of infants and children enrolled in Head Start.AHS has responded

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20:46

Former Oregon Poet Laureate's peace poem translated...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/09/03

Former Oregon Poet Laureate Kim Stafford wrote a “A Proclamation for Peace” poem several years ago. But today it has a new resonance. It’s been published in a new book, along with translations into more than 50 languages and notes from the dozens of translators who were involved. The poem appears in Arabic and Hebrew, Russian and Ukrainian, Tibetan and Mandarin, Tamil, Vietnamese, Polish, Yoruba, Yucatec Maya, and a host of other languages. It also includes QR

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