PODCAST

Think Out Loud

Oregon Public Broadcasting

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

news

All Episodes

15:18

Candidates for Eugene’s open mayoral seat address...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/17

Oregon’s second largest city has an open seat for mayor. Incumbent Eugene mayor Lucy Vinis announced last year she would not be seeking a third term of office, and she promptly endorsed architect and housing expert Kaarin Knudsen, the first to declare her candidacy. Educator Shanaè Joyce-Stringer joined the race later, as well as Stefan Strek, who does not appear to have a campaign website but who was included in a recent mayoral candidate forum hosted by the Eugene

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19:41

Multnomah County proposes new sobering center

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/17

At this point, many of us have probably encountered someone in the midst of a drug, alcohol or mental health-related crisis in a public place. And you may have wondered: What can I do for that person? Where could that person go so as not to be disrupting public space? In Multnomah County for the last four years, the answer has been: nowhere. Central City Concern’s Sobering Station closed abruptly in December 2019, and a lengthy effort to reopen a new center fell apart two

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19:33

Oregon’s women’s football team starts its season

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/16

If your weekends aren’t complete without watching a tight spiral arc, you can catch the Oregon Ravens as they are starting their season in the Women’s National Football Conference. We talk to two players about the joys of playing one of America’s favorite sports on a team dedicated to women and nonbinary players: Chris Landers is defensive tackle and offensive guard and has been playing with the Ravens since 2019. Kola Shippentower is in her first season as a

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11:36

Willamette winter steelhead returns at 20-year high

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/16

In 2017, fewer than 1,000 winter steelhead returned to the Upper Willamette Basin. That number has exploded to more than 7,600 so far this year. The returns are the highest since 2004. Zach Urness is the outdoors editor for the Statesman Journal and hosts the Explore Oregon podcast. He joins us with more on what’s behind the increase.

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21:30

Social services hub planned for downtown Salem building

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/16

Plans are underway to turn the former Statesman Journal building in downtown Salem into a one-stop shop for community services, including youth programming, health services and religious charities. As recently covered by the Salem Reporter, the project is moving forward after receiving $3 million from state lawmakers. The current plan is for storage company StoreIT to buy the building and occupy the subfloor, while nonprofits and community organizations rent space on upper

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18:10

Indigenous tiny home village planned at former...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/15

Plans are underway to turn part of the former Presbyterian Church of Laurelhurst into a tiny home village for Indigenous families experiencing homelessness. As reported in Underscore, the project – known as Barbie’s Village – will also include family and children’s programming in the former church building. The project was made possible after regional Presbyterian Church leaders voted to sell the land for $1 to Future Generations Collaborative, a local

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19:50

Why some Oregon universities won’t require the ACT or...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/15

Four years ago at the dawn of the pandemic, many universities across the country scaled back on their admissions process, many no longer requiring SAT or ACT scores with an application. Now, U.S. universities are bringing standardized testing back. Institutions such as Brown University, the University of Texas at Austin and University of Tennessee are all reinstituting the requirement for applicants. This also comes at a time where the Supreme Court recently struck down

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14:40

A city-owned garage in Portland is in desperate need...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/15

When one of the city’s vehicles are in need of repair, they may find themselves at Kerby Garage, a two-story city-owned facility in North Portland. But while the facility is responsible for servicing more than 2,000 city vehicles such as snowplows, dump trucks and excavators, the building has been labeled in city reports as in “very poor condition.” Some of the many problems with the building include no automated smoke detectors, frequent garage door issues and

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23:41

Washington County offers a window into what...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/12

Last week, Gov. Tina Kotek signed into law HB 4002 which effectively ends Oregon’s experiment with drug decriminalization under Measure 110. As of Sept. 1, the possession of hard drugs like fentanyl and meth will be a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. But the law also sets aside nearly $21 million to incentivize counties and Tribal governments to deflect drug users from jail time by connecting them to treatment and recovery service providers. Twenty-three

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29:24

Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle shares vision for...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/12

In her State of the City address last month, Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle touted the city’s rapid growth and development since she was first elected to the city council more than a decade ago. But with that growth comes challenges for Washington’s fourth-largest city. In the past decade, homelessness has increased by more than 250%, prompting city officials to declare a state of emergency to streamline responding to this crisis. Last year, voters approved a new

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21:13

Summer camp on the Sandy River receives National...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/11

Camp Namanu, a camp that has been a summertime idyll for Oregonians since 1924, was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. The historic district includes lodges, cabins, and community buildings which were designed to complement and blend in with the Pacific Northwest forest environment. Nancy King, a board member of Camp Namanu, joins us to talk about what this camp has meant to generations of Oregonians.

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20:18

How Oregon is mapping wildfire hazards

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/11

The state is taking another crack at a wildfire hazard map that outlines areas where fire resources should be prioritized. The first attempt was withdrawn in 2022 after public outcry. As the latest map is drafted, the state continues to seek public feedback. In the coming months, agencies will visit places that might be more affected by the map, like Southern Oregon. Andy McEvoy is an OSU faculty research assistant, Derek Gasperini is a public affairs officer with the Oregon

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11:01

USPS cost-cutting measures affect rural communities

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/11

One of the many parts of a 10-year-plan to make the U.S. Postal Service financially sustainable involves reductions to rural postal service. U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was appointed by then-President Trump in 2020. The cutback to rural service are part of DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” plan. We talk with Baker City Herald Editor Jayson Jacobi about the latest cutbacks, which went into effect in

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23:35

Event in Pendleton honors the Triple Nickles, the...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/10

An event in Pendleton this weekend will honor the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, also known as the Triple Nickles. Formed during WWII, the unit was the first all-Black paratrooper battalion in the U.S. military. The Nickles were stationed in Pendleton as part of Operation Firefly, a top-secret effort to intercept and disarm Japanese balloon bombs that were floated over the Pacific. The unit fought the wildfires caused by the balloons as some of the nation’s earliest

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13:54

Hillsboro butcher shop gets federal funding to expand...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/10

The Meating Place is a butcher shop and cafe located in Hillsboro. It recently received a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand its meat processing capabilities. In 2022, the shop received a grant from the Oregon Department of Agriculture as part of a state meat inspection program. Processing meat in Oregon can help producers save time and money. The Meating Place will use the latest round of federal funding to ramp up those services. We check in

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14:44

The City of Eugene faces uncertain funding for...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/10

The City of Eugene helps run several types of homeless shelters and services along with Lane County and other partners. The city has cobbled together funds to keep them running until June 2025. After that, the city will have to figure out how to keep some services going that currently rely on one-time funds. Meanwhile, Eugene has already made budget cuts to some services, like its libraries, to prioritize other emergency needs. We learn more about Eugene’s approach to

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24:07

Tiny Crane high school in Eastern Oregon keeps...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/09

LONG SYNOPSIS: Last month, the girls and boys basketball teams at Crane Union High School in Eastern Oregon won state championship titles at the Oregon School Activities Association 1A tournament in Baker City. The smallest schools in the state compete in this division, including Crane, which is located in Harney County and currently has 84 students. It’s the third consecutive state title for the boys basketball team, and the fourth state title in the past five years for

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30:37

How the pandemic affected math learning

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/09

Data released by the Oregon Department of Education in the fall showed that student proficiency rates for mathematics dropped to about 30%. At the same time, investments championed by Gov. Tina Kotek will bring $100 million to schools to address literacy and early-learning reading. But should the same investments be made into other subjects like math? What needs to be done to help kids catch up? To answer these questions and more, we’re joined by Brenda Lindsay, the K-6

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15:08

As exotic farms are on decline nationwide, Oregon...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/08

Recent data from the Agricultural Census shows that while conventional farm animals like cows and chickens are doing fine, exotic animals are on the decline. As reported by the Washington Post, from 2002 to 2022 the number of Ostriches in the U.S. fell by 83%, while Llamas saw a similar decline at 79%. Michael Lehman is the president of the American Ostrich Association and co-owner of Central Oregon Ostrich. Ron Wilkinson is the president of the Central Oregon Llama Association

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37:53

Oregon 3rd Congressional District primary debate:...

Think Out Loud ·

2024/04/08

After serving nearly 30 years in Congress, Democratic U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer announced last fall that he wouldn’t run for reelection. That leaves an open field for Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District primary this May. We’ll hear from the three most prominent candidates vying for the Democratic nomination: Maxine Dexter is a pulmonologist who represented Northwest Portland in the Oregon House of Representatives; Susheela Jayapal formerly represented District

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