Think Out Loud

The Central Oregon community is grieving after a gunman opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday afternoon, killing three children and a teacher, according to police. Another child and teacher are also hospitalized. Police said that the suspected shooter, a 16-year-old boy, is also dead after he was shot by a community member who followed him into the school.   The community g...

The Portland Public Schools proposal to close up to 14 schools is getting a lot of pushback. Earlier this week , School Board Chair Eddie Wang answered questions from parents who would be affected. He emphasized that even though the district has had to make a series of significant cuts over the last several years, the closures would not be helping fill a budget gap. Instead, they are aimed at bett...

Dozens of volunteers across the state have now signed up to help tally wildlife they observe either dead or alive along Oregon’s roadways. That might mean, for example, taking out their phone to snap a photo of an elk munching on moss next to a country road or a photo of a dead opossum struck by a vehicle. The images will be collected from Oct. 17 to Oct. 25 and uploaded to the iNaturalist c...

Christopher McKnight Nichols taught history at Oregon State University for a decade and was also the director of its Center for the Humanities until 2022. He left that year for Ohio State University where he is today the Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security and a professor of history. He is also the co-chair of the university’s America at 250 Initiative, a series of programs commem...

Since the Klamath Dams came down in 2024, researchers, tribes and conservation officials have all been waiting to see whether salmon would return to the rivers and streams they last populated 100 years ago. A study published in the journal “Nature” this summer shows that they have.   Researchers documented thousands of salmon migrating upstream in 2024 and 2025. They found that Ch...

Southern Oregon was the only region in the state to see more wine production in 2025 than 2024. That’s according to the Oregon Vineyard and Winery Report released this summer. USA Today also named the Rogue Valley the best wine region in the country in its annual poll. The recognition comes amid falling wine sales nationwide due to rising prices, changing drinking habits and other factors. &...

For more than 20 years , Oregon has been monitoring toxic algal blooms. Other states such as Utah, Wyoming and California have been monitoring the blooms as well. Now, new reporting from High Country News highlights how these blooms are happening more frequently and are lasting longer. Reporter Christine Peterson joins us to share more on why this is happening and what states are doing to try to a...

A new six-part investigative series follows several cases of educator sexual misconduct that took place at Centennial high school in Gresham in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It closely follows the story of Stacy Love, a student who married her former high school teacher shortly after graduating in the 1990s. But her story wasn’t the only one. The series also details an investigation into J...

 Since 1986, the Portland-based nonprofit Ukandu has offered a week-long, free camp for children with cancer, ages 8 to 18, and their siblings. In 2022, Ukandu began offering a free week of camp on the Oregon coast for the entire family.      Ukandu is now about to expand its programming year-round with the opening of The Loft on Oct. 21. The roughly 22,000-square-foot com...

14 neighborhood schools in Portland would close if the Portland Public Schools Board approves a district plan. The "rightsizing" plan also includes consolidating or eliminating programs, as well as major boundary changes. Parents, students and staff have been pushing back on both the process and substance of the plan, and are calling for a pause .   School Board Chair Eddie Wang joins us for...

“Think Out Loud” continues our monthly conversations with Meg Samples, general manager of member-supported KMHD Jazz Radio. Each month, we’ll hear about artists to add to your playlist, along with concerts and community events to attend.    In October, that includes a concert by the pioneering, alternative hip-hop group Digable Planets . The trio is currently on tour fo...

Metro has been acquiring land to create green spaces in the Portland metro area since the 1990s — and its collection of natural areas, trails and parks has now grown to over 20,000 acres. Metro-managed natural areas and parks include the Smith and Bybee Wetlands in North Portland, Cooper Mountain Nature Park in Beaverton, and Oxbow Park on the Sandy River. John Blasher, the parks and nature...

The Portland-based group Seffarine blends traditional music from Morocco and Southern Spain with jazz and other contemporary genres. Their upcoming album, “ Abaraz ,” explores the music of Southern Morocco and the Arab and West African music that influenced it. The album was inspired by the band’s residency in Mhamid El Ghizlane , an oasis at the edge of the Sahara Desert where t...

More often than not located in a dark basement, walls hidden behind a massive collage of musical ephemera dating back a few decades, young adults sorting records and CDs: It’s the local college radio station!   In 1948, when the FCC was making an attempt to promote new FM radio, they created the Class D radio license, which allowed stations to operate with less expensive equipment and m...

The Clark County Youth Commission allows young people to offer their input to the county council about the issues youth are facing and how to address them. While their work typically focuses on mental health, the commission has also explored violence prevention, youth homelessness, community resilience and other topics. As reported in The Columbian , commission members created two murals to repres...

Immigrants’ rights advocates are reporting a rise in the number of arrests by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in the Portland metro area in the last week.  Immigration arrests peaked in November of 2025 with “ Operation Black Rose .” They decreased dramatically earlier this year but numbers surged again in the summer. The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition told OPB tha...

Early next year, Portland residents may begin seeing and hearing fleets of drones carrying Amazon packages bound for delivery in as fast as half an hour. The tech giant says it plans to expand its Prime Air delivery service to nearly 500 cities and towns by the end of the year. A company press release from August shows the service is being offered in 10 metro areas in the U.S., including Phoenix,...

With both education and arts funding facing cuts across the country, it’s not an easy time to be a school music teacher. Research shows that music educators have been leaving the field in recent years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic . But there are still young professionals who are entering the classroom in Oregon.   Charles Torok is a music instructor at Antonia Crater Elementa...

The voter-passed Portland Clean Energy Fund, or PCEF has been awarding grants for about five years. The tax on large retailers who do business in the city has raised far more money than expected. Now Eugene voters will decide whether to pass their own clean energy fund, called ECEF.  It’s modeled after PCEF, but does have differences. We’re joined by representatives from both side...

Polling from OPB shows that the Oregon gubernatorial race is neck-and-neck in the rematch between Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan and the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Tina Kotek. That’s with roughly a week to go before Oregon voters start receiving their ballots.    OPB politics reporters Lauren Dake and Dirk VanderHart join us to talk about the key issues in the race and wher...

When you think of professional wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment, also known as WWE, may come to mind. But the Pacific Northwest is home to its own indie scene of wrestling. As Katherine Cusumano writes in The Believer , the blood, sweat and tears that go into wrestling take a toll on the body and mind, but the spirit and drive keep many in-ring. Including Derek Drexl and Amira Lukens, both...

Portland’s got a reputation for food — the New York Times has called the city “ the dining capital of the Pacific Northwest. ” And last year, a Eugene establishment made it into the publication’s top 100 restaurants of 2025.   Zoe Baillargeon is a freelance food writer based in Portland , and Taylor Gobel is the Food Correspondent at Lookout Eugene-Springfield ....

Toody Cole has been a pillar in many beloved Pacific Northwest bands, including Dead Moon and the Rats and Pierced Arrows. After Pierced Arrows disbanded in 2015, Toody Cole and her husband Fred Cole performed together until his death in 2017.   Six years later, the 77-year-old would return as Toody Cole and her Band. They just got back from a Summer tour in Europe and will be returning for a...

The Leatherman tool came from a simple idea: What if a Boy Scout knife had pliers? This simple idea started a company with now more than 540 employees and a dedicated fan base. In a new book from the tool’s inventor, Tim Leatherman, “The Leatherman” shares the story of the tool's creation, the ups and downs of inventing and practical advice for anyone with their own big idea. Lea...

 Portland voters in two of the city’s four districts will soon be casting ballots to elect or re-elect their city councilors . It’s the second election using ranked choice voting. With half of the Portland city council seats up for grabs, what should voters expect? We hear from OPB politics reporters Bryce Dole and Alex Zielinski as they discuss the upcoming Portland election on t...