Think Out Loud

Democratic Oregon U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter traveled to El Salvador, along with three other Democratic Congressional representatives, to push for the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Maryland resident was sent to El Salvador last month without a court hearing and despite a 2019 order from an immigration judge that barred his deportation. The Trump administration has accused Abrego Garcia of bein...

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland is celebrating its 90th season. It’s long been one of the most prestigious professional theatres in the nation. But in recent years, it’s faced slings and arrows - from declining audiences and funding to wildfires and the pandemic. Executive Director Gabriella Calicchio began last fall after more than 25 years leading arts organizations in Cal...

Teams from two Oregon high schools will soon put their hospitality and culinary skills to the test at the National ProStart Invitational. At the statewide competition last month, Crook County High School took the top prize in the culinary competition, while the Salem-Keizer Career Technical Education Center won the restaurant management category. Both teams will compete against schools from across...

Students from Sprague High School in Salem and Lincoln High School in Portland are co-champions of a national civics competition that tests students’ knowledge and understanding of the U.S. Constitution. But it’s how they won that has made this year’s “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals” one for the history books.  Sprague High School...

If you’re dining out in Portland to celebrate a special occasion, there’s a good chance you might end up at Nostrana. The Italian restaurant has been in business for 20 years with six-time James Beard award nominee Cathy Whims in charge. Whims has just released her first cookbook, “The Italian Summer Kitchen,” and joins us to talk about Portland’s food scene, her role...

Portland has been operating with a 12-member city council and district representation for more than 100 days now. Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney is responsible for setting council meeting agendas and referring items proposed by the mayor or city auditor to votes. Among other things, the council has wrestled with the city’s noise code, the permit for Zenith energy, rent pricing softwar...

Children who experience trauma in childhood are far more likely to experience negative health and well-being outcomes later in life. Dr. Nadine Burke Harris has helped to develop a screening tool for childhood trauma in San Francisco. RJ Gillespie, Amy Stoeber, Sue Skinner, Ellen Baltus, and Fariborz Pakeresht all work with children in Oregon. We spoke to all of them in front of an audience in 201...

Like Oregon, Washington state is what’s known as a sanctuary state. The Keep Washington Working act prohibits local law enforcement agencies from using county jails for immigrant detention and from interviewing or detaining those suspected of not having permanent legal status. Washington’s attorney general is suing Adams County Sheriff Dale Wagner for allegedly sharing inmate informati...

A team of researchers led by Oregon’s Department of Geology and Mineral Industries recently lasers surveys of the area burned by the Eagle Creek fire in 2017 to better understand how frequent and severe landslides can be after severe wildfires. Much of the landslide research that has been done previously is in dryer desert climates. This new research will help communities understand landslid...

A growing number of international artists have been rethinking, or even cancelling, their U.S. tours amid rising costs and visa issues. Late last week, Canadian band Shred Kelly cancelled their U.S. shows, including a stop in Portland. British singer FKA Twigs also announced in April they would not be making an appearance at Coachella and canceled their American tour. Both artists cited ongoing vi...

Students at the University of Oregon are calling for university administrators to take more action to protect international students amid an immigration crackdown on college campuses across the country. At least four international students at UO have had their visas revoked, along with 13 at Oregon State University and two at Portland State. At a rally on UO’s campus last week, students dema...

Emily Wilson’s name on the cover of a book is a likely sign that it will be a bestseller. But she isn’t an author, and the books are unlikely fan favorites. Wilson has made a name for herself translating classic Greek texts - most notably Homer’s "The Odyssey" in 2017 and "The Iliad" in 2023. Wilson’s translations have gained a cult following and opened up these classics to...

Portland’s Third Angle New Music will debut a new commissioned piece at its upcoming show on April 16 at OMSI’s Kendall Planetarium. The composition, called “Spheres,” was written for percussion quartet and three American Sign Language performers. Deaf and hard of hearing audience members can experience the program through haptic vests that translate the sound from the inst...

 It’s been 20 years since Nancy Sullivan, a media specialist at Portland’s McDaniel High School, organized a poetry slam for students in the school’s library. That one slam eventually evolved into Verselandia, the citywide youth poetry competition now sponsored by Literary Arts. The slam allows students from across Portland to bring their original spoken word poetry to the s...

Tadd Mick, Noelie Achen and Chris Schaffner are the owners of Tradewinds Charters in Depoe Bay. They recently won a statewide award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The national winner of the Small Business Person of the Year award will be announced in May. Tadd Mick is the president of Tradewinds Charters, and Noelie Achen is the vice president. They’ll head to Washington D.C. n...

The Yamhill Community Action Partnership has reached “functional zero” for unsheltered families with children. That means more people in that group are exiting homelessness than are entering it in Yamhill County.  The organization has invested in a liaison who works with landlords and clients to get people into rentals and stay housed. It also expanded emergency shelter capacity i...

More than one in five bridges in Oregon was in “distressed” condition in 2024. That’s according to the Oregon Department of Transportation’s annual bridge condition report. Oregon also has the fewest number of bridges in “good” condition as determined by federal standards compared to six other Western states. Under ideal conditions, ODOT says it would be able to...

If you’re accused of a crime, having the right to an attorney - regardless of ability to pay -  is one of your fundamental constitutional due process rights in the U.S. At least in theory. In reality, Oregon - like many states around the country - has long suffered from a shortage of defense attorneys. In 2018 the shortage had become so severe that the nonpartisan nonprofit Sixth Amendm...

When you think about the Columbia Gorge, a multimedia rock opera might not be the first thing that comes to mind. But that’s exactly the vehicle producer Sarah Fox chose to showcase the unique history, personal stories and ecology of the Gorge.  “The Watershed Rock Opera” unfolds in five movements that symbolize the cycle of the watershed itself. The journey starts in the cl...

Multnomah County’s Preschool For All program has overshot its goals in each of its first three years, and this year is no exception. The county's coal was to support 3,000 slots, but it expects to have capacity for 3,800 3 and 4-year-olds in the 2025-2026 school year. Still, that number is far below demand, with nearly double the amount of applications filed every year than there are slots a...

From notes of affirmation to gift cards, Portland nonprofit Wildly Kind aims to spread acts of kindness to strangers  LONG SYNOPSIS: Wildly Kind is on a mission to spread acts of kindness to strangers, not only in its home base of Portland but also across the nation and around the world. The Portland Tribune recently profiled the three-year-old nonprofit and the national media attention it re...

From 2021 to 2024, the Oregon Mortuary and Cemetery Board, the state agency that oversees death care, saw a whopping 79% increase in repayment claims from funeral homes for indigent remains. Indigent remains are the bodies that go unclaimed, have no next of kin or lack financial means for the handling of the body that may have been left in the deceased's will. Oregon is one of a few states that ha...

An unassuming house in Southeast Portland’s Buckman neighborhood was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. Once known as “Juniper House,” the building served as one of the first end-of-life care homes for AIDS patients in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1980s. An OPB documentary at the time explored the lives of some of the patients in Juniper House and th...

Lawmakers are considering a bill that would give agricultural workers a seat at the table. House Bill 2548 would establish a board made up of voices representing farmworkers, farmers, government agencies and labor law to help establish working standards and conditions. Reyna Lopez, executive director of PCUN, which is supporting the bill and Jenny Dresler, spokesperson for the Oregon Farm Bureau,...

It’s been five years since the pandemic shut down cities and towns across the country and changed the daily lives and routines of many people. From virtual workplaces to outdoor dining, COVID-19 also changed how we use and see our cities. Nico Larco is a professor of architect and urban design and is the director of the Urbanism Next Center at the University of Oregon. He joins us to share w...