Think Out Loud

A federal district court judge ruled last week that St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Brookings can continue to serve free meals without restriction to people living on the streets. The church sued the city in 2022 over an ordinance that required a permit for meal services in residential zones and limited the number of days meals could be served to two days a week. Bernie Lindley, the Vicar...

Recently released agricultural census data showed the number of farmworkers in Washington has dropped dramatically over the last five years. At the same time, the number employed through the H-2A guest worker program has nearly doubled. We learn more from Seattle Times reporter Alison Saldanha about these contrasts and what they mean. 

The primaries are just around the corner, and Multnomah County residents will see a few names on the ballot for the District 2 county commissioner seat. We'll hear from the top three contenders: Sam Adams is a former mayor of the city of Portland and previously held a position within Mayor Wheeler’s office. Jessie Burke is the owner of the Society Hotel and board chair of the Old Town Commun...

Gabrielle Zevin is a lifelong devotee of video games, which is obvious to readers of her newest book, the bestseller “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.” The book tells the story of two video game designers who find professional creative and intellectual synergy that doesn’t always match in their personal lives. The book starts from the premise that designing video games is th...

Grief isn’t the kind of theme or subject matter that an art exhibit would normally be organized around to draw visitors to marvel at expressions of on canvas or clay. In fact, its experience can be socially isolating, often only with the support of family members or close friends people suffering through it might hope to call upon.  But a new art exhibit that opens this Friday at AntFar...

Rikki Nouri came to the U.S. from Israel eight years ago for school. She has since married and settled in the Pacific Northwest. Nouri shares what she hears from friends and family in Israel, and what it’s like living so far away from this conflict. 

Last Friday, Klickitat County commissioners voted 2-1 during a special session to close the county jail following disturbing incidents that have called into question conditions in the facility and the treatment of inmates detained there. In January, the family of Ivan Howtopat filed a $20 million wrongful death lawsuit. Howtopat was withdrawing from fentanyl at the time of his detention and was fo...

The iconic 1980s mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap” follows a fictional British band as their first North American tour slowly – and hilariously – falls apart. The movie serves as inspiration for the “Too Much Effing Perspective” podcast, hosted by Portlander Alex Hofmann and LA-based Allen Keller. Hofmann and Keller kick off conversations by asking guests about...

Mohammad Usrof came to the U.S. from his hometown in Gaza 12 years ago for school. He has since married and settled in the Pacific Northwest. Usrof shares what he hears from friends and family in Gaza and Egypt, and what it’s like living so far away from this conflict. 

The task force that investigates online child exploitation in Oregon has long been understaffed, leading to a serious backlog of tips to follow up on. But as reported in Willamette Week, state lawmakers recently approved an extra $2.7 million for the team, allowing it to nearly quadruple in size. The money will also support community outreach efforts and training for local law enforcement to aid i...

Public health agencies are playing an increasingly important role in alerting residents to the risks of wildfire smoke as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of wildfires in the West. But that messaging can lack important information about the severity of that risk and specific actions that can be taken to mitigate it, according to a new study from the University of Oregon. ...

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is actively trying to hire 250 seasonal park ranger and ranger assistants in anticipation of another busy summer this year. The recruitment drive started in February, two months earlier than last year, and has already yielded more than 4,200 applications for seasonal park ranger assistants - a nearly 100% increase compared to the number of applications th...

Culverts are all around us and you may not even know it. Culverts are pipes and tunnels, often under roadways and railroads, that allow water to pass through them. While water easily passes through them, the same can’t be said for some migratory fish like salmon. Ben Goldfarb is an environmental journalist who reported on the efforts being made to fix culverts for Hakai Magazine. He joins us...

Earlier this month, Oregon State University received $10 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to work with a coalition of Native American tribes to explore opportunities to manufacture products and materials made from hemp. Some of those industrial applications include turning it into carbon for use inside energy storage devices, processing hemp fiber for use in car door panels and floo...

Last week, the Yurok Tribe signed a historic agreement with the National Park Service, California State Parks and Save the Redwoods League to transfer a 125-acre property back to tribal ownership. The site, known as ‘O Rew, is roughly in the center of Yurok ancestral territory and sits at the southern gateway to Redwood National Park. The agreement marks the first time that a national park w...

Last week the VA Portland Health Care System opened the Social Neuroscience & Psychotherapy Lab, known as the SNaP Lab, focused on psychedelic therapy and clinical trials. Dr. Christopher Stauffer, a psychiatrist, clinical researcher and director of social neuroscience and psychotherapy at Portland VA, joins us to talk about the new lab, and the two clinical trials currently underway.

Oregon’s Bottle Bill, which offers cash refunds for empty bottles and cans, was a landmark piece of legislation when it first passed in 1971. Since then, it’s served as a model for similar bills in other states and led to some of the highest recycling rates in the nation. The bill was originally intended to discourage littering, but the cash refunds it offers have increasingly become a...

Mismanagement, inequity and turnovers plague Oregon’s Department of Early Learning and Care, a new story from InvestigateWest shows.  The agency is responsible for more than $1.3 billion in early learning investments and has seen more than five managers and directors leave the office in the past 18 months, with some employees describing office culture as “toxic.” Kaylee Torn...

You may have heard that wildfire seasons are getting longer, with blazes burning more intensely and lasting longer than ever. In 1993, fires were fought across nearly 1.8 million acres - but by 2021, that area had quadrupled. Not surprisingly, the resources and workforce needed to combat these conflagrations has been increasing as well. But exactly the opposite is happening: more and more of these...

 Three nonprofits in Oregon and one nonprofit in Southwest Washington will receive funding from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. The Pacific Northwest organizations were recently selected along with hundreds of other nonprofits across the country and are sharing a pot of about $640 million in unrestricted grant money.  Jackson Street Youth Services works with young people at r...

Last week, three of Gov. Tina Kotek’s top aides announced their departure from the Governor’s Office. Sources with knowledge of the matter told OPB that the shakeup could have come from personality conflicts between staff and the governor's wife, Aimee Kotek Wilson. Now, Kotek is considering establishing an Office of the First Spouse and has already hired two state-funded staffers to a...

Edwidge Danticat is an award-winning writer of novels, short stories, essays, and memoirs, with a focus on the rich experiences of the Haitian diaspora. Her latest book is the collection of short stories “Everything Inside.” We listen back to a conversation with Danticat in front of an audience at Woodburn high school in 2022.

OPB's latest podcast, “Salmon Wars,” tells the story of salmon in the Northwest in a way you haven’t heard before — through the voices of one Yakama Nation family who have been fighting for salmon for generations. In episode one, host Tony Schick introduces us to Randy Settler and his family. The Settlers, members of the Yakama Nation, have been deeply affected by the North...

Portland city officials are currently considering what to do with one of downtown’s largest venues. The Keller Auditorium is more than a century old and was last renovated in the 1960s. A 2020 analysis found that the building needs a seismic upgrade and a number of accessibility improvements to bring it up to modern standards. Some are arguing for an extensive renovation of the current space...

On June 3, 2016, a train carrying crude oil derailed in Mosier, a Wasco County community in the Columbia River Gorge. Several rail cars caught fire and oil leaked into the Columbia River.  For some officials, the incident was a wake-up call. Trains carrying oil regularly pass through the Columbia River Gorge. In Oregon, agencies are coordinating with officials from Washington, tribal and fede...