Think Out Loud

Last month, two service providers announced they would not open cooling shelters this summer for people experiencing homelessness in the Columbia Gorge. The shelters used to open only for day use when the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for the region, and other air-conditioned facilities, like libraries, were not available. Washington Gorge Action Programs, which operate...

 A Seattle tree ordinance passed earlier this year has frustrated some tree advocates in the city. Onlookers say developers played too big a role in helping craft the policy. The city’s own Urban Forestry Commission, a panel that provides expertise on tree policy and regulation, says it didn’t have enough time to review the proposal. Still some tree experts say that the ordinance...

A new study from the University of California San Francisco is the largest study of homelessness in the U.S. in several decades. The California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness includes 3,200 administered questionnaires and 365 in-depth interviews with adults experiencing homelessness in urban, rural, and suburban areas. We talk to Margot Kushel, principal investigator on the st...

The Sports Bra opened last year as the first bar to exclusively play women’s sports. It’s a small bar in Northeast Portland, but owner Jenny Nguyen wanted to host a Women’s World Cup watch party that was big enough to accommodate the enormous enthusiasm for the team, including the Portland Thorns. The event, in collaboration with the Portland Football Club, starts at noon at Port...

This week the Malheur Enterprise published the last in a series of stories looking at child poverty in the county. The series covered housing, mental health, food insecurity and more. We talk to Shane Dimapanat and Christina Chkarboul, who worked on the series along with Andie Kalinowski, Suejin Lim and Venice Tang.

For years, researchers have shown that play is an important part of a child’s social, emotional and cognitive development. It can help children master new skills, build confidence, spark creativity, along with other positive effects. But less attention has been given to how parents and caregivers also benefit from play. Researchers at Oregon State University aim to change that by using a nat...

Oregon’s only federally-run boarding school for Native American students failed to properly spend or account for millions of taxpayer dollars as well as hundreds of thousands contributed to student accounts by Indigenous families, according to an audit published Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Inspector General. OPB editor Rob Manning, who worked on a  five-...

From ocean acidification to rising sea levels and warming temperatures, climate change is taking a toll on the world’s oceans and fisheries. Scientists at NOAA, for example, have found that warming temperatures in the Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska are affecting the movement of Pacific cod and Alaska pollock, and that some fisheries are more vulnerable to climate change than others. Te...

Pacific Seafood, a seafood processing company based in Oregon, owns more than 40 facilities across 11 states. The company is a major force in the fish, crab, and shrimp industry up and down the West Coast. Brand Little, a fisherman based out of San Francisco, says Pacific Seafood has too much power, and is able to both dictate the price offered for crabs and exert influence on the start date of th...

Sudden oak death, a tree disease caused by a fungal-like pathogen, can lead to bleeding cankers, leaf blight and rapid dieoff in a number of plant and tree species. The disease was first detected in northern California in the mid-1990s, and has been slowly spreading in Southern Oregon since 2001. Newly infected trees were recently found in Humbug Mountain State Park near Port Orford, leading to re...

For more than a hundred years, all the members of Portland's city council have been elected city-wide. That's about to change after voters passed a major overhaul to the city charter last November. The volunteer Independent District Commission has released three maps depicting different options for how the districts could be drawn. We talk to Josh Laurente and DaWayne Judd, co-chairs of the Indepe...

Portland area counties are joining together to work on a regional heat map. The data will be collected by volunteers, and public health officials hope that the information can help better prepare the region for hotter summers.  In a typical year in Portland, no heat related deaths are reported. In 2021, after the record-breaking heat dome, at least 69 deaths resulted from extreme heat in the...

The system for dispatching emergency services is itself in need of help. The Portland Bureau of Emergency Communications has been struggling for many years to get its hold times down. It has hired more dispatchers, and is now using a system of automatic call backs to numbers that hang up. It’s also implemented as an automated answering system for non-emergency calls. Given the challenges, it...

Measure 114, Oregon’s voter-passed law to regulate firearms, has yet to go into effect because of multiple court challenges. Measure 114 bans future purchases of magazines that can carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition. It also requires those wishing to buy a firearm to get a permit first. Permits will require applicants to complete a safety class and a federal background check. Last Frida...

Oregon archaeologists have found evidence of human occupation in the state that dates back more than 18,000 years. University of Oregon students and faculty working at the Rimrock Draw Rockshelter in Harney County found stone tools and fragments of camel and bison teeth beneath a 15,000-year-old layer of volcanic ash. Radiocarbon dating of the tooth enamel revealed that the fragments were 18,250 y...

The invasive vine mealybug was found in Southern Oregon in 2021 and since then, vineyards have been fighting to eradicate the insect.  The pest can cause significant damage to Oregon’s grape vines, affecting fruit quality and mold growth. State funding from SB 5506 will invest more than $400,000 to monitor, research and suppress the insect before it becomes widespread in the state. Bria...

With its bright orange bill, white face and curling, yellow plumes, the tufted puffin is arguably the most recognizable seabird in Oregon. But scientists are now getting a clearer picture of how climate change is affecting the survival of tufted puffins and other seabirds.  A new study from the University of Washington found that persistent heat waves in the marine environment linked to clima...

Last weekend volunteers painted the old city hall building and a downtown restaurant in Sweet Home, Oregon. The small town pitched the idea to Miller Paint Company as a way to revitalize the downtown and convince drive-through tourists to stop and spend money. Like many small towns in Oregon, Sweet Home has been struggling to achieve economic viability after timber mills closed down and COVID hit....

Author Nicole Chung was born to Korean immigrants in Seattle and later adopted by a white couple in Southern Oregon. The 2018 memoir “All You Can Ever Know” follows Chung’s exploration of her identity as a transracial adoptee as she searches for her birth family. Her second memoir, released earlier this month, covers the untimely deaths of her adoptive parents — first her f...

At first, Ada Limón wasn’t able to write poetry during the pandemic. And then she wrote a poem called “The Hurting Kind.” From that flowed the rest of her new book of poems under that same name. We talk to Limón, the poet laureate of the United States, before an audience at the Literary Arts space in downtown Portland.

School is out for summer vacation, but some Oregonians are still in the classroom taking a driver’s education course. At the same time, the state is currently seeing a shortage of people who can actually teach the course. Michelle Godfrey is the public information officer for the Oregon Department of Transportation. Nancy Haase is the program manager for the High Desert Driver Education Prog...

Oregon will receive a whopping $688 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to help provide broadband in areas of the state that lack high-speed connection. The funding is part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. Oregon’s Broadband Office will craft a five-year action plan and has been holding community meetings across the state to hear what Oregon...

After hours of public testimony, Salem City Council voted to approve a payroll tax to help fund police, fire and homelessness services. The ordinance passed by a single vote, taxing wages for anyone who works in Salem, regardless of their home address. The policy could go into effect as early as next summer. Chris Hoy is the mayor of Salem. He joins us to share why this tax is needed and how it wi...

In the Klamath Basin, many different interests have struggled to get the water they need.  Meanwhile, Colorado River users have agreed to use less water as supply has dwindled over time. As water users across the West continue to face uncertainty over water levels, how can stakeholders compromise on limited resources? Adell Amos is a Clayton R. Hess Professor of Law and the Executive Director...

Oregon lawmakers recently passed legislation advancing wildfire programs in the state. And nearly a year after a draft wildfire map was withdrawn, the proposal gives the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University another chance at outlining hazards. Mariana Ruiz-Temple is the state fire marshal. Chris Dunn is an assistant professor in wildfire risk science at Oregon State University...