Think Out Loud

Think Out Loud

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

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Think Out Loud
REBROADCAST: How Oregon nonprofits can move forward as funding shrinks

“We do not need any more nonprofits in Oregon,” Libra Forde wrote that in an op-ed published by The Oregonian/OregonLive in June 2025, calling it a “difficult truth.” She’s the executive director of Women’s Foundation of Oregon, a philanthropic organization which does grant-making, research and policy advocacy. We heard more from Forde on how nonprofits should move forward as federal funds shrink and how merging organizations could serve communities better.

00:09:32
Oct 17, 2025 1:1 PM
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Think Out Loud
REBROADCAST: Pacific Northwest National Lab scientist and Hanford manager on radioactive tank waste, vitrification and clean-up progress

Pacific Northwest National Lab scientist and Hanford manager on radioactive tank waste, vitrification and clean-up progress

In September 2024, we packed up our van and drove about four and a half hours from Portland to Richland, WA, to set up a mobile broadcast studio on the campus of Washington State University Tri-Cities, in partnership with Northwest Public Broadcasting. We broadcast a week of shows that included conversations about the WW II and Manhattan Project history that created the radioactive waste from war-time plutonium enrichment at Hanford. Our coverage from the region also included in-depth interviews with Indigenous leaders and a tour of the infamous B-reactor, along with conversations about the economy and culture of the region.

We listen back today to two of these conversations. The first is with Carolyn Pearce, a PhD and chemist with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory working on the science of the  vitrification, the glassification process that will be used to turn some of the 56 million gallons of radioactive waste  into radioactive glass logs for storage.

In the second half of the show, we revisit our tour of one part of the Hanford nuclear reservation. The 56 million gallons of waste are stored in 177 massive, underground tanks on 18 different “farms.”  Most of the tanks are single-shelled, but 28 of them are double-shelled, which helps prevent waste from getting into the ground. Karthik Subramanian, chief operating officer of Washington River Protection Solutions, the tank farm operations contractor, was our guide. After the tour, we sat down with Brian Vance, who at that time was the Department of Energy’s top manager in charge of Hanford. He resigned in March of this year. Vance talked with us about tank integrity, the status of the vitrification plant and the overall clean up progress. The opening of that waste processing facility -- which has now cost $30 billion  - was thrown into doubt earlier this month, but the Department of Energy is now allowing the project to move forward and the first glass logs are expected to roll out as soon as this week, ahead of the October 15 deadline.

00:40:56
Oct 17, 2025 1:0 PM
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Think Out Loud
Ashland Mystery Festival draws cozy mystery fans and authors to the city

The author of the Bakeshop Mystery Series used the city of Ashland for her inspiration, with many real shops and restaurants in the city appearing in the novels, which now number more than 20. And for the third year in a row, Ellie Alexander is partnering with Travel Ashland to bring fans of “cozy mysteries” to the city for the Ashland Mystery Festival, with tours, talks and other events with more than a dozen other authors. Alexander joins us to tell us more about the genre, her own Ashland-based cozy mystery novels and the festival that runs through Oct. 19.

00:13:50
Oct 15, 2025 1:7 PM
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Think Out Loud
Protesters near Portland’s ICE facility could have been been surveilled by fake cell towers, new reporting finds

 Protesters at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland may have had their identifiable information from their cellphones surveilled, new reporting from Straight Arrow News found. An analysis done by the news organization found evidence that suggests a cell-site simulator was used in the area. These devices mimic cell towers and are able to capture a phone's unique SIM card number known as an International Mobile Subscriber Identity. Mikael Thalen is a tech reporter for Straight Arrow News and used a research tool known as Marlin to report this story. He joins us to share more.

 

00:15:50
Oct 15, 2025 1:7 PM
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Think Out Loud
Nez Perce tribal members share history and culture in Oregon Origins Project at Portland’s Reed College

Before colonization and the decimation of Indigenous people, Nez Perce, or Nimíipuu, lands encompassed 17 million acres that would become parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The Nez Perce Indian Reservation currently consists of 750,000 acres in North-Central Idaho.

The Oregon Origins Project aims to bring the traditions, art and storytelling of Oregon’s first peoples to a nonnative audience, and to provide additional space for tribal members, or culture bearers, to gather with each other for their own benefit.

This Saturday, Oct. 18, the Project presents its seventh series, called “Earth + Heart, Being and Becoming Nimíipuu” at 6 p.m. at the Reed College Performing Arts Building.

We learn more in conversation with Nez Perce/Nimíipuu tribal members Nakia Williamson-Cloud and Phil Cash Cash, along with Matthew Packwood, the executive director of the Oregon Origins Project.

00:22:35
Oct 14, 2025 12:45 PM
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Think Out Loud
Cascadia earthquake could trigger seismic activity on San Andreas Fault, OSU study suggests

The threat of a 9.0-magnitude earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone has hung over the Pacific Northwest for decades. Seismologists and emergency managers say “The Big One” could be one of the worst natural disasters in the region’s history, but it may not be the worst-case scenario. New research from Oregon State University suggests the Cascadia Subduction Zone may be linked to the San Andreas Fault in California, with seismic activity on one triggering corresponding activity on the other.


Chris Goldfinger is a professor emeritus at OSU and the study’s lead author. He joins us with more details on what the findings could mean for our region.

00:11:25
Oct 14, 2025 12:44 PM
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Think Out Loud
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson responds to ICE protests, ongoing threats of National Guard deployment

Over the weekend, protesters gathered in the buff to speak out against the Trump administration’s attempts to mobilize the National Guard. Last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and met with high-profile leaders, including the city’s mayor Keith Wilson. Mayor Wilson urged the defense secretary to stop the use of chemical munitions and force against protesters. At the same time, Mayor Wilson’s one year promise to end unsheltered homelessness in the city is fast approaching. Mayor Wilson joins us to share more on his response to the continued protest, the ongoing threat of the National Guard and where things stand now with the city and homelessness.

00:15:43
Oct 14, 2025 12:44 PM
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Think Out Loud
Portland’s Stage Fright Festival celebrates queer horror in theater

With its focus on characters and narratives outside the mainstream, horror is considered by some to be an inherently queer genre. According to the founders of the Stage Fright Festival, horror has “a special and symbiotic connection to queer culture.” The festival celebrates that connection with a lineup of performances that range from campy to creepy to chilling. This year’s festival will take place Oct. 9-19 at the CoHo Theatre in Northwest Portland.

 

Amica Hunter and Jeff Desautels are the co-founders of the Stage Fright Festival. They join us to talk about how the festival has evolved since it launched in 2022 and what makes horror so queer.

 

00:13:36
Oct 13, 2025 1:5 PM
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Think Out Loud
Newport retiree’s massive fossil collection too big for Oregon museum repository

Nearly 30 years ago, Newport resident Kent Gibson headed out with his dog to the beach one day to look for agate and jasper, types of gemstones he collected as a hobby at the time. He picked up what looked like a baseball-sized rock, threw it for his dog to fetch and then took it home for his dog to play with. But it turns out it wasn’t a rock. It was a fossil of a skull from a porpoise that lived 20 million years ago. 

 

That discovery sparked a new calling for Gibson as an amateur fossil collector. The Salem Statesman Journal shared that story and more in its recent profile of the retired Newport harbormaster and his amazing skill at finding fossils, mostly of prehistoric marine mammals and fish. Gibson estimates his collection now numbers between 5 and 6,000 fossils, some of which he can spend 100 hours or more painstakingly cleaning to reveal skulls, vertebrae, ribs or other prehistoric bones encased in sediment and rock. 


Gibson hopes to donate his collection some day to the Condon Fossil Collection at the University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History, but the facility doesn’t currently have the space to house it. Gibson joins us to talk about his amazing paleontological finds and tips for fellow fossil hunters.

00:12:37
Oct 13, 2025 1:5 PM
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Think Out Loud
Some psychiatric hospitals, including in Oregon, are turning away patients and violating the law, new reporting finds

 By law, emergency rooms must ensure that individuals receive appropriate care regardless of their ability to pay when coming into the ER. But, new reporting from ProPublica shows that more than 90 psychiatric hospitals, including one in Oregon, are turning away or discharging patients too early and are breaking this law. Eli Cahan is a pediatrician and investigative journalist. He joins us to share more. 

 

00:23:56
Oct 13, 2025 1:5 PM
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Think Out Loud
Pendleton prison wins top honors at national prison journalism contest

The Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton won five awards last month, including top honors for its newsletter and magazine at the 2025 American Penal Press Contest. Twenty-one prison publications in nine states, including Oregon, submitted entries to the contest which is organized by the Pollen Initiative and Southern Illinois University. 

 

A staff of six adults in custody at EOCI write and edit the content published in the prison’s monthly newsletter, The Echo, and its quarterly magazine, 1664, as part of a prison work program. East Oregonian reporter Berit Thorson serves as the program’s advisor, offering feedback on articles and teaching journalism training sessions on skills such as how to conduct interviews.  


Philip Luna is the editor-in-chief of The Echo and 1664. Kurtis Thompson is a staff writer who joined the EOCI news team last year. The Echo and 1664 won first place in the “Best Newsletter” and “Best Magazine” categories of this year’s American Penal Press Contest. Recent examples of Luna’s and Thompson’s writing can be found in the  “Artist in Custody” edition of 1664, which includes profiles of an incarcerated former music producer who teaches music at EOCI and a band of women musicians at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville. Luna and Thompson join us to talk about their award-winning work and how journalism is helping them amplify voices within incarcerated communities.

00:25:56
Oct 10, 2025 1:8 PM
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Think Out Loud
Award-winning Portland musician Mary Flower talks about her decades-long career performing and teaching guitar

Mary Flower finally convinced her parents to buy her an acoustic guitar when she was around the age of 12, growing up in Indiana more than six decades ago. Inspired by the folk stylings of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, Flower taught herself to play and was good enough to teach the instrument while still in high school. She continued to perform and teach while in college, which she left to embark on a career as a professional guitarist and singer-songwriter based in Denver. 

 

In 2004, Flower moved to Portland, where she continued to gain acclaim for her albums and performances, including being nominated three times for a “Blues Music Award” from the Blues Foundation and being inducted into the Cascade Blues Association’s “Muddy Award” Hall of Fame and the Colorado Music Hall of Fame.  

 

This Saturday, Flower will receive the 2025 “Best of the West Artist Award” from Folk Alliance Region-West in recognition of her contributions to folk music in the region and her ability to “build bridges between traditional genres.”

 

Despite her busy performance and touring schedule, Flower continues to find time to instruct and mentor fellow guitarists. Earlier this month, she wrapped up Blues in the Gorge, a 5-day acoustic blues guitar camp for adults in the Columbia Gorge she started 12 years ago. Flower  leads the workshops with the help of several other musicians she chooses each year for their ability to both perform and teach.

 

Flower joins us to discuss her expansive career and extensive collaborations with other artists in musical genres spanning from blues to jazz.

 

00:25:55
Oct 10, 2025 1:8 PM
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Think Out Loud
Astoria celebrates analog art form with its first Zine Festival

Heather Douglas loves making zines, both long and short, big and small, about subjects both serious and lighthearted. The zine — its name a shortened form of magazine and is pronounced “zeen” — has been around for decades, and can refer to a single sheet of paper folded into multiple panels and hand drawn, or multiple sheets of paper folded in half, similar to a chapbook.

 

The zine arguably saw its zenith in the late '90s and early 2000s, before the rise of social media and the ubiquity of internet platforms that provided a million digital forms for self-expression. But for many cartoonists and zinesters, like Douglas, the physical, analog nature of the form is one to be treasured and the fact that it brings people together — offline, in real life — is one of its many appeals. That’s one reason she approached her fellow Astorian, Kirista Trask with the Cambium Gallery about creating a Zine festival, something she said as a lifelong Astorian, she’d never seen before in the city.

 

Trask was enthusiastic, and by chance had just put out her own zine about the gallery. They created the “Astoria Zine Festival,” which takes place at the gallery this weekend. Douglas and Trask join us, along with BB Anderson, a Portland zinester and co-organizer of the long- standing Portland Zine Symposium. They all share more about the enduring appeal of the art form and why they consider it more vital than ever.

 

00:21:22
Oct 9, 2025 1:24 PM
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Think Out Loud
Oregon professor says many students lack digital literacy

The definition of digital literacy has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades. Although one report found that teens spend about seven hours a day on their phones, employers have learned that some young people have a lack of computer skills. Eric Magidson is an IT consultant and professor of Computer Information Systems at Central Oregon Community College. He recently wrote about this issue and why policymakers should step in. He joins us with more on the changes he wants to see.

00:12:34
Oct 9, 2025 1:24 PM
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Think Out Loud
Federal appeals court hears arguments on order blocking National Guard deployment to Portland

A panel of federal judges heard arguments Thursday over whether the Trump administration can send federal troops to Portland. 

 

Last Saturday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the president from mobilizing 200 federalized Oregon National Guard troops. The same judge issued another order a day later barring the president from sending any federalized National Guard members to Portland after he signaled he would send troops from California and Texas. 

 

The administration appealed the first decision to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. OPB legal affairs reporter Conrad Wilson watched the hearing and joins us with more details.

 

00:15:23
Oct 9, 2025 1:24 PM
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Think Out Loud
University Oregon trains new class of healthcare workers to fill gaps and improve youth mental health

The start of the new school year brings the usual set of challenges for students as they navigate new schedules, lesson plans and social dynamics. Those changes can also take a toll on a student’s mental health. A survey conducted in 2023 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found, for example, that 40% of high school students nationwide reported depressive symptoms - an increase of more than 10% since 2013. Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory in 2021 warning about worsening youth mental health, exacerbated by the pandemic and excessive use of social media.  

 

The Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health at University of Oregon is working to help address this crisis of youth mental health. Launched in 2022, the institute is pioneering the first program of its kind in the nation to educate and train a new class of healthcare workers: child behavioral health specialists. The 4-year program provides an alternative to the additional years and cost a student would typically have to spend in graduate school to become, for example, a school psychologist or social worker. Instead, the undergraduates in the program obtain 700 hours of applied training that starts their junior year with internships at Portland area schools, clinics and community organizations. While they can’t provide diagnoses or conduct psychological evaluations, the interns can help prevent and mitigate behavioral health challenges by teaching, for example, problem-solving strategies or coping skills kids can use during stressful situations.  

 

Joining us for more details are Cody Ghion, an assistant clinical professor at UO’s Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health; Sophia Morgan, a UO senior and child behavioral health intern who is currently working at a high school in Portland for students in recovery from substance use; and Anne Libby, who is also a UO senior and child behavioral health intern currently working at a pediatric clinic in Hillsboro.

 

00:21:52
Oct 8, 2025 12:43 PM
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Think Out Loud
DOJ lawsuit accuses Uber drivers of refusing rides to passengers with service dogs

The U.S. Department of Justice recently sued Uber for refusing rides to passengers who use service dogs. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires ride-hailing services to accommodate riders who use service animals and mobility devices such as wheelchairs. A self-selected survey from the nonprofit Guide Dogs for the Blind found that 83% of respondents had been refused a ride at some point, causing them to miss appointments, flights, job interviews and more.

 

Kirsten French, community education and advocacy manager at Guide Dogs for the Blind, has had drivers cancel rides due to her service dog. She joins us with more details about the lawsuit, along with Lynn Dubinski, vice president of client engagement and impact at the organization.

 

00:13:39
Oct 8, 2025 12:43 PM
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Think Out Loud
Oregon U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden on government shutdown, now a week old

The federal government shutdown is now a week old and shows little sign of ending. On Monday, Senators rejected for the fifth time competing proposals from Republicans and Democrats to pass a funding bill to reopen the government. Among other concessions, Democrats are demanding Republicans agree to extend tax credits set to expire for 24 million Americans who get their health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Republican Congressional leaders insist any negotiations on healthcare take place after Democrats agree to reopen the government. 


Meanwhile, the Trump administration has threatened to lay off members of the federal workforce and to withhold back pay of furloughed federal workers. Active-duty members of the military could miss their first paycheck next Wednesday if Congressional lawmakers fail to reach a deal before then. Shortages of air traffic controllers, who are required to work without pay during a government shutdown, have led to delays of flights at busy airports. Oregon Democratic U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden joins us from Washington, D.C., to discuss the latest developments in the government shutdown.

00:07:15
Oct 8, 2025 12:43 PM
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Think Out Loud
Multnomah County DA Vasquez says he’ll prosecute protesters who break laws

Multnomah County District Attorney Nathan Vasquez has filed charges against 33 of the 37 people arrested by Portland Police officers in protests in 2025. That’s a much higher percentage than is predecessor, Mike Schmidt, who announced early on in his tenure that he wouldn’t be charging for certain types of behavior at protests. Portland Police have arrested 40 people outside the ICE facility since June. It’s unclear how many arrests federal officers have made. We talk to DA Vasquez about his approach to the challenges of this moment.

00:07:24
Oct 8, 2025 12:43 PM
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Think Out Loud
Portland cartoonist Tom Toro debuts new collection of New Yorker cartoons

Tom Toro has just published a new collection of his New Yorker cartoons, “And to Think We Started as a Book Club.” The cartoons are from the last 15 years his cartoons have been running in the magazine and are grouped in sections, from Life, Love and Family to Work, Tech and Weird. Some comment on modern life wordlessly, like a teenager in the rain holding a mini-umbrella over his phone while he texts. Most combine graphics with commentary, like a man in a ragged suit sitting around a campfire with a few children captioned, “Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders.” Many, like the one pictured above with angels making “snow humans,” are what Toro calls pure palette cleansers, a much needed break from weighty matters of the day.


Toro joins us to discuss how he approaches his art and what it’s been like to comment on the last 15 years for one of the nation’s most illustrious magazines on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. The book is out today, and its official launch is at 7 p.m. this Friday, Oct. 10, at Powell's Books.

00:23:02
Oct 7, 2025 1:8 PM
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Think Out Loud
Portland writer's perspective on antifascism amid protests and looming National Guard troop deployment

On Sunday, the Trump administration sent a memo to Oregon Gov. Kotek authorizing the deployment of 200 members of the Oregon National Guard for 60 days. At the same time, the administration has also named antifa, the left-wing, anti-fascist political movement, as a domestic terrorist organization. What does action mean for the political movement and how do protests happening now compare to other parts of the world and the history of the U.S.? To answer this question and more, we’ll hear from Shane Burley, a Portland-based writer and filmmaker who is author of the book, “Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It." He is also the editor of “No Pasaran!: Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis.”

00:16:01
Oct 7, 2025 1:8 PM
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Think Out Loud
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek on President Trump’s attempts to deploy National Guard to Portland

This weekend, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from mobilizing the Oregon National Guard to Portland and then issued a second restraining order when the president tried to summon troops from Texas and California to Oregon. The administration has since appealed the decision.


Throughout the back-and-forth, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has denounced the president’s actions and his characterization of Portland as “war-ravaged.” She joins us with more details on her response to the attempted deployment and the state’s efforts to block it.

00:10:32
Oct 7, 2025 1:8 PM
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Think Out Loud
Remembering iconic primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall

British primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall died last week at the age of 91. Goodall revolutionized our understanding of chimpanzees, our closest living relatives. She was mentored by the renowned anthropologist and paleontologist Louis Leakey, who helped fund her first trip to Tanzania in 1960 when she was 26-years-old. With no formal scientific training, she made the discovery that chimpanzees were capable of using and making tools – a skill scientists previously thought only humans were capable of doing. Goodall not only founded her own institute to promote the conservation of chimpanzees, she also embarked on a decades-long advocacy for humanitarian causes and environmental protections around the world. 

 

In 2011, “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller interviewed Jane Goodall when she visited Oregon. We listen back to that conversation about her remarkable life and more than a half century of studying chimpanzees that has helped shape insights into our own behaviors and evolution within the animal kingdom.

 

00:31:34
Oct 6, 2025 12:36 PM
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