Think Out Loud

The Jefferson County Soil & Water Conservation District helps manage irrigation, soil erosion, water quality and other factors that impact the health of the county’s watersheds. It’s supposed to be overseen by a seven-member board, but until recently, one seat had remained vacant for more than 30 years.   

Alysia Klick’ump was recently appointed to the board as an associate director for Zone 1, which covers the Warm Springs reservation. She joins us to talk about her role and the perspective she adds to the board as a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs and fly fishing guide.

The Oregon Health Authority is considering doubling license fees for the state’s psilocybin service providers. The draft rules would also eliminate discounts for nonprofit service centers and facilitators who are veterans or qualify as low-income. A third of Oregon’s psilocybin service centers have already closed since OHA began issuing licenses in 2023.

Cathy Jonas, the founder and CEO of EPIC Healing Eugene, joins us to share what the proposed changes could mean for her center. We’ll also check in with Angie Allbee, manager of the Psilocybin Services Section at OHA, about the future of Oregon’s first-in-the-nation program.

 In 2022, the Multnomah county auditor looked into the jails run by the county sheriff’s office. The audit found that adults in custody who were Black or had mental health conditions were disciplined and put in isolation or solitary confinement more often. That audit made several recommendations, but a new report says the sheriff’s office has not implemented the recommendations related to the use of solitary confinement. While the sheriff’s office did not include a response to this report, a public information officer told OPB that their operations were grounded in best practices, and that the auditor’s office refused their request to meet before the report was released. The sheriff’s office also said that “a decision to not adopt a specific recommendation does not diminish our commitment to providing exemplary public safety services.”

On Tuesday, Columbia Riverkeeper joined a coalition of environmental groups that sued the Trump administration over a rule change that would undo protections under the Endangered Species Act for endangered and threatened species of animals like Columbia River salmon, steelhead and northern spotted owls. Other environmental groups and tribes have also filed separate lawsuits over the rule change, including the Swinomish and Squaxin Island Tribes in Washington state and Eugene-based Cascadia Wildlands.

The rule change, which is scheduled to take effect in September, removes the regulatory definition of “harm” under the ESA that for more than 50 years has been interpreted to include harm to endangered species’ habitats. That interpretation was affirmed by the Supreme Court in a 1995 decision. U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a press release the rule change “restores common sense, respects private property, provides much-needed certainty for landowners and follows the statute Congress actually passed.”

Miles Johnson, legal director of Columbia Riverkeeper, joins us for more details. 

But for iLoveMakonnen, relocating to Portland from Atlanta offered a space away from the pressure and attention of the music industry, and the opportunity to explore himself.

Makonnen joins us to share more about his upcoming performance at the Pride in Demand Queer Takeover and what has kept him in Portland nearly 10 years later.

A recent study looked at how wildfire smoke affected the behavior of robins. Instead of simply fleeing the smoky conditions, the birds often reduced their activity and shortened their flight distances to remain in their home environments.

Jamie Cornelius is an associate professor in the department of integrative biology at OSU and principal investigator of the university’s Little Bird Lab. She joins us to talk about what scientists are learning about how different wildlife species respond to wildfire.

A new report found that Portland Police Bureau response times for high-priority calls is on average more than 20 minutes. And as reported in Willamette Week, some neighborhoods in Portland can wait as much as 40 minutes. The reports of these delays come as a  new city budget is adopted that will lead to cuts to public safety. A PPA-backed proposed measure aims to direct Portland Clean Energy Fund dollars to the bureau. Portland Police Chief Bob Day joins us to share more on response times and the new budget.

Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read recently called for the United States Postal Service to look at its policies around mail pick up on Election Day, after officials in Benton county found some voters’ ballots were left in mailboxes. The postal service has said they prioritize package delivery when staffing is short.

Read has also pushed back against the Trump administration’s threats to elections officials in all 50 states and D.C.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked vote-by-mail with false statements and is pressuring Congress to pass his “Save America Act” in an effort to exert federal control over state elections in a variety of ways. 

We talk with Secretary Read about federal interference in Oregon elections and the security of elections in this state.

When ESPN feature writer Roberto Jose Andrade Franco spent two weeks in Woodburn, Oregon, he met and spoke with a host of community members, from business owners to coaches to artists. Those conversations informed a new piece Franco wrote about the ways the community came alive and together during the World Cup.

Franco joins us to discuss his reporting and what he found during his time in Woodburn.

Five years ago, the Oregon legislature declared that racism is a public health crisis. A year later, lawmakers told the Oregon Advocacy Commission’s office to come up with recommendations for how to respond to the crisis. The final report detailing that work was just released. It has information about the status of 100 recommendations, ranging from community safety and social services to education and healthcare. We get the details from Kaj Jensen, the author of the new report and the operations and policy analyst with the Oregon Advocacy Commission’s office.

In the 1920s, Mahjong took the U.S. by storm, rapidly becoming a popular game to play and a household name. More than a century later, Mahjong’s popularity seems to be on the rise again, as Yelp data shows a nearly 4,500% increase in searches for Mahjong in the last year. Annelise Heinz is an associate professor of history at the University of Oregon’s College of Arts and Sciences. She is also the author of “Mahjong: A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture.” She joins us to share the history.

It’s been five years since the Portland Clean Energy Fund, or PCEF, gave out its first grants. The fund has grown much more than expected, and various interests have proposed using some of it for non-climate goals. The Community Energy Project is among the local groups that helped create PCEF after voters passed the ballot measure in 2018. The Fund was designed to reduce carbon emissions to help get Portland net-zero emissions by 2050, develop a diverse workforce and focus on populations most affected by climate change. Jim Plantico is one of the Community Energy Project’s program directors. He joins us to share more about the program, what the money is being spent on more broadly and the specific projects that CEP has implemented with PCEF grants.

Proponents for growing native plants, especially in gardening, argue that because native species adapted and evolved in their surroundings, they are best suited for the climate, habitats and mutually beneficial relationships with species in the area. But does this still ring true as our planet continues to change? Can someone have a garden that mixes both introduced and native species that still benefit insects and animals? Ferris Jabr is a science writer and author of “Becoming Earth.” He set out to answer these questions in a new piece for the New York Times. He joins us to discuss the native plants movement, its challenges and benefits.

High Country News recently reported that Polymarket, the world’s biggest prediction market platform, accepted bets on the Palisades Fire as it broke out in January 2025 in Los Angeles County. The fire killed 31 people and destroyed more than 16,000 structures. High Country News also reported on the launch of another prediction market earlier this year that is currently accepting only simulated bets on wildfires in California. 

Betting on where and when a wildfire starts and how it grows raises ethical and safety concerns. A user on the prediction platform could, for example, engage in arson to score big on a placed bet. Federal and state fire officials High Country News spoke to rejected claims that bets placed on wildfires could aid their wildfire forecasting and monitoring efforts.

High Country News Correspondent Kylie Mohr joins us to share more details and what it means for Oregon as state officials prepare for a potentially destructive wildfire season. 

Marisa Anderson has been dubbed as one of “this era’s most powerful players,” for her deep and varied interpretations of American music. Her latest album, “The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music,” takes inspiration from folk music from around the world. From Vietnam and Syria, to Afghanistan and the Soviet Union, the album is shaped by songs from countries that have been in conflict with the U.S. in her lifetime. Andreson join us to share more on her album and performs live in-studio.

“Death of a Drag Queen” opens on the 60th birthday of fictional queen Cram Brulee. Her water is shut off, an eviction notice is on the door and the friends who are supposed to take her out to celebrate keep pushing back their arrival. Inspired by “Death of a Salesman,” the play follows Cram as she grapples with her own fading relevance and mortality.

The play opened at Portland’s Echo theater in December 2025 and moved to Triangle Productions before closing this January. It’s back at Triangle for another two-weekend run starting July 11. 

Playwright Sean Brown joins us to talk more about the show and its renewed run.

Nearly 5 million acres of forest and grasslands in Oregon could be seeing drastic changes under the federal government's new draft plan for the Blue Mountain Forests. The draft, which was recently released to the public, proposes tripling the logging happening across three national forests in the state’s Blue Mountain region. While some are hopeful this could boost timber jobs that have declined in the region, others worry about the wider implications it could have on recreation and hunting. April Ehrlich covers lands and environment for OPB. She joins us to share more on plan.

But all of that is about to change. Earlier this month, Sotheby’s listed for auction Brown’s thrift store find of a lifetime: a warm-up jacket worn by LA Lakers basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain during the 1972 NBA Finals. Brown spotted the warm-up jacket this past January during one of his weekly visits to the Goodwill store in Hillsboro. He paid $3 for the jacket, which Sotheby’s has authenticated and estimates to sell for as much as $250,000 when the auction closes on July 20. 

Brown shares more about his amazing discovery, how he got involved in reselling vintage clothes and the growing popularity of thrifting among Gen Z youth.