Think Out Loud

Sarah Ruby Armstrong is the creator of Dating Profile Tune-Ups, Playdates and Kissing Booth Social Club. Taylor Kravitz is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the CEO of Empowered Fulfillment Therapy, and an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark College. Margaret Bagan is a marketing specialist in Portland and served as our resident dating single. 

They bravely joined us in front of a live audience at Portland’s Revolution Hall to talk about the highs and lows of modern dating.

The city of Bend is considering changing its building code to require fire-resistant roofs, siding and other materials in new homes. As reported in the Bend Bulletin, the proposal comes after a surge of interest in wildfire preparedness assessments after the devastating Los Angeles wildfires in early 2025. The Bend City Council is set to consider the measure at its meeting on April 1. 

Melissa Steele is the city’s Deputy Fire Marshal for Wildfire Preparedness. She joins us to talk about how using fire-resistant materials could make Bend more resilient in the face of more frequent and intense wildfires.

For the first time, Clatsop Community College in Astoria is offering a course on the spike in recent years of book bans and challenges. The 10-week course launches on March 30 and will explore the reasons why titles such as “The Bluest Eye,” “Looking for Alaska” and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower” are being targeted in school districts or public libraries. The course will also cover TV shows and movie adaptations of novels that have also been targeted to restrict their viewing in school classrooms and public libraries. 

The course is being taught by Kama O’Connor, a writing and English instructor at CCC who also writes romance novels under the pen name Kristine Lynn. O’Connor says whereas in previous years most book bans originated by individuals, the bans and challenges today are increasingly arising from religious and conservative organizations that are targeting works they find objectionable, including those with romantic themes or feature characters who are people of color or identify as LGBTQ+. 

O’Connor joins us for more details about the course and her personal motivations for teaching it.

The Portland Arts Tax was passed by voters in 2012. It requires those 18 or older to pay the city a flat $35 dollars, if they make $1,000 or more a year and live in a household above the federal poverty line. Residents pay online or by mail separate from their other taxes.  Since it was enacted the tax has drawn criticism for the collection mechanism and how the funds were distributed to public school districts, and large and small arts organizations. As OPB recently reported, the tax has generated a fund of $9 million that has not been spent, even as many local arts organizations lost federal grant funding and are in dire need. Today the city released a new audit of the tax, with recommendations for improvement. We sit down with Audit Services Director KC Jones to get the details.

Since 2022, homeowners have been able to get up to 30% off the cost of installing solar panels through a federal tax credit. But President Trump rolled back those incentives as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The residential credit officially expired on Dec. 31, 2025. The administration also changed how it defines the start of construction for large-scale wind and solar projects, meaning developers have less time to access federal tax credits for those projects.

Angela Crowley-Koch is the executive director of the Oregon Solar and Storage Industries Association. Eric Hansen is the owner of True South Solar, a solar installation company based in Ashland. They both join us to talk about how the rollback of federal incentives are reshaping Oregon’s solar energy industry.

When the Oregon legislative session kicked off last month, state lawmakers had just five weeks to tackle a slate of priorities. One of those was a plan Democratic state and local leaders championed to keep the Portland Trail Blazers’ prospective new owners from moving the beloved basketball team out of Rip City.

Lawmakers in Salem moved closer to that goal with the passage of SB 1501 in the final days of the session. The bill received bipartisan support and allows the state to borrow $365 million by issuing bonds to help pay for the costly renovation of the Moda Center, the aging arena that’s home to the Blazers. The public financing plan has several conditions including: the Blazers’ sale to its new ownership group, led by Tom Dundon, gets approved by the NBA; the team agrees to a 20-year Moda Center lease; and the City of Portland and Multnomah County must also pitch in hundreds of millions of dollars for the renovation.

Joining us for a discussion about the public financing plan are Oregon Senate President Rob Wagner, who sponsored the bill, and Dewayne Hankins, President of Business Operations for the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America is holding a free one-day conference in Portland on Wednesday designed for patients, families and caregivers. One of the keynote speakers is the co-director of the state’s only Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Oregon Health and Science University’s Kevin Duff. He says early detection recommendations have changed over recent years and with the emergence of new drugs, many early stage patients can experience dramatically improved outcomes — so catching the disease early is critically important. Duff joins us in studio to discuss the details.

This Friday, a production of “Guys and Dolls” is kicking off at Washougal High School’s performing arts center. But what makes these upcoming performances of this beloved musical different is the cost of admission. It’s entirely pay-what-you-can, which means that cost will not be a barrier for anyone interested in seeing this high-tempo tale of gamblers, grifters and showgirls.

That philosophy is at the heart of Columbia Theater Arts Foundation, the nonprofit theater company staging “Guys and Dolls.” CTAF launched its first production last October, with five performances of “Sound and Music.” According to Michael McCormic Jr., the executive artistic director of CTA Foundation, attendees paid an average of $12 a seat for those nearly sold-out shows. McCormic, who is also starring in “Guys and Dolls,” says that ticket sales cover about half of the cost of CTAF’s productions, with the rest paid for by individual donations and corporate sponsors. 

The Columbian recently profiled CTAF and its pay-what-you-can pricing model, which McCormic says is unique in the Portland metro region among theater companies. He joins us to discuss his vision for making theater more accessible in Southwest Washington where few municipal performing arts venues exist. 

A new resource center for trans, nonbinary and gender-diverse communities is opening soon in Ashland. The nonprofit Rogue Trans will offer a free clothing closet, activities, classes and more at the center. An open house was held March 14, and a grand opening celebration is planned for May.

Maeve Woulfe is the executive director of Rogue Trans. She joins us to talk about the importance of creating safe spaces for queer communities in Southern Oregon.

Caldwell recently wrote about her decades-long journey navigating systems of law enforcement, social services and healthcare agencies for The Marshall Project. She joins us for more details.

3/11 A recent essay in The Marshall Project chronicles a Portland resident’s decadeslong struggle navigating legal systems to remove firearms and other weapons from her mother, who suffers from severe mental illness and psychosis. The author joins us to share more.

Washington state lawmakers concluded the 60-day short legislative session in Olympia yesterday. One of the closely watched bills they passed imposes a state income tax of 9.9% on households earning more than $1 million annually. The so-called millionaires’ tax garnered a record-breaking 25-hour debate on the House floor. Gov. Bob Ferguson is expected to sign the legislation which would not go into effect until 2028. 

Scott Greenstone, a politics reporter at our partner station KUOW and co-host of the “Sound Politics” podcast, joins us to discuss the bill and other key developments in the session.  

PROMO: 3/13 Washington lawmakers concluded the 60-day short legislative session yesterday, including a highly debated income tax on millionaires passed after a record-breaking 25-hour debate. We’ll hear from a reporter with our partner station, KUOW, with more.

 Portland Public Schools Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong announced this week the district may need to close five to 10 of its 74 elementary, K-8, middle and alternative schools -- by the fall of 2027. Steadily declining student enrollment and rising costs are tied to the funding crunch, which amounts to $50 million for the next 2026-2027 academic year.  And now, the district recently discovered a $10 million dollar budget gap for this year. The district is moving forward with staff cuts and other reductions to shore up the current budget by June 30. We sit down with Armstrong to get more financial details and what she sees as the way forward. 

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman ever confirmed to the highest court in the land, and a consistent and clear voice of dissent on it. She's also the author of a memoir, “Lovely One,” which was picked as this year’s choice for the Multnomah County Library “Everybody Reads” program. We talk to Justice Jackson in front of an audience of Portland high school students.

Many concert venues rely on alcohol sales for revenue, meaning people under age 21 are often left out of shows. Not so at The Off Beat. Portland nonprofit Friends of Noise opened the venue in the Kenton neighborhood last fall and held a grand-opening show headlined by Team Dresch last month.

André Middleton is the executive director of Friends of Noise. Clara Kornelis is a musician and a booker for The Off Beat. They join us to talk about the importance of creating an all-ages space for young performers and live music fans.

Last month, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office began testing drones to respond to traffic crashes, crimes or other emergencies deputies might be dispatched to following a 911 call. Skydio, a California-based drone manufacturer, has provided the county with two of its drones and the “Drone as First Responder” software platform that it markets to law enforcement agencies across the nation.  

A team of sheriff’s deputies who are FAA-certified drone pilots have been assigned to work on Washington County’s DFR trial program, which is expected to end in mid-April. The pilots work in shifts listening to incoming emergency dispatch calls. A pilot can respond to a call by remotely launching a drone, which has a range of roughly three miles, from its base in Aloha to the scene of an emergency to collect evidence or assess a crash site minutes before the arrival of deputies or other first responders. The DFR drones have responded to more than 90 calls for service since Feb. 20. 

Matt Frohnert, a lieutenant in the patrol division of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, joins us to share more details about the program.

Last month, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office began testing drones to respond to traffic crashes, crimes or other emergencies deputies might be dispatched to following a 911 call. Skydio, a California-based drone manufacturer, has provided the county with two of its drones and the “Drone as First Responder” software platform that it markets to law enforcement agencies across the nation.  

A team of sheriff’s deputies who are FAA-certified drone pilots have been assigned to work on Washington County’s DFR trial program, which is expected to end in mid-April. The pilots work in shifts listening to incoming emergency dispatch calls. A pilot can respond to a call by remotely launching a drone, which has a range of roughly three miles, from its base in Aloha to the scene of an emergency to collect evidence or assess a crash site minutes before the arrival of deputies or other first responders. The DFR drones have responded to more than 90 calls for service since Feb. 20. 

Matt Frohnert, a lieutenant in the patrol division of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, joins us to share more details about the program.

Researchers at Oregon State University are using satellite imaging to measure damage in Iran. The Conflict Ecology Lab works to assess the effect peace and conflict have on land. The lab has previously done work around Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. Jamon Van Don Heok is an associate professor of geology and geopolitical sciences at OSU and leads the lab. He joins us to share more on what he’s seeing.

 As a company, Oregon-based Nike has previously said that the average factory worker in the 13 countries it has contracts with is paid twice the amount of the local minimum wage. Past reporting from ProPublic found that less than 1% of Cambodian workers made that. Now, a new story from the publication, in partnership with The Oregonian/OregonLive, found that workers in Indonesia also do not reach that standard. On top of that, the reporting found that Nike is also shifting much of its manufacturing to parts of the country that are less-developed and where workers make much less. Rob Davis is a reporter covering the Northwest for ProPublica. Matt Kish is the business reporter for The Oregonian. They join us to share more on what their reporting revealed.

Oregon foster kids now have a state “Bill of Rights,” which Oregon lawmakers passed nearly unanimously with only a single House member voting no. The legislation was vetoed by the governor last year but modified this year to address her concerns. The Oregon Foster Children’s Bill of Rights expands protections for children and youth in the state’s care, including assurance that kids can still see their siblings even when removed from their family of origin, and that they can bring precious possessions with them — among other protections. We talk with OPB Politics Reporter Lauren Dake to get more details about the legislation and how it’s expected to affect the lives of some of the most vulnerable children in the state.

The city of Hoboken, New Jersey, has had no traffic deaths for nine years straight. This streak is no fluke. It’s the result of  focused efforts by the city’s planners and concerted leadership from elected representatives. Portland and other cities in Oregon are making some progress in their efforts to reduce these same kinds of deaths, which transportation planners like Lake McTighe say are largely preventable. McTighe is the principle transportation planner for Portland’s regional government Metro. She also manages its Safe Streets for All program, which aims to reduce deaths and serious injuries from traffic crashes. We sit down with McTighe to hear about the best practices that Hoboken and some other cities in the U.S. and other countries have used to eliminate traffic deaths — and get an update on the region’s progress toward that goal.

There’s a course being taught at the University of Oregon that’s unlike any class offered there before — and possibly the first of its kind in the nation, according to UO. Now in its second year, the course on hostage diplomacy is attracting undergraduates interested in pursuing careers in journalism, public relations and advertising. 

The students hear from guest speakers, including family members of current and former hostages and experts who’ve helped negotiate the release of hostages and journalists who have been wrongfully detained by foreign governments. In the spring, students travel to Washington, D.C. to meet with Congressional staffers, U.S. State Department officials and NGOs like The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation and HostageUS. 

The course is being co-taught by Jason Rezaian, the 2026 Eric W. Allen Faculty Fellow at UO and The Washington Post’s Director of Press Freedom Initiatives. While reporting in Tehran for The Washington Post, Rezaian was arrested by Iranian authorities in 2014 and wrongfully imprisoned for 544 days before the U.S. government secured his release in January 2016.

Rezaian joins us, along with three UO students who share their experiences with the course: Maren Fullerton, a senior double majoring in advertising and political science; Taylor Parker, a sophomore double majoring in advertising and cinema studies; and Aishiki Nag, a senior double majoring in political science and global studies.