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
Workers complain of bad management, poor conditions at Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire

Renaissance fairs have long been a place for workers and visitors alike to find community amid the trappings of a fictional medieval town. “Merchants” bring their wares to hawk, while various “guilds” provide the entertainment, from jousting to smithing to demonstrating medieval textile arts.

 

But some longtime guild workers at the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire have pulled out of the festival due to what they describe as bad management and poor working conditions. They say the organization that puts on the fair – which also operates the Oregon Renaissance Faire and Oregon Celtic Festival – has prioritized profits over maintaining the sense of community that workers and volunteers value.


Nathalie Graham is a former freelance reporter who now writes for The Seattle Stranger. She looked into these complaints in a recent article for InvestigateWest and joins us with more details.

00:11:11
Jul 25, 2025 1:12 PM
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Problem of overtourism comes into focus for Portland travel book shop owner

Last October, Patrick Leonard opened Postcard Bookshop, fusing his love for literature with his love for travel. Located in Portland’s Central Eastside neighborhood, the store’s shelves are organized according to countries or regions, from Africa to Oceania and the Pacific Northwest. In addition to travel guides, phrase books and cookbooks showcasing world cuisines, novels on display provide passage to new cultures and worldly journeys.  


But running a bookstore geared to customers planning or returning from vacations has made Leonard rethink what it means to be a global traveler today. From Google Translate to Instagram, Airbnb and Uber, social media and apps are changing tourism and the communities impacted by it. Throngs of visitors to popular destinations are fueling a rise in overtourism which is straining resources, prompting street protests and pricing locals out of the housing market, from Hawai’i to Portugal. Leonard joins us for a discussion about overtourism and the challenge of being an ethical tourist.

00:31:11
Jul 25, 2025 1:11 PM
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Think Out Loud
Cannabis testing in Oregon shows inflated THC numbers

Many states in the U.S. have legalized cannabis either medically or recreationally, but without legalization at the federal level regulation is left to states, including testing for contaminants and THC levels. New reporting from Undark, an online science magazine, found that in some states, including Oregon, independent labs were inflating THC level numbers and providing fraudulent results. Teresa Carr, a senior contributor at Undark, joins us to share more on lab testing and what some states are doing to combat fudged results.

00:19:08
Jul 24, 2025 12:56 PM
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Think Out Loud
New law to bring climate education to classrooms across Oregon

Oregon lawmakers recently passed a bill requiring climate change education to be integrated into classrooms across the state. The legislation directs the state board of education to integrate climate science — including causes, impacts, and strategies for adaptation — in core subjects like science, history, health, and civics. The goal is to equip students with accurate information and age-appropriate tools to understand and respond to the climate crisis. Supporters say the new law is a step toward normalizing climate education statewide, especially in rural and underserved regions.

 

Tana Shepard, founding member of Oregon Educators for Climate Education — the organization that drafted the bill — and Mikayla May, a high school student and climate advocate with Our Future, join us to talk about what this means for Oregon schools and for the next generation of students.

00:11:38
Jul 24, 2025 12:56 PM
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Think Out Loud
Mass Intel layoffs will hit Oregon economy hard

Earlier this month the semiconductor chip maker Intel announced it would layoff nearly 2,400 workers in Washington County - amounting to about 10% of its overall workforce. Nonetheless, the company remains one of Oregon’s largest private employers, and the ripple effects of its contraction will be felt more broadly throughout the state economy. OPB business reporter Kyra Buckley has been following this story, and she joins us to bring us the latest.

00:10:08
Jul 24, 2025 12:54 PM
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Think Out Loud
Clatsop County considers program to convert vacant second homes into long-term rentals

Clatsop County is exploring a pilot program that would convert vacation homes that are often left vacant into long-term rentals for people who work in the county. As reported in the Daily Astorian, the program would offer cash incentives for property owners to lease out their homes for a year or more. The county has applied for a grant to fund the two-year pilot, but has yet to receive those dollars.

Clatsop County housing manager Elissa Gertler joins us to talk about the potential program and other possible solutions to the coast’s housing crisis.

00:13:08
Jul 23, 2025 1:3 PM
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What a housing accountability office means for Oregon

Gov. Tina Kotek has aimed for a goal of 36,000 homes being built a year. As part of her housing development plans, Kotek’s office announced the launch of the Housing Accountability and Production Office, a joint office between the Department of Land Conservation and Development and the Building Codes Division. The agency will provide technical assistance and enforce state housing production laws. Joel Madsen and Tony Rocco, the office's joint managers, join us with more about the goals of the agency and what it means for Oregon’s housing crisis.

00:17:04
Jul 23, 2025 1:2 PM
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Think Out Loud
Gov. Tina Kotek calls for special session, delays ODOT layoffs

Earlier this month the Oregon Department of Transportation announced it would need to lay off nearly 500 workers. This came after lawmakers failed to pass a transportation package to help boost the budget of the agency responsible for road maintenance around the state. Now, Gov. Tina Kotek has announced a special session will be held in late August with the hopes of finding the funds for the state’s transportation agency and has also shared she will delay impending layoffs. OPB politics reporter Dirk Vanderhart joins us to share more on what to expect from the upcoming special session.

00:10:40
Jul 23, 2025 1:2 PM
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How Oregon’s forests are tied to the Roadless Rule

The Roadless Rule is a U.S. Forest Service regulation that protects inventoried roadless areas from certain timber activities and construction within the national forest system, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The rule has been in effect since 2001, but U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced recently the Trump administration plans to rescind the rule. We learn more about how the regulation affects Oregon and its forests from Travis Joseph, the president and CEO of the American Forest Resource Council, and Steve Pedery, the conservation director of Oregon Wild

00:14:37
Jul 22, 2025 1:1 PM
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OSU researchers are working to make wood stoves burn more cleanly

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are more than 10 million wood-burning stoves in homes across the U.S., or roughly one for every 35 people. The smoke from those stoves can emit harmful particle pollution, which has been linked to respiratory illnesses, cardiovascular disease and a host of other health issues. Researchers at Oregon State University recently tested residential wood stove emissions in rural Oregon in an effort to understand how the stoves perform in homes.

Nordica MacCarty is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at OSU. She joins us to talk about her work to make wood stoves burn more cleanly and efficiently.

00:10:02
Jul 22, 2025 1:0 PM
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Oregon wildfire season prompts state emergency declaration

Last week, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency due to “the imminent and ongoing threat of wildfire.” The emergency declaration will last until the end of the year. It directs the Office of Emergency Management to coordinate personnel, equipment and resources in collaboration with the State Fire Marshal and Oregon Department of Forestry to respond to the wildfires that have burned more than 100,000 acres in the state so far. The Oregon National Guard will also be mobilized as needed to assist with fighting wildland fires for the remainder of the fire season.

The National Interagency Fire Center lists six large, active wildfires burning in Oregon. That includes the Cram Fire, which broke out on July 13 and has burned more than 95,000 acres northeast of Madras and triggered evacuation orders in Jefferson and Wasco counties. It is now the largest wildfire burning in the contiguous U.S., with more than 900 personnel responding to it.

Joining us for an update on the wildfire season are Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz Temple and Kyle Williams, deputy director of fire operations at Oregon Department of Forestry.

00:16:02
Jul 22, 2025 1:0 PM
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Bend Bulletin newspaper union fights Carpenter Media Group layoffs

The union that represents reporters at Central Oregon’s 122-year-old newspaper is negotiating its first contract with the corporation that bought the outlet last fall. Carpenter Media Group has already laid off nonunion workers at the Bulletin, like the paper’s copy editor, but the Central Oregon NewsGuild says that a contract - and the worker protections it would include - must be in place before any union layoffs could be made. The company has acquired more than 30 newspapers in Oregon alone, including the Pamplin Media Group - and approximately 250 others in the U.S. and Canada.


The NewsGuild unit has taken the unusual step of urging subscribers to cancel their subscriptions if the corporate management does not agree to their demands. The Carpenter Media Group declined our request to be interviewed and sent a statement that said it is “dedicated to preserving and strengthening community journalism in the communities we serve.” The company has made deep cuts in other local media outlets it has acquired. Central Oregon NewsGuild leader Morgan Owen is a crime and public safety reporter for the Bend Bulletin. She joins us to share the latest in the story that’s unfolding at her paper.

00:08:08
Jul 21, 2025 1:8 PM
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Washington County revises DEI policies for new federal requirements

Washington County is revising how it implements diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in order to comply with new federal grant requirements tied to executive orders from President Trump. Local officials say the move is necessary to protect access to $135 million in federal funding that supports housing, infrastructure, and critical services for thousands of low-income residents in the county.

 

While the move has drawn criticism from community members who worry it signals a retreat from equity commitments, those involved say the change is necessary to avoid potential civil and criminal liability under the federal False Claims Act. The county commission is scheduled to take a final vote to affirm the policy changes Tuesday, July 22. Washington County Board Chair Kathryn Harrington joins us to talk more about the changes that come amid broader questions about how local governments navigate new federal policies.

00:22:20
Jul 21, 2025 1:7 PM
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Budget airline to end service at Salem airport next month

Last week, Avelo Airlines announced it would end service out of the Salem-Willamette Valley Airport on Aug. 10. Avelo has been operating out of Salem as the only airline carrier servicing the airport since October 2023 with weekly flights to Burbank and Las Vegas. The budget airline also said it plans to pull out of other West Coast markets, including Eugene in December, when it aims to close its base in Burbank.

 

Avelo’s looming departure from Salem and other markets comes amid controversy over the airline’s decision earlier this year to provide deportation flights out of Phoenix for the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency. That agreement has prompted a backlash against the carrier, including in Salem, where some residents have protested and urged the city council to sever ties with Avelo.

 

Joining us for a discussion about what Avelo’s exit means for Salem, its local economy and the future of its airport is Salem Statesman Journal city reporter Whitney Woodworth.

 

00:10:21
Jul 21, 2025 1:7 PM
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Portland painter Arvie Smith on his Guggenheim Fellowship work

Portland artist Arvie Smith is known for colorful, larger-than-life oil paintings that explore oppression and injustice against Black Americans through symbolism and visual tropes. He’s also a professor emeritus at Pacific Northwest College of Art after a 35-year tenure. His murals can be seen on buildings in North Portland and at the Donald E. Long Juvenile Center, where he spent time teaching art to incarcerated youth.
Despite being in his mid-80s, Smith is far from retired — just last year, he received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. The work he created during that fellowship is currently on display in Chicago. Titled “Crossing Clear Creek,” the exhibit explores Smith’s childhood memories and experience of race in rural Texas and Los Angeles. We spoke with Smith in March 2025 about his life and work.

00:30:59
Jul 18, 2025 3:43 PM
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Hanford-area native and former Washington Poet Laureate on how the ‘Atomic City’ shaped her life

Seattle poet Kathleen Flenniken grew up in Richland and worked as a civil engineer at Hanford in the 1980s. She served as Washington State Poet Laureate from 2012-2014. In her first year as poet laureate, she published a collection called Plume, which deals directly with how her Hanford area upbringing influenced her.  The book explores the history of the site, the death of her best friend's father from a radiation illness, and her childhood in "Atomic City.” Flenniken sits down with us from the campus of Washington State University Tri-Cities.

 

00:20:13
Jul 18, 2025 1:14 PM
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Food Court 5000 brings 1980s aerobic craze to mall walkers in Portland

Krista Catwood, also known by the stage name Vera Mysteria, can be found at the Lloyd Center mall every Sunday leading Portlanders in a group workout. But the exercises aren’t done on machines and do not take place in a retail space — instead, they’re done throughout the entire mall. As first reported in the Oregonian, Catwood, armed with a neon track suit and a Bluetooth speaker, leads a group ranging from ages 8 to 80 on a power walk throughout the mall with '80s music blasting behind them. The group is known as the Food Court 5000, started off with a group of eight that has now grown to upwards of 70 people at its highest. Catwood joins us to share why she started the Food Court 5000 and more.

00:13:41
Jul 17, 2025 1:21 PM
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MXPDX festival brings together Oregon and Mexico cultural exchange through food, beer and music

This weekend marks the first MXPDX: Mexico/Oregon Collaboration Festival of Culture and Cerveza. The festival brings together 13 brewers from Oregon and 13 brewers from Mexico to collaborate on ciders and beers of their own creation using Mexican ingredients to showcase both regions working together. It is the newest creation from Beer Friends, the nonprofit behind Fuji to Hood. Ezra Johnson-Greenough is one of the organizers for the festival. Ricardo Antunez is the owner of Xicha Brewing, the first Latino-owned brewery in Oregon, and Diego Lara is the co-owner of Falling Piano Brewery in Mexico City. They all join us to share more on what to expect this weekend and the importance of the collaboration.

00:12:22
Jul 17, 2025 1:21 PM
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Oregon crime victims services organizations face deep cuts after losing federal funding

About 150 organizations that support Oregon crime victims have lost much of their federal funding. With more than $18 million in cuts and no additional state funds, nonprofits and government programs that serve survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and child abuse are preparing to lay off staff and severely reduce the support they provide to victims — both in and out of court.

Melissa Erlbaum is the executive director of Clackamas Women’s Services. Due to funding loss, the non-profit will be forced to reduce the number of survivors it can serve by hundreds. And at Safety Compass — a nonprofit that supports sex trafficking survivors — founder Esther Garrett says the cuts threaten to unravel the vital safety net that advocacy provides crime victims.

Erlbaum and Garrett join us alongside Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth, to tell us more about the consequences of the funding shortfall.

00:23:40
Jul 17, 2025 1:20 PM
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Athletes share experience at Special Olympics Oregon

Over the weekend, Special Olympics Oregon hosted its summer games in Corvallis. Athletes with intellectual disabilities compete in various events for the season, including track & field, golf and softball and bocce, Rachel Parsons is an athlete that competed in bocce. Ben Fields is an athlete who competed in softball. They both join us to share how this weekend went and why they compete.

00:14:40
Jul 16, 2025 1:14 PM
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Advocates share concerns about potential small scale nuclear reactors in the Pacific Northwest

Amazon has said they want to build small scale nuclear reactors along the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest to power AI data centers. Yesterday we heard from Oregon’s NuScale Power, which has achieved regulatory approval for their small scale nuclear reactor design. Today we hear from Kelly Campbell, policy director for Columbia Riverkeeper, about her organization's concerns about using this kind of energy in the Pacific Northwest.

00:15:07
Jul 16, 2025 1:14 PM
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Oregon’s Planned Parenthood clinics anticipate 70 percent budget loss

As soon as President Trump signed his tax-cut and spending package into law on July 4, one of the ways it impacted Oregon was to immediately make all Planned Parenthood clinics ineligible to receive Medicaid reimbursement for one year. In Oregon, those reimbursements make up approximately 70% of budgets. That is, if they continued to perform abortions - even for the approximately 90 percent of health care services that are not abortion related. Planned Parenthood sued the Trump administration and got a temporary injunction - but that’s set to expire at the end of this week. In Washington state, Gov. Bob Ferguson has committed to backfilling the loss for clinics in that state for one year. We talk with Sara Kennedy, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, which runs nine clinics in the region, about the impact of the expected Medicaid cuts and what alternatives might be available.

00:19:17
Jul 16, 2025 1:14 PM
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Beaverton’s Spirit of Grace church co-led by newly ordained Roman Catholic Woman Priest

At a glance, Spirit of Grace church in Beaverton might appear to be just one of many progressive Protestant churches, not unusual in the Pacific Northwest. Its website and featured introduction video emphasizes that all are welcome, with an emphasis on LGBTQ people of faith who may not have been welcomed in other religious faiths - and even people who may be questioning their beliefs. But read the fine print or attend a service and both the Catholic and Lutheran theology that defines the church becomes clear. Until the mid-1980s, the congregation was Lutheran, but out of an attempt to shore up dwindling finances, the church began sharing its physical space with members of a Catholic church. Eventually what developed was one congregation that gathered each Sunday and was led by both a visiting Catholic priest and a Lutheran pastor. But in December of 2023, for the first time, the Portland Archdiocese barred Roman Catholic priests from any further participation at Spirit of Grace - and ordered any Catholics in the congregation to leave. But they stayed, choosing to keep their model, and instead of inviting visiting Roman Catholic priests, they called Rev. Vinci Halbrook-Paterson to lead. She had been serving on staff, but in the wake of the Archdiocese's decision, chose to be ordained by Roman Catholic Women Priests in May 2025. Halbrook-Paterson now co-leads the church and alternates leading services on Sundays with Lutheran pastor Robyn Hartwig. It is thought to be the only such Lutheran-Catholic congregation in the country. We hear more about the congregation, its evolution and its impact in the community from Halbrook-Paterson and two long time congregants, Lutheran Marie Gettel-Gilmartin and her husband, Mike Gettel-Gilmartin, who is Catholic.Beaverton’s Spirit of Grace church co-led by newly ordained Roman Catholic Woman Priest

00:20:05
Jul 15, 2025 1:12 PM
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Portland wildfire expert wants to overhaul Oregon’s wildfire approach

 Matt Donegan is a wildfire and land management consultant.  He led a wildfire council convened by Gov. Kate Brown in 2019. Now, he says Oregon is behind on wildfire management and federal, state and private organizations need to come together to figure out the future of Oregon’s forests. Donegan joins us with more about why Oregon needs to overhaul the way it approaches wildfire and land management. 

 

00:11:51
Jul 15, 2025 1:12 PM
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Oregon’s NuScale Power receives regulatory approval for modular reactor design

This spring the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a design from Oregon’s NuScale Power for a 77 megawatt nuclear reactor. The company is already underway designing for a site in Romania and says they have received interest from numerous U.S. companies. Amazon has said they want to build small scale nuclear reactors along the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest to power AI data centers. We talk to José Reyes about the company’s design and their vision for what small scale nuclear power could look like.

00:17:47
Jul 15, 2025 1:12 PM
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