Think Out Loud

The weather pattern known as El Niño is still gathering strength, and climatologists say it could be one of the biggest on record. The phenomenon is caused by rising surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. The weather pattern is expected to bring big impacts to Oregon come winter. State Climatologist Larry O’Neill says that’s likely to mean warmer and wetter weather. He joins us to tell us more.

The Trump administration is trying to loosen regulations around development projects on historic and culturally significant land. Proposed changes to the National Historic Preservation Act would make it optional for federal agencies to consult with Native American nations about these projects, as reported locally in Underscore Native News. The proposal would also change the definition of a historic property to exclude mountains, rivers and other landscape features that tribes consider sacred or culturally significant.

Crystal Miller is the cultural sovereignty director for the Association on American Indian Affairs. She joins us to talk about what the changes could mean for tribal sovereignty.

Oregon lawmakers passed the Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (RMA) in 2021. It was the first law of its kind, putting much of the responsibility to reduce waste on producers and manufacturers. California, Washington, Colorado and a handful of other states have now passed similar laws. The Oregon law took effect July 1, 2025 and the state began collecting fees from producers to expand recycling infrastructure. A recent report highlighted Oregon’s progress in the first year, including dozens of new producer-funded collection sites, 36,000 new recycling carts and $30 million dollars to improve and modernize recycling facilities. 

The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors sued the state to block the law shortly after it went into effect, but a federal judge has now rejected those arguments and upheld the constitutionality of Oregon’s law. We talk about what’s next with Dan Leif, policy implementation director at The Recycling Partnership, a nonprofit helping municipalities all over the country create and implement these kinds of laws. 

 In 2021, the city of Portland officially legalized living in mobile dwelling units on private property. MDUs include recreational vehicles and tiny homes on wheels, which are different from accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. According to a recent survey reported in Sightline Institute, MDUs have been seeing an increase in popularity since 2020.

Kol Peterson conducted the survey, owns Accessory Dwelling Strategies and is an ADU and MDU expert. He joins us to explain more on MDUs and why they are growing in popularity.

 Kimberly Lining remembers calling the information number on a flyer for a missing Indigenous woman and learning that the photo on the flyer didn’t even belong to the missing woman. The frustration born in that moment led Lining to launch the MMIW Search and Hope Alliance, a group of volunteers she mobilizes to help look for missing Indigenous women and girls. Lining partners with the Oregon State Police, families, tribes and others to help get the word out on social media and in-person searches. We talk to Lining about her work.

After more than a decade, a new facility that aims to spur the development of wave energy technology opened last week off the Oregon Coast. AP first reported the opening of PacWave, which features two sites in the open ocean near Newport where companies can test devices they’re building to convert energy from waves into electricity.  

Oregon State University developed PacWave with $140 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s the first such testing facility connected to the continental U.S. energy grid and is pre-permitted. Director Dan Hellin says that can save companies time and money since they don’t need to secure additional state and federal approval for testing, which he expects to start next summer. The Bonneville Power Administration has an exclusive agreement with OSU to buy all the electricity generated by PacWave.    

But hurdles remain. As OPB’s “All Science, No Fiction” previously reported, companies trying to develop this technology have hit federal funding delays. The Trump administration has also cancelled offshore and solar wind projects, raising concerns about the future of renewables in the U.S.  

Hellin joins us for a discussion. 

Sutter spent a week hearing from dozens of residents in places like Cave Junction and Grants Pass, from frontline healthcare workers to medically vulnerable seniors and business owners. Sutter joins us to share some of those perspectives and the toll worsening wildfire smoke is taking on the tight-knit communities he visited and wrote about in his recently published story. 

Since 2015, almost every year a child in the faith-healing sect Followers of Christ in Idaho have died from a treatable condition. That’s according to new reporting from ProPublica.

In Oregon, where Followers of Christ are also present, lawmakers have previously removed faith-healing protections that Idaho has. Authorities in the state say this has led to a reduction of these kinds of incidents as parents are more likely to seek medical care for their children when needed. Audrey Dutton is a reporter for ProPublica. She joins us to share more on her reporting.

How do climate-driven events like wildfires affect tourism in communities like Bend? That’s one of the questions the Oregon State University Sustainable Tourism Lab is trying to answer. A recent analysis examined how wildfire smoke impacted visitor demand. It found that while one or two smoky days may not affect travel plans, people are more likely to reschedule or cancel their trips during prolonged smoke events. 

Todd Montgomery is a hospitality professor at OSU and director of the Sustainable Tourism Lab. Nate Wyeth is the chief of staff for Visit Bend. They both join us to talk more about how climate change is affecting communities that depend on tourism dollars.

This weekend, Portlanders can enjoy food, music, dancing and more with ties to Jewish culture. The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland is putting on its first Jewish cultural festival at Zidell Yards on Sunday. Marc Blattner is the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. He joins us to share more on what attendees can expect and why this event is important to have.

Oregon State University will play its first game of the new college football season next Saturday. The Beavers will also be competing this year in an expanded Pac-12 Conference that features six other football teams joining OSU and Washington State University. Gonzaga is also now a member of Pac-12, competing in basketball and other sports.  

The Pac-12’s new roster brings some relief for the future of the 110-year-old athletic conference. OSU and WSU were the only teams left in the Pac-12 after the 2023 football season following the departure of the Oregon Ducks, Washington Huskies and eight other teams for other conferences.  

Fans will be able to see all of the Pac-12 football games this season on broadcast TV or via streaming under media distribution deals the conference secured with CBS, The CW, CBS Sports and USA Network. 

Kevin Griffin is vice president and director of athletics at OSU. He joins us to talk about the new Pac-12 and the team’s prospects this season under new head football coach JaMarcus Shephard. 

Since 2010, the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District has been working with private landowners to restore white oak habitat. That effort includes providing them with technical assistance and cost-sharing support from the district or the Natural Resources Conservation Service for restoration projects that can last several years and cost tens of thousands of dollars. 

Brendan Addis is a conservation specialist at the Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District. He joins us along with Michael Hayes, a landowner he has been working with since 2024 to restore five acres on Hayes’ property south of Oregon City. They join us to share the changes they’ve seen on that project as it nears completion this fall. 

Kate Kaye is a Portland-based independent journalist who spent nearly a year researching and interviewing experts about trust in the age of AI. That work has culminated in “Trust Control,” a seven-part podcast series she created and hosts that explores concepts such as efforts to quantify and measure trust that go back to World War II and still reverberate today. The series also examines trust in the media and the limitations of trying to score or certify the trustworthiness of news content or images shared online. Meanwhile, the rise of AI agents, or bots assigned to do tasks human employees do, present new challenges around trust in the workplace. 

Kaye joins us to share more details about “Trust Control.” 

Residents in the Washington County city of North Plains have been sharply divided for years over whether and how much to expand its urban growth boundary. City leaders passed a plan in 2024 that was overturned in a popular vote and in the same election ushered in a new anti-growth majority on the council. In less than 2 years, the majority of those councilors have resigned, along with the mayor and two subsequent replacement mayors.

North Plains also saw the departure of its city manager and had two interim city managers resign one after the other. The current interim has a contract that expires on Sept. 1.

In June we went to North Plains to talk to people inside and outside of the city limits to hear about their different ideas about growth and maintaining their rural identity — and the other issues fueling the turnover in local government.

Austin De Dios is a politics reporter focused on Washington and Clackamas counties for The Oregonian/Oregonlive, and he joins us to share the latest on the community and city government of North Plains.

Earlier this month, the Spokane Complex Fires ripped through neighborhoods in the city, damaging more than 800 structures and forcing evacuations of more than 65,000 residents. One person died from medical complications she suffered while evacuating from a nursing home.

Despite the loss of homes and other structures, the injury impacts of the fires were less severe, thanks in part to the city’s second-ever evacuation drill in April.

Sarah Nuss is the Director of Emergency Management for Spokane. She joins us to share more details about the drill and its effectiveness in helping get tens of thousands of individuals out of danger safely.

And now, for the first time since 1969, Furthur has left its home at the Kesey family farm outside Eugene to open a new generation of hearts and minds. As first reported by the New York Times earlier this month, the bus is returning to San Francisco as the centerpiece of “Forever Grateful, Golden Gate Park,” a Grateful Dead-themed exhibition in San Francisco opening on Sep. 5. The Oregon nonprofit Furthur Down the Road Foundation has been working for years to raise funds to restore the bus, which it hopes to start after the exhibit ends in late October. 

Ken Kesey’s son, Zane, joins us to discuss Furthur’s legacy, the plans for its restoration and what lessons he thinks this countercultural icon can offer us today.

When a climber was trapped under a boulder on Mount Hood over Memorial Day weekend, the field surgical team at Oregon Health & Science University responded. The team is trained to operate on patients outside of the hospital to free them from collapsed buildings, crashed cars and other emergency situations.

Justin Regner is the trauma medical director and division head of trauma, critical care and acute care surgery at OHSU. He oversees the field surgical team and joins us to share more about its work.

Last spring, the city of Gresham changed its primary water source from the Bull Run Watershed to groundwater by expanding its current groundwater system. Before the switch, groundwater was primarily used as a backup resource during summer months. The choice to separate from Portland’s water systems stems from Portland’s 2017 decision to build a new water filtration plant after the Oregon Health Authority ordered the city to treat its drinking water for the parasite cryptosporidium.

But the change has been noticeable to some Gresham residents. Groundwater is harder than the water from the Bull Run Watershed due to higher mineral content, and the treatment method changed along with the source, which has left some Gresham residents tasting or smelling the shift.

We’ll speak with Steve Walker, Gresham's water operations manager, for more information on the switch and what Gresham residents can expect.