Think Out Loud

Retiree Christina Maier moved from Portland five years ago to Tollgate, a subdivision two miles west of Sisters surrounded by the Deschutes National Forest. She quickly set to work helping her community improve its wildfire resiliency, starting with her own home. Nearly two years ago, it became the first home in Oregon to receive a Wildfire Prepared Home designation by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. She has also made fire risk assessments on 175 properties in Tollgate and won a state grant to remove diseased ponderosa pines and conduct other forest thinning work. 

Maier is now receiving national recognition for her wildfire resiliency efforts. Last week, she was named one of 10 finalists in the national Neighbor of the Year contest sponsored by Neighbors Bank, which will award $20,000 to the winner. Maier was nominated by Kellen Klein, executive director of Sisters nonprofit Citizens4Community. (Klein was interviewed on “Think Out Loud” last September to talk about community-building efforts and recovery from the Flat Fire.)  

Maier joins us to discuss her nomination and efforts to help her neighbors.

The Trump administration's approach to immigration enforcement has been multi-pronged: detentions and rapid deportation, warrantless arrests, the deployment and attempted deployment of the National Guard, and in some cases lethal force. All of these tactics have been challenged in courts. In Oregon, civil rights groups and immigrant advocates won a significant victory in February, when a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction preventing ICE agents from making arrests without a warrant, except in certain circumstances. But the Innovation Law Lab says that the Administration is still carrying out warrantless arrests, and the non-profit was in court this week asking the judge to enforce his order. We get the details from Joni Auden Land, legal affairs reporter for OPB.

When you hear the term sex education, you might think of classes for kids in public schools. But what Charla Hathaway means by that is far broader. She’s an author with a PhD in human sexuality, and she also became a sex worker for a short time at age 55. She’s now 78, and over the last two decades, Hathaway has given a wide variety of classes and workshops about intimacy, touch, sensuality and sexuality. She says she wants to remove shame around bodies and sexuality in the culture and make those topics normal—not taboo—to talk about. Hathaway joins us to share more about her life and work and the one-woman show based on her work, titled “Naked at My Age.” She’s now performing a follow-up called “More Naked Than Ever.”

On average, more than 3 calls a day are made to 911 that report someone who may be trying to end their life at a Portland bridge. That’s according to new reporting from the Oregonian/OregonLive.com. In Goose Hollow, the Vista Bridge saw five suicides in one year, leading to a bridge barrier being built in 2013. These barriers are often fences or netting aiming at preventing suicides. But why can’t these be built on other bridges? And how safe are Portland's other bridges and overpasses today? Oregonian reporter Isabel Funk wrote about this and joins us now to share more about what she found.

In Europe, dogs have been used for centuries for their keen sense of smell to locate prized black and white truffles which can fetch hundreds or thousands of dollars a pound depending on their variety. In Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, using dogs to sniff out truffles is relatively new and growing in popularity. There are even training classes and an annual truffle dog contest held at the Oregon Truffle festival. 

Oregon has four varieties of gourmet edible truffles, but there are hundreds of species of these mysterious fungi growing on the roots of conifer and oak trees across the state. So what if you could use a dog’s nose to home in on the odor signatures of all sorts of truffles, not just the commercially valuable ones, for a better scientific understanding of truffle biodiversity? That’s the goal of Heather Dawson, a doctoral student in the biology department at University of Oregon. She trained her golden retriever, Rye, to detect dozens of different kinds of truffles in the Willamette Valley alone. Dawson joined us in March 2025 to share her work and the attention it’s attracting among other scientists and forest foragers.

In 2024, two civic organizations began partnering on a yearly survey to gauge how residents in Portland felt about some important elements that contribute to quality of life in a city. North Star Civic Foundation and the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center asked more than 1,200 Portland adults how effective they feel local government is, whether they feel represented and what services they think should be prioritized.  North Star Civic Foundation Research Director Marina Kaminksy joins us to share results from the latest survey and how they compare to the last two years.

On Saturday, the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale will celebrate its centennial anniversary with free admission and activities honoring the museum’s unique history and identity. Perched on a bluff overlooking the Columbia Gorge, visitors can explore the museum’s many collections that include Indigenous baskets and beadwork, sculptures by Auguste Rodin and hundreds of chess sets from around the world. The museum’s sprawling grounds boast a full-scale replica of Stonehenge and sculptures made by Pacific Northwest artists. 

The day's festivities also include Romanian folk dancing and music as a tribute to Queen Marie of Romania’s visit to the site 100 years ago to dedicate the museum co-founded by her friend and entrepreneur,  Sam Hill. Three current exhibits showcase the museum’s cultural ties to Romania, including new displays of Romanian pottery and embroidered textiles. 

Amy Behrens is the executive director and CEO of the Maryhill Museum of Art. Michael Oros is the master of ceremonies for Saturday’s events, president of the Romanian American Society and a member of the museum’s board of trustees. They join us to preview Saturday’s program and the special exhibits celebrating the museum’s history. 

MusicOregon recently embarked on a statewide listening tour to hear from musicians, venue owners and others in the industry. The nonprofit held sessions online and in Hood River, Tillamook, Salem, Eugene, Jacksonville, Bend and Pendleton to get a sense of how the music industry is faring across the state. Music professionals can also share their thoughts with the organization through an online survey.

Tim Wilson is the board president of MusicOregon. He joins us to share what they learned about Oregon’s music landscape.

The Center for Biological Diversity found that the agency lost 36% of its staff between 2024 and 2026. CBD obtained USFWS staff rosters in response to a Freedom of Information Act records request the advocacy organization had filed. As first reported by the Oregon Capital Chronicle, the data shows a loss of 40% USFWS staff in Oregon alone, including wildlife biologists, wildland firefighters and equipment operators. 

Noah Greenwald is the endangered species co-director at the CBD. He says that the loss of experienced USFWS employees with specialized expertise of vulnerable plants and animals jeopardizes the agency’s ability to carry out its obligations under the Endangered Species Act. That includes listing species as endangered or threatened, like the monarch butterfly and Chinook salmon. Earlier this month, CBD and two other organizations sued the USFWS to spur ESA protections for northwestern and southwestern pond turtles.  

Greenwald joins us to share more details about the agency’s reduced workforce and its impact in Oregon. 

During the 2020 Labor Day fires in Oregon, Sierra Lindsey Kos saw first hand the effects of climate change. As she was rushing to take her sick newborn to a hospital in Portland, she had to traverse through burning fires, a red sky and ash all around her, filling her with fear. As reported in the New York Times, she would then help found and lead Extreme Weather Survivors, a support group and advocacy network that has grown to more than 2,500 people.

Amy Dishion is one of those members. Before moving to Salem, Oregon, she lost her husband to extreme heat in Arizona. Dishion and Kos join us to share their stories and the work the group does for survivors across the country. 

A new training program has been helping first responders in some of Oregon’s rural communities answer those questions. The training was conducted by the Oregon Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program, which aims to increase access to age-friendly care in underserved areas.

Union County Emergency Manager Nick Vora participated in the training. He joins us, along with Laura Byerly, program director for the Oregon Geriatrics Workforce Enhancement Program.

PassinArt began in 1982 and is the oldest continuously operating Black theatre in Oregon. Based in Portland, its mission is to “entertain, educate, and inspire artists and audiences while addressing critical issues facing our community.” The name is a nod to its vision of passing on art, history and culture from one generation to another. The company doesn’t just mount full scale theatrical productions, it also holds free monthly readings, festivals of new works, and other events. 

And this weekend, PassinArt is inviting the whole Portland community to its Open House & Block Party. Artistic Director Jerry Foster says they want to introduce people to the new headquarters at the Albina Arts Center on NE  Killingsworth, along with all the different kinds of work PassinArt offers. We talk with Foster to learn about the kinds of plays the company stages, the new work it supports, and the community events it hosts.

And now, after just 18 months on the job, Doherty was awarded the Building Inspector of the Year award from the Oregon Building Officials Association. The Hermiston Herald previously reported news of the award which comes amid a construction boom in the city and rising demand for inspection services. Last year, Hermiston generated more than $200 million in building permit fees and 130 new homes were built.  

Doherty shares what it’s like to be, as she says, a building inspector “living my best life in Eastern Oregon.” 

The Sonic Silents film festival opens Thursday at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland. The film composer and multi-instrumentalist Mark Orton recruited over 20 musicians to compose new, original scores for a curated selection of silent films at the inaugural festival that he created. Orton and his fellow musicians will peform the new compositions live in front of audiences inside the 100-year-old theater. 

Among the highlights is Buster Keaton’s “The General,” which was filmed in Cottage Grove in 1926. For the film’s and the theater’s centennial anniversary, Orton will premiere an updated score he wrote for the 90th anniversary of “The General.” 

Todd Sickafoose, a Eugene-based Tony and Grammy Award-winning producer, composer and bassist will join Orton on stage for the weekend performances. Sickafoose has also contributed an original score for “Daisy Doodad’s Dial,” a 1914 comedy short showing at the festival. 

Orton and Sickafoose join us for a preview of Sonic Silents. 

Crime Stoppers of Oregon is shutting down at the end of this month after more than four decades of operation. Since its launch in 1983, the organization says it has received tens of thousands of anonymous tips from the public that have helped law enforcement solve hundreds of crimes, ranging from bank robberies to cold case homicides.  

Chairman Henry Groepper is a retired Portland police officer who has been with Crime Stoppers of Oregon since its start. He served as its first coordinator and narrated public service announcements that aired on radio stations across the state offering cash rewards as high as $2500 for information about unsolved felonies. 

But Groepper says in recent years, there has been a decline in the number of cash rewards the board has given out, including none so far this year. He says another factor in the board’s decision to end Crime Stoppers of Oregon was a data breach in March of a third-party company’s platform that Crime Stoppers programs, law enforcement and schools use to access confidential tips. 

Groepper joins us to share more details about the decision to end Crime Stoppers of Oregon and his decades of service to it.

Last Tuesday, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek appeared at an anti-data center rally in Salem where she announced she now supports a moratorium on new data centers. As OPB reported, the announcement shows Kotek has abandoned the cautious approach she had previously taken on an issue that’s gaining momentum with voters and raising the stakes in her bid for reelection in less than two months. 

Within hours of Kotek’s announcement, gubernatorial opponent state Sen. Christine Drazan told KATU that she too supports an immediate pause on data centers and that they should provide benefits for communities that host them, among other requirements for approval. That’s a shift from just a few weeks ago when Drazan told OPB that she doesn’t support ending existing tax breaks for the roughly 120 data centers in the state. 

Think Out Loud features OPB political reporters Dirk VanderHart and Lauren Dake explaining all this in the latest episode of the OPB Politics Now podcast.

Callan’s globe-trekking journey also opens a new professional chapter in his life as travel writer. The Bend Bulletin is publishing bimonthly dispatches written by Callan under a column he’s calling “Our Oregonian Abroad.” Callan joins us to talk about the first stop he wrote about and other places he’s excited to visit and share his experiences of.

There are over 130 data centers across Oregon. In the eastern part of the state, there are more than 50, many of which are owned and operated by Amazon Web Services. The tech-giant has brought millions to cities such as Hermiston, allowing for renovations to its city hall and library. But the data centers have also drawn criticism from local advocates for their water and energy use and environmental impacts. Roger Wehner is the vice president of economic development for Amazon. He joins us to share his company's perspective on data center investments in Oregon.