Think Out Loud

The Central Oregon community is grieving after a gunman opened fire at Silver Rail Elementary School on Thursday afternoon, killing three children and a teacher, according to police. Another child and teacher are also hospitalized. Police said that the suspected shooter, a 16-year-old boy, is also dead after he was shot by a community member who followed him into the school.

The community gathered for a candlelight vigil Thursday night where hundreds of people gathered to mourn the loss of the three children.

OPB’s Emily Cureton Cook has been on the scene since yesterday afternoon, and she joins us to share what she knows. You can find live updates of OPB’s coverage here.

The Portland Public Schools proposal to close up to 14 schools is getting a lot of pushback. Earlier this week, School Board Chair Eddie Wang answered questions from parents who would be affected. He emphasized that even though the district has had to make a series of significant cuts over the last several years, the closures would not be helping fill a budget gap. Instead, they are aimed at better serving more students in fewer schools with the district’s limited funds.

As first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive, Gov. Kotek sent a letter to Armstrong and Wang Tuesday, urging them to “take the necessary time” for families to understand and give feedback on the plans. In a statement, a spokesperson said the district is holding regular sessions for public feedback in the coming weeks and is “expanding those efforts to give families, students and staff additional opportunities to share their perspectives.” The board vote on the school closures plan is currently scheduled for mid-December.

We’ll talk with PPS Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong about the plans for school closures, the data used to formulate them, and how she’s responding to the concerns of parents, students and staff.

The advocacy nonprofit Environment Oregon Research & Policy Center is organizing the Roadside Wildlife Count, as previously reported by Oregon Capital Chronicle. Volunteers can sign up at any point to help during the 9-day count. The collected data will contribute to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s existing projects that also engage the public’s help to share wildlife sightings and roadkills they encounter. 

Justin Boyles, conservation advocate for Environment Oregon Research & Policy Center, says its count aims to also raise awareness of the thousands of collisions between vehicles and large animals like deer and elk in Oregon each year and the importance of wildlife crossings to help wildlife safely traverse roads and highways. 

Boyles joins us to share more details about the Roadside Wildlife Count and similar surveys organized by the Environment America Research & Policy Center and other state affiliates.  

Christopher McKnight Nichols taught history at Oregon State University for a decade and was also the director of its Center for the Humanities until 2022. He left that year for Ohio State University where he is today the Wayne Woodrow Hayes Chair in National Security and a professor of history. He is also the co-chair of the university’s America at 250 Initiative, a series of programs commemorating the 250th anniversary of our nation’s independence. 

Nichols is returning to Oregon to give a free lecture tonight in Portland that will explore the political parallels between our nation’s present and its past and the role that we, as citizens, can play in shaping our democracy’s future. The nonprofit Senior Advocates for Generational Equity is organizing the discussion that takes place less than three weeks before the general election and amid intense political polarization in the U.S. 

Nichols joins us for a preview of his talk.

Since the Klamath Dams came down in 2024, researchers, tribes and conservation officials have all been waiting to see whether salmon would return to the rivers and streams they last populated 100 years ago. A study published in the journal “Nature” this summer shows that they have.

Researchers documented thousands of salmon migrating upstream in 2024 and 2025. They found that Chinook salmon in particular have repopulated 88% of their historical range in the Klamath and its tributaries. 

Damon Goodman is the lead author of the study and the Shasta Cascade Director for the nonprofit California Trout. He joins us with more details.

Southern Oregon was the only region in the state to see more wine production in 2025 than 2024. That’s according to the Oregon Vineyard and Winery Report released this summer. USA Today also named the Rogue Valley the best wine region in the country in its annual poll. The recognition comes amid falling wine sales nationwide due to rising prices, changing drinking habits and other factors.

Eric Weisinger is an owner and winemaker at Weisinger Family Winery in Ashland. Meghann Walk is the general manager of Hummingbird Estate in Central Point. They join us to talk about the rise of the Rogue Valley’s wine industry and share how their harvests are looking this year.

For more than 20 years, Oregon has been monitoring toxic algal blooms. Other states such as Utah, Wyoming and California have been monitoring the blooms as well. Now, new reporting from High Country News highlights how these blooms are happening more frequently and are lasting longer. Reporter Christine Peterson joins us to share more on why this is happening and what states are doing to try to address it.

 Since 1986, the Portland-based nonprofit Ukandu has offered a week-long, free camp for children with cancer, ages 8 to 18, and their siblings. In 2022, Ukandu began offering a free week of camp on the Oregon coast for the entire family.   

Ukandu is now about to expand its programming year-round with the opening of The Loft on Oct. 21. The roughly 22,000-square-foot community center in the Lair Hill neighborhood of South Portland includes a two-story climbing wall, an arts and crafts room, a lounge for caregivers and other amenities. Free mental health counseling for children, adolescents and parents will also be available on-site, along with support groups and upcoming workshops on financial literacy and cooking. 

Jason Hickox started as a volunteer with the organization as a camp counselor in 1988 and is today the CEO of Ukandu. Shauna Lugar is a mother whose 8-year-old son, Mason, has brain cancer and attended Camp Ukandu for the first time this year with his older brother, Avery.  Hickox and Lugar join us, along with the mother of a 16-year-old daughter who is a brain cancer survivor, to share their hopes for The Loft.

14 neighborhood schools in Portland would close if the Portland Public Schools Board approves a district plan. The "rightsizing" plan also includes consolidating or eliminating programs, as well as major boundary changes. Parents, students and staff have been pushing back on both the process and substance of the plan, and are calling for a pause.

School Board Chair Eddie Wang joins us for the hour to share more details about the budget and the school closure proposals. And we’ll be taking calls this hour from those who would be affected by school closures and the other changes. Our number is 888-665-5865.

“Think Out Loud” continues our monthly conversations with Meg Samples, general manager of member-supported KMHD Jazz Radio. Each month, we’ll hear about artists to add to your playlist, along with concerts and community events to attend. 

In October, that includes a concert by the pioneering, alternative hip-hop group Digable Planets. The trio is currently on tour for the 30th anniversary of their landmark album, “Blowout Comb,” which they’ll play in its entirety at Revolution Hall in Portland on Oct. 21. Kiefer, a Grammy Award-winning producer and pianist from L.A., will also visit Portland for a performance on Oct. 17 at the Star Theater and Starlight Lounge. Kiefer has become a KMHD staff favorite for his ability to blend jazz improvisation with hip-hop beats. Jazz fans won’t want to miss a performance by Buster Williams at The Jazz Station in Eugene on Oct. 25. The legendary octogenarian bassist has performed with jazz giants such as Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock.

Metro has been acquiring land to create green spaces in the Portland metro area since the 1990s — and its collection of natural areas, trails and parks has now grown to over 20,000 acres. Metro-managed natural areas and parks include the Smith and Bybee Wetlands in North Portland, Cooper Mountain Nature Park in Beaverton, and Oxbow Park on the Sandy River. John Blasher, the parks and nature director of Oregon Metro, joins us to discuss this milestone and break down how and why Portland’s regional government creates these parks and conservation areas.

The Portland-based group Seffarine blends traditional music from Morocco and Southern Spain with jazz and other contemporary genres. Their upcoming album, “Abaraz,” explores the music of Southern Morocco and the Arab and West African music that influenced it. The album was inspired by the band’s residency in Mhamid El Ghizlane, an oasis at the edge of the Sahara Desert where the landscape is rapidly shifting due to climate change. 

Nat Hulskamp and Lamiae Naki are the founders of Seffarine. We’ll talk with them about the new album and their upcoming shows at the PRAx in Corvallis on Oct. 14 and at the Patricia Reser Center for the Arts in Beaverton on Oct. 16, which will feature clips of interviews with the musicians they met in Mhamid El Ghizlane.

The Clark County Youth Commission allows young people to offer their input to the county council about the issues youth are facing and how to address them. While their work typically focuses on mental health, the commission has also explored violence prevention, youth homelessness, community resilience and other topics. As reported in The Columbian, commission members created two murals to represent last year’s topic, relationships and mental health.

Hunter Bledsoe, Shaunak Deshpande and Evan Decker all serve on the Clark County Youth Commission. They join us to talk about the biggest concerns they have for young people in Southwest Washington and some possible solutions.

Immigrants’ rights advocates are reporting a rise in the number of arrests by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in the Portland metro area in the last week. Immigration arrests peaked in November of 2025 with “Operation Black Rose.” They decreased dramatically earlier this year but numbers surged again in the summer. The Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition told OPB that there was a “sharp uptick” of arrests Tuesday. And advocates fear that another federal enforcement operation is coming. OPB’s Public Safety reporter Troy Brynelson has been following this story and joins us to share more details.

Early next year, Portland residents may begin seeing and hearing fleets of drones carrying Amazon packages bound for delivery in as fast as half an hour. The tech giant says it plans to expand its Prime Air delivery service to nearly 500 cities and towns by the end of the year. A company press release from August shows the service is being offered in 10 metro areas in the U.S., including Phoenix, San Antonio, Detroit and Tampa. 

According to the Portland Business Journal, Amazon plans to build a Prime Air drone delivery center at its fulfillment center in North Portland and is expected to meet with city officials this month to discuss its proposal. Although the drones haven’t started flying yet, members of the Piedmont Neighborhood Association in North and Northeast Portland have begun expressing their concerns around safety, noise and impacts on local retailers. 

Portland Business Journal reporter Sara Edwards joins us to share more details.

With both education and arts funding facing cuts across the country, it’s not an easy time to be a school music teacher. Research shows that music educators have been leaving the field in recent years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are still young professionals who are entering the classroom in Oregon.

Charles Torok is a music instructor at Antonia Crater Elementary in Newberg, and Brenda Olvera is a general music and choir teacher at Monmouth Elementary. They join us to share what draws them to music education and how their first year in the classroom is going. 

Polling from OPB shows that the Oregon gubernatorial race is neck-and-neck in the rematch between Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan and the Democratic incumbent, Gov. Tina Kotek. That’s with roughly a week to go before Oregon voters start receiving their ballots. 

OPB politics reporters Lauren Dake and Dirk VanderHart join us to talk about the key issues in the race and where things stand now.

When you think of professional wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment, also known as WWE, may come to mind. But the Pacific Northwest is home to its own indie scene of wrestling. As Katherine Cusumano writes in The Believer, the blood, sweat and tears that go into wrestling take a toll on the body and mind, but the spirit and drive keep many in-ring. Including Derek Drexl and Amira Lukens, both Portland-based pro-wrestlers who were profiled recently. They join us to share their wrestling careers, match stories and more.

Portland’s got a reputation for food — the New York Times has called the city “the dining capital of the Pacific Northwest.” And last year, a Eugene establishment made it into the publication’s top 100 restaurants of 2025.

Zoe Baillargeon is a freelance food writer based in Portland, and Taylor Gobel is the Food Correspondent at Lookout Eugene-Springfield. They join us to break down some of the regional trends in restaurants and some of the exciting openings to look out for this fall in Portland and Eugene.

 Portland voters in two of the city’s four districts will soon be casting ballots to elect or re-elect their city councilors. It’s the second election using ranked choice voting. With half of the Portland city council seats up for grabs, what should voters expect? We hear from OPB politics reporters Bryce Dole and Alex Zielinski as they discuss the upcoming Portland election on the latest episode of “OPB Politics Now.”