Think Out Loud

California condors, the largest land bird in North America, almost went extinct in the late 1980s. But successful breeding programs such as the one at the Oregon Zoo have helped raise their worldwide population from a low of 22 birds to roughly 600. 

Since 2022, the Yurok Tribe has partnered with Redwood National and State Park to release condors bred in captivity into the wild. A pair of those birds are believed to be tending the region’s first egg in more than a century. The nest is too remote for wildlife managers to see the egg itself, but they say the birds’ behavior is consistent with nesting and incubation.

Marti Jenkins is the lead keeper at the Oregon Zoo’s Jonsson Center for Wildlife Conservation, which hosts its condor breeding program. Chris West is the manager of the Northern California Condor Restoration Program and a senior wildlife biologist with the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department. They both join us to talk about the significance of returning California condors to the Pacific Northwest.

Low snowpack and high temperatures have jeopardized ski resorts across the region this year. While some resorts have held on, most have been facing closures or abnormally short seasons. Skiers are cancelling trips, and seasonal workers have had to shift their plans for work during this abnormal winter. Mountain towns are facing major economic uncertainty – some offering major sales on gear, or pivoting to warm-weather recreation. Mt. Hood Meadows is the latest ski resort to announce its closure - it will officially wrap up this year’s operations on April 12, as it announced in a recent blog post. 

Greg Pack is the president and general manager at Mt. Hood Meadows. He’ll join us to discuss the weather’s impact on this year’s ski season.

President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday that instructs the U.S. Postal Service to only send mail-in ballots to people who have been deemed eligible by the administration. Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read has vowed to challenge the order in court, along with other secretaries of state. 

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots that arrive late to be counted as long as they’re postmarked on or before Election Day. Oregon has had a similar law in place since 2022.  

Read joins us to talk about what these changes could mean for Oregon’s vote-by-mail system.

Kent Thornburg is a Professor of Medicine Emeritus at Oregon Health and Science University. But he is far from retired. He’s actively promoting the research he and others have done into the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Thornburg coined the phrase “the 100 year effect” to describe how “early life environment” before and during  pregnancy can affect the lifetime risks of chronic diseases — and how those effects can actually be traced to not just  not just to both parents, but grandparents as well.

A new documentary about both the research, and Thornburg’s unconventional campaign meant to galvanize people and communities to spread the word about this research premiered at OHSU on March 20. The date was chosen in conjunction with the National Future Generations Day. “The 100 Year Effect” is now available to view free of charge by request for individuals or community screenings on the film website.

Thornburg says the only way anything will change is if young people and community leaders get energized and motivated. That’s where people like Kelsey Mueller Wendt come in. She is herself a young mother and the coordinator for the Nutrition Oregon Campaign Hub in Klamath Falls. Mueller Wendt and Thornburg join us to share more about larger education campaign and the film, which is both a showcase and an invitation into the larger effort to eliminate chronic disease.

According to Multnomah County, nearly 3,000 more people are living unsheltered in the county than there were when Wilson took office. The Mayor says that data doesn’t match what he’s seeing, and that disconnect doesn’t help when the city and the county share responsibility for the region’s homeless response. OPB’s Alex Zielinski joins us to talk about her latest story.

 After taking home the title in the statewide civics championship earlier this year, the constitution team from Portland’s Grant High School will represent Oregon in the national "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" finals kicking off in Maryland on April 17. The three-day competition features hundreds of students from around the nation demonstrating their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, government and Supreme Court decisions by arguing historical and contemporary constitutional issues.

Sophie Durocher and Caspian Green are two members of Grant High School’s constitution team, and Angela DiPasquale is the team’s advisor. We’ll speak to them ahead of their travels to the national championship.

The rising cost of oil and and fertilizer due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is affecting farmers all over Oregon. On Monday we spoke with local farmers and a nonprofit representing small and mid-sized farmers. They said gas prices are already starting to affect them and although they have the fertilizer supplies they need for this year, they are very concerned about those prices rising the next time they buy.

Tim Delbridge is an assistant professor of economics in Oregon State University’s Extension Services. He says agricultural operations of all kinds and sizes have limited options for dealing with rising costs. Not every grower can just raise prices on consumers to compensate. Delbridge joins us to tell us more about how the rising price of energy and fertilizer are likely to affect Oregon’s agricultural economy in the near future — and how long farmers can continue to operate if prices don’t drop.

A recent study by the Energy + Environmental Economics, also known as E3, found that by 2030 the Northwest will have a roughly 9 gigawatt energy gap. The study also found that the region will need to rely on natural gas plants and may need to build more infrastructure to support it. But some think this is unnecessary. The think tank Sightline Institute has a new report arguing that the energy shortfall is misleading and says there are other ways to save power, such as asking data centers to temporarily reduce their use during times when the grid is stressed. Laura Feinstein is a fellow at Sightline. She joins us to share more.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of college students across the U.S. began a remote, nationwide project – called Farmlink – with the goal of  distributing surplus food to food banks and those in need. The program grew to support a fellowship, which guides students through learning about reforming food systems, provides them with a full-time position at a farm, food bank, or distributor, and finally facilitates the students’ creation of a project that would help to strengthen the infrastructure of food systems in their communities. 

Riley Bader is a senior at the University of Oregon, and one of Farmlink’s 6 chosen fellows from colleges and universities across the U.S. Stella Delp is the head of community and student programs at Farmlink, and one of the founders of the organization. They both join us to discuss their work.

Woodburn farmer Jon Iverson grows grass seed, wheat, grapes and tulips, among other crops. Molalla nursery owner Jim Gilbert grows fruiting plants, among others. They join us to share how these price hikes are affecting them. We also hear from Alice Morrison, the co-executive director of Friends of Family Farms, who tells us what she’s hearing from their small and midsized members.

Operation Inflation was conceived last fall when protests at Portland’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement building routinely drew counter protesters and a large law enforcement presence. Jordy Lybeck and his wife Lacy wanted to impact the nature of news coverage as Pres. Trump threatened to send National Guard troops to Portland. As Trump’s baseless assertions that Portland was “war-ravaged,” a “burning-hellhole,” where the mayor and the governor of Oregon were “petrified for their lives” appeared with increasing frequency, so did their determination to help correct the record. They began providing inflatable animal costumes to those protesting at the ICE facility. 

The images of people playfully wearing large, inflatable costumes visually contradicted the narrative of a war torn city. They said they are also creating pure “absurdity” as counter-protestors yelled at larger than life frogs, chickens, unicorns and other creatures. Jordy Lybeck and Lacy join us to tell us about their strategy for supporting protests, how the movement has spread to other cities and how this weekend’s No Kings demonstrations went down.

Father Tom Oddo served as president of the University of Portland from 1982 until his death in a car crash in 1989. During his presidency, he helped UP transition to coed housing, oversaw construction of the Chiles Center and reversed the university’s declining enrollment. 

Before coming to Portland, Oddo was a key member of the gay rights movement in Boston, advocating for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ Catholics in the church. From 1973 to 1977, Oddo served as the first secretary of DignityUSA, a nationwide organization that supports LGBTQ+ Catholics.

Portland author Tyler Bieber explores Oddo’s life in the new biography “Against the Current: Father Tom Oddo and the New American Catholic.” Bieber joins us to talk about Oddo’s activism, his time at UP and the legacy he left.

Just over two years ago, Eugene Weekly, the city’s longtime alternative-weekly newspaper, came to a shocking halt. EW’s editor announced that their beloved paper was flat broke — not because of mismanagement, but because their business manager had apparently been embezzling for years. The paper was missing $100,000, with an additional $200,000 in bills that hadn't been paid. Editor Camilla Mortenson said she had no choice but to lay off the entire staff, including herself, just before Christmas in 2023. But with a strong upwelling of community support, the paper resumed printing in February 2024.

In the meantime, a veritable saga unfolded as Elisha Young, the former business manager, was brought to  justice. She ultimately pled guilty this week to five felony counts of theft, just weeks before she was set to face a jury trial in May. Mortensen said the paper has been thriving, but is still building back to where it was before the embezzlement began. She joins us to share the more details about the impact these unfolding events have had on the paper, its staff and the community it serves.

he Pacific Northwest has had an unusually warm winter. This year, Portland saw one of the warmest winters it has seen in the last 88 years. In fact, this February was one of the warmest and driest months in the nation's records. But what do these warmer winters mean for snow? A new study from the University of Washington found that warming temperatures leads to snow crusts happening more often in colder areas. This increase can pose new challenges for avalanche forecasting, ski operations and even for local wildlife. Clinton Alden is a PhD student at UW and the lead author of the study. He joins us to share more details.

Amazon has a big footprint in Morrow County driven by tax incentives, cheap power and available land. A new complaint from the Oregon Department of Justice claims that some of those tax incentives and land sales were approved by people who benefitted from the company’s purchase of internet services from a small company called WindWave. Mike Rogoway, business and technology reporter for The Oregonian, reported the details of this story and joins us to explain.

Artificial Intelligence is impacting business, government, social media — and countless aspects of modern life. Child health and safety advocates say the effects of social media and the rise of chatbots and other AI on children can be devastating and lead to depression, and in the worst cases, suicide. Oregon lawmakers passed a bill in the short session to protect children and youth from these emerging technologies, which will provide guardrails for adults using chatbots as well.

We talk with one of the bill's sponsors, Oregon Sen. Lisa Reynolds (D - Portland). And we hear from Kristin Bride, the executive director of the Carson J. Bride Effect, which she founded to protect kids from predatory tech practices, after the death of her son by suicide in 2020.

The Center for Addiction Science, Policy, and Research, or CASPR, released a nationwide report ranking states based on their ability to protect residents from online gambling harm. Oregon received an “F” grade — among the bottom 10 states for its lack of gambling harm reduction methods.

Gambling is often regarded as an invisible addiction due to its lack of visible physical symptoms or side effects — and it has become more accessible than ever. As people have begun to participate in sports betting, online poker, casino games and lottery from their mobile devices, guardrails protecting against harmful gambling behaviors have seldom kept pace.

We’ll discuss problem gambling in Oregon and recovery methods with Kitty Martz, the executive director of Voices of Problem Gambling Recovery, and Brian Ward, a certified gambling recovery mentor with the state of Oregon.

Note: If you or a loved one is experiencing gambling harm, Oregon’s Problem Gambling Resource call helpline is available at 1-877-MY-LIMIT (1-877-695-4648). 

The two unions representing faculty and staff at Portland Community College have been on strike since March 11. It’s the first ever strike at a community college in Oregon. Instructors and staff are negotiating for higher cost-of-living and salary increases, among other issues. With the spring term scheduled to start March 30, the negotiations could delay classes, many of which have taken place remotely or been canceled due to the strike. 

Ben Cushing is a faculty member in sociology and president of the PCC Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals. Aaron Hill is the college’s interim associate vice president for finance. They both join us to talk about where negotiations stand.

Portland storyteller and comic Ash Allen is on something of a roll. She’s won the Moth’s StorySLAM multiple times. Willamette Week recently named her one of its Funniest Five and in 2025 she was a Best of Portland Comedy finalist. Allen has headlined festivals including Pickathon, Fire and Story, and Hell Yes Fest.

She says this debut solo storytelling show “Big Feelings Baby" is “rooted in queer identity, grief, humor, and the act of reclaiming one’s voice.” She explores what it means to “grow up different” in the Mississippi woods, “to be asked to quiet that difference, and to eventually choose to live out loud.”

Allen joins us to share more details about her upbringing and her show that premiers this weekend

Lowell began welcoming customers to the store, Kid Hermes the Trickster, about a month ago. Oregon ArtsWatch recently profiled Lowell and his new venture. The 830-square-foot space in downtown Portland is packed with roughly 1,700 books that come mostly from Lowell’s personal library. In addition to literary classics from Jane Austen and Franz Kafka, visitors might find rare first editions and signed copies of titles spanning photography, science fiction or even a 16-volume collection of the Oxford English Dictionary. There’s also a gallery inside the store where Lowell hosts art exhibitions featuring local and international artists. 

Lowell joins us to share his vision and hopes for Kid Hermes the Trickster.

The Mt. Adams Institute has announced that it will dissolve and cease operations effective December 31st, 2026. The Southwest Washington nonprofit provides educational and career opportunities in the outdoors through partnerships with agencies such as the U.S. National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service. It pairs young adults and U.S. military veterans with internship opportunities in outdoor resource management roles, ranging from trail maintenance and construction to environmental education.

Around 95% of its budget came from contracts with federal agencies and through AmeriCorps. Though the loss of federal funding wasn't the only factor in the organization’s decision to dissolve, the budget cuts initiated a ripple effect that left the organization facing layoffs and other financial strains. It’s one example of a wider reaching fallout for nonprofits in the wake of federal funding cuts across the U.S.

Mt. Adams Institute Executive Director Aaron Stanton joins us to discuss how the loss of federal funding has impacted the organization's work.

Spring has sprung! And Hearth and Hollow owner Dusti Arab is passionate about helping people grow their own food. She sells what she cultivates  herself in her edible-plant nursery and is also a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) grower. She says planting and growing food isn’t just for spring — it’s an all season activity. Her entire operation is run out of her home in Vancouver, essentially in her backyard. She doesn’t have a brick and mortar retail outlet, focusing instead on selling at the Vancouver Farmer’s Market on Saturdays and growing the edible-plant CSA. Arab also teaches workshops and maintains a food access resource guide for Clark County. She joins us to share more about her edible plant work and her hunger relief efforts.