Think Out Loud

What does survival look like if it comes at the expense of freedom? How can we build safe places in an increasingly unstable world? These questions are at the heart of two new books by authors Leni Zumas and Cleyvis Natera. Zumas’s book “Wolf Bells” tells the story of an intergenerational group home determined to make a space for people who fall through capitalism’s cracks. Natera’s book “The Grand Paloma Resort” tells the story of staff at an exclusive Caribbean resort as they navigate class, race and colonialism. OPB’s Allison Frost spoke to Leni Zumas and Cleyvis Natera at the 2025 Portland Book Festival.

Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue is perhaps best known for her novel “Room,” told from the perspective of a 5-year-old boy held captive with his mother. Most of Donoghue’s work, however, is rooted in historical fiction. She frequently writes about characters and perspectives that are often erased from history. Her latest novel, “The Paris Express,” tells the story of a fateful disaster on a French train in 1895. Donoghue spoke to OPB’s Crystal Ligori in front of an audience at the 2025 Portland Book Festival.

The Owyhee Canyonlands area encompasses millions of acres along the Owyhee River on the borders of Oregon, Idaho and Nevada. The land is rugged and remote and beautiful, and efforts to to protect it in some way have dragged out for years. There were pushes for the last two Democratic presidents to designate the area a national monument and most recently, a bill to protect over 1 million acres of the land as wilderness failed in Congress at the end of last year. We traveled to the area and talked to people about the land and the efforts to protect it. 

We stopped in Jordan Valley and talked to Mindy Kershner, a lifelong Jordan Valley resident, rancher, and owner of the Ranch Hand Hardware & Mercantile. Then we travelled down to Birch Creek Historic Ranch on the edge of the river to talk to Tim Davis, executive director of Friends of the Owyhee. We spoke to rancher Elias Eiguren on his family’s land in Arock. And then we talked to Reginald Sope, an elder of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes who lives near the head of the canyon in Nevada. 

A new audit from the Secretary of State found that the implementation of Measure 110, the drug discrimination ballot initiative, faced a number of challenges with unclear results. The audit notes that despite the roughly $800 million dedicated to programs aimed at helping in-recovery and substance-use treatment, the outcomes — including the number of people served — are unclear. Beyond that, the audit also says frequent revisions “undermined confidence in the program.” Secretary of State Tobias Read joins us to share more on the audit and M110.

Last Monday, hundreds of students in Beaverton, Forest Grove and Hillsboro walked out of classes to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in their communities in Washington County.

The Beaverton School District has made available resources to assist immigrant and refugee students and their families, including reminders of its online school option and partnerships with nonprofits like the Latino Network that provide “Know Your Rights” workshops at the district’s schools. Shelly Reggiani, associate superintendent for teaching and learning at Beaverton School District, joins us to share more details about the district’s response to concerns from students, parents and staff about immigration enforcement.

Two licensed psychologists from the University of Oregon join us to share tips for managing stress during the holiday season and what they’re hearing from community members in Eugene and Springfield who receive free or low-cost counseling at UO’s HEDCO Clinic. Anne Marie Mauricio is an associate research professor at the Prevention Science Institute and faculty in counseling psychology and human services at the UO College of Education. Cindy Huang is an associate professor in counseling psychology and human services at the UO College of Education.  

This fall, the U.S. Department of the Interior cancelled nearly 80 grants to organizations that focus on habitat restoration, species conservation and other ecological work. According to a social media post from the Department of Government Efficiency, the cuts were made because the organizations supported diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

More than a third of the grants cancelled were awarded to the Institute for Applied Ecology, based in Corvallis. The nonprofit received 30 termination notices on Sept. 23, totaling more than $3.5 million. The Lomakatsi Restoration Project, based in Ashland, also lost $2.4 million across eight grants.

Tom Kaye is the founder and chief scientist at the Institute for Applied Ecology. He joins us to talk about how the funding cuts will hinder conservation efforts in the Pacific Northwest.

If you’ve always dreamed of singing in a band, a karaoke night might scratch the itch. But on Monday nights in Portland, you can actually sing karaoke with a live band at Dante’s pub. Karaoke from Hell is now a 33-year-old tradition featured in a new documentary of the same name. The documentary will be screened on Wednesday, Dec. 17th at the Star Theater in Portland. We talk to band members Dawn Panttaja and Brian Saunders, along with co-director of the documentary Chip Mabry, about the joys of live karaoke and how Portland’s art scene has changed over the years.

Sparked by pandemic-era baking trends, interest in small-batch, locally-milled flour is growing among commercial and home bakers. Operations like Camas Country Mill in Oregon and Cairnspring Mills in Washington supply restaurants, bakeries and amateur bakers with high-quality flour sourced from local farmers who use regenerative growing practices.  

A new partnership between Cairnspring and the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation will bring a flour mill to the reservation in Eastern Oregon. The new facility is expected to expand Cairnspring’s production capacity twelvefold and create 20-25 new jobs. 

Kevin Morse is the co-founder and CEO of Cairnspring Mills. Bill Tovey is the director of the CTUIR Department of Economic & Community Development. They both join us to talk about the partnership.

Big changes are in store for the federal student loan program. President Trump’s tax and spending bill, which was signed into law last summer, ends a supplemental loan for graduate students and caps  the amount they can borrow from the government. It also allows students in professional programs, such as law and medicine, to borrow more than students in other graduate programs, such as nursing or social work.

The bill reduces students’ loan repayment options from seven to two. It also phases out the Biden-era SAVE plan, which was the most flexible income-driven repayment option.      

Jennifer Bell is the director of financial aid at Portland State University. Susan Bakewell-Sachs is the vice president of nursing affairs and dean of the School of Nursing at Oregon Health & Science University. They join us to discuss what the changes could mean for students who rely on loans, particularly to get advanced degrees.

 After months of searching, Portland has officially named Raymond Lee as the first long-term city administrator. The position, which was created with the city’s new form of government, oversees thousands of city employees and the day-to-day public services including public safety, public works and city operations to name a few. But Lee isn’t the first city administrator. Michael Jordan has filled the role in the interim since 2024. In this time in the position, he has responded to federal actions, made recommendations for the city’s budget and more. Jordan joins us to share more on what his time was like as Portland’s first city administrator, advice for his successor and what the city’s transition to a new form of government has been like.

Staffing shortages and rising labor costs have caused many 24/7 businesses to reduce their hours since the COVID-19 pandemic. But Rose City Coffee Co. is bucking the trend. 

The Southeast Portland coffee shop is now open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We’ll talk with owner Christie Gryphon about what it takes to run a 24-hour business in today’s economy.

Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties recently launched a regional dashboard that tracks the health impacts of climate change in the metro area. It includes data on heat and cold events, air quality, infectious diseases and the effects climate change can have on mental health. The dashboard is an evolution of the counties’ Regional Climate and Health Monitoring Report, which was previously released every two years as a lengthy PDF. 

Sarah Present is the Clackamas County Health Officer, and Kathleen Johnson is a senior program coordinator at Washington County Public Health. They join us to talk about the new dashboard and how climate change is impacting public health in the metro area.

Priya Rajarapu is an assistant professor in the college of forestry at OSU and the Christmas tree specialist at OSU Extension Service. In the past year, she has visited 20 Christmas tree farms in Oregon where she has offered advice, diagnosed diseased trees and confirmed infestations of bark beetles and other pests. 

But the biggest threat Oregon’s roughly $120 million Christmas tree industry faces is climate change, according to Rajarapu. Extreme heat and drought can imperil the survival of Christmas trees, especially seedlings. Rajarapu has been studying mulch alternatives like compost that has been shown to boost the survival of seedlings during their first year.

Rajarapu joins us for more details about her work and why non-native varieties such as Nordmann and Turkish firs are gaining in popularity among both farmers and consumers.

Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria is currently undergoing a $300 million expansion. The new facility will include a more secure foundation, a vertical tsunami evacuation staircase and other features meant to make it more resilient during a potential earthquake.

That work was supposed to be covered by a $20 million grant from the federal Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. But the Trump administration cancelled the program this spring, leaving projects across the country and state stranded. 

Work on the hospital is proceeding despite the loss of federal funding. Columbia Memorial CEO Erik Thorsen joins us to talk about where the project stands.

According to the AARP, one in four adults in the U.S. provides care to a spouse, relative or friend with a serious health concern. Roughly 18% of those caregivers are between the ages of 18 and 34. 

That group includes Emily Quandt, a 23-year-old Beaverton resident who put her post-college plans on hold when her mother, Angie, was diagnosed with ALS in 2022. Emily and Angie Quandt both join us to talk about the dynamics of family caregiving.

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act, which was approved by the Senate earlier this year. The bill now heads to the president to be signed and made into law. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a democrat representing southwest Washington, co-lead the push for this bill. She joins us to share more.