Think Out Loud

Karen Thompson Walker’s last book, "The Dreamers," imagined a mysterious virus that quickly spreads through a small college town and induces perpetual sleep. That book came out just before the covid pandemic changed our collective relationship to viruses. Thompson Walker’s new book, "The Strange Case of Jane O.," also seeks to understand the way our brains work, this time looking at memory. Karen Thompson Walker joins us to talk about her latest novel.

On Tuesday, the House narrowly approved a Republican budget proposal calling for $2 trillion in federal spending cuts. The proposal specifically calls for the House Agriculture Committee to find $230 billion worth of reduced spending, which will be challenging without touching the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. At the same time, cabinet officials in the current administration support limiting what can be purchased through the program. In Oregon, food banks across the state have been seeing increased need in their communities. Matt Newell-Ching is the policy manager at the Oregon Food bank. He joins us to share what demand is currently looking like across the state and how it’s preparing for potential cuts and restrictions to federal programs. 

Guide Dogs for the Blind operates two campuses — one in San Rafael, California, and one in Boring, Oregon. The nonprofit raises and trains dogs to work with people experiencing vision loss, and provides a variety of programs for the humans who will one day partner with them. Plans are underway to expand GDB’s Boring campus through a new community hub, which would double the number of clients the organization can serve in Oregon. 

Susan Armstrong is vice president of client programs for GDB. George Miers is a partner at Studio Miers | Chou | Poon, which designed the new facility. They both join us to talk more about the expansion and what it takes to design a facility with senses other than vision in mind.

 Abortion is illegal in Idaho, which borders Oregon to the east. For years leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, women’s health advocates warned that maternal care and abortion services were part of an intrinsically woven set of OB/GYN care that women’s health depended on. Now that Idaho has outlawed abortion – the state's ban is among the most restrictive in the nation – residents are living out what advocates predicted. Some women who want to have children can now no longer get maternal care where they live, and some have suffered complications during pregnancies they desperately wanted to take to term but could not, because of their own health or fetal anomalies.

Jen Jackson Quintano lives in North Idaho with her husband and two children and runs a tree service business. She began a storytelling effort she calls the Pro Voice Project, for women to tell their own stories about accessing – or not being able to access – reproductive health services. The project has held live performances mostly around Idaho for women to tell their own stories at the microphone. In some cases where they haven't felt comfortable doing so, their stories are performed by actors.

Desi Ballis and her husband lost their third child, Tucker, a year ago, in the second trimester when the couple discovered he had a life-threatening condition. Ballis, who lives in Haley, Idaho, was at risk of life-threatening complications before she made it to Utah to have a medically necessary abortion. In Idaho, she would not have been able to get that care until she was actively dying.

Ballis and Quintano join us to share their personal experiences and what they hope to achieve by sharing some of the most painful experiences of their lives. Members of the Pro Voice Project will be in Portland March 1 for an event that highlights women’s stories in Idaho and in Oregon, where women face no state restrictions on abortion, but some still struggle with other barriers to access.

A long-vacant block on North Russell Street and North Williams Avenue, which was once part of a thriving African American community in Portland, will finally house people once again. The site was razed in the 1970s as part of an urban renewal project to expand the hospital there. Tomorrow, construction will begin on an 85-unit apartment building, 20 single-family homes and office and retail space for Black-owned businesses. Bryson Davis, chair of the board of the nonprofit behind the project, Williams & Russell CDC, joins us, along with developer Anyeley Hallova, to talk about the project.

Rep. Cliff Bentz represents Oregon’s 2nd District in the U.S. House, covering most of the state east of the Cascades. He’s the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, and he voted in favor of the House budget resolution Tuesday that would mean nearly $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years. Statewide, about a third of Oregonians rely on the Oregon Health Plan, which is the way people in the state receive Medicaid. Bentz, like many others in his party, has held town halls that have drawn crowds of angry constituents who raised big questions about the Republican party supporting Trump’s cuts to the federal government led by Elon Musk and the overreach of the executive branch. Bentz joins us to talk about his vote and how he’s approaching his job at this political moment.    

U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined with other senators in a letter to Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and President Donald Trump urging them to not cut Medicare and Medicaid. The two programs serve 140 million people nationwide, and in Oregon, the way people receive Medicaid is through the Oregon Health Plan. Sen. Wyden joins us to discuss protecting the health care these federal programs provide, what Democratic representatives are hearing from their constituents about the rapid take down of the federal government and what he and his party are doing in response.

On Tuesday, a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which President Donald Trump halted by executive order on his first day in office. Several nonprofits that provide federally contracted refugee resettlement services, including Lutheran Community Services Northwest, along with stranded refugees and their relatives filed the lawsuit challenging the executive order.

Since 1984, LCSNW has helped more than 45,000 refugees resettle in the region, according to Salah Ansary, its senior director of advocacy and government affairs. Ansary immigrated to Portland in 1978 shortly before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He joins us to talk about the lawsuit and the impact Trump’s executive order has had on his organization’s efforts to aid refugees in Portland, Southwest Washington and the Seattle area.

When we talk about forestry jobs in Oregon, you might automatically think of logging. But there are countless other roles in the industry, including planting trees after a forested area has been clear cut to   thinning the understory for wildfire management. As recently reported by Jefferson Public Radio, that workforce has evolved from worker cooperatives of the late 1960s to largely immigrant contractors, known as “pineros,” which we see today.

JPR reporter Justin Higginbottom joins us to talk more about his deep dive into this side of the forestry industry and how it’s changed over the last 50 years.

Vishaka Priyan is a junior at Catlin Gabel, a private school in Portland.   She doesn’t have personal experience with foster care. But she came across a group called Project 48 that helps kids in the first 48 hours after they enter the child welfare system. And as she heard stories about the trauma and economic challenges they face in care and after, she wanted to do something that would both support them and help them develop self-sufficiency. That’s why Priyan says she decided to research incentives for businesses to employ youth in the child welfare system or who were aging out of it. The result of her self-assigned project was a bill that is making its way through the Oregon state legislature. Priyan plans to testify for the bill once it gets a hearing. She joins us to share more.

In 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure 110, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of controlled substances. In 2024, the state passed HB 4002, which made possession a misdemeanor crime, but also allocated millions for counties to establish “deflection programs.” Reporter Ben Botkin recently finished a series of articles for the Oregon Capital Chronicle about deflection programs have looked like in different parts of the state.

An estimated 650,000 adults in Bangladesh suffer from blindness, according to researchers. At the end of November, Oregon Health & Science University ophthalmologist Beth Edmunds traveled to the country to teach local doctors a minimally-invasive operation for adults and children with glaucoma. She joins us to share what she took away from her time volunteering and what it was like operating in the world’s only flying teaching hospital. 

According to a new report from the Portland Metro Chamber, foot traffic in the central city is still down -21% compared to 2019. On top of that, the region lost nearly 10,000 jobs and has continued to lose population. Andrew Hoan, president and CEO of the Portland Metro Chamber, joins us to talk through the report, and what he thinks is needed to help downtown Portland thrive.

Exactly three years ago, Russia mounted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, triggering a war that has killed more than 12,000 civilians, displaced 4 million people internally and created nearly 7 million refugees, according to the United Nations. Today, Russian forces occupy roughly 20% of Ukraine.  

Last week, President Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war, called its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a “dictator” and initiated talks with Russia – but not Ukraine – to end the conflict. 

Two members of the Ukrainian American community in the Portland area join us to share their perspectives: Tatiana Terdal, president of the Portland-Lviv Friendship City Association and a board member of the Ukrainian Foundation; and Yulia Brockdorf, a Ukrainian American psychotherapist in Hillsboro who is the co-founder and president of DAWN, a nonprofit which delivers medical supplies and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Brockdorf and Terdal will speak at a war commemoration event on Monday, which will be held at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland from 5-8 p.m.  

Earlier this month, J.D. Tovey was appointed the executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation following a vote by its board. Tovey is an enrolled member of the CTUIR, and he had been serving as the interim executive director since last May.        

An urban planner by training, Tovey was appointed by Gov. Kotek as co-chair of the Housing Production Advisory Council in March 2023. The council finished its work with a report released last year containing recommendations on how to meet the state’s target of building 36,000 new homes a year over the next decade.  

Tovey joins us to talk about his work on the council and his priorities for the CTUIR, including the development of the Nixyáawii neighborhood within the Umatilla Indian Reservation to ease the housing shortage for tribal members. He also shares how the Trump administration’s policies and directives could affect tribal relations with the federal government.    

Medical Teams International is based in Tigard but its workers and volunteers bring life-saving, humanitarian aid around the world. The nonprofit’s president and CEO Eric Ha says the refugees they serve in East Africa fled violence, war or natural disasters. Many of them came years ago from Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania and other countries. The camps over time have become settlements, and in some cases the MTI programs are people’s only access to any kind of medical care - from treating common diseases like cholera and malaria to providing vaccinations to child health to maternity care. Ha joins us to tell us how MTI is handling the Trump-Musk freeze of federal funds from the state department and USAID.

On Monday, the Salem city council will vote to place a property tax levy on the May ballot which would cost the average Salem homeowner nearly $230 a year. If approved, it would help the city address a $14 million budget deficit and restore library hours which were cut last year. The levy would also fund parks maintenance, recreation programs such as youth camps, and classes and activities for seniors at Center 50+.      

The vote will take place just two weeks after the abrupt resignation of city manager Keith Stahley. The Salem Reporter broke the news of Stahley’s resignation and the circumstances surrounding it after a performance audit released last month raised concerns about Stahley’s leadership and decision-making. Joe Siess covers local government for the Salem Reporter. He joins us to discuss the property tax levy and the controversy surrounding the city manager’s departure.  

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians recently purchased roughly 2,000 acres of land near the Table Rocks preserve north of Medford. The property is part of the ancestral homeland of several tribes that were forced out of the Rogue Valley in the mid-1850s. The tribes were relocated to the newly-created Siletz reservation on the coast, forcing them to adapt to an unfamiliar climate and way of life. The tribe plans to use the Table Rocks property for conservation and the cultivation of first foods going forward.

Robert Kentta serves on the Siletz Tribal Council. He joins us to share more about the cultural, spiritual and historical significance of the site.

Earlier this month, the city of Bend announced it is seeking applicants to fill three vacancies on its Human Rights and Equity Commission. Its goals include advocating for historically marginalized or underrepresented groups, evaluating city policies or regulations for potential barriers they may create and recommending how to remove them. 

The commission is one of two community advisory groups convened by Bend’s Accessibility and Equity Department, which also provides linguistic services to non-native English speakers, and an array of other programs and training on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. Meanwhile, Deschutes County commissioners recently voted to end the county’s DEIA committee. Andrés Portela, Bend’s equity and inclusion director, joins us to talk about his efforts amid the Trump administration’s backlash against DEI initiatives in government agencies, institutions and workplaces

In 2017, Oregon lawmakers passed a transportation package that was expected to generate $5.3 billion. Eight years later, revenue forecasts show funding has fallen short of projections, leaving the Oregon Department of Transportation with an ongoing budget crisis. Audits have revealed that ODOT is failing to meet accountability measures set up in the legislation, and many of its projects are behind schedule and over budget.

Anastasia Mason recently investigated the 2017 package for the Statesman Journal. She joins us to talk about what the findings could mean for ODOT as it prepares to make another big funding ask this legislative session.

Portland’s Albina district was once a center for Black musicians in this country - producing some classic jazz, soul and gospel albums and bands. The newest record in Albina Music Trust’s catalog features Portland-based producers remixing some of the city’s historic music. Music producer Tony Ozier and DJ Jumbo join us to share some of the music and talk about the collaboration.

Portland will soon have what may be the first-of-its-kind training facility purpose-built for female athletes. RAJ Sports, the owners of the Portland Thorns, are building several soccer pitches, basketball courts, and more to serve the Thorns and the new WNBA franchise team. Karina LeBlanc, executive vice president of strategic growth for RAJ Sports, joins us to discuss the new facility and the future of women’s sports in Portland.

The Bonneville Power Administration is among the federal agencies currently being gutted by Elon Musk at Pres. Donald Trump’s direction. The ostensible reason for federal government layoffs and buyouts is to save taxpayer dollars. In the case of the BPA, it’s funded by its ratepayers, not taxpayers, but that hasn’t stopped the departure of hundreds of the agency’s skilled and specialized workers. And additional staffers who were considered probationary were let go without notice last week. And that has industry watchers, including two former heads of the BPA, sounding the alarm about the potential catastrophic impacts on the power grid and the people who rely on it. Steven Wright and Randy Hardy wrote a joint article in an industry newsletter Friday detailing those possible threats.
The BPA can be thought of as the backbone of the Northwest power grid. It sells wholesale electricity to the utilities, companies and other entities that sell power to residents all over the region. Sources include hydropower from Columbia River dams and the region’s only operating nuclear power plant. It also transmits energy through 15,000 miles of high voltage lines.The thousands of BPA employees perform tasks from engineering and line work to complex demand modeling and resource planning. That planning includes decisions around sources of power and how to prioritize and price the power. Energy consultant and former BPA administrator Randy Hardy joins us to discuss the details and possible impacts of the Elon Musk-led reductions on the Northwest

The James Beard Foundation Awards are considered one of the top accomplishments in the culinary world. For the 2025 season, several restaurants and chefs in the state are semifinalists. Out of the seven Oregon chefs nominated for Best Northwest and Pacific Chef category, only two came from Portland. Kari Shaughnessy is the owner and executive chef of Hayward in McMinnville. Josh Dorcak is the owner and executive chef at MAS in Ashland. They both received a nomination and join us to share what the food scene is like in their respective communities and what it means to have so many chefs outside of Portland recognized for their work.

Donnie Horn started Triangle Productions with an original play he wrote in 1989 that dealt with being a gay man in the midst of the HIV/AIDS crisis. The theatre is now one of the oldest LGTBQ theatres in the country, celebrating its 35th season. The show that’s currently running is another Horn original: a musical he collaborated on with musician Michael Allen Harrison called “JC: Gospel According to an Angel.” Horn is also working on The Umbrella Project, which draws together a wide array of stories focused on Oregon’s LGTBQ history. He joins us to tell us more about that project, the musical he wrote with Harrison and how Triangle Productions has grown over the last 35 years.