Think Out Loud

Think Out Loud

OPB's daily conversation covering news, politics, culture and the arts. Hosted By Dave Miller.

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Think Out Loud
Housing advocates warn Oregon legislative cuts to housing and eviction prevention program will add to homeless population

In the last two weeks of the Oregon legislative session, which ended late Friday night,  housing advocates including the Community Alliance of Tenants, the Oregon Housing Alliance and the Urban League of Portland sounded the alarm and protested in Salem over funding cuts. They said the programs for emergency rent assistance and programs to prevent eviction must remain funded to prevent thousands of individuals and families with children from being evicted and becoming homeless. Lisa Bates is a professor of Black Studies at Portland State University and helps run a research program studying evictions across Oregon.

 

We talk with Bates about the lack of legislative funding for homelessness and housing programs and what’s needed in her view to address the ongoing homeless and housing crisis.

 

00:12:26
Jun 30, 2025 1:13 PM
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Think Out Loud
What climate policies did – and didn’t – pass the Oregon Legislature

The Oregon Legislature wrapped up the 2025 regular session on Sunday. Lawmakers passed bills that addressed utility rate hikes, large energy users like data centers and microgrids for local electricity generation, among other environmental issues. But some advocates think lawmakers didn't go far enough in advancing the state's carbon-cutting goals.

 

Nora Apter is the Oregon director for Climate Solutions, a regional nonprofit that advocates for climate policy. She joins us to talk about what lawmakers did – and didn’t  – pass in terms of climate legislation and how federal rollbacks of environmental protections could impact the state’s climate goals. 

 

00:14:25
Jun 30, 2025 1:12 PM
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Think Out Loud
Oregon legislature wraps up a busy session

The gavel came down on this year’s session of the Oregon legislature on Friday. Legislators failed to pass a controversial funding package for transportation and infrastructure. They also took up gun bills, civil commitment, wildfire funding and many other issues. OPB political reporter Dirk VanderHart helps us understand it all.  

00:22:41
Jun 30, 2025 1:12 PM
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Think Out Loud
Multnomah County reports measles case, here’s what you should know

On Tuesday, Oregon's first measles case of the year was reported in Multnomah County, joining a slew of other states who have had reported cases this year. The individual who tested positive is an adult who is believed to have acquired the disease while traveling abroad and was hospitalized in Portland. The highly contagious disease is transmitted through the air via coughs and sneezes, with symptoms including fever, cough and a rash appearing from seven to 21 days after exposure. Paul Ciselak is the medical director for communicable disease and immunizations at Oregon Health Authority. He joins us to share more.

00:10:54
Jun 27, 2025 1:16 PM
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Think Out Loud
Portland’s Pacific Standard and Palomar up for national Spirited Awards

Two Portland bars are among the top four finalists for this year’s Spirited Awards, one of the most prestigious honors in the cocktail world. Pacific Standard, located inside the KEX Hotel, is nominated for Best U.S. Hotel Bar. Palomar — a Cuban-inspired bar that recently moved from Hosford-Abernathy to Northwest Portland — is a finalist for Best U.S. Restaurant Bar. The awards, which will be announced in New Orleans on July 24, recognize excellence in bars and mixology around the globe. Pacific Standard’s Jeffrey Morgenthaler is also up for Best U.S. Bar Mentor. Morgenthaler joins us along with Palomar’s Ricky Gomez to talk about what the nominations mean, how their approach to running a bar has evolved, and how they’re navigating a cocktail in

00:16:46
Jun 27, 2025 1:15 PM
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Think Out Loud
Faith-based City Team Portland will double its shelter and recovery capacity with move to Old Town

Lance Orton is the executive director of CityTeam Portland, which offers shelter, housing and recovery services to its clients. If you hadn’t read about him or heard him tell his story, you’d never guess Orton was himself homeless and addicted to heroin just seven years ago. In addition to being the executive director of CityTeam, he also sits on the board of Central Eastside Together and the Old Town Community Association. He also serves as board chair of Shelter Portland, a public-private initiative by Mayor Keith Wilson to create strategic solutions for homelessness and addiction. 


Orton joins us to share more about his personal life transformation about how the faith-based nonprofit he now runs is hoping to expand its services in a new facility that will open soon in the Old Town neighborhood.

00:21:41
Jun 27, 2025 1:15 PM
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Think Out Loud
In Southern Oregon, concerns over privacy and police surveillance arise

Information for Public Use, a group that researches public records, found that the Medford Police Department has collaborated with regional and federal law enforcement agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  

 

Medford and other law enforcement agencies in Southern Oregon have shared surveillance technology and tactics, according to a report by Jefferson Public Radio. 

 

In August last year, the ACLU of Oregon sued the City of Medford claiming that the police broke state law by monitoring the social media accounts of local organizers. That litigation is ongoing. 

 

When asked to comment about the latest findings from Information for Public Use, Medford Police Lieutenant Geoff Kirkpatrick responded that due to pending litigation, the department cannot comment on questions on this topic at this time. 

 

We learn more about what’s happening in Medford from Kelly Simon, the legal director of the ACLU of Oregon.

 

00:13:29
Jun 26, 2025 1:16 PM
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Think Out Loud
What regulations for ketamine clinics look like in Oregon, the US

Ketamine is an anesthetic that has been growing in use as an off-label prescription to treat depression. Individuals can access the drug through telehealth appointments and clinics in person. But new reporting from Undark shows that many of these providers face few regulations, and much is still unknown about the drug. Dawn Fallik is an associate professor at the University of Delaware and a freelance medicine and science reporter. She covered this story through a grant from the Pulitzer Center and the University of Delaware and joins us to share more on what ketamine clinics look like in Oregon and around the U.S.

00:17:11
Jun 26, 2025 1:15 PM
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Think Out Loud
Oregon high school program teaches students about the state’s 'blue economy'

A new high school program in Oregon teaches students the ins and outs of seafood butchery and the state’s "blue economy." The program was in the pilot stage last year at six schools but has grown to 15 and now has a new curriculum that focuses on seafood caught in the Pacific Northwest. A major goal of the program was to get local seafood in the hands of students, as a study commissioned by the Oregon Coast Visitors Association found that 90% of Oregon-caught seafood is exported. Maggie Michaels is the program coordinator for the program. James Byrne is a science teacher at Clatskanie Middle and High School. Cora Evenson is a sophomore at the same school and took the class last year. They all join us to share more about what students are learning in the program.V

00:19:23
Jun 26, 2025 1:15 PM
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Think Out Loud
REBROADCAST: Isaka Shamsud-Din

Portland artist and activist Isaka Shamsud-Din has captured the lives and histories of African Americans in paintings throughout his life. He draws on his experiences growing up in Portland for his work. His exhibit, “Rock of Ages,” is currently on display at the Portland Art Museum. We spoke to him in January 2020.

As reported earlier by Oregon ArtsWatch, Portland artist, educator and activist Isaka Shamsud-Din has died. The arts and education nonprofit Don’t Shoot Portland announced earlier this month that the artist had entered hospice care. Shamsud-din had been ill with cancer for some time.

We listen back to a conversation we first aired in January 2020 with Shamsud-Din when his exhibit, “Rock of Ages,” was on display at the Portland Art Museum.

 

00:27:53
Jun 25, 2025 1:13 PM
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Think Out Loud
How Vancouver aims to spur new housing construction amid slowdown

 If current trends continue, the city of Vancouver can expect to build roughly 700 new housing units this year. That’s far less than the city’s goal of building 2,000 new housing units annually and a sharp decline from the roughly 1,100 units it developed last year. The Columbian recently reported on the drop in new construction in Vancouver and the factors contributing to it, including tariffs on steel, aluminum and lumber which are driving up construction costs. 

 

Earlier this month, Vancouver’s Economic Prosperity and Housing Director Patrick Quinton outlined several steps the city council could approve to spur new construction. They include eliminating off-street parking requirements for new affordable housing and deferring the collection of fees from developers for market-rate housing. Quinton joins us to talk about these proposed changes amid a housing shortage in Vancouver and the region.

 

00:13:30
Jun 24, 2025 1:0 PM
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Think Out Loud
Rose City roller derby is well represented at World Cup

At least five members of Portland’s Rose City Rollers roller derby team will be headed to the Roller Derby World Cup in Austria next week. And a few more members of the local team will be competing on the world stage representing their countries of origin. Lex Zhang, who is known as Lexsanguination when she skates, will be competing with Chinese Nations Roller Derby. The players for this team come from all over the world but share a common Chinese ancestry. The Roller Derby World Cup also features teams such as Black Diaspora Roller Derby, Indigenous Rising Roller Derby, Team Desi and Jewish Roller Derby. Zhang joins us to talk about the upcoming competition and the joy of skating with Chinese Nations Roller Derby.

00:13:22
Jun 24, 2025 1:0 PM
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Think Out Loud
Immigration crackdown clouds outlook for sweet cherry harvest in Oregon

 It’s peak harvest time for sweet cherries in Oregon and Washington. Growers in the Pacific Northwest are anticipating a strong crop this year, with a higher yield than last year’s harvest. But what they weren’t anticipating was a workforce shortage that’s being driven by the fear of immigration enforcement raids. KUOW reported earlier on how this issue is threatening the livelihoods of cherry farmers in Washington. 

 

The immigration crackdown is also clouding the outlook for cherry growers in Oregon, according to Ian Chandler, chair of the Oregon Sweet Cherry Commission and the co-owner of CE Farm Management, a cherry orchard in The Dalles. Chandler said he’s not aware of any recent immigration enforcement raids on farms in the Columbia Gorge. But he says the fear of potential enforcement activity led to a 50% reduction in available workers for most cherry farmers in the region at the start of harvest two weeks ago.

 

Some migrant farm workers whose employers obtained H-2A visas for them have also been stuck at the border in Mexico and unable to help with the harvest in The Dalles, according to Tiffany Davis, business manager for K&K Land and Management. Chandler, Davis and Monica Zipprich, an orchard manager at K&K Land and Management, join us to talk about the toll federal immigration enforcement is taking on the Oregon sweet cherry industry.

 

00:21:44
Jun 24, 2025 1:0 PM
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Think Out Loud
New digital archive explores Portland’s Jade District through historic Chinese restaurants

Behind the Wok is a new digital archive from APANO that looks at the six historic Chinese restaurants that helped form Portland’s Jade District. These include Hung Far Low, Canton Grill, Chinese Village, New Cathay, Legin and Wong’s King Seafood. The archive explores how these restaurants became community hubs and how early restaurateurs leaned on one another. Suenn Ho is a principal urban designer at Resolve Architecture. Brian Liu is the community development manager at APANO. They both join us to share more on the project.

00:16:26
Jun 23, 2025 12:54 PM
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Think Out Loud
UW astronomers help power up telescope featuring world’s largest digital camera to map the night sky

 Perched high on a ridge in the South American Andes, a new observatory aims to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos and unravel some of the mysteries it holds. Featuring the world’s largest digital camera, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will spend the next 10 years continuously surveying and recording time-lapse movies of the stars, galaxies, asteroids and other objects moving across the southern hemisphere. The ultra-high-definition images will help create a kind of “Google Maps” of the night sky, according to Mario Jurić, a University of Washington astronomy professor and member of the observatory’s international science team. 


Jurić and his team are creating an online database that amateur and professional astronomers can access to track changes across space and time and zoom into celestial objects of interest – including asteroids that may be on a collision course with Earth. Jurić joins us to share more about the observatory’s capabilities and the first set of images it will reveal on June 23.

00:17:07
Jun 23, 2025 12:54 PM
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Think Out Loud
Portland Mayor Keith Wilson on the city’s new budget

This week, Portland City Council finalized a city budget totaling over $8 billion in spending for next year. It includes more funding for alternative shelter sites and an expansion of Portland Street Response, but cuts to the office of Civic Life and less funding for the Portland Police Bureau than the mayor had requested. Mayor Keith Wilson joins us to discuss his plans for executing this final budget. We’ll also discuss the Trump administration’s calls for increased immigration enforcement in West Coast cities and the protests at Portland’s ICE facility.

 

 

00:13:38
Jun 20, 2025 1:13 PM
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Think Out Loud
Oregon appeals contempt ruling for state hospital

 In early June, a federal judge found the state in contempt of a court order that requires people with severe mental illness in custody to be quickly admitted to the the Oregon State Hospital.  Now, the state is appealing that decision and has asked the court to pause the contempt ruling. Amelia Templeton is OPB’s health reporter and has been following this story. She joins us to share more on what is happening at the state’s psychiatric hospital.

00:17:11
Jun 20, 2025 1:12 PM
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17-year-old Eugene accordionist receives international acclaim

Eugene accordionist Maria Telesheva won her first competition when she was just 6 years old. Now a rising senior at North Eugene High School, Telesheva has traveled the globe performing and competing as both a solo artist and as a duo with her father, Sergei. As recently reported by KLCC, she’s also a fellow with NPR’s performance program “From the Top” and a 2025 recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.

 

Telesheva joins us for a performance and to share what she thinks makes the accordion so special.

 

00:19:02
Jun 20, 2025 1:12 PM
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Think Out Loud
How communities on the Oregon Coast can help support healthy aging
 
 
00:52:02
Jun 19, 2025 12:6 PM
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Think Out Loud
Portland will pay $8.5M settlement to descendants of displaced Black families

This week the board of Prosper Portland votes to finalize a settlement for more than 20 people whose homes and businesses were destroyed in the name of urban renewal from the 1950s through the ’70s. The group of Black Portlanders fought for years to get to this point, and eventually filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the city of Portland, Emanuel Legacy Medical Center and Prosper Portland conspired to destroy a previously thriving Black neighborhood. The original financial settlement proposed to the Portland city council was $2 million. After testimony from a dozen community members recently, all 12 Portland city councilors voted to increase the amount to $8.5 million. As part of the settlement, the lawsuit will be dismissed, and the descendants will get financial and land retribution, in addition to other terms. We hear from plaintiffs Donna Marshall and Byrd, who led the research effort that culminated in this settlement, and from their lawyer Ed Johnson.

 

00:24:17
Jun 18, 2025 1:18 PM
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Think Out Loud
What the end of the Columbia River agreement will mean for tribes, ag industry groups

Last week, the Trump administration pulled out of a historic agreement made in 2023 to aid in salmon recovery and renewable energy for tribes. The agreement would have invested more than $1 billion in federal funds for wild fish restoration efforts over a decade and could have potentially led to the removal of the Snake River Dams to help native salmon populations. But, some industry leaders were unsupportive of the deal, including those in the agricultural and port industries who say the dams play a critical role in shipping goods overseas. Jeremy Takala is the chair of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and worked closely with the Biden administration to reach the agreement. Leslie Druffel is the outreach director for the McGregor Company in Washington and works closely with many in the agricultural industry. They both join us to share their thoughts on the rescission of the deal.

00:26:28
Jun 18, 2025 1:17 PM
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Think Out Loud
How Oregon’s coffee industry is affected by federal upheaval

Coffee leaders in Oregon recently held a roundtable discussion with Democratic U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici to discuss how changes at the federal level are affecting the industry, according to Daily Coffee News. Leaders in the Portland area say they’re concerned about how a 10% tariff could affect already high coffee prices. Additionally, countries that produce coffee including Kenya, Ethiopia and Honduras have been hit by USAID cuts. Programs that operated with USAID funding have been shut down overnight, affecting farmers and supply chains. Emily Smith is a relationship representative for Hacea Coffee. Darrin Daniel is a consultant for coffee roasters and retailers and has more than two decades of experience as a green coffee buyer. Cassy Gleason is the co-owner of Buckman Coffee Factory and Marigold Coffee. They join us with more on how Oregon’s coffee industry is tied to international relations and what federal policies mean at the state level.

00:16:24
Jun 17, 2025 1:19 PM
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Think Out Loud
How Oregon’s transportation proposal affects counties and cities

Oregon lawmakers recently unveiled a proposal to maintain the state’s roads and bridges. House Bill 2025 would raise the state’s gas tax by 15 cents, raise vehicle fees and add oversight to the Oregon Department of Transportation, according to OPB reporting. The bill could raise more than $2 billion annually by 2034, according to a revenue analysis. What does the proposal mean for cities and counties? Dan Dorran is a Umatilla County Commissioner. Jim McCauley is the legislative director for the League of Oregon Cities. They join us with more on the role that cities and counties play in Oregon’s transportation system and why funding is critical at the local level.

00:20:56
Jun 17, 2025 1:19 PM
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