Think Out Loud

Oregon’s 2026-27 Teacher of the Year is Nate Jackson, a social studies teacher at Willamette High School in Eugene. He also advises the school’s Black Student Union, helping to organize student trips and the first Black Summit for students across the district. Before becoming a teacher, Jackson had a career as an entertainment journalist and emcee for college sporting events.

Jackson joins us to talk about the award and why he thinks it’s a particularly important time to be teaching social studies.

A million people in the Portland area get their water from the Bull Run watershed, about 25 miles east of the city.

The city council voted in 2017 to build the water filtration plant to protect against cryptosporidium to comply with Environmental Protection Agency standards.

The project was originally estimated at $500 million, but since then it’s risen to $2.58 billion. The water bureau says a number of factors worked to drive up the price tag, including skyrocketing construction costs and defending the project against a number of land use challenges. The filtration plant is now the largest public works project in the city’s history.

It was originally scheduled to be completed next year. But after delays, it is now about 40% complete and on track to be operational in 2029. The Portland Water Bureau's Interim Chief Engineer Muriel Gueissaz-Teufe joins us, along with Lyda Hakes, the Bull Run supply and treatment manager. They share more details about why this kind of filtration is needed, how it will work and the benefits for Portland area residents.

Some families living in mobile home parks in Malheur County have been dealing with arsenic in their drinking water supply for years. And water tested recently at one location where unsafe levels of arsenic have been found since 2004, recently found levels six times higher than federal standards for safe drinking water. We’re joined by OPB Eastern Oregon reporter Monica Carrillo-Casas, who’s been following the story and tells us more about who’s being affected and how people are responding.

The Portland Trail Blazers kicked off their new NBA season Wednesday night at the Moda Center with a resounding 41-point victory over the Phoenix Suns. It marked the return of 9-time NBA All-Star Damian Lillard to the Blazers and his first regular season game since an Achilles injury he suffered in April 2025 while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. Lillard scored 25 points, including six 3-pointers, in just 24 minutes on the court. Ja Morant, whom the Blazers acquired during the summer from the Memphis Grizzlies, added 14 points and eight assists. Micah Nori, the team’s new head coach, will also be under pressure to deliver results this season. 

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on a December deadline for Portland city officials and the Blazers’ management - led by owner Tom Dundon – to negotiate a new lease agreement for the Moda Center. At stake is roughly $600 million in public funds state and local leaders have committed to paying to renovate the aging arena, provided certain conditions are met. 

KOIN 6 sports anchor and reporter Brenna Greene joins us to break this all down for us.

Monarch butterflies in the Pacific Northwest are currently making their annual migration south for the winter. Around 200 of them are carrying innovative digital trackers that will allow researchers — and the public — to follow their path for the first time.

David James, an associate professor in Washington State University’s entomology department, is overseeing the project. He joins us to talk about what he hopes to learn about monarch migration patterns

In 2022, Portland musician and storyteller Joe Kye created Tiger Tiger, a festival in Portland celebrating the region’s diverse Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. The festival was also a way to bring joy and healing to those communities after a surge of anti-Asian bias and hate crimes during the pandemic.  

After Tiger Tiger, Kye decided he needed to focus on his own healing with a journey into his family’s past and understanding how it has shaped his identity as a first-generation immigrant, father and artist. That exploration has now culminated in “through-lineage,” a new, solo show Kye will perform this Friday and Saturday in Portland at Reed College. 

The show opens with the story of Kye’s grandfather who made a daring escape from North Korea in 1953 as a prisoner of war. Through live music, projected artwork and audience participation, Kye braids together his family’s past and present, including his own experiences as a Korean American growing up in Seattle and a trip he took with his children and partner this past spring to visit his grandparents’ graves in South Korea.

Kye joins us for a studio interview and preview of his new work.  

Ayad Akhtar is a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and the author of the novels “Homeland Elegies” and “American Dervish.” His works explore themes that span religion and identity, cultural assimilation and immigrant aspiration drawn from his upbringing as a Pakistani American in the Midwest. 

His latest book is “The Radiance.” It’s written in a style that fuses the autobiographical with the fictional, as a playwright and author named Ayad Akhtar retreats to a college town in the Hudson Valley to work on his new book. While riding his bike along a country road one day, a pickup truck hits him and flees the scene. The traumatic, near-death experience leaves Akhtar profoundly changed, with a mysterious and mystical sensation of dissociation from the left side of his body that scrambles his sense of self and awakens a spiritual yearning. Meanwhile, his decision to teach a creative writing course on campus triggers a chain of events that erupts in scandal and tragedy. 

Akhtar joins us to discuss all this and more in front of an audience of students at Franklin High School in Portland.

Broadly, so-called dark tourism is a $32 billion industry and includes many ghost tour companies across the country. Portland is no stranger to ghost tours, with a history going back decades. Tanya March is the owner and tour guide of Slabtown Tours. Marina Martinez-Bateman is the owner of Hawthorne Ghost Tours. They both join us to share more about some of Portland’s haunted sites. We’ll also be taking your calls to hear your spooky stories and unexplained happenings. Our number is (888) 665-5865.

 Big changes are coming to the individual health insurance marketplace in Central Oregon. PacificSource, Moda and Providence are all pulling out of the region, leaving just two options for people shopping for their own health insurance: BridgeSpan Health and Regence BlueCross BlueShield. Both carriers are raising their rates by roughly 20% next year.

Erik Wood is an enterprise market president at PacificSource. He joins us to share more about how insurance carriers make these decisions. We’ll also hear from Corrie Bridges, a broker at Bend Health Insurance, about what she’s hearing from clients as open enrollment approaches on Nov. 1.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct Corrie Bridges’ last name. OPB regrets the error.

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.