The city of Portland’s Safe Rest Village in the Southwest Multnomah Village neighborhood is one of two city run shelters that’s set to significantly expand capacity. The Multnomah Safe Rest Village, which opened in June 2022, will go from 28 units to 100. Volunteer groups like Southwest Outreach and Clean Camp PDX have been working for years to support the people they call their houseless neighbors. One of the key pieces of successfully integrating such a shelter into a neighborhood of concerned...
Jun 21, 2024•30 min
It’s been two years since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Supreme Court decision that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in the U.S. Since then, 14 states have instituted full bans on the procedure. Now new research shows that states with these bans are seeing fewer residency applications from medical students. Katie Hansen is an administrative chief resident at Oregon Health & Science University. Ian Field is an OB/GYN and the program director for OHSU's OB/GYN residency...
Jun 21, 2024•23 min
Earlier this month, the U.S. national cricket team defeated Pakistan during a match at the Men’s T20 World Cup. It was a stunning upset and impressive victory for Team USA’s first outing at the World Cup cricket tournament, as the team continues to defy expectations by advancing to the quarterfinals. The international tournament is also being played on U.S. soil for the first time, a reflection of the sport’s growing popularity here. There’s also now a U.S. major league of cricket with six profe...
Jun 20, 2024•19 min
Smallmouth bass can be found in rivers throughout Oregon. The fish is an invasive species and has a big appetite for salmon smolt. Smallmouth bass have been disturbing ecosystems and compete with other species for food and habitat. The Native Fish Society will host two events on Saturday to raise awareness about the problem. The “bass bashes” will happen on the Molalla River and the Umpqua River. Attendees are encouraged to catch as many smallmouth bass as they can, and the event includes a cook...
Jun 20, 2024•16 min
Five years ago, the Oregon state legislature passed a bill declaring missing Native American women a statewide emergency. The bill also authorized an investigation into the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous people, and the release of a report containing recommendations to more effectively respond to it. But as reporting from InvestigateWest reveals, Indigenous activists are frustrated by the lack of progress and a lack of direct engagement by law enforcement with their communities on thi...
Jun 20, 2024•18 min
Brit Bennett’s book The Vanishing Half was on a lot of best-of lists in 2020. Though spanning the second half of the 20th century, the novel speaks to questions about race and identity that have been central to national conversations for the last two years. In that novel and her other writing, Bennett deals with the bonds of family, the importance of storytelling, and nature of identity. We spoke to Bennett about her essays and novels in front of an audience of students at Grant High School in P...
Jun 18, 2024•52 min
Daniel Gibbs dedicated his career as a neurologist to the study of Alzheimer’s and care for patients living with the disease. Then he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s himself. Gibbs says that early diagnosis has allowed him to slow the progression of the disease through diet, exercise and other treatment. A documentary based on the book he wrote about his experience, “Tattoo on my Brain,” is airing on June 22 at OHSU. Gibbs and his wife, Louis Seed, join us to talk about living with Alzheimer’s....
Jun 18, 2024•24 min
The Oregon Department of Education released its first statewide plan for computer science education late last year. The chief goal is for all K-12 public schools to offer some level of computer science classes by the 2027-28 school year. The plan received some initial funding through the governor’s office, but has yet to receive long-term funding from the state Legislature. Joanna Goode is the Sommerville Knight Professor in the University of Oregon College of Education. She helped create Explor...
Jun 18, 2024•14 min
Nurses in six Providence hospitals around Oregon are going on a 3-day strike at the same time. It’s the largest such nursing strike in Oregon history. Each of the six different bargaining units are negotiating with their employer separately but they say their issues are similar across the board, including staffing ratios and levels and benefits and overall compensation. We hear from Anne Tan Piazza, executive director of the Oregon Nurses Association, and Jennifer Gentry, chief nursing officer f...
Jun 18, 2024•14 min
Mitzi Asai Loftus was in elementary school when President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order No. 9066 sent people of Japanese descent – many of them U.S. citizens – from their homes to “relocation centers,” resulting in the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Asai Loftus was born in Hood River on a fruit orchard and spent years of her childhood in the government camps. After leaving the camps, her family returned to Hood River. Asai Loftus spent much of her adult life i...
Jun 17, 2024•25 min
Salem resident Bobby Brown was killed in a shootout with city police in 2022 when he was just 16 years old. As reported in a recent three-part profile published by the Salem Reporter, Brown's birth mother used methamphetamines. When he was born he went into withdrawals and was immediately placed into foster care. He was adopted when he was 4, and later struggled with substance abuse and mental illness, despite repeated efforts by his adopted family to get him help. Reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian jo...
Jun 17, 2024•14 min
It’s been a year since the first licensed psilocybin service centers in Oregon opened – facilities where people 21 and older can legally ingest psychedelic mushrooms in a supervised, therapeutic setting. Oregon became the first state in the nation to approve and regulate the use of psilocybin through a legal framework set up and administered by the Oregon Health Authority. The agency has currently awarded licenses to 28 psilocybin service centers which continue to face regulatory and economic he...
Jun 17, 2024•14 min
University of Oregon and University of California, Davis students were blamed for leaving a large mess at Shasta Lake in California over Memorial Day weekend. In Oregon, the Fourth of July is a busy day for parks throughout the state and 2023 was a near-record breaking year for visits. More guests, however, typically means more trash left behind, and workers spending hours of their day picking up after visitors. John Mullen is a park manager for the Southern Willamette Management Unit for the Or...
Jun 14, 2024•21 min
Former Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, one of the state’s most powerful figures before revelations that he had sexually abused a teen, died Wednesday at the age of 83. Goldschmidt’s abuse was hidden for nearly 30 years until it was broken by Nigel Jaquiss at Willamette Week after a long, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation. Jaquiss joins us to reflect on that reporting, and on Goldschmidt’s legacy.
Jun 14, 2024•17 min
Organizers of Portland’s World Naked Bike Ride have announced that they will take a year off from programming the massive ride this year. The army of volunteers who put on the ride say they need time to make sure that the event is better, safer, and easier to plan in the future. We talk to Meghan Sinnott, longtime organizer of the ride, about the decision and the future of naked bike riding in Portland.
Jun 14, 2024•14 min
Looking at the history of psychological operations, “Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind” is the latest book by author and journalist Annalee Newitz. It explores misinformation, propaganda and how the stories we hear can manipulate us. The book also features a chapter on the work the Coquille Indian Tribe has done to undo damage these operations did to some Oregon tribes in the past. Newitz spoke in front of an audience with “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller at a Pow...
Jun 13, 2024•52 min
Coastal martens, also known as Humboldt martens, are small, catlike members of the weasel family that live in the coastal forests of Oregon and northern California. The animals were thought to be extinct due to logging and trapping, but were rediscovered in northern California in the 1990s. Today, there are only about 400 coastal martens left in the wild, living in four isolated communities. The animals were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2020, and just last month recei...
Jun 12, 2024•15 min
Global climate change is warming oceans, melting polar ice and causing sea levels to rise around the world. Scientists predict that in the next 80 years, waters will rise at least 3 feet, but that a rise of more than 6 feet cannot be ruled out. That level of increase would submerge small islands in the Columbia River and leave much of Sauvie Island underwater as well. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released a new mapping tool that helps people visualize various levels of...
Jun 12, 2024•15 min
NOAA recently released a seasonal outlook that shows much of the United States will likely experience a hotter than usual summer, including in Oregon. And, last year was already the hottest summer on record. What role is climate change playing in the seasonal outlook? How might they look different moving forward? We dig into these issues with Dan Collins, a meteorologist with the Climate Prediction Center.
Jun 12, 2024•10 min
The two new leaders of Oregon’s Planned Parenthood affiliates are pushing to dissolve the political arm of their organization in a move that has blindsided some long-time advocates and has them worried about the future of reproductive rights in the state. Oregon has two Planned Parenthood affiliates. They provide reproductive health care, including abortion access, but do not engage in political work such as lobbying or campaigns. Last week, the leaders of those two affiliates sent a letter to t...
Jun 12, 2024•13 min
According to Credence Research, the U.S. plus-size women’s clothing market is expected to be worth over $101 billion by 2032. But at the same time, within the past few years the market has faced challenges with major retailers like Old Navy and the LOFT scaling back on its sizes. Why do retailers struggle to meet the needs of plus-size clientele, and what does it take to make plus-size clothing consumers want? To answer these questions and more we’re joined by Claire Doody. She is the owner and ...
Jun 11, 2024•23 min
Douglas firs, hemlocks and ponderosa pines probably feel like fundamental parts of Oregon’s natural forests. In fact there are people working across the state to breed better versions of those trees to be more resistant to insects, diseases and climate change. Don Kaczmarek, a forest geneticist for the Oregon Department of Forestry, joins us to talk about his work breeding trees, and producing seeds for the state’s forests and seed banks.
Jun 11, 2024•11 min
Last month, a 5-story commercial building in Portland’s Old Town historic district was awarded one of the most rigorous sustainability certifications in the world, given by the Portland-based International Living Futures Institute. There are only three dozen certified Living Buildings in the world, and the Portland building is the first commercial one to achieve it. Living Buildings must meet a range of strict requirements, from the design to operation. That includes using renewables like solar ...
Jun 11, 2024•18 min
State lawmakers are traveling across Oregon to host meetings about transportation issues. The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation has kicked off a 12-stop tour to hear perspectives on the state’s transportation system and the challenges it faces. Lawmakers will use information from the tour to craft Oregon’s next transportation package in the 2025 legislative session. Julia Shumway recently reported on this issue for the Oregon Capital Chronicle and joins us with details.
Jun 10, 2024•13 min
The federal COVID-19 emergency declaration, which expanded Medicaid coverage, officially ended last spring. Since then, state agencies that oversee Medicaid have been updating their eligibility rosters and disenrolling patients who no longer qualify. While some patients were determined ineligible, the vast majority were disenrolled for administrative reasons such as incomplete applications, incorrect paperwork and missed renewal notices. A recent study from Oregon Health & Science University...
Jun 10, 2024•14 min
Salem is far from the only Oregon city to be struggling with balancing its budget amid rising costs and declining revenues. Leaders cite property tax limits, the end of pandemic aid money and inflation rates, among other factors. But as a capital city, it’s one that gets more attention than others. Earlier this year, Salem city residents reacted overwhelmingly negatively to big proposed cuts to the library to attempt to address the shortfall. Those cuts were restored as a result - for now. The c...
Jun 10, 2024•18 min
In October 2022, Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley arrested Ricky Snodgrass, a U.S. Forest Service employee who was leading a prescribed burn that jumped to private land and burned roughly 20 acres. In February of this year, a grand jury indicted Snodgrass on a misdemeanor count of reckless burning. His case was then moved to federal court, where it was dismissed last week. The case was a particularly striking example of longstanding tensions between federal agencies and local communities in ru...
Jun 10, 2024•9 min
Last month, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office had a swearing-in ceremony for Burton, a new member on its force. He won’t, however, be apprehending suspected criminals, working on investigations or responding to requests for back-up. But the help he will provide is just as valuable, albeit in a different way, to deputies and the communities they serve. Burton is the department’s first comfort dog. His handler, Deputy Kerri Oman, takes the 85-pound, longhaired German Shepherd to comfort victim...
Jun 07, 2024•23 min
Since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, Israel's retaliatory air and ground military response has left Gaza in ruins. Less than a third of the hospitals there are intact and operating at even a diminished capacity. As Beaverton doctor Ahmed Ebeid put it after he returned from a volunteer trip to the region, people are dying from war wounds even if they make it to a clinic or hospital due to a lack of capacity, medicine and basic medical supplies like gauze and surgical gloves. We talk with Ebeid, who ...
Jun 07, 2024•17 min
In April, members of the Columbia Gorge Fruit Growers Association gave testimony at a Wasco County Commissioners meeting over potential rule changes to Oregon’s agricultural labor housing standards. The growers claim many of the changes are too costly to implement and unrelated to health and safety. Columbia Gorge News recently reported on the meeting amid the yearslong effort by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division to update agricultural labor housing rules, some of which haven’t ...
Jun 07, 2024•13 min
