KGW’s Straight Talk

Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan had hoped to have six Safe Rest Villages, planned tiny home communities for residents without homes, open across the city by the end of 2021. That didn't happen. The process has been slower and harder than anticipated, but in this week's episode of Straight Talk, Ryan said the work has taken on new momentum and he hopes to have all the sites open by the end of this year.

Mayor Ted Wheeler's emergency declaration in February was pivotal, Ryan said, because it gave him office emergency powers to expedite village locations. And even with only some of the villages open, Ryan said city staff and partners are already starting to see the results they were hoping for. In the past three months, 23 people who were once living on the streets have transitioned through existing Safe Rest Villages and into permanent housing.

Oregon's senior Senator Ron Wyden was at a pharmacy on West Main Street in Medford when President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law this week.

"I was telling the seniors (at the Medford pharmacy) that there was a dose of good news," he said. "A big dose of good news for thousands of senior citizens in Oregon and hundreds of thousands across the state, because they were going to get a fair shake, finally, for their medicine."

Wyden was a guest on this week's episode of "Straight Talk" to discuss how the Inflation Reduction Act will bring down costs for Oregonians, among other topics.

Congress passed a sweeping, $750 billion health care, tax and climate bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act this week, but the Senate vote on Sunday came only after an exhausting 16-hour marathon session. Senate Democrats stayed unified through the process, with all 50 members of their caucus voting in lockstep and Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaker vote in the evenly divided Senate. 

The House took the bill up Friday and passed it in a 220-207 vote, sending it on to President Joe Biden's desk to be signed into law. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley hailed the passage of the bill "a very big deal." Merkley was a guest on this week's episode of Straight Talk to discuss how the bill will impact Americans and lower inflation.

The race for county elections clerk doesn't often get the attention it deserves. Voters frequently skip over the non-partisan race when marking their ballots. Clackamas County Clerk Sherry Hall has served as County Clerk for 20 years and is running for her sixth term in the November election on November 8th. Hall has an opponent in the November election who is making her first run for public office. Catherine McMullen is an elections administrator for Multnomah County with 15 years of public service and lives in West Linn.

Southwest Washington voters will decide this year whether to reelect Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler to represent the state's 3rd Congressional District or to send one of her eight challengers to Washington D.C. instead, and they'll get their first chance to weight in on Tuesday. Her three leading opponents are Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Republicans Joe Kent and Heidi St. John, both of whom are running to Herrera Beutler's right.

The top two vote-getters in the Aug. 2 primary will advance to a runoff in the general election, regardless of party affiliation. That means the two names on the ballot in November could be two Republicans, two Democrats, or one of each. It's also possible Herrera Beutler could be edged out of the race on Tuesday if she fails to win one of the top two slots. Political observes say this year could be her toughest electoral challenge since first winning office in 2010.

More than 3,000 people in the Pacific Northwest are waiting for lifesaving organ transplants. The nonprofit Donate Life Northwest has registered nearly three million Oregonians to be organ, eye and tissue donors, but a lot of people still haven't had the conversation about being a donor.

A powerful new documentary called "A Donation Conversation" aims to reach a wider audience and spur more people to enroll as organ donors. The film centers on the story of a Forest Grove family, the Dieter-Robinsons.

Six-year-old Ana and 11-year-old Abigail were killed when a car ran over them while they played in a pile of leaves in 2013. In the documentary, their parents talk about how their legacy lives on through organ donation.

Grayson Dempsey with Lilith Clinic, Oregon's only independent abortion clinic, joined University of Oregon Assistant Professor Alison Gash, a specialist in constitutional rights, and OHSU's Dr. Paula Amato on this week's episode of Straight Talk to discuss what happens next following the Supreme Court's abortion decision.

Oregon is just one week away from hosting the World Athletics Championships at Hayward Field in Eugene, marking the first time the event has been held in a U.S. city.

It's been more than two years since Washington State enacted the "Tiffany Hill Act," named in memory of a young mother gunned down by her estranged abusive husband.

The law allows courts to order offenders to wear a GPS ankle bracelet which would be monitored and linked to an app on the victim's phone, alerting them when their abuser was nearby. State Sen. Lynda Wilson (R-Vancouver), one of the authors of the law, said the technology could have saved Hill's life.

The bill was signed into law in 2020, but few Washington counties are utilizing the monitoring technology. Wilson has been advocating for wider adoption within the state and for other states to adopt their own versions of the law.

As the transgender community faces threats on multiple fronts, local advocates pledged to fight back and offer support to transgender individuals and families. Jess Guerriero, a social worker at OHSU's Transgender Health Program, and Seth Johnstone of Basic Rights Oregon were guests on this week's episode of "Straight Talk" to discuss the threats facing transgender people and the resources and support available to help.

KGW's Ashley Korslien and Vancouver-based trans activist Linden Walls also joined the show to discuss the KGW original podcast "Should Be Alive," which explores the murder of transgender teen, Nikki Kuhnhausen.