KGW’s Straight Talk

Political insiders are predicting the race to represent Oregon's newly redrawn 5th Congressional district could become the nation's marquee Democratic House primary to watch. That's according to an article in Politico.

Seven-term incumbent Kurt Schrader, a moderate, is being challenged from the left by former congressional candidate Jamie McLeod-Skinner from central Oregon. 

They're running in a newly formed district. The boundaries were reshaped by the Oregon Legislature last fall and now include most of Clackamas and Marion Counties, but not Salem. 

Intel is Oregon's largest corporate employer with 22,000 employees. It's at the heart of Oregon's "Silicon Forest" in Washington County, but when Intel announced it was making a $20 billion investment in a massive chip manufacturing facility, that investment went to Ohio, not Oregon.

How did Oregon miss out?

Monique Claiborne, CEO of Greater Portland Inc., along with Oregon state Representative Janelle Bynum (D-Happy Valley) and Jennifer Baker, President of the Columbia River Economic Development Council in Clark County, join Laural Porter to discuss how Oregon can work to attract new investment in the state.

When the new Oregon Speaker of the House Rep. Dan Rayfield (D-Corvallis) gaveled out the 2022 Oregon legislative session on March 4th, his 10-year-old son Adam was by his side. It was the conclusion of Rayfield's first legislative session as Speaker of the House after being elected to replace former Speaker Tina Kotek, who resigned to focus on her campaign for governor. Rayfield called the 31-day session a success.

Speaker Rayfield was a guest on this week's episode of Straight Talk to discuss what was accomplished, what is left to be done next session, and shared his personal life experience that has helped to inform the kind of leader he is today.

For the first time since 1986, Portland has a contested race to see who will be the next city auditor. Current auditor Mary Hull Caballero decided not to run for re-election, and for a while it looked like no one wanted to take the job next.

But now there are two candidates vying to replace Hull Caballero; Simone Rede, who works as a senior management auditor at Metro, and Brian Setzler, a certified public accountant.

Rede and Setzler were guests on Straight Talk to make their case for election to voters.

CEO of the Portland Business Alliance Andrew Hoan joined John Tapogna of ECONorthwest and Michelle Neiss from DHM Research as guests on this week's episode of "Straight Talk" to discuss the 2022 State of the Economy report.

KGW political analyst Len Bergstein discussed the changes in leadership after multiple resignations in the Oregon Legislature. Later, Oregon state Rep. Ron Noble (R-McMinnville) joined the show to talk about bipartisan police reform. 

Peter DeFazio is the longest serving House member in Oregon history and the 65th longest in U.S. history. He was a guest on this week's episode of Straight Talk to reflect on his congressional career and his plans for retirement.

Long-term care executive Phil Fogg is calling on the U.S. to treat the workforce shortage in health care as a national crisis.

Bloodworks Northwest is calling on Washington and Oregon residents to give blood this holiday season as the nationwide shortage continues. We also talk to Josh Schreck with the KGW Great Toy Drive about this year's effort to support the community. Investigative reporter Kyle Iboshi also joins to discuss holiday scams to watch out for. 

Portland Commissioner Dan Ryan joined Oregon Recovers co-founder and director Mike Marshall and Oregon State Representative Tawna Sanchez (D-District 43) on this week's episode to discuss behavioral health and homelessness in Oregon.