Author David Grann often writes about obsession. His stories feature people doing extraordinary, and often dangerous or morally questionable, things in pursuit of ambitious goals. He’s the author of the books “Lost City of Z,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and “The Wager.” Grann is also obsessive himself - about the research and details he puts into his books. We talk to Grann in front of a group of students at Nelson High School in Happy Valley.

A new study from Oregon Health & Science University found that air pollution can impact adolescent brain development. The analysis indicated that exposure to common air pollutants is associated with accelerated cortical thinning in areas of the brain responsible for language, mood regulation and socioemotional processing. Researchers observed changes even in children who were exposed to pollution at levels the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe. 

Calvin Jara is an otolaryngology resident at OHSU and the study’s lead author. He joins us with more details about how these changes could affect children’s physical and emotional health.

The Oregon Department of Human Services recently evaluated the first phase of a pilot program that gives $1,000 a month to youth experiencing homelessness. So far, the direct cash transfer program is producing promising results, including significant reductions in youth homelessness and improved mental health outcomes for participants. Now, early into its second phase, the program is riding the tailwinds of the first. 

Matt Rasmussen is the program manager for the Youth Experiencing Homelessness Program at the OD HS. He joins us to talk about the successes and challenges of the first pilot phase and aspirations for the second. Gabi Huffman, a youth consultant and former recipient of direct cash transfers, also joins us to share her experience with the program.

 By many measures, political polarization in the U.S. has grown in recent years. It’s reflected in recent surveys which show record high numbers of Americans who identify as conservative or liberal, or the stark differences between Republicans’ and Democrats’ current feelings toward the federal government.  

Social media can exacerbate this polarization, especially when algorithms social media companies use feed content that not only aligns with a user’s political views but also attacks the opposing party’s candidates or values. But what if you could bypass that algorithm to make posts that expressed partisan animosity or antidemocratic content less prominent?  

Martin Saveski is an assistant professor in the University of Washington’s School of Information who recently explored these questions with researchers at Stanford University and Northeastern University. The scientists developed a tool that used AI to quickly scan social media posts that contained antidemocratic views or political animus, such as support for jailing political opponents. Saveski and his team used this tool in a study with Republicans and Democrats that reordered the participants’ feeds on the social media site X so that antidemocratic or politically hostile content appeared higher or lower on their feeds for seven days during last year’s U.S. presidential election. 

Saveski joins us to share the study’s results and the implications of giving users greater control over their social media algorithms.

The WorkSource Oregon Reentry program helps people incarcerated in the state work on resumes, map out career goals and even connect with future employers. The program is funded by a roughly $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and from the state, but those funds are set to expire this year. A bill in the Oregon legislature earlier this year would have funded the program, but failed to become law. Danielle Dawson is a collaborative investigative reporter for InvestigateWest and worked on this story with Wesley Vaughan for Bolts. Dawson joins us to share more on the impact this program has had and its future.

 A recent study from the University of Washington School of Medicine reveals a national snapshot of the ways Americans are vulnerable to financial insecurity after undergoing medical procedures. 

Surveys showed that about 38% of people who undergo surgery in the United States report experiencing financial hardship after surgery – meaning they have incurred medical debt and have difficulty paying medical bills, or they delay medical care for fear of cost. 

John Scott is a trauma surgeon and researcher who studies health policy at the University of Washington. He joins us to discuss his findings.

On Monday, Washington state lawmakers will meet in Olympia to kick off a 60-day legislative session. Last month, Gov. Bob Ferguson unveiled a proposed $79 billion supplemental budget that aims to fill a $2.3 billion shortfall in part by tapping the state’s rainy day fund and making cuts to spending on state programs and services. Lawmakers in both chambers will consider other proposals to shore up the state’s finances, including a contentious plan by Senate Democrats that would impose a nearly 10% tax on Washingtonians making more than $1 million a year. The so-called millionaires’ tax would raise an estimated $3 billion annually, but it faces opposition by Republicans who’ve threatened to sue if it wins passage by the Democratic majority in the Legislature.  

Scott Greenstone, a politics reporter at our partner station KUOW and co-host of the Sound Politics podcast, joins us to share more details about that plan and other priorities facing Washington lawmakers during the short session

Yesterday afternoon, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent opened fire on a man and woman during an attempted traffic stop in East Portland, according to local and federal law enforcement officials. Responding to a report of a shooting, Portland Police found the man and woman who were shot and applied first aid before the two were transported to local hospitals for treatment. 

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the Portland shooting occurred as Border Patrol agents were stopping a vehicle. She claimed the driver and passenger were members of a Venezuelan gang and that the driver attempted to run over the federal agents, prompting one of the agents to open fire in self-defense. 

According to Portland Police Chief Bob Day, the FBI is leading an investigation into the shooting. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the Oregon Department of Justice would open its own investigation. Federal, state and local officials, including Portland Mayor Keith Wilson and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek condemned the shooting. Portland Police said they made six arrests during a protest Thursday night outside the ICE facility in south Portland that attracted hundreds of people. 

The shooting in Portland happened just one day after a U.S.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen, Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis. 

Joining us for more details is OPB reporter Joni Auden Land.

Do we need art critics? If you ask Bob Hicks, executive editor of Oregon ArtsWatch, he says “critic” is a dumb word. As he argues in his recently published piece, the role of art criticism isn’t to be the final say in whether a piece of work is good or bad, but rather to be the start of a conversation. At the same time, arts journalism as a whole has faced a number of setbacks in the industry this year, including the Associated Press ending its book reviews, Vanity Fair eliminating its reviews and the Chicago Tribune losing full-time movie reviewer Michael Phillips. But as Portland-based arts and culture writer Justin Duyao writes in his piece in response to Hicks, arts and cultural criticism isn’t dead, but has evolved to online spaces, including social media. Hicks and Duyao both join us to share their thoughts on modern day criticism.

Last month, President Trump signed an executive order seeking to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug. Cannabis is currently Schedule I, alongside drugs the DEA defines as having no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Trump’s order fast-tracks the reclassification, and it could significantly change the industry, opening new doors for cannabis research and easing a punishing tax burden faced by businesses that grow and sell the product. The order may also act as a counterbalance to the quickly closing “hemp loophole,” a provision in Congress’ shutdown-ending resolution that will ultimately put tighter restrictions on what products cannabis businesses can sell.

Beau Whitney is the chief economist at Whitney Economics, an Oregon-based cannabis and hemp consulting organization. Mason Walker is the CEO of East Fork Cultivars, an Oregon cannabis and hemp business. They join us to talk about how these ongoing changes could shape the future of the cannabis and hemp industries.