Think Out Loud

 The Hagen Fire, which started a month ago, continues to burn on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. The tribes have declared a public health emergency because of the poor air quality from wildfire smoke. On top of that, much of the area is in a severe drought. 

Kimberly Hughes is the emergency management coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. She joins us to talk about how the tribes prepare for and manage these crises.

Data from the 2024-2025 school year shows that Oregon schools have the second-highest chronic absenteeism rate in the country. It breaks down to about a third of Oregon students being chronically absent — missing more than 10 days of school a year.

In Malheur County, though, things are different. A recent analysis of attendance data by the Oregon Journalism Project found that students in Malheur county are attending class more than any other county in Oregon. School districts in Malheur County have a tool in their back pocket: truancy citations, or fines issued as a last resort as a means of motivation for students to attend school regularly. Lawmakers banned the use of these fines in 2021, and school officials in Malheur County saw attendance slip. They brought truancy citations back in the 2023-2024 school year with a local ordinance, and attendance grew immensely, bolstered by wraparound services the district provides to support families struggling with school attendance.

Vale School District Superintendent Alisha McBride says the key to their success isn’t necessarily the fines themselves, of which they issued only one during the 2025-2026 school year, but the conversations that school districts, school boards and the community had to have around attendance in order to pass the local ordinance. We’ll hear from McBride about the ways Malheur County schools are battling chronic absenteeism and how those techniques can be applied to other counties in the state.

Katie Bollman, an assistant professor in economics at OSU, joins us for more details.

The Columbia River bar is a fierce, yet beautiful body of water, spanning across Oregon and Washington. With over 2000 shipwrecks reported since 1792, it is also known as “The Graveyard of the Pacific.”

In 1855, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began the construction of a jetty system, as a means to tame the dangerous ocean currents from the Pacific.

Oregon filmmakers Brett Eichenberger and Jill Remensynder’s new documentary “Taming the Mouth,” chronicles this history and how it reverberates today on this vital waterway in our region.

Roughly 6.5 million people in the U.S. live in areas that are highly susceptible to landslides. West Coast residents - including on the Oregon Coast and Washington’s Puget Sound - face the second greatest exposure to landslides, after Appalachian communities in and around W. Virginia. 

University of Washington researchers made these findings using the Landslide Exposure Database, an online tool they spent three years creating and recently made publicly available. The scientists say the database provides the first-ever building level assessment of landslide susceptibility across the U.S. for nearly 130 million homes and buildings.

The database also accounts for socioeconomic data, revealing an urban-rural divide to how natural disasters can impact communities. For example, residents in rural areas who are vulnerable to landslides may have fewer financial resources to move or recover from landslides compared to urban residents living in homes perched on hillsides in affluent neighborhoods.

Joe Wartman is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at University of Washington and the director of the Natural Hazard and Disaster Reconnaissance Facility. He joins us for more details.

It’s not uncommon for adults in custody in the U.S. to find themselves in solitary confinement for a range of behaviors, both violent and non-violent infractions. The practice is well-documented as being psychologically and socially damaging and to worsen the mental health outcomes for those subjected to it. The Oregon Department of Corrections is facing a class action lawsuit over the practice. 

And separately, a group of lawmakers has sent the agency a formal request to adopt U.N. standards known as Mandela rules, which would sharply curtail the use of isolation as a common form of discipline. Rep. Farrah Chaichi, D- Beaverton/Aloha, led this effort and she joins us to share more about the lawmakers’ letter, the DOC’s response and what she sees as the next legislative steps.

Languages have evolved over time, but it is rare when one is just created. Nearly 140 years ago, a Polish linguist did just that. Esperanto was made with the intent to be a universal second language for international communication. It is difficult to measure just how many people speak the language, but it does have speakers across the globe.

In the Pacific Northwest, speakers will gather next month for the 45th anniversary of the Northwest Regional Esperanto Conference in Seattle. We're joined by three members of the Esperanto Society of Portland: Izaak Zawyrucha-Moore, Alaine Warfield and Bruce Sherwood. They share why they've chosen to learn this language and what it has meant for them.

Portland entrepreneur Mark Maher says it was around March 2025 when he and his family got to experience firsthand the thrill of smashing ceramic plates, glass vases, TVs and other electronic devices. That experience took place at a friend’s rage room in Boise, Idaho, where customers book sessions to don goggles, gloves and other safety equipment to obliterate objects in a controlled, safe environment. 

Soon after, Maher opened Rage Room Portland, which celebrated its one-year anniversary this month by opening its second location inside Stickmen Brewing Company in Tualatin.   

Business is also booming at OutRaged Rage Room, which opened in Vancouver in 2019. Owner Tera Gale says her three themed rage rooms are usually booked back to back on the weekends, with individuals or groups of up to 15 people paying to smash not only electronics and glassware but also personal objects they might find cathartic to destroy, such as a wedding dress from a failed marriage. 

Gale and Maher join us to share what they think is behind the appeal of rage rooms, where the adage, “you break it, you buy it,” is taking on new meaning.

Oregon’s wildfire season has been severe, resulting in smoky air in communities all over the state.

Central Oregon now ranks among the worst air quality in the nation, with wildfire smoke significantly affecting the region.

We’ll hear from Crook County Public Health Director Katie Plumb about how people can help keep themselves safe from the smoke.