Think Out Loud

The history of Hanford nuclear reservation is often centered on the enormity of its original mission of refining plutonium to power the atomic bombs that would bring WWII to an end - and the clean up of the waste left behind. Robert Franklin is an assistant professor of history with Washington State University Tri-Cities and the assistant director  at the Hanford History Project. He’s made it his mission to highlight the lesser-known stories of the Hanford site’s impact. He sits down with us to share more about the larger history of the site and the lesser known stories, including the Black and low-income families who worked at Hanford.

Long before the Hanford nuclear reservation, the land was home to Native American tribes. The Yamaka Nation has strong ties to Laliik – or Rattlesnake Mountain — and Gable Mountain on the Hanford cleanup site. They are religious sites for the Tribes, and the whole area is ceded land for the Yakama Nation. The lands around Hanford were also used for village sites, gathering, fishing, hunting and social celebrations. But the Tribes were forced off their lands during World War II, and only in the past year have they been able to start to return to hunt and gather there. The Nation is trying to educate its youth and fully lean into being part of the formal efforts to clean up the 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored on the site. 

We sit down with Yakama Tribal Councilmembers Brian Saluskin and Deland Olney, and with Laurene Contreras Laurene Contreras, a Yakama tribal member and Program Administrator of the Environmental Restoration Waste Management Program for the Yakama Nation. They join us on the campus of  Washington State University Tri-Cities, where we are broadcasting from this week in partnership with Northwest Public Broadcasting. 

The Bureau of Land Management administers 16 million acres of land across Oregon and Washington, and wildfires burned a large swath of that land this summer, including nearly half a million acres in Eastern Oregon. For ranchers who lease BLM rangeland for their cattle, that can mean that new leases will be hard to find. The fires also threatened other uses of the land, including logging, recreation, and wildlife protection. Rebecca Carter is responsible for managing rangeland for the BLM in Oregon and Washington and for leading fire recovery efforts. She joins us to discuss how the agency is facing this summer’s fire season.

More than 70% of high school teachers in the U.S. say cell phones are a major classroom distraction, according to The Pew Research Center. Across the nation schools are adapting new bans on phones as they continue to cause issues in student learning.

A number of Oregon schools have been adapting new practices to minimize the use of phones in class, ranging from cell phone pouches to new district wide policies. Before the school year began, Gov. Tina Kotek said this summer she’d like to see a statewide approach on the issue. Nick Lupo is the principal for Taft 7 - 12 Middle and High School in the Lincoln County School District. His school has been using Yondr pouches since last year. Gabe Pagano is a principal at Cascade Middle School in the Bend-La Pine School District, where a new “silent and away” policy has been put in place across the district. They join us  to share more on these policies and phone use has changed over the years in Oregon schools.

The Incarcerated Individual Betterment Fund is meant to improve the welfare for people in custody in prisons throughout Washington state. The fund is supported by the money collected from phone calls and other fees from people who are incarcerated. The pot of money has swelled upwards of $12 million. But recent reporting from the Washington State Standard has found that Washington isn't using most of the money to improve prison conditions. Grace Deng is a state house reporter for the media outlet. They join us to share more.

Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit that advocates for arts and arts education in the U.S., released data on how the arts sector affects Oregon. The study showed that Oregon’s nonprofit arts industry generated more than $800 million in economic activity in 2022.

Randy Cohen is the vice president of research for the organization. He has toured across  the country discussing findings from the study. He’s currently visiting Eastern Oregon to talk about how the arts sector affects economies in Pendleton, Joseph, Ontario and other communities.

Roberta Lavadour is the executive director for the Pendleton Center for the Arts and serves on the Oregon Arts Commission. They join us with details of the study and how the arts industry affects communities like Pendleton.

The number of students regularly missing school across the country has soared since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. A state report released last year found that more than a third of Oregon students are chronically absent, meaning they miss at least 10% of school days. State lawmakers removed truancy fines in 2021, but a new program in Umatilla County reintroduces them. As reported in the East Oregonian, the program uses a mix of family support, intervention from district officials and legal action with the goal of bringing students back to the classroom.

Heidi Sipe is the superintendent of the Umatilla School District. She joins us with more details.

After more than two decades, Portland will once again host a women’s professional basketball team. The as-yet-unnamed team will start playing in the 2026 season. The city’s last WNBA team, the Portland Fire, played from 2000 to 2002 before folding. The announcement comes roughly a year after a different deal to bring a WNBA team to the city fell through. It also comes amid an explosion of interest in women’s sports, both in the Northwest and across the country.

Sean Highkin broke the news of the expansion last month in his Substack newsletter, The Rose Garden Report. He joins us with more details on the new team and what it could mean for Portland.

The Western Oregon State Forest Habitat Conservation Plan, which was passed by the Oregon Board of Forestry in March, will reduce logging in western state forests to protect threatened species. Now a school district in Clatsop County is suing the state over the proposed plan. They argue reducing timber harvesting in the area could cause the district to lose millions. Alex Baumhardt is a reporter for the Oregon Capital Chronicle and has been reporting on this issue. She joins us to share more.

For many in the U.S., it can be difficult to find a mental health provider that’s covered by insurance. But many mental health clinicians say insurance companies can make it difficult to be a part of their network. They say companies have “clawed back” payments from therapists or questioned a patient’s need for services. 

Health care reporter Annie Waldman, along with a team of other ProPublica journalists, reported on why therapists leave insurance networks. The story was also co-published with NPR.

Melissa Todd, a licensed psychologist practicing in Eugene said she left an insurance network after feeling pressured to limit a patient’s care. 

We hear more from Waldman and Todd on what providers have experienced and what mental health care looks like in Oregon.