Think Out Loud

In May, the Portland City Council approved an ordinance that would allow homeless people who camp on public property and reject offers of shelter to be fined up to $100 or sentenced to up to seven days in jail. That ordinance went into effect at the beginning of July, but was put on hold because of extreme heat. At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities have the right to penalize people for living outside. Then a few weeks ago Portland police made their first arrest under the new rule, but county deputies at the Multnomah County Detention Center refused to process the man. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler joins us to talk about how the city is addressing unsanctioned camping.

Charles Yu has written a lot about the nature of reality, how we understand what is real, and the assumptions we make about each other and the universe we live in. Yu’s first novel, “How to live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe,” follows a time machine repairman who is searching for his father who is lost in time and memory. His latest book, National Book Award winning “Interior Chinatown,” takes place in a Chinese restaurant that’s also the set for a police procedural TV show and a sendup of stereotypes of Asian American characters. Yu talks to us in front of an audience of students from Ida B. Wells High School. 

According to the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center, Americans lost more than $145 million to real estate scams last year. One component of those is rental scams, where legitimate listings are pulled from property management websites and reposted to sites like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for a lower price. Prospective tenants are sometimes even able to tour a unit before signing a bogus lease and paying a security deposit and fees to the scammer. 

Rental scams have been on the rise in recent years, thanks in part to the popularity of self-guided and remote tours in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The nationwide shortage of affordable housing has also pushed many renters to move quickly on listings that promise a good deal – making them a prime target for scams. 

Alexis Weisend covers affordable housing and homelessness for The Columbian. She recently wrote about this trend in Southwest Washington and joins us with more details. 

Years ago, Washington passed a law requiring electric utilities to go carbon-neutral in a decade. Yet lawmakers continued to give generous tax incentives to data centers, which use a huge amount of electricity. In fact, in the last few years Washington has gotten a smaller share of its electricity from renewable sources than it did two decades ago, despite producing a quarter of the nation’s hydropower. Lulu Ramadan, investigative reporter at the Seattle Times, joins us to talk about her reporting.

Since the Grants Pass v. Johnson ruling in late June, which ruled that cities are now able to ban camping or sleeping in public spaces, local governments have been navigating how to handle this new power. For years, Deschutes County has battled with the Oregon Department of State Lands on a pending land swap between county-owned lands and the state. In 2022, the state required that the county clear homeless encampments on county property before making any deals. Now, as Clayton Franke from the Bend Bulletin reports, Deschutes County commissioners are in disagreement about how to address homelessness and these encampments after the Supreme Court ruling. Franke joins to share more.

For the past two weeks, North Fork John Day Watershed Council has been hard at work helping people in and around Long Creek fight fires on their property and deal with the damage done by the flames. The Battle Mountain Complex and Courtrock fires have impacted residents living in rural parts of the state, which have not been serviced by firefighting teams as quickly as other areas, leaving landowners to fight fires by themselves. Kristen Walz, the executive director of North Fork John Day Watershed Council, joins us to share more about her group’s efforts during this particularly harsh and early wildfire season. 

Last week, researchers from Oregon State University documented two shark species in Puget Sound for the first time. They found a broadnose sevengill shark and the critically endangered tope shark. The presence of these large predators in the sound may mean that the ecosystem is changing to fit the needs of the sharks, which could have other effects. Taylor Chapple, assistant professor and head of the Big Fish Lab at OSU, joins us to share more about his team’s findings.

Cheatgrass and other invasive species are threatening important rangelands and helping fuel severe wildfires in Eastern Oregon. Lisa Ellsworth is an associate professor and range ecologist at the college of agricultural sciences at Oregon State University. She joins us to explain how these areas have been affected by invasive species, extreme wildfires and human activity and what that means for the future of a crucial Western ecosystem.

A food pantry located in the center of Talent, Oregon was forced to close earlier this year. It was located in Talent’s old town hall and was easily accessible to residents. A fire broke out at the location and organizers of the pantry are working on finding a new spot. Access, the agency behind the service, operates mobile pantries throughout Jackson County. We check in on what’s next for Talent with Marcee Champion, the food programs director for Access.

Washington voters have some high profile races on their primary ballots this week. Governor Jay Inslee, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Congressman Derek Kilmer are not seeking reelection. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez will try to hold on to her seat in the state's 3rd District. In addition, attorney general, public lands commissioner and insurance commissioner are all open seats. Olympia correspondent Jeanie Lindsay joins us to preview Washington’s top-two primary election.