Think Out Loud

Last month, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office had a swearing-in ceremony for Burton, a new member on its force. He won’t, however, be apprehending suspected criminals, working on investigations or responding to requests for back-up. But the help he will provide is just as valuable, albeit in a different way, to deputies and the communities they serve.

Burton is the department’s first comfort dog. His handler, Deputy Kerri Oman, takes the 85-pound, longhaired German Shepherd to comfort victims of trauma or to community events where his vest encourages people to pet him, unlike most police canines. Burton is also in high demand among Multnomah County deputies and first responders to ease the stress and emotional toll of their jobs. Deputy Oman and Burton join us to share more, along with Darin Campbell, the executive director of Working Dogs Oregon, a nonprofit whose services include training and donating dogs, including Burton, to law enforcement agencies in Oregon.

Since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, Israel's retaliatory air and ground military response has left Gaza in ruins. Less than a third of the hospitals there are intact and operating at even a diminished capacity. As Beaverton doctor Ahmed Ebeid put it after he returned from a volunteer trip to the region, people are dying from war wounds even if they make it to a clinic or hospital due to a lack of capacity, medicine and basic medical supplies like gauze and surgical gloves. We talk with Ebeid, who returned in April from his second volunteer trip to Gaza this year, along with Arnaud Queim, the Middle East regional director for Portland-based Mercy Corps.

In April, members of the Columbia Gorge Fruit Growers Association gave testimony at a Wasco County Commissioners meeting over potential rule changes to Oregon’s agricultural labor housing standards. The growers claim many of the changes are too costly to implement and unrelated to health and safety. Columbia Gorge News recently reported on the meeting amid the yearslong effort by the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division to update agricultural labor housing rules, some of which haven’t changed in nearly four decades. 

Also in April, a coalition of labor unions, racial justice and farmworker advocacy groups sent a letter to Gov. Tina Kotek and the Oregon OSHA administrator expressing their disappointment in what they characterized as a “lack of priority” given to improving the “alarmingly outdated” labor housing standards. Aileen Hymas, a freelance journalist based in Southern Oregon, joins us to share more

According to the latest economic forecast, Oregon’s economy is steady. But at the same time, state economists say that job growth over the past few years has been at some of the state’s lowest levels in recent history. The forecast also found that there is a 50% chance for Oregonians to see another kicker in 2026. Josh Lehner interim state economist for Oregon. He joins us with more.

Floating offshore wind projects are slowly moving forward off the coasts of California and Southern Oregon. The projects could power millions of homes, but they’ve also raised concerns from tribal governments, environmental organizations and the commercial fishing industry. The Pacific Offshore Wind Consortium aims to address some of those questions. Made up of centers at Oregon State University, Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the consortium will conduct research and provide public information about offshore wind on the West Coast.

Bryson Robertson is the director of the Pacific Marine Energy Center and a professor of civil and construction engineering at OSU. He joins us with more details about the effort.

The Sisters Rodeo has begun. The event will last through June 9 and features multiple performances and a parade. Next month, St. Paul will host its rodeo over the 4th of July. The rodeos have run for more than 80 years and host thousands of spectators in their rural communities. We hear more about the events from Brian Greig, the director of sponsorships and marketing for the Sisters Rodeo Association and Karen McKillip, the general manager for the St. Paul Rodeo.    

We’re taking a deep dive into people’s work lives. We want to learn what it takes to do different jobs and how these professions change us.

On the latest installment of our series, we visit Freeland Spirits in Portland, which is owned and run by women. Master Distiller Molly Troupe creates spirits, like gin and whiskey. She takes us behind the scenes and shares more about her craft and the rye whiskey—grown and distilled in Oregon—that Freeland recently released.

The Pamplin Media Group announced Monday that the Portland Tribune and more than two dozen of its other local newspapers in Oregon had been sold to Mississippi-based Carpenter Media Group. As reported in Willamette Week, Ross Island Sand & Gravel, part of R.B. Pamplin Corp., has been under fire for its failure to refill the cavernous hole it dug while mining the Willamette River bottom from 1926 to 2001. The R.B. Pamplin Corp., which has a variety of business holdings,  had been struggling financially for some time.

On the same day, EO Media Group, which runs 15 family-owned newspapers from Enterprise to Astoria, announced it would be cutting staff and looking into new ownership. We discuss these developments and their possible implications with Brent Walth, a long time investigative reporter who now teaches journalism and runs the Catalyst program at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism

Since 2007, the Oregon Game Project Challenge teaches middle and high school students in Oregon how to go from video game players, to developers in a year long competition. Every season a new theme is announced and competitors have the entire school year to develop a video game from start to finish, including coding, art and sound design. This year's competition was in mid-May, and the team Toast Lads from Century High School won best in show for their game, MARK3T M3TAL. Jason Pelkey is their team lead and a senior at CHS. Andrew Scholar is the director of the Oregon Game Project Challenge. They join us to share more on this year's competition.

There’s a new entry in Portland’s art scene. But it’s not your typical exhibit or art show where the canvases or sculptures are carefully curated and displayed to be enjoyed from a respectful distance. Instead, Fathom is an underwater-themed immersive art experience abounding with opportunities for interaction, whether it’s the 21-foot-long, animatronic humpback whale that sings at the touch of a button, glowing treasure chests, a room of infinity mirrors to get lost in or a giant, illuminated clam to lounge inside of. 

More than 30 artists worked on Fathom, led by Roboto Octopodo, an artist collective that was launched by the same creative team behind the Portland Winter Light Festival. Tickets can be purchased online to attend the show which is open three days a week through October. Joining us to talk about Fathom and the growing appeal of immersive art experiences is Tyler FuQua, a co-founder of Roboto Octopodo and Oregon City artist who makes large-scale installation artworks.