Think Out Loud

Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple joins us with an update on the status of the fires and how agencies are responding.

Earlier this year, Flor Sánchez made the agonizing decision to leave her husband and 6-year-old son behind, and self-deported to Sinaloa, Mexico amid the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown. As immigration enforcement activity spread earlier this year into Central Washington, where Sánchez worked in the fruit orchards, she made the choice to depart Sunnyside, Washington and leave the U.S. with her eldest son. Her story is part of a larger trend of immigrant workers making the choice to leave the U.S. due to immigration enforcement. 

Daisy Zavala Magaña and Hal Bernton covered Sánchez’s story for Range, and they join us to discuss their reporting.

Mary Fariba Afsari is an OB-GYN based in Portland, and she’s the author of a new memoir, called "Labor: One Woman’s Work." She tells the story of her practice, and how she came to turn a 31-foot-RV into a mobile women's health clinic. She also weaves her personal narrative with the story of her grandmother in Iran, who died as a young woman from a lack of reproductive healthcare. We'll talk with Afsari about the book and her work.

Portland artist Arvie Smith is known for colorful, larger-than-life oil paintings that explore oppression and injustice against Black Americans through symbolism and visual tropes. He’s also a professor emeritus at Pacific Northwest College of Art after a 35-year tenure. His murals can be seen on buildings in North Portland and at the Donald E. Long Juvenile Center, where he spent time teaching art to incarcerated youth.
Despite being in his mid-80s, Smith is far from retired — just last year, he received a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. The work he created during that fellowship is currently on display in Chicago. Titled “Crossing Clear Creek,” the exhibit explores Smith’s childhood memories and experience of race in rural Texas and Los Angeles. We spoke with Smith in March 2025 about his life and work.

Seattle poet Kathleen Flenniken grew up in Richland and worked as a civil engineer at Hanford in the 1980s. She served as Washington State Poet Laureate from 2012-2014. In her first year as poet laureate, she published a collection called Plume, which deals directly with how her Hanford area upbringing influenced her.  The book explores the history of the site, the death of her best friend's father from a radiation illness, and her childhood in "Atomic City.” Flenniken sits down with us from the campus of Washington State University Tri-Cities.

The Jefferson County Soil & Water Conservation District helps manage irrigation, soil erosion, water quality and other factors that impact the health of the county’s watersheds. It’s supposed to be overseen by a seven-member board, but until recently, one seat had remained vacant for more than 30 years.   

Alysia Klick’ump was recently appointed to the board as an associate director for Zone 1, which covers the Warm Springs reservation. She joins us to talk about her role and the perspective she adds to the board as a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs and fly fishing guide.

The Oregon Health Authority is considering doubling license fees for the state’s psilocybin service providers. The draft rules would also eliminate discounts for nonprofit service centers and facilitators who are veterans or qualify as low-income. A third of Oregon’s psilocybin service centers have already closed since OHA began issuing licenses in 2023.

Cathy Jonas, the founder and CEO of EPIC Healing Eugene, joins us to share what the proposed changes could mean for her center. We’ll also check in with Angie Allbee, manager of the Psilocybin Services Section at OHA, about the future of Oregon’s first-in-the-nation program.

 In 2022, the Multnomah county auditor looked into the jails run by the county sheriff’s office. The audit found that adults in custody who were Black or had mental health conditions were disciplined and put in isolation or solitary confinement more often. That audit made several recommendations, but a new report says the sheriff’s office has not implemented the recommendations related to the use of solitary confinement. While the sheriff’s office did not include a response to this report, a public information officer told OPB that their operations were grounded in best practices, and that the auditor’s office refused their request to meet before the report was released. The sheriff’s office also said that “a decision to not adopt a specific recommendation does not diminish our commitment to providing exemplary public safety services.”