Think Out Loud

College-bound students in Oregon and around the nation would typically be receiving their financial aid packages from colleges and universities right about now to help them decide where to enroll in the fall. But many students may now have to wait until April because of the U.S. Department of Education’s delay in sharing financial aid information to colleges and universities. 

The delay adds to the troubled rollout of the new version of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid which the education department recently overhauled to make it easier for families and students to apply for federal grants and loans. But the FAFSA update failed to adjust for inflation when calculating financial aid eligibility – a mistake education officials are scrambling to fix, and which has resulted in nearly $2 billion in additional federal aid becoming available to applicants. The many delays and technical problems have added to an already stressful experience of . OPB higher education reporter Tiffany Camhi joins us to share how the new FAFSA application has been impacting Oregon high school students and college and university administrators in the state. 

After years of pressure from climate activists and others, Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read has put forth a plan to divest state investments from fossil fuel interests. He presented a plan to reduce greenhouse gas emission impacts of pension funds to net zero by 2050 to the Oregon Investment Council this week. The plan includes a target of an interim 60% reduction by 2035. Oregon and other states have faced challenges to make significant changes while also fulfilling the mandated mission to maximize retirement investments for pensioners. Currently, the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund serves more than 405,000 people and is worth more than $90 billion. Read joins us to share more about the details of the plan.

For the 10th consecutive year, U.S. News and World Report has named Oregon State University one of the top 10 places in the nation to obtain an undergraduate degree online. OSU is ranked fourth, along with Arizona State University and North Carolina State University, for best online bachelor’s programs which were evaluated on factors such as faculty credentials and graduation rates.  

OSU was an early adopter of remote learning, making its first leap into the space more than 20 years ago. Today, students in all 50 states and nearly 60 countries attend courses virtually through OSU’s Ecampus. The online offerings cover more than 100 different subjects that are taught and developed by the same faculty who teach students seated in lecture halls or science labs. According to Lisa Templeton, the vice provost of Ecampus, online enrollment grew more than 10% last year, with about 3 in 10 students learning exclusively online last fall. Templeton joins us to talk about the expansion of online learning at OSU, along with Joann Malumaleumu, an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, who graduated last year with an online bachelor’s degree from OSU.  

If a patient or a coworker makes a racist comment to a Black person working as a nurse in Oregon, that nurse may have no one who looks like them to turn to for commiseration and understanding. Nurses of color in Oregon work in predominantly white spaces, which can be very isolating on top of a job that is already emotionally and physically draining. A new podcast, Black Care Matters, focuses on the challenges and successes of Black nurses in Oregon. We talk to Erica Bailey, president of the Alliance of Black Nurses Association of Oregon, Violet Larry, vice president of ABNAO, and Rashida Quinn, host of the podcast, about their work.

It’s been over a year since residents of Morrow County recalled two of their commissioners. Now residents are considering recall petitions again. For months, the county and its ambulance service, Morrow County Health District, have been in deliberations over a new service contract. Some residents feel that there has been a lack of transparency in the commissioners’ handling of negotiations. Berit Thorson is a reporter for the East Oregonian. She joins us to share more on what’s happening in the county. 

What happens when you ask an AI image generator for a regular photo of a person? Research from the University of Washington suggests that the result might be influenced by gender and racial stereotypes. A study found that the image generator Stable Diffusion overrepresented light-skinned men, underrepresented Indigenous people and even sexualized certain women of color when asked to create an image of “a person.” As AI becomes more prevalent in our daily lives, these kinds of human biases and prejudices have the potential to spread and cause more harm.

Sourojit Ghosh is a fourth-year PhD candidate in human-centered design & engineering at the University of Washington. Ramón Alvarado is an assistant professor of philosophy and a member of the Data Science Initiative at the University of Oregon. They both study the ethics of artificial intelligence, and join us to talk about the challenges it poses. 

Senate Bill 1583 would prevent school boards and district personnel from banning textbooks and library books on the basis of content related to race, LGBTQ+ identities, religion, disability or other protected group. The bill was introduced by Sen. Lew Frederick, D-Portland, and has drawn more than 500 testimonies. Yesterday a hearing was held for the bill. Julia Shumway is the deputy editor for the Oregon Capital Chronicle and has been covering the bill. She joins us with the details.    

 Every 10 years, as populations change, lawmakers in most states draw up new district boundaries so that voters will have proportional and equitable opportunities for representation. But they don't always achieve that goal. Redistricting fights are often extremely political, and can end up disenfranchising voters of color. Assigning the redistricting decisions to independent commissions, rather than lawmakers, is intended to address these challenges. In Washington state, it hasn’t always worked out that way. Marilyn Thompson has reported on Washington’s independent redistricting commission for ProPublica, and joins us to talk about what she’s found.

While it’s not the I-5, there’s another bridge spanning the Columbia River that may be in even more need of replacement. Last month, the federal government announced it was awarding $200 million to help pay for the replacement of the Hood River-White Salmon bridge in the Columbia River Gorge. Marla Keethler is the mayor of White Salmon and a commissioner on the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge Authority which was created last July to oversee the bridge replacement efforts. She described the nearly 100-year-old bridge as “a lifeline” to residents and the regional economy, with more than four million crossings made last year. 

But the nearly mile-long bridge has been in need of replacing for decades, with speed reductions and weight limits imposed in recent years to extend its life and defer costly repairs to its metal deck. The estimate for replacing the bridge is estimated at $520 million which the HRWS Bridge Authority says will be paid for through federal and state grants and loans. Mayor Keethler joins us to talk about the status of these efforts to replace the Hood River-White Salmon bridge and the vision for a new one, along with Mike Fox, co-chair of the Hood River White Salmon Bridge Authority and secretary of the Hood River Port Commission.   

A recent economic forecast by the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis shows that state lawmakers have more than $500 million to spend than previously expected. Still, much of the money has been accounted for and a slow population growth could negatively affect Oregon’s economy in the future. Mark McMullen, the state economist, joins us with details of the forecast.