Think Out Loud

Earlier this month, Nike told the Soul District Business Association that the company would be closing its store in Northeast Portland permanently. Ron Herndon was one of the people who brought that store to NE Portland in the 1980s. As a leader in the community organization Black United Front, Herndon helped convince Nike to support and invest in the Black community. We talk to Herndon about the legacy of that store, and what the closure means for the neighborhood.

The Portland Association of Teachers’ nearly 4,500 union members are currently working without a contract. The union has been in mediation with Portland Public Schools since late August, and both parties have repeatedly stated they would like to avoid a strike. Angela Bonilla, president of the Portland Association of Teachers, tells us what teachers and coaches are hoping for, and what the start of the school year has been like.

For the first time in four years, Oregon State Hospital is in compliance with a federal order requiring that certain patients be admitted to the hospital within seven days. Emily Cooper is the legal director of Disability Rights Oregon. She joins us to share more on what changed at the hospital and its future looking forward.

Oregon is the third state in the nation to seek federal approval for a basic health plan under the Affordable Care Act. Last week, the Oregon Health Policy Board unanimously approved the state’s blueprint for the program. Dave Baden is the interim director for the Oregon Health Authority. He joins us to share more on BHP, who could potentially qualify and what makes this program different than the Oregon Health Plan.

Kate Beaton gained an international following for “Hark, a Vagrant,” a quirky, satirical, historically informed comic strip. Beaton’s newest book takes a very different turn. It is a deeply personal graphic memoir called “Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands" about the time she spent working in the oil industry in Alberta, Canada in the mid-2000s. The book is a brutally honest exploration of class, migration, misogyny, and the culture of her homeland: the island of Cape Breton, in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia. We listen back to a conversation with Beaton at the 2022 Portland Book Festival.

On Monday, a coalition that includes Max Williams, a former director of the Oregon Department of Corrections and former state lawmaker, announced it had filed paperwork for a ballot measure to  “fix and improve” Measure 110. A key provision includes re-criminalizing the possession of hard drugs, like fentanyl and heroin, which were decriminalized with the passage of Measure 110 in 2020. That decriminalization, according to The Coalition to Fix and Improve Ballot Measure 110, has fueled open drug use on city streets and a spike in overdose deaths in Oregon, while failing to expand access to drug treatment and recovery services. Max Williams joins us to explain why he thinks Measure 110 isn’t working and why his coalition is seeking a remedy at the ballot box or through the state Legislature. 
 

Western gray squirrels are getting harder and harder to find in Washington state. They are the largest species of tree squirrels, and traditionally make their homes in low to mid-elevation forests, where historically they could find plenty of oaks, pines and Douglas firs. That habitat is disappearing and changing due to timber harvests, wildfires, land conversion and climate change.
Mary Linders is a wildlife biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. She tells us more about this large tree squirrel and what it will mean for them if Washington changes their status from “threatened” to “endangered.” 

One of Portland’s most established and storied professional theatres, Artists Repertory Theatre, announced a series of financial setbacks this summer. First, ART suspended its 2023-2024 season as it was getting ready to start rehearsing its first show. That was followed by major staff layoffs: the already lean organization laid off four of its 10 administrative and support positions. Aiyana Cunningham began her position as managing director shortly before these announcements. The renovations continue on the organization's downtown building that will ultimately serve as a space for ART’s own productions and as a regional arts space for smaller organizations without their own venues. Cunningham joins us to talk about the economic challenges ART and other established arts organizations are facing and more about how it’s approaching its mission of creating a regional arts hub.

Hikikomori is an extreme form of social isolation first recognized in Japan in the 1990s. It’s distinct from similar conditions like anxiety or agoraphobia and is characterized by sustained physical isolation, often at home. The condition is still gaining traction in mental health spaces, but a research team led by Oregon Health & Science University has developed a new evaluation tool to help providers diagnose hikikomori.

Alan Teo, associate professor of psychiatry at OHSU, joins us with more details on the first-of-its-kind tool, and how the pandemic exacerbated conditions related to social isolation. 

The University of Oregon is leading a collaborative effort to study earthquakes and conduct research focused on the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Participating institutions include the University of Washington, Stanford University and Virginia Tech. We hear more about the new Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center from Diego Melgar, an associate professor of earth sciences at the university and a director of the center.