Think Out Loud

After several recent attacks on TriMet passengers, the transportation agency has invested millions in hiring private security officers. In addition, it will fund a prosecutor at the Multnomah County DA’s office to focus on TriMet crimes. The agency also recently announced the results of a study that found trace amounts of fentanyl on public transit surfaces in amounts that were not dangerous to the public. Meanwhile, TriMet ridership is down nearly 40%, and the agency plans to increase fares by 12%. We talk to TriMet Chief Safety Officer Andrew Wilson and Rob Hendrickson, medical toxicologist at OHSU.

Students across Oregon will walk out of school on Friday as part of a youth strike for meaningful climate action. Among the demands they’re making are a formal declaration of a climate emergency from Gov. Tina Kotek, direct relief to unhoused Oregonians during climate disasters, and more legislative support for clean energy. Organizers in Portland, Bend, Salem and Florence set specific demands for their cities in addition to the statewide demands. 

Chloe Gilmore is an organizer with the Portland Youth Climate Strike and a senior at Lincoln High School. She joins us with more details on the strike from the gathering at City Hall.

The nonprofit Partners in Care offers hospice and palliative care in Central Oregon. Its Transitions team recently received an award from Deschutes County for its work helping clients navigate resources for care. We learn more about the organization and how it aims to give Oregonians from all walks of life a chance to die with dignity. Joining us are Maureen Dooley, the marketing and communications manager, and Bethany Benefield, the Transitions Program Lead for Partners in Care.

On Wednesday, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler announced he will not seek a third term as mayor in 2024, and instead focus on addressing the city’s “critical challenges” such as homelessness, public safety and economic recovery for the duration of his term. Last month, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler asked for nearly 100 Oregon state troopers to help tackle crime in the city. He made his suggestion at the first meeting of  the new task force convened by Gov. Tina Kotek to develop a plan to revive Portland’s downtown business district. Meanwhile, city officials have yet to enforce a daytime ban on camping that started in July, the same month that the first of six large outdoor shelter sites for people experiencing homelessness opened in Southeast Portland. We’ll talk to Mayor Wheeler about his vision for the city, the challenges it faces and the voter-approved overhaul of how it is governed.

For nearly 40 years, sculptor M.J. Anderson has been making annual trips from her home on the Oregon coast to Carrara, Italy. She spends up to three months there, traveling along a winding road to quarries with towering walls of marble, the same kind of stone that was used to create Michelangelo’s sculpture of David and other timeless works of Renaissance art.  

But Anderson isn’t interested in recreating classical, idealized representations of masculine or feminine beauty. Instead, as a recent exhibit of her work in Astoria showcased, a unifying theme of Anderson’s work is “the distillation of what it feels like to be woman.” Starting at her studio in Carrara, she uses grinders and air hammers to carve torsos evoking the female form out of massive blocks of marble, onyx and travertine. The pieces are then shipped, unfinished, to Anderson’s studio in Nehalem where she polishes them while retaining drill marks and other raw reminders of the stone’s past and its “power.” We’ll talk to Anderson about her artistic process and the themes that animate her work today.

Earlier this month, Gov. Tina Kotek declared a drought emergency in Lincoln, Gilliam and Douglas Counties. In Lincoln County, low stream flows and dry conditions have greatly affected the coastal region. The declaration is uncommon there. We learn more about what it means from County Commissioner Kaety Jacobson.

When you go to a museum or visit a science center, it’s not uncommon to see graphs, charts and other visual data displays included in the exhibit. But blind and low-vision visitors don’t get that same experience. Researchers with the Accessible Oceans pilot project are exploring how to turn some of that data into sound so it’s more accessible to all visitors. The project’s team of interdisciplinary researchers has been gathering feedback from visually impaired students and teachers, as well as ocean science experts, on how they can accurately represent ocean data in a series of sound presentations.

Jon Bellona is a sound artist and senior instructor of audio production at the University of Oregon, and Amy Bower is a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. They join us to talk about the project and how they hope to make data more accessible.

You might be an avid crossword solver, but have you ever thought about what it takes to create them? Matt Jones has been making crossword puzzles since his late teens, with one of his first puzzles appearing in The New York Times when he was just 19. His weekly puzzle Jonesin’ has appeared in alt-weeklies across the country, including Willamette Week, since 2001. 

Jones joins us to share more about what it takes to be a crossword constructor and what he thinks makes a good puzzle.

LGBTQ youth are more than twice as likely to experience homelessness than their peers, due to a lack of support. Oregon youth in foster care need more options for temporary homes with foster parents committed to creating an affirming and safe environment. We talk with Unicorn Solutions founder Elliott Hinkle, who was formerly in foster care themselves, and  current foster parent Mel Jory-Heywood.

Breena Bard’s new graphic novel “Wildfire” focuses on Julianna, an eighth grader who’s forced to flee her home in rural Oregon and resettle in Portland following a wildfire. Julianna soon joins the conservation club at her new school, though she insists the fires that destroyed her home were caused by local boys with errant fireworks rather than climate change. The story follows Julianna as she processes her grief and learns to engage with climate issues in ways that make sense to her. 

Bard joins us in studio to talk about the book and the many ways young people can take action on climate change.