Think Out Loud

Substance use disorder affects both urban and rural communities. National health data shows that addiction has a particularly significant impact on rural areas. People in rural communities have higher rates of alcohol, tobacco and methamphetamine use compared with those in urban areas, though rates of opioid misuse are similar. But rural areas also often lack the support and recovery services available in larger communities.

Community Counseling Solutions provides mental and behavioral health services for five counties in Northeast and Central Oregon, including Grant County. Clinical director Thad Labhart joins us to talk about the challenges of providing those services across a wide swath of rural Oregon. We also hear from Sarah Brown, a peer support specialist at the CCS office in John Day.

Members of Grant Union High School’s Future Business Leaders of America group will be headed to the national competition after placing at the state level. In addition, Maddie Bailey, a sophomore, will now lead Oregon’s statewide FBLA. We talk to Bailey, and another member of the group, Morgan Walker, about what these successes mean for Grant County students, and what experience they’ve gained from the club.

The TriMet board will soon vote whether to increase regular bus and rail fares. The proposal would raise adult 2.5-hour fares and LIFT paratransit single tickets from $2.50 to $2.80. Youth and honored citizen fares would increase from $1.25 to $1.40. Monthly Hop Fastpass costs and fare caps would not change.

If approved, this would be TriMet’s first adult fare increase in more than 10 years. The agency says it’s necessary to keep up with rising operation and service costs. However, an equity analysis found that the proposal would impose a “disproportionate burden” on low-income riders.

We’ll hear more about the proposal from TriMet’s Executive Director of Public Affairs JC Vannatta. We’ll also hear from Ellie Gluhosky, campaign organizer for the environmental justice group OPAL, which has been organizing against the fare increase.

It’s perhaps fitting that “Spirit Rangers,” an animated series on Netflix made for preschool-aged audiences, premiered last October on Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Now in its second season, the show revolves around three Cowlitz and Chumash Indian siblings - Kodi, Summer and Eddy Skycedar - who magically transform into a bear cub, red-tailed hawk and turtle. They then embark on adventures in a fictional California national park where they live and where their parents work as rangers. The creative team behind “Spirit Rangers” are all Native American, including Joey Clift, an L.A.-based comedian, television writer and enrolled member of the Cowlitz Tribe of Southwest Washington who also serves as a consulting producer on the show. Clift wrote a recent episode about salmon habitat restoration which features a maternal guardian salmon spirit voiced by Cowlitz Tribal member and musician Debora Iyall. Clift and Iyall join us to talk about their collaboration on “Spirit Rangers,” and how the show is both a source of pride and empowerment for Indigenous storytelling.

New Amazon data centers are headed to Morrow County. Officials there recently approved a deal worth about $1 billion in tax breaks, The Oregonian reported. David Sykes is the chair of the Morrow County commission. He says that Amazon helps diversify the region’s economy. Sykes joins us with details of the deal.

Researchers at Oregon State University recently published a study showing that the use of a metal bar placed at a certain height on a commercial fishing vessel can significantly reduce repetitive motion injuries sustained by deckhands during the Dungeness crabbing season. It’s one example of how the Fishermen Led Injury Prevention Program, which was launched at OSU nearly a decade ago, is helping fishermen reduce injuries in an industry where hazards abound, from falls on a slippery deck to vessel disasters on the high seas.

After hearing from fishermen that first aid training needs to be relevant for their industry, FLIPP partnered with Oregon Sea Grant to develop a first aid training course that is being taught to fishing crews in Oregon, and has now expanded to training sessions in Washington and California. Laurel Kincl is an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at Oregon State University, and Poggy Lapham is a commercial fisherman based in Newport. They join us to talk about efforts to make fisheries in Oregon and the West Coast safer through the work of FLIPP.

A piece of music by the composer Philip Glass will soon be performed under the tail of Oregon’s iconic Spruce Goose airplane. The piece, “1,000 Airplanes on the Roof,” has rarely been performed in full. It features numerous wind instruments, synthesizers, a vocalist, and an actor performing scenes. Sarah Tiedemann, Artistic Director of Third Angle New Music, and actor Ithica Tell, join us to describe the performance in more detail and share its history.

A Klamath County library book club was canceled after a resident complained about one of the featured books, "No More Police: A Case for Abolition," the Herald and News reported. The county commission instructed the library to issue a decision to cancel it. And library officials say that has led to concerns about the future of other programming. Some residents also worry about how this decision can set precedent for suppressing other speech. We learn more about the issue from Klamath County commissioner Kelley Minty; Charla Oppenlander, the assistant library director of the Klamath County Library Service District; and Lois Taysom, a member of the Klamath County Library advisory board.

In Oregon, private landowners may “lethally remove beaver without a permit,” according to guidance from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. A bill moving its way through the state legislature would change that. Advocates say that the current classification of beavers as a “predatory animal” on private lands limits data and ODFW control of the rodent. The bill aims to classify beavers as a “furbearer” on private lands which means the animal would be treated similarly to a raccoon or fox. Beavers already have this designation on public lands. Opponents say the current classification allows landowners, like producers, to keep their property safe from damage.

In a statement, the Oregon Farm Bureau, which is opposed to the bill, wrote that the bill “allows for no consideration of a farmer or ranchers’ operation, time, expense, or economic loss, including any losses related to the delay in management while they try to determine the complicated management structure HB 3464 A has created.”
We learn more about the bill, from Sristi Kamal, the deputy director of the Western Environmental Law Center and a proponent of the bill.

Oregon voters narrowly passed Ballot Measure 114 which, among many other provisions, would require a background check and permit before people are sold firearms. But that measure is now tied up in a court challenge with no clear timetable for implementation. Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers in the Oregon legislature have advanced a gun safety bill that would make a few different legal changes. HB 2005 passed the House and is scheduled to be heard by the Senate. Republican senators have been deliberately absent from the chamber in recent weeks, slowing the progress of considering this and other legislation.

We invited senators from both major parties to join us to discuss the gun safety proposal. We hear from Democratic Sen. Floyd Prozanski from South Lane and North Douglas counties, and Republican Sen. David Brock Smith from Port Orford.