Think Out Loud

Earlier this month, the governor’s office announced that Malheur County has been added to a homelessness state of emergency. The rural county has faced its own issues with homelessness and officials say that it has few resources to manage the issue. Tom Vialpando is the mayor of Vale. He joins us with more on what he hopes to see happen in the county.

"Wolfish: Wolf, Self, and the Stories We Tell about Fear" explores danger and culture through stories about wolves. Portland-based author Erica Berry weaves in her own experiences and encounters with "big, bad wolves." She also charts the journey of OR 7, a radio-collared Oregon wolf who wanders throughout the state and into California. Berry joins us to discuss her book and what wolves mean to us.

We listen back to a 2016 conversation with Walter Cole, whose alter ego was the legendary Portland drag queen Darcelle. Cole died last week at the age of 92.

The invasive brook trout is out-competing with the native and endangered bull trout in the waterways of the Malheur National Forest. Now, new efforts are underway to eradicate the invasive fish from High Lake and Lake Creek starting this summer. An advisory committee composed of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Fish and Wildlife and the Burns Paiute Tribe will oversee and undertake the project. Brandon Haslick is the Fisheries Program Manager for the tribe. He joins us to share the details of the plan and the damage the brook trout has caused.

The city of Ashland recently hired its first emergency management coordinator. Kelly Burns is a longtime firefighter with the Ashland Fire and Rescue Department. He’ll oversee the creation of a local emergency operations center in partnership with Southern Oregon University and the Ashland School District. With wildfire season on the horizon, he joins us to talk about his vision for the role and how he hopes to prepare the city for future crises.

A few years ago we spent a whole day at the central branch of the Multnomah County public library. We talked to patrons and librarians and tourists and behind-the-scenes workers.

In 2017, Oregon passed a law that was aimed at reducing wage disparities for employees performing the same work. Historically, women and people of color have earned lower wages than their white or male co-workers. Years later, a report from Oregon’s audit division found that wage gaps in government positions still remain. Ian Green is an audit manager for the Oregon Secretary of State audits division. Jennifer Freyd is a professor emerit of psychology at the University of Oregon. They join us with details of the report and how persistent pay disparities affect employees.

Oregon’s spring ocean salmon season was supposed to open in mid-March, but the National Marine Fisheries Service closed both the recreational and commercial seasons through mid-May in much of the state. Marine agencies expect extremely low returns of California Chinook salmon in the Klamath and Sacramento rivers, meaning the fall-run season could be further restricted. The Pacific Marine Fisheries Council is considering three alternatives for the season, all of which would cancel commercial and recreational Chinook fishing south of Cape Falcon through Sept. 1.

Though the closure is meant to protect future salmon populations, it could mean the loss of a year’s income for fishers along the coast. Barry McCovey, fisheries department director for the Yurok Tribe, and Brett Montague, a commercial salmon troller based in Newport join us to talk about the impacts of the closure.

States all over the country are hoping to lure federal money, and semiconductor companies, after Congress recently passed the CHIPS bill. In Oregon, lawmakers are considering a major overhaul of longstanding land-use laws to do just that. Duncan Wyse, president of the Oregon Business Council, and Sam Diaz, executive director of 1,000 Friends of Oregon, join us to discuss the changes the Legislature is considering.

Kristen Grainger, along with Bre Gregg, Beth Wood and others, continue their series of live concerts celebrating women this weekend. The first stops on the “She’s Speaking” tour were in Lincoln City and Salem. She and seven other women will play in Portland and Ilwaco, Washington this Saturday and Sunday. The idea is to put on a series of great concerts and bring attention to the gap in representation and opportunities for women in the male-dominated music industry. Grainger joins us to tell us more about the artists involved in “She’s Speaking” and play some of her own music in the studio.