Think Out Loud

The city of Eugene is the first city in Oregon to pass a ban on gas appliances for new residential construction. This comes amid a growing body of research into the health effects of the methane-based fossil fuel known as natural gas, and the ongoing effort to reduce emissions to combat climate change. Dozens of cities in other parts of the country have passed similar bans, and last fall the Multnomah County Health Department recommended moving away from all gas appliances after publishing a review of the evidence on public health and gas stoves.

Dylan Plummer is an organizer with the community action group Fossil Free Eugene, which brought the idea to ban gas hookups to the Eugene City Council two years ago and has been pushing for its adoption ever since. He joins us, along with NPR reporter Jeff Brady, who covers the natural gas industry as part of his beat on the climate desk.

There have been several shootings outside schools in the Portland area recently. There have also been traffic incidents leading to injury or death. Students, parents, school districts, and the city are talking about what they can do to keep kids safe. We hear from three high school students: Byronie McMahon, Danny Cage and Lana Rachielug. We also hear from two parents: Heidi Schultz and Leslie Kosoff.

A small coastal community in Southwest Washington might be a model for other places facing coastal erosion as the climate changes and sea levels rise. A group of people in North Cove, Washington, dumped a berm of rocks on the shoreline in an attempt to stop their beach from eroding - and it may be working. Sarah Trent wrote about the effort for High Country News, and she joins us to talk about her story.

The Portland Winter Light Festival is a city-wide event that illuminates what is often the darkest month of the year with art installations that can truly be called “lit.” The Willamette Light Brigade, a non-profit arts organization, launched the free event nearly a decade ago at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. It quickly spread across the Willamette River into downtown and now features light-based art pieces and performances in neighborhoods all over the city. This year’s theme is “The Light of Stars.” We talk with artist Tyler FuQua about his work and his commission from the festival: a gigantic, lighted robot in downtown called “Mechan 42: Space Explorer.”

“Contingency management” is a practice that rewards people with vouchers or gift cards for not engaging in behaviors they’re trying to quit. The idea is to realign reward pathways in the brain using positive reinforcement. The practice is gaining traction as a way to help combat substance use disorder — Washington and Montana are both working to incorporate contingency management into state treatment programs, and California is set to launch a pilot program that covers it as a Medicaid benefit.

Joining us to talk about the pros and cons of contingency management is Sara Parent, an assistant professor in the department of community and behavioral health at Washington State College of Medicine.

Last year, former Attorney General Sally Yates released an independent report outlining the abuse and sexual misconduct in Women’s Professional Soccer. In the report, Yates also shared recommendations to prevent abuse in the future. Now, U.S. Soccer has announced it will be implementing these recommendations, including the Safe Soccer Program. Anne Peterson is a sports writer for the Associated Press. She joins us to share what this program is and what it means for the future of the sport.

Two years ago, the Oregon legislature approved the sale of $15 million in lottery bonds to help pay for a community center in Woodburn. Last year, the Department of Administrative Services decided against selling the bonds. The city of Woodburn filed suit. We talk to Woodburn mayor Frank Lonergan about what the community center would mean for the city, how much it will cost and what the lawsuit means for the future of the project.

The Pacific Northwest helped pioneer craft brewing, and it’s still a hub for small breweries and small batch distilleries. It should come as no surprise that the region is also a mecca of businesses that brew non-alcoholic beer and distill alcohol-free spirits. It’s a fast-growing category in a huge market of adult beverages. In fact the Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association launched just over a year ago, another indication of this rapidly growing industry of non-alcoholic beers and botanical spirits. Joining us are two alcohol industry veterans who are at the forefront of the non-alcoholic trend. Larry Sidor is the co-founder and master brewer at Crux Fermentation Project in Bend, which produces NA beers along with its many beers that contain alcohol. And Brad Whiting cofounded Wilderton, based in Hood River, which exclusively distills botanical spirits to create non-alcoholic cocktails.

Woodburn community center project faces uncertain future

The pandemic accelerated the rollout and adoption of technologies like Zoom as a way for clinicians to conduct virtual visits with patients. But well before telemedicine took off, one Portland clinic and research lab has been conducting its visits exclusively virtually since 2017 as a way to reach more patients throughout Oregon with services that could be hard to come by, especially in rural areas.

The Stuttering Lab at Portland State University provides speech therapy conducted over Zoom to people who stutter. The sessions are free and open to any Oregon resident. Clients work with a speech-language pathologist and her team of graduate students to learn techniques to better manage and accept their stuttering, a speech disorder which affects about three percent of the population. The lab also conducts research on how people who stutter talk about their condition, and the effectiveness of telepractice sessions compared to traditional, in-person sessions.

Joining us to share some of those findings are Megan McGill, an assistant professor in the department of speech and hearing sciences at Portland State University and the director of the PSU Stuttering Lab. Leo Ergenekan, a 10-year-old former patient of the lab, and his mother, Haylee Ergenekan also join us to share their experiences.