We get opinions and analysis of some of the week’s big stories with our news roundtable. This week we’re joined by former Oregon legislator Julie Parrish, political scientist Jim Moore and Lisa Bates, associate professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University.

Five different neighborhood associations in North Portland have asked the city to get more involved in the creation of sanctioned homeless camps. That’s one of the suggestions in a new proposal from the groups, who want to meet with city leaders to discuss proactive solutions. Tom Hickey, chair of the Bridgeton Neighborhood Association, tells us about the collaborative work they have been doing.

Hundreds of workers in fruit packing plants in Washington’s Yakima valley are on strike. They say they are not being adequately protected against the new coronavirus or being compensated for the increased risks they face. We hear more from Yakima Herald reporter Mai Hoang and talk with fruit packer Julieta Pulido about her working conditions and what it would take for her to feel safe enough to go back to work.

We get opinions and analysis of some of the week’s big stories with our news roundtable. This week we’re joined by former Oregon legislator Julie Parrish, political scientist Jim Moore and Lisa Bates, associate professor of urban studies and planning at Portland State University.

Two years ago, author Viet Thanh Nguyen joined us in front of an audience at Literary Arts in downtown Portland. Nguyen is the author of “The Displaced” and “The Sympathizer,” which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He is a 2017 MacArthur Fellow and professor at the University of Southern California.

Robert Holmes, owner of Bob’s Steak N’ Spirits in Nyssa, is happy to be back open after a long forced shutdown. But business in the 3,200-person Eastern Oregon town is still far from usual. We hear from Holmes about what it’s like to reopen in a pandemic, and how his restaurant will be impacted in the long term.

Mary McLean didn’t expect to be on the frontlines of a global pandemic in the last year of her medical residency. McLean, who grew up in Portland and graduated from OHSU, is currently the chief resident of emergency medicine at St. John’s Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, New York. She says that while things are a lot better there than they were a few weeks ago, she’s bracing for the second wave of COVID-19. And she’s glad that Oregon seems to have learned from New York’s mistakes and avoided a major outbreak. We hear from McLean about what she’s experienced, and what the uncertain future looks like from her perspective.

Oregonians got a clearer picture this week of what to expect from the economic slump caused by the pandemic. The state released its quarterly revenue forecast Wednesday, saying the economic downturn will be severe and “recovery will take years.” We dig into the forecast and discuss what it reveals and what questions still remain unanswered. Our guests are OPB political reporter Dirk VanderHart and two Oregon state senators — Elizabeth Steiner Hayward (D-Beaverton/Portland) and Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) — both of whom are co-chairs of the legislature’s budget-writing committee.

Earlier this year, the Oregon Historical Quarterly published a special edition called “White Supremacy & Resistance.” The issue evolved as a reaction to the racial violence that resulted in two murders on a Portland MAX light rail line in 2017. Articles explore white supremacy in the formation of Oregon and its state constitution, as well as the history of violence to dominate and control nonwhite populations, from Indigenous peoples and African Americans to East Indian, Chinese and Japanese immigrants. We talk with one of the guest editors of the issue, emeritus professor of Black Studies at Portland State University Darrell Millner, and with independent historian Johanna Ogden.

Oregon’s primary election results are in, and a few key races are still too close to call. OPB’s Vice President of News, Anna Griffin, joins us for a recap.