Think Out Loud

A recent study from Portland State University assessed the likelihood of environmental hazard risks, identifying many “multi-hazard hotspots” — areas that are at risk of overlapping climate hazards — along I-205. The study looked at four climate risks, including fire, urban heat, flooding and landslides. The researchers note that these hotspots for climate hazards are the same areas that have dealt with chronic underinvestment and that these areas are home to a higher proportion of lower median incomes. 

Justin Huber is a doctoral student and research assistant at Portland State University, and he joins us to tell us more about this research and how identifying these high-risk areas can help cities approach more equitable emergency services and mitigation of these hazards.

The band Orquestra Pacífico Tropical has had at least 19 different members over the years, and at any given time there are at least 10 people playing on stage. David (Papi) Fimbres, who founded the band with Carlos Segovia, has been a drummer in a number of Northwest bands over the years and an essential part of Portland’s music scene. We talk to Fimbres and hear band members perform cumbia music in our studio.

This weekend, Portlanders can enjoy food, music, dancing and more with ties to Jewish culture. The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland is putting on its first Jewish cultural festival at Zidell Yards on Sunday. Marc Blattner is the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. He joins us to share more on what attendees can expect and why this event is important to have.

When the parent advocacy group Schools Beyond Screens sent out a survey to local parents regarding their thoughts on the ways PPS utilizes educational technology and screens in classrooms, parents issued remarks that too many videos were used in classrooms, and video games and screens were being used as rewards. There were also concerns about the use of “learning apps,” and many parents called for more paper-based learning. Some raised concerns that classroom technology usage didn't align with the rules surrounding tech in their homes.

The organization took this feedback, what they learned from the district and their own experiences as parents to create a draft revised tech and AI policy for Portland Public Schools. We’ll hear from Miranda Rake and Holly Hofkamp, two of the co-founders of the Portland chapter of Schools Beyond Screens, about what the draft policy entails.

Residents in the Washington County city of North Plains have been sharply divided for years over whether and how much to expand its urban growth boundary. City leaders passed a plan in 2024 that was overturned in a popular vote and in the same election ushered in a new anti-growth majority on the council. In less than 2 years, the majority of those councilors have resigned, along with the mayor and two subsequent replacement mayors.

North Plains also saw the departure of its city manager and had two interim city managers resign one after the other. The current interim has a contract that expires on Sept. 1.

In June we went to North Plains to talk to people inside and outside of the city limits to hear about their different ideas about growth and maintaining their rural identity — and the other issues fueling the turnover in local government.

Austin De Dios is a politics reporter focused on Washington and Clackamas counties for The Oregonian/Oregonlive, and he joins us to share the latest on the community and city government of North Plains.

Earlier this month, the Spokane Complex Fires ripped through neighborhoods in the city, damaging more than 800 structures and forcing evacuations of more than 65,000 residents. One person died from medical complications she suffered while evacuating from a nursing home.

Despite the loss of homes and other structures, the injury impacts of the fires were less severe, thanks in part to the city’s second-ever evacuation drill in April.

Sarah Nuss is the Director of Emergency Management for Spokane. She joins us to share more details about the drill and its effectiveness in helping get tens of thousands of individuals out of danger safely.

 In 1964, Oregon author Ken Kesey and a group of friends, known as the Merry Pranksters, embarked on a cross-country road trip from California to New York aboard a 1939 customized school bus. They painted the bus in psychedelic colors, added a rooftop platform and made other modifications. The bus known as Furthur became a symbol of the countercultural ethos of the ‘60s, from protesting the Vietnam War to ushering in the LSD-tinged anthems of the Grateful Dead in San Francisco. 

And now, for the first time since 1969, Furthur has left its home at the Kesey family farm outside Eugene to open a new generation of hearts and minds. As first reported by the New York Times earlier this month, the bus is returning to San Francisco as the centerpiece of “Forever Grateful, Golden Gate Park,” a Grateful Dead-themed exhibition in San Francisco opening on Sep. 5. The Oregon nonprofit Furthur Down the Road Foundation has been working for years to raise funds to restore the bus, which it hopes to start after the exhibit ends in late October. 

Ken Kesey’s son, Zane, joins us to discuss Furthur’s legacy, the plans for its restoration and what lessons he thinks this countercultural icon can offer us today.