Think Out Loud

A foster care bill in the Oregon legislature is controversial, but unlike other hotly contested issues, it’s not one that breaks along party lines. House Bill 3835 would allow kids in the child welfare system to be sent out of state to receive services —  a practice Oregon stopped several years ago after documented incidents of abuse. Democratic governor Tina Kotek has publicly spoken in favor of the bill, and it’s sponsored by Rep. Rob Nosse, D - Portland. But Sen. Sara Gelser Blouin, D - Corvallis, is among those in her party who vehemently oppose it. We hear from both lawmakers to get their perspectives on how the bill would — or would not —  meet the needs of some of Oregon’s most vulnerable children. 

Renée Watson has topped bestseller lists and won multiple awards for her children’s and young adult literature. But the author, who splits her time between Portland and New York City, recently released “skin & bones,” her first book for adults. The story follows 40-year-old Lena Baker as she navigates dating, fat-shaming, friendship and motherhood while also working to bring Oregon’s Black history to the general public. The book also deals with grief, faith and the things we pass from one generation to the next. We spoke with Watson on June 24, 2024 about her adult fiction debut.

Portland comedian Susan Rice has performed on stages across the country since the 1980s. But it was only last year, at the age of 72, that she received wider acclaim after her appearance at a Don’t Tell Comedy showcase went viral. The 10-minute set has now been viewed more than 1.4 million times on Youtube. Following that success, Rice dropped her first stand-up album, “Silver Alert,” earlier this month.   

Rice joins us to talk about her long career in comedy and the humor she finds in aging.

Katherine Paul is an Indigenous musician who performs as Black Belt Eagle Scout. The band’s most recent album, “The Land, Water, The Sky,” draws inspiration from the landscape of the Pacific Northwest and Paul’s return to her home on the Swinomish Reservation in Washington after many years in Portland. Paul recently created a 45-minute “soundwalk” in partnership with Third Angle New Music. The composition is meant to be listened to on a walk around Henry Hagg Lake in Washington County. To celebrate its launch, Black Belt Eagle Scout will perform a free show at the lake on Saturday, May 31.

Paul joins us to talk about the new project and her work as Black Belt Eagle Scout.

Chad Draizin of Portland’s 50 Licks sold his first scoop of ice cream in 2009 at a street fair. After several years of pop-up events and selling to local grocery stores, he opened his first brick-and-mortar shop in 2013 in the Clinton Street neighborhood, but it was in 2017 that Draizin says his business transformed with the opening of the E. Burnside & 28th location - on a busy corner near dozens of restaurants and a movie theater right across the street. Business boomed, and he was able to open another location in Northwest. That’s why the fire in May 2024, which consumed the inside of the historic building, was so devastating. But Draizin managed to keep the other stores going and create a pop-up location at Washington Square Mall. He joins us to share what recovery over the last year has looked like, and his hopes for getting back into his dream location on Burnside.

Last week, Oregon State Police, joined by multiple state and local agencies, completed a search of a roadside zoo in Bandon on the Southern Oregon Coast. More than 300 animals were seized and relocated to animal sanctuaries or rescue facilities. Three animals, including a camel, were euthanized because they were determined to be in such poor health they could not be transported or treated, according to OSP. The Oregon Humane Society, the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, the Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife assisted OSP with the four-day search and criminal investigation, which is ongoing.

The now-closed West Coast Game Park Safari opened in 1972 and lured visitors with a chance to encounter exotic animals like tigers, lions, chimpanzees and emus. Over the years, it had garnered numerous complaints from community members and organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals over suspected animal neglect and possible violations of state wildlife regulations. Inspectors at the Department of Agriculture cited the roadside zoo 78 times in the past year alone for animals that had gone missing, appeared underfed or were denied adequate veterinary care, among other violations of the Animal Welfare Act. 

Jefferson Public Radio reporter Justin Higginbottom has been following this story and joins us with more details. 

By the early 1900s, the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist group founded by former Confederate soldiers after the Civil War, had all but faded from existence in the U.S. Then, in 1915, a second Klan was founded in Georgia, and soon spread across the country. By the mid-1920s, it had as many as eight million members across the U.S., including many chapters in the Pacific Northwest, and a strong base in the Midwest.  Seattle writer Timothy Egan’s most recent book, “A Fever in the Heartland,” tells the story of the rise of the Klan in the 1920s and the leader who was brought down by one woman’s deathbed testimony. We talk to Egan in front of students at McDaniel’s High School.

The new solo play “Precipice” was conceived by actor and self-described “memory activist” Damaris Webb. It’s part of the offerings of the Vanport Mosaic Festival she co-founded 10 years ago. The play, like the festival itself, centers on remembering and reclaiming history and telling the stories of people who have been marginalized or forgotten. We talk with Webb and playwright Chris Gonzalez about this new work and what they hope audiences take from it.

Toni Pimble moved to Oregon from her home in England more than 46 years ago and co-founded the Eugene Ballet. As the company’s artistic director, she has choreographed over 60 pieces and collaborated with composers, artists and other organizations, from the Eugene Opera to the Oregon Bach Festival to the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance. Her award-winning work has also been performed by the New York City Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre and many others. We sit down with Pimble to talk about her career and her hopes for the company as she prepares to leave her role in June.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature keeps what it calls a Red List of species that are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss or exploitation such as overfishing. But a new study led by researchers at Oregon State University suggests another reason some wildlife might be at risk: climate change. 

The scientists analyzed nearly 71,000 wild animal species – from corals to reptiles, insects to mammals – assessed by the IUCN Red List and categorized them according to climate-related threats they face such as drought or temperature extremes. The researchers found that more than 3,500 animal species are threatened by climate change - especially invertebrates like spiders, corals and jellyfish. The study also warns that mass mortality events linked to climate change, such as the marine heat wave in the Pacific Ocean that killed off 4 million common murres a decade ago, will “greatly accelerate” with rising global temperatures. 

Joining us to discuss the study’s findings is co-author Jillian Gregg, a senior instructor at OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and the founder and CEO of Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Associates.