Think Out Loud

Burnside Bridge, which is nearly 100 years old, is set to undergo a five-year seismic rebuild, likely beginning in 2027. It’s a major travel route as the only bridge in Portland that touches all four quadrants of the city. Two potential designs have been put forth by Multnomah County: a tied arch bridge like the Fremont Bridge and a cable-stayed bridge like the Tilikum Bridge. Project managers asked for public input on the design back in early July. The survey was open for a month and gathered over 19,000 responses, with the majority of the public choosing a tied arch bridge. An article by architecture and design journalist Brian Libby explains that according to lead project designer Keith Brownlie, the tied arch bridge is typically the most popular design amongst a general population of non-architects. The Multnomah County Community Design Advisory Group, composed of local architects, designers and other experts, will provide a recommendation to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners who are expected to vote on the final design in October. Libby joins us to share more about the design process.

Oregon State and Washington State are the only two schools left in the Pac-12 athletic conference. The University of Oregon is heading to the Big Ten conference for the 2025 season. Is the Ducks football team set up for success in their new conference against opponents like the Buckeyes, Wolverines, Nittany Lions and others? And how will athletes in less well-funded sports fare in a conference that requires a lot more travel? Zachary Neel, managing editor for USA Today’s Ducks Wire, joins us for a preview.

With drought, wildfire and other extreme weather events, climate change is bringing stress and a feeling of uncertainty for many farmers and ranchers. It’s also bringing along a new hurdle for many in the agricultural world – climate grief.  Seeing the effects of climate change firsthand can invoke fear, sadness, hopelessness and despair for many farmers and ranchers. A new project from Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center aims to help people understand their climate change related emotions, along with ways to work through them. Maud Powell is an associate professor at Oregon State University. She, along with her colleagues, launched the Climate Stress and Grief: Building Resilience in Farmers and Ranchers project last year and joins us to share more. 

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has proposed killing hundreds of thousands of barred owls over the next 30 years in an effort to protect the endangered northern spotted owl, which competes with the barred owl for food, habitat and other resources. The agency published a final environmental impact statement last month, and a decision on whether to adopt the strategy could be imminent.  A group of philosophers at Oregon universities recently took issue with the proposal. In a New York Times opinion piece, they described the strategy and the reasoning behind it as “dystopian” and “deeply problematic.” Jay Odenbaugh is the James F. Miller Professor of Humanities at Lewis & Clark College. He co-authored the article and joins us to talk about the ethical pitfalls of sacrificing one species for another.

Last week, the Portland Police Bureau intervened in six street racing takeover attempts and arrested 15 in connection. These events have been on the rise nationally since the pandemic. Portland began a concentrated effort on these incidents in 2021. Commander Franz Schoening with PPB's Specialized Resources Division joins us to share more about last week’s interventions and more.

Portland author Carl Sciacchitano’s debut graphic novel, “The Heart That Fed,” focuses on his father’s experience in the Vietnam War and the decades that have followed. It also follows Carl as he watches his father struggle with the psychological effects of the war. The book explores their relationship and the many, nuanced ways that PTSD can affect families and communities. Sciacchitano and his father, David, join us to talk more about the book and what it was like to travel back to Vietnam together.

Coffin Butte Landfill, which is located in Benton County, might expand soon. The site draws waste from nearly two dozen Oregon counties and accepts more than one million tons of garbage annually. But the facility’s operators have applied for a permit to expand the landfill even further, raising public health and environmental concerns. A 2022 Environmental Protection Agency report found high levels of methane in the air at Coffin Butte Landfill.  People living in nearby towns say that the landfill shouldn’t get bigger under any circumstances, and some longtime residents have been suffering from health issues due to living in such close proximity. Isobel Whitcomb, a science and environmental reporter, is here to share more about what they learned while researching this issue for Canary Media.

A lot has changed statewide since Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek last appeared on “Think Out Loud” in October 2023. Since then, the state’s three-year experiment with drug decriminalization has ended, a state of emergency was declared to address the fentanyl overdose crisis in Multnomah County, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a homelessness case out of Grants Pass and the governor faced backlash for the prominent role her wife has played in her administration.We spent an hour in Salem recently to get an update from the governor on all of those developments and more.

Last week Ryan Crouser, who grew up in Boring, became the first person to win three straight gold medals in men’s shot put. University of Oregon’s Jaida Ross will compete in women’s shot put on Aug. 9. Earlier this week, former Duck Cole Hocker won the 1,500 meter race. Sarah Lorge Butler, contributing writer at Runner’s World, joins us for an update on athletes with Oregon ties competing in track events in Paris.

In May, the Portland City Council approved an ordinance that would allow homeless people who camp on public property and reject offers of shelter to be fined up to $100 or sentenced to up to seven days in jail. That ordinance went into effect at the beginning of July, but was put on hold because of extreme heat. At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities have the right to penalize people for living outside. Then a few weeks ago Portland police made their first arrest under the new rule, but county deputies at the Multnomah County Detention Center refused to process the man. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler joins us to talk about how the city is addressing unsanctioned camping.