Think Out Loud

Washington’s farmworker overtime law took full effect this year, with workers now legally required to receive overtime pay after working 40 hours in a single week. In Oregon, a similar law is being phased in — workers currently receive overtime payment after 55 hours of work. The law was intended to fairly compensate farmworkers for the long hours worked during the growing and harvest seasons, but some workers say it’s actually led to lower earnings as farmers hire more workers to avoid paying overtime. Johanna Bejarano has been covering the law and the controversy surrounding it for Northwest Public Broadcasting. She joins us with more details.

 Sejal Hathi recently took over as director of the Oregon Health Authority. An attending physician, Hathi previously served as New Jersey’s designated state health officer and deputy commissioner for public health services. She also advised the Biden-Harris administration on public health policy for two years. Hathi has held faculty positions in the schools of medicine and public health at Johns Hopkins University. She joins us to tell us more about her new role and her priorities for the OHA.  

 Erika Hayasaki’s book “Somewhere Sisters: a story of adoption, identity, and the meaning of family” explores a very complicated multi-family, multinational story. At the heart of the book are sisters: identical twins born in Vietnam. One was adopted by a wealthy family in the U.S., one was raised in rural Vietnam. We spoke to Hayasaki in 2022 in front of an audience at the Portland Book Festival.

The Oregon Office for Community Dispute Resolution supports 12 centers across the state where trained mediators help community members settle disagreements before they go to court. Housed within the University of Oregon law school, the office also provides the basic training needed to begin the process of becoming a court-appointed mediator. It recently offered its first series of trainings entirely in Spanish, in what might be the first program of its kind in the country. Veronica Bañuelos led the workshops, and Gabriela Buamscha participated in them. They both join us, along with OOCDR Administrator Patrick Sponsler, to talk about the need for Spanish-speaking mediators in Oregon.

After almost a year of negotiations, nurses with PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Home Care Services are going on strike. More than 90 nurses with the Oregon Nurses Association will be striking for two-weeks starting Feb. 10. These nurses provide hospice care and other services to patients in the Eugene-area. The nurses have been working under an expired contract since April 2023 and are looking to raise safety standards, increase recruitment and retention and provider better pay. Heather Herbert is a hospice nurse with PeaceHealth and an ONA member. She joins us to share more about her job and nurses' hopes for the future. Heather Herbert is a hospice nurse with PeaceHealth and an ONA member. She joins us to share more about her job and nurses’ hopes for the future. 

Scott Kalama is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. He works as a certified prevention specialist at the Warm Springs Indian Reservation to mentor youth and raise awareness about the risks associated with drug and alcohol use. Growing up on the reservation, his older brother handed down CDs and mixtapes of Tupac and other hip hop artists which sparked Kalama’s own musical calling and journey. Performing under the name “Blue Flamez,” he raps about life on the reservation, celebrates pride in being Native American and the teachings he learned from tribal elders, while acknowledging how violence and substance use have scarred his family and community. Last month, Kalama was awarded $150,000 for winning a 2024-2026 Fields Artist Fellowship from Oregon Humanities and Oregon Communities Foundation. He joins us in the studio for a performance and to share how he plans to use this fellowship to reach a wider audience. 

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s office said this week that the state has exceeded its goals for the 2023 homelessness state of emergency. Over the last year/since the emergency was declared, more than 1,000 new low-barrier shelter beds were added, nearly 2,000 people were housed and almost 9,000 households were given aid to prevent them from becoming homeless. Andera Bell is the executive director of Oregon Housing and Community Services. She joins us to share more about these goals, the state’s progress on increasing housing production and a recent audit of the agency’s emergency rental assistance program.

In Washington, millions of dollars in child support payments are intercepted by the state from custodial parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a federal assistance program that includes cash benefits. Lawmakers are considering a bill with bipartisan support that would redirect a portion of future child support payments back to families. Brandon Block is an investigative reporter at Cascade PBS. He has reported on the bill and joins us with details.

Two of the largest supermarket chains in the U.S. are planning to merge. Kroger and Albertsons first announced their proposed merger in 2022. The Federal Trade Commission has been reviewing the proposal for more than a year and is expected to make a decision soon. Meanwhile, lawmakers, consumer advocates and others have raised concerns about the proposal. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson recently sued to block it, arguing that it would reduce competition and raise prices at the grocery store. Alina Selyukh has been covering the story for NPR. She joins us with more details on what this merger could mean for shoppers.

The public school superintendent at the 4J School district in Eugene is under investigation, the Eugene Weekly is reporting. The school board hired Andy Dey in 2022 when similar allegations surfaced. A Seattle area firm has turned over its investigation to the school board, which met for another executive session Monday night. Eugene Weekly editor Camilla Mortensen has been following the story, in collaboration with the University of Oregon’s Catalyst journalism program, led by investigative reporter Brent Walth. Mortensen joins us to tell us the latest about the 4J investigation and update us on the weekly’s return to print this week. It’s the first print issue after embezzlement came to light in December and forced the layoff of the entire staff