Think Out Loud

At first, Ada Limón wasn’t able to write poetry during the pandemic. And then she wrote a poem called “The Hurting Kind.” From that flowed the rest of her new book of poems under that same name. We talk to Limón, the poet laureate of the United States, before an audience at the Literary Arts space in downtown Portland.

School is out for summer vacation, but some Oregonians are still in the classroom taking a driver’s education course. At the same time, the state is currently seeing a shortage of people who can actually teach the course. Michelle Godfrey is the public information officer for the Oregon Department of Transportation. Nancy Haase is the program manager for the High Desert Driver Education Program. They both join us to share some of the reasons behind the Driver’s Ed instructor shortage and how that may affect new drivers in the state

Oregon will receive a whopping $688 million from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to help provide broadband in areas of the state that lack high-speed connection. The funding is part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. Oregon’s Broadband Office will craft a five-year action plan and has been holding community meetings across the state to hear what Oregonians are experiencing in terms of internet access. Nick Bats is the director of the office. He joins us to share what he heard at these meetings and what the timeline looks like for broadening internet access in Oregon.

After hours of public testimony, Salem City Council voted to approve a payroll tax to help fund police, fire and homelessness services. The ordinance passed by a single vote, taxing wages for anyone who works in Salem, regardless of their home address. The policy could go into effect as early as next summer. Chris Hoy is the mayor of Salem. He joins us to share why this tax is needed and how it will work going forward.  

In the Klamath Basin, many different interests have struggled to get the water they need.  Meanwhile, Colorado River users have agreed to use less water as supply has dwindled over time. As water users across the West continue to face uncertainty over water levels, how can stakeholders compromise on limited resources? Adell Amos is a Clayton R. Hess Professor of Law and the Executive Director for the Environment Initiative at the University of Oregon. She joins us to explain what a larger agreement over the Colorado River could mean for Oregon communities battling similar issues. 

Oregon lawmakers recently passed legislation advancing wildfire programs in the state. And nearly a year after a draft wildfire map was withdrawn, the proposal gives the Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University another chance at outlining hazards. Mariana Ruiz-Temple is the state fire marshal. Chris Dunn is an assistant professor in wildfire risk science at Oregon State University and will continue work on the state’s wildfire map. Mike Shaw is the fire protection division chief for the Oregon Department of Forestry. They join us with more on how Oregon is handling wildfire risk.

Butte Falls is a small town in southern Oregon, about an hour northeast of Medford. The 400 or so residents there are surrounded by a ring of what was until recently privately owned forest. But a decades-long effort to buy and manage the land itself has finally come to fruition, with the help of state, federal and private funding - and too many agencies and elected officials to list. As reported by Inside Climate News and Columbia Insight, Butte Falls will be making forest management decisions that preserve old-growth trees, clear wildfire fuel, and directly encourage outdoor tourism. Trish Callahan is the mayor of Butte Falls. She joins us to talk about the effort and its implications for the future of the town.

On June 20, four skateboarders gathered together to ride from Virginia to Oregon. They began the journey in Williamsburg, and on Friday, the group arrived in Newport and dipped their boards into the Pacific Ocean. The team set out to break the record for the fastest skateboarding relay across the U.S.  The trip clocked in at 17 days and six hours. Andrew Andras, Rick Stubblefield and Paul Kent were part of the relay. They join us with details of the trek. 

Last summer, an invasive and highly destructive forest pest was first spotted in Oregon at an elementary school in Forest Grove. Oregon is the first state on the West Coast and the 36th in the nation where the emerald ash borer has been detected. The small, shiny green beetle is native to Asia and has killed over a hundred million ash trees nationwide since its arrival in the U.S. roughly 20 years ago. In June, the Oregon Department of Agriculture reinstated a temporary quarantine on ash and white fringe tree products from Washington County, including untreated lumber, nursery stock, firewood and wood chips greater than one inch in size. The department also began releasing several species of wasps that are natural predators of emerald ash borers at tree locations where they’ve been observed. Cody Holthouse, manager of the Insect Pest Prevention & Management Program at the Oregon Department of Agriculture, joins us to talk about the quarantine and other efforts to combat the spread of emerald ash borer.

A new investigation from Washington news outlet KNKX has found that allegations of a culture of sexism, racism, and abuse at a premier youth soccer club mirror the behavior alleged at the professional level. The investigation found allegations of racial and sexual harassment, player endangerment and inappropriate touching of underage players at one of Washington’s premiere youth leagues. Reporter Grace Madigan joins us to talk about what they found.