Think Out Loud

 Swan Songs Portland has a simple but powerful mission: to provide free, intimate concerts for people at the end of their lives and pay local musicians to perform them. The nonprofit fulfilled its first concert request last autumn when it hired a mariachi band to play for a person terminally ill with cancer, surrounded by her friends and family. It is the first affiliate of Swan Songs, which was founded in Austin, Texas 20 years ago.   Currently serving Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas Counties, SSP has nearly 50 musicians – and growing –  it can call on short notice to perform an array of requested musical styles, from Beethoven to Bob Dylan-esque folk and rock. Jim Friscia is Swan Songs Portland’s board president and concert planner. Karyn Thurston is a musician and  board member of SSP who performs with her partner, Ben Grace, in the folk music duo Story & Tune. They join us, along with Terri Burton, who had requested a concert for her dying mother that Grace performed earlier this year.     

Oregon got a huge federal grant after the devastating 2020 Labor Day fires left thousands of people without homes, as Nigel Jaquiss reported for the Oregon Journalism Project, but most of it still remains unspent. In Southern Oregon, Representative Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, has been talking with the Oregon Housing and Community Services, the state agency in charge of getting the money to people who need it. The director of OHCS, Andrea Bell, says all the money is now committed to various projects and is working with her agency to speed the process. Bell and Marsh  join us to tell us more about who has gotten this federal aid, who is still waiting and how they’re each thinking about the potential disaster threats from future fire seasons.  

After a marathon session on Wednesday night, Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are poised to pass a massive tax and spending bill which President Trump has said he wants to sign on July 4. On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate passed their version of the bill after a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance. The bill passed by the Senate is expected to add $3.3 trillion to the federal deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office, while making steep cuts to Medicaid benefits to help pay for trillions of dollars in tax cuts.    In Oregon, roughly 1 in 3 residents get their insurance through Medicaid. According to Oregon Health Authority’s Medicaid director Emma Sandoe, an estimated  100,000 to 200,000 Oregonians could lose their Medicaid benefits under the bill. On Wednesday, Gov. Tina Kotek and former Gov. John Kitzhaber, the architect of Oregon’s state Medicaid program, urged U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz of Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District to vote against the bill. Bentz is the sole Republican member of Oregon’s Congressional delegation and roughly 40% of the residents in his district are enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan. Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter of Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District is a pulmonary and critical care physician by training who testified against the bill on Capitol Hill and introduced amendments to it which were blocked by Republicans. She joins us to talk about the impacts of the Medicaid cuts for Oregonians and the new work and recertification requirements for Medicaid enrollees. “Think Out Loud” also made multiple attempts to request Rep. Bentz to participate in this conversation.

 Last week, stakeholders from the Upper Mississippi River toured the Columbia and Snake River to see what is similar and different from the two water systems. Last year, stakeholders from the Pacific Northwest visited the Mississippi in this continued collaboration between the two rivers. Michelle Hennings is the executive director of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers. Gary Williams is the executive director of the Upper Mississippi Waterway Association. They both join us to share what the Columbia and Mississippi River can learn from each other. 

Over the last few months, the Trump administration has directed federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation to cut funding for research with any connection to “diversity,” “equity” or “gender ideology.” The cuts have forced researchers across the country, including in Oregon, to stop their studies or scramble to locate alternative funding.   We’ll hear from three researchers whose federal grants were cancelled: Marguerita Lightfoot is a professor at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. Lauren Forrest is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. Tala Navab-Daneshmand is an associate professor of environmental engineering at Oregon State University.    They join us to talk about the negative impact the cuts will have on efforts to address health disparities in the U.S.  

 Last week, the Metro Council decided it would not ask voters to extend a regional homeless services tax on the November ballot. The Supportive Housing Services tax, which is set to expire in 2030, applies to residents in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties making more than $125,000 a year (or more than $200,000 for couples filing jointly). Businesses making more than $5 million annually are also subject to the tax which helps fund programs in the tri-county area to help people experiencing homelessness move into housing.     But a poll the Metro Council recently commissioned suggests that voters in the region appear to be questioning its effectiveness to help combat a crisis that has only gotten worse since the tax went into effect four years ago. The poll found that 53% of respondents said they would vote “yes” to reauthorize the tax, while 43% said they would oppose it.   The Metro Council is now exploring how to reform the tax, starting with a recent vote to index income thresholds to inflation and remove quarterly payment requirements for most high earners. Joining us to discuss the future of the Supportive Housing Services tax is Metro Councilor Christine Lewis.   

When Oregon lawmakers convened in January to kick off the 2025 legislative session, among their top legislative priorities was a transportation funding fix for the state’s aging bridges, highways and roads. But the Democratic supermajority failed to get a transportation package over the legislative finish line when the session adjourned on Friday night.    Democrats waited until the last month to unveil HB 2025, which would have generated nearly $12 billion over the next decade through a mix of taxes and fees, including hikes in the state’s gas tax and a new tax on vehicle sales. Republicans balked at the proposal, including several who had been working with Democrats on transportation funding.     Defections emerged among Democratic lawmakers as well, most notably from state Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, a member of the Joint Committee on Transportation Reinvestment. Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, removed Meek from the committee on June 20 to boost the bill’s chance of passage. But on Friday, Democrats conceded they didn’t have the votes to pass it, and they had to abandon a last-ditch effort to raise the state’s gas tax by 3 cents to avert looming layoffs at the Oregon Department of Transportation.    Sen. Meek joins us to share his thoughts on the legislature’s efforts to tackle Oregon’s transportation challenges.  

The NBA draft started last week, and free agency just began. For the Blazers and their fans, some new faces will hit the court, and others will say goodbye. Yang Hansen, a 7-foot-1 center from China, is the Blazers’ newest rookie and was No. 16 in the overall draft. The Blazers also recently parted ways with center Deandre Ayton after a slew of “bad ways,” including tardiness, tantrums and skipping rehabilitation appointments, as first reported in The Athletic. Mike Richman is the host of the “Locked on Blazers” podcast. He joins us to share more on what to expect from Rip City’s beloved team after this player shake-up.  

CAHOOTS, the Lane County program that’s been a model for mobile crisis services around the country, has been facing challenges at the local and federal level.    Services in Eugene came to an end earlier this year as the city managed a budget shortfall.   Lane County offers crisis services that are funded through Medicaid, but CAHOOTS also specialized in homeless and community outreach.  While CAHOOTS is no longer serving Eugene, its contract with Springfield has been renewed. It currently offers 12 hours of service, seven days a week to the city. Justin Madeira is the CAHOOTS program coordinator. He joins us with details about what’s next for the organization and what crisis response efforts look like in Oregon.

Last year, Oregon added the Southern Resident orca to the state’s endangered species list, giving it added protections nearly two decades after it was federally listed under the endangered species act in 2005. Now, a new draft management plan has been released by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to help whale numbers. Currently there are 73 Southern Resident orcas traveling in three pods along the west coast. About 48 whales within two of those pods spend time here in Oregon. There are three main causes for declining whale numbers, including loss of prey, disturbance from vessels and environmental contaminants. The agency is currently taking public comment on the plan that hopes to address these issues. Howard Takata is the Southern Resident orca conservation coordinator with ODFW. He joins us to share more on the plan.