Think Out Loud Oregon Public Broadcasting

According to the latest economic forecast, Oregon’s economy is steady. But at the same time, state economists say that job growth over the past few years has been at some of the state’s lowest levels in recent history. The forecast also found that there is a 50% chance for Oregonians to see another kicker in 2026. Josh Lehner interim state economist for Oregon. He joins us with more.

The Sisters Rodeo has begun. The event will last through June 9 and features multiple performances and a parade. Next month, St. Paul will host its rodeo over the 4th of July. The rodeos have run for more than 80 years and host thousands of spectators in their rural communities. We hear more about the events from Brian Greig, the director of sponsorships and marketing for the Sisters Rodeo Association and Karen McKillip, the general manager for the St. Paul Rodeo.    

Floating offshore wind projects are slowly moving forward off the coasts of California and Southern Oregon. The projects could power millions of homes, but they’ve also raised concerns from tribal governments, environmental organizations and the commercial fishing industry. The Pacific Offshore Wind Consortium aims to address some of those questions. Made up of centers at Oregon State University, Cal Poly Humboldt and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the consortium will conduct research and provide public information about offshore wind on the West Coast.

Bryson Robertson is the director of the Pacific Marine Energy Center and a professor of civil and construction engineering at OSU. He joins us with more details about the effort.

We’re taking a deep dive into people’s work lives. We want to learn what it takes to do different jobs and how these professions change us.

On the latest installment of our series, we visit Freeland Spirits in Portland, which is owned and run by women. Master Distiller Molly Troupe creates spirits, like gin and whiskey. She takes us behind the scenes and shares more about her craft and the rye whiskey—grown and distilled in Oregon—that Freeland recently released.

The Pamplin Media Group announced Monday that the Portland Tribune and more than two dozen of its other local newspapers in Oregon had been sold to Mississippi-based Carpenter Media Group. As reported in Willamette Week, Ross Island Sand & Gravel, part of R.B. Pamplin Corp., has been under fire for its failure to refill the cavernous hole it dug while mining the Willamette River bottom from 1926 to 2001. The R.B. Pamplin Corp., which has a variety of business holdings,  had been struggling financially for some time.

On the same day, EO Media Group, which runs 15 family-owned newspapers from Enterprise to Astoria, announced it would be cutting staff and looking into new ownership. We discuss these developments and their possible implications with Brent Walth, a long time investigative reporter who now teaches journalism and runs the Catalyst program at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism

Since 2007, the Oregon Game Project Challenge teaches middle and high school students in Oregon how to go from video game players, to developers in a year long competition. Every season a new theme is announced and competitors have the entire school year to develop a video game from start to finish, including coding, art and sound design. This year's competition was in mid-May, and the team Toast Lads from Century High School won best in show for their game, MARK3T M3TAL. Jason Pelkey is their team lead and a senior at CHS. Andrew Scholar is the director of the Oregon Game Project Challenge. They join us to share more on this year's competition.