Think Out Loud Oregon Public Broadcasting
-
- News
OPB's daily conversation covering news, politics, culture and the arts. Hosted By Dave Miller.
-
Oregon’s women’s football team starts its season
If your weekends aren’t complete without watching a tight spiral arc, you can catch the Oregon Ravens as they are starting their season in the Women’s National Football Conference. We talk to two players about the joys of playing one of America’s favorite sports on a team dedicated to women and nonbinary players: Chris Landers is defensive tackle and offensive guard and has been playing with the Ravens since 2019. Kola Shippentower is in her first season as a linebacker and running back. We talk to them ahead of their first home game against the Las Vegas Silver Stars on April 27.
-
Willamette winter steelhead returns at 20-year high
In 2017, fewer than 1,000 winter steelhead returned to the Upper Willamette Basin. That number has exploded to more than 7,600 so far this year. The returns are the highest since 2004. Zach Urness is the outdoors editor for the Statesman Journal and hosts the Explore Oregon podcast. He joins us with more on what’s behind the increase.
-
Social services hub planned for downtown Salem building
Plans are underway to turn the former Statesman Journal building in downtown Salem into a one-stop shop for community services, including youth programming, health services and religious charities. As recently covered by the Salem Reporter, the project is moving forward after receiving $3 million from state lawmakers. The current plan is for storage company StoreIT to buy the building and occupy the subfloor, while nonprofits and community organizations rent space on upper floors.
Tim Sinatra is the CEO of the Family YMCA of Marion and Polk Counties, which is spearheading the project. He joins us with more details. -
Indigenous tiny home village planned at former Presbyterian Church of Laurelhurst
Plans are underway to turn part of the former Presbyterian Church of Laurelhurst into a tiny home village for Indigenous families experiencing homelessness. As reported in Underscore, the project – known as Barbie’s Village – will also include family and children’s programming in the former church building. The project was made possible after regional Presbyterian Church leaders voted to sell the land for $1 to Future Generations Collaborative, a local Indigenous services nonprofit.
Jillene Joseph is the executive director of the Native Wellness Institute and the engagement mode lead for Future Generations Collaborative. Chris Dela Cruz is a former associate pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church, which helped sponsor the project. They join us to talk about the vision for Barbie’s Village and how the project came to be. -
Why some Oregon universities won’t require the ACT or SAT
Four years ago at the dawn of the pandemic, many universities across the country scaled back on their admissions process, many no longer requiring SAT or ACT scores with an application. Now, U.S. universities are bringing standardized testing back. Institutions such as Brown University, the University of Texas at Austin and University of Tennessee are all reinstituting the requirement for applicants. This also comes at a time where the Supreme Court recently struck down Affirmative Action.
In Oregon, no schools have made an announcement to require scores again. Milyon Trulove is the vice president and dean of admission and financial aid at Reed College. Jon Boeckenstedt is the vice provost of enrollment management at Oregon State University. They both join us to share what the admissions process is looking like now and why they are not reinstituting score requirements. -
A city-owned garage in Portland is in desperate need of repair
When one of the city’s vehicles are in need of repair, they may find themselves at Kerby Garage, a two-story city-owned facility in North Portland. But while the facility is responsible for servicing more than 2,000 city vehicles such as snowplows, dump trucks and excavators, the building has been labeled in city reports as in “very poor condition.” Some of the many problems with the building include no automated smoke detectors, frequent garage door issues and no air conditioning. Willamette Week reporter Sophie Peel has been covering this issue. She joins us to share more on what workers are facing and potential plans to address conditions at the facility in the future.