Think Out Loud Oregon Public Broadcasting

 Last week, crude oil started flowing through a newly expanded pipeline that stretches more than 600 miles from the tar sands of Canada’s Alberta province to an export terminal near Vancouver in British Columbia. The Canadian government spent $25 billion and more than four years to complete construction on the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion which will triple its capacity to ship nearly a million barrels of oil a day. But the project has also raised concerns about the threat of oil spills south of the border, and the harm to endangered marine mammals from increasing tanker activity moving through the Salish Sea to customers in Asia. Tom Banse, OPB’s former Olympia correspondent, joins us to share his recent reporting on this story.  

School districts all over Oregon are struggling to find the money to fund vital services with declining budgets. Many of those districts are making cuts to library staff, which librarians say has a direct result on educational outcomes for students. They also say these cuts are also in direct opposition to the educational goals districts say they’re committed to —  providing tutoring, research help and safe spaces for students experiencing bullying or isolation. Joining us to talk more about these issues are Ayn Reye Frazee, president of the Oregon Association of School Libraries and Franklin High School teacher librarian, and Jean Gritter, OASL advocacy chair and teacher librarian at West Albany High School.

Students across the country, including in Oregon, have escalated their protests in recent weeks of Israel’s war in Gaza. Many of the student protesters have been calling for their colleges and universities to divest from companies that do business with Israel. Similar calls were made in the 1970s and 80s as part of the effort to end apartheid in South Africa. But how effective have those divestment campaigns been in affecting change? And how realistic is it for educational institutions to modify complex financial portfolios to end investments in specific companies?  

Joining us to answer those questions and add some historical context is David S. Meyer, a professor of sociology at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of “How Social Movements (Sometimes) Matter.”

More than 200 species of wildlife call the Owyhee Canyonlands home. The dramatic landscape stretches across southeastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho, and is the ancestral homeland of several Indigenous tribes. While much of the region is currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management, advocates have championed for broader protections like a national monument or a wilderness designation. Kylie Mohr is a freelance journalist and correspondent for High Country News. She recently wrote about the proposals for the magazine and joins us with details.

Nearly a quarter of K-12 teachers in the U.S. reported going into a gun-related lockdown last year, according to new data from the Pew Research Center. Researchers also found that most teachers experience some degree of worry about the possibility of a school shooter. How does gun violence look like right now in Oregon schools, and what are districts doing to address threats and concerns? Andrea Castañeda is the superintendent for the Salem-Keizer School District. Mark Mulvihil is the superintendent for the InterMountain Service District, which serves Baker, Union, Morrow and Umatilla counties. They join us to answer these questions and more.

Earlier this year, Gov. Tina Kotek, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a 90-day state of emergency to address what has become widely seen as a fentanyl crisis in downtown Portland. The idea was to bring more coordination and resources to bear on the crisis that is claiming lives through fatal drug overdoses and draining the resources of law enforcement, first responders, public health and medical professionals. The 90-day period ended April 29, and the official report on the progress that was made was released today. We talk with Multnomah County Health Officer Dr. Richard Bruno to get the details.