Think Out Loud

Oregon Public Broadcasting
  • 4.5 (261)
  • NEWS
  • UPDATED DAILY
Think Out Loud

OPB's daily conversation covering news, politics, culture and the arts. Hosted By Dave Miller.

  1. 1 DAY AGO

    Portland novelist Karen Thompson Walker explores memory in new novel

    Karen Thompson Walker’s last book, "The Dreamers," imagined a mysterious virus that quickly spreads through a small college town and induces perpetual sleep. That book came out just before the covid pandemic changed our collective relationship to viruses. Thompson Walker’s new book, "The Strange Case of Jane O.," also seeks to understand the way our brains work, this time looking at memory. Karen Thompson Walker joins us to talk about her latest novel.

    42 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    Oregon Food Bank continues to see increased need amid potential SNAP cuts

    On Tuesday, the House narrowly approved a Republican budget proposal calling for $2 trillion in federal spending cuts. The proposal specifically calls for the House Agriculture Committee to find $230 billion worth of reduced spending, which will be challenging without touching the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. At the same time, cabinet officials in the current administration support limiting what can be purchased through the program. In Oregon, food banks across the state have been seeing increased need in their communities. Matt Newell-Ching is the policy manager at the Oregon Food bank. He joins us to share what demand is currently looking like across the state and how it’s preparing for potential cuts and restrictions to federal programs.

    10 min

  3. 2 DAYS AGO

    Guide Dogs for the Blind plans to expand Oregon campus

    Guide Dogs for the Blind operates two campuses — one in San Rafael, California, and one in Boring, Oregon. The nonprofit raises and trains dogs to work with people experiencing vision loss, and provides a variety of programs for the humans who will one day partner with them. Plans are underway to expand GDB’s Boring campus through a new community hub, which would double the number of clients the organization can serve in Oregon.  Susan Armstrong is vice president of client programs for GDB. George Miers is a partner at Studio Miers | Chou | Poon, which designed the new facility. They both join us to talk more about the expansion and what it takes to design a facility with senses other than vision in mind.

    18 min

  4. 2 DAYS AGO

    Idaho’s Pro Voice Project highlights stories from women trying to have children but who needed abortions after pregnancy complications

    Abortion is illegal in Idaho, which borders Oregon to the east. For years leading up to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, women’s health advocates warned that maternal care and abortion services were part of an intrinsically woven set of OB/GYN care that women’s health depended on. Now that Idaho has outlawed abortion – the state's ban is among the most restrictive in the nation – residents are living out what advocates predicted. Some women who want to have children can now no longer get maternal care where they live, and some have suffered complications during pregnancies they desperately wanted to take to term but could not, because of their own health or fetal anomalies. Jen Jackson Quintano lives in North Idaho with her husband and two children and runs a tree service business. She began a storytelling effort she calls the Pro Voice Project, for women to tell their own stories about accessing – or not being able to access – reproductive health services. The project has held live performances mostly around Idaho for women to tell their own stories at the microphone. In some cases where they haven't felt comfortable doing so, their stories are performed by actors. Desi Ballis and her husband lost their third child, Tucker, a year ago, in the second trimester when the couple discovered he had a life-threatening condition. Ballis, who lives in Haley, Idaho, was at risk of life-threatening complications before she made it to Utah to have a medically necessary abortion. In Idaho, she would not have been able to get that care until she was actively dying. Ballis and Quintano join us to share their personal experiences and what they hope to achieve by sharing some of the most painful experiences of their lives. Members of the Pro Voice Project will be in Portland March 1 for an event that highlights women’s stories in Idaho and in Oregon, where women face no state restrictions on abortion, but some still struggle with other barriers to access.

    19 min

  5. 2 DAYS AGO

    New North Portland development aims to repair harms of urban renewal

    A long-vacant block on North Russell Street and North Williams Avenue, which was once part of a thriving African American community in Portland, will finally house people once again. The site was razed in the 1970s as part of an urban renewal project to expand the hospital there. Tomorrow, construction will begin on an 85-unit apartment building, 20 single-family homes and office and retail space for Black-owned businesses. Bryson Davis, chair of the board of the nonprofit behind the project, Williams & Russell CDC, joins us, along with developer Anyeley Hallova, to talk about the project.

    15 min

  6. 3 DAYS AGO

    Rep. Cliff Bentz on House budget resolution that would mean hundreds of billions of Medicaid cuts

    Rep. Cliff Bentz represents Oregon’s 2nd District in the U.S. House, covering most of the state east of the Cascades. He’s the only Republican in the state’s congressional delegation, and he voted in favor of the House budget resolution Tuesday that would mean nearly $900 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years. Statewide, about a third of Oregonians rely on the Oregon Health Plan, which is the way people in the state receive Medicaid. Bentz, like many others in his party, has held town halls that have drawn crowds of angry constituents who raised big questions about the Republican party supporting Trump’s cuts to the federal government led by Elon Musk and the overreach of the executive branch. Bentz joins us to talk about his vote and how he’s approaching his job at this political moment.

    22 min

  7. 3 DAYS AGO

    Oregon senior Senator Ron Wyden on expected Medicaid and social service cuts under Trump administration

    U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley joined with other senators in a letter to Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and President Donald Trump urging them to not cut Medicare and Medicaid. The two programs serve 140 million people nationwide, and in Oregon, the way people receive Medicaid is through the Oregon Health Plan. Sen. Wyden joins us to discuss protecting the health care these federal programs provide, what Democratic representatives are hearing from their constituents about the rapid take down of the federal government and what he and his party are doing in response.

    18 min

  8. 3 DAYS AGO

    Federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocks Trump’s executive order to end refugee admissions

    On Tuesday, a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which President Donald Trump halted by executive order on his first day in office. Several nonprofits that provide federally contracted refugee resettlement services, including Lutheran Community Services Northwest, along with stranded refugees and their relatives filed the lawsuit challenging the executive order. Since 1984, LCSNW has helped more than 45,000 refugees resettle in the region, according to Salah Ansary, its senior director of advocacy and government affairs. Ansary immigrated to Portland in 1978 shortly before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He joins us to talk about the lawsuit and the impact Trump’s executive order has had on his organization’s efforts to aid refugees in Portland, Southwest Washington and the Seattle area.

    15 min
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4.5
out of 5
261 Ratings

About

OPB's daily conversation covering news, politics, culture and the arts. Hosted By Dave Miller.

Information

  • Creator
    Oregon Public Broadcasting
  • Years Active
    2008 - 2025
  • Episodes
    1.2K
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Oregon Public Broadcasting
  • Show Website
    Think Out Loud

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