Think Out Loud

  LONG SYNOPSIS: Playing in a park or on a street corner isn’t new for musician Johnny Franco. Franco and his brother Domenico are buskers, and during the pandemic they started taking requests from people who wanted to be serenaded from outside their windows with concerts. Now, with Curbside Serenade, the two have teamed up with other musicians to organize regular outdoor concerts around the city during the summer. The goal, they say, is for audiences to stumble across music wherever they happen to be. We talk to Johnny and Domenico Franco, along with Dave Pollack, one of the founders of Curbside Serenade.  

There is a lot that goes into a cup a coffee. From beans, to roast, to grind, to water and even temperature, it is incredibly difficult to make one cup of coffee the exact same as the next. But researchers at the University of Oregon may have found a way to make a cup of coffee more consistent. Chris Hendon is a chemist and associate professor at UO. His previous research illuminated how spraying water on coffee beans before grinding saves on waste and makes the espresso shots more consistent. Hendon joins us to share more about his work and the world of coffee.

A new map from the advocacy nonprofit Beyond Toxics aims to help people identify what kinds of pesticide have been sprayed in communities over the last decade. The nonprofit partnered with the University of Oregon Infographics Lab to compile notices of intent to apply pesticides on state, county and private forestland from 2014 to 2024. Users can filter by location, year, the type of chemical and whether it was applied aerially or on the ground.   Mason Leavitt is a GIS analyst and programs manager for Beyond Toxics. He joins us with more details on how individuals and community groups can use the map.  

Portland’s Lloyd Center is scheduled to close Aug. 8 after more than 65 years in business.   The current owner, Urban Renaissance Group, plans to demolish the mall to make way for housing, businesses and a new music venue. Groups such as Save Lloyd Center Mall and the Save Lloyd Ice Coalition are holding out hope that a city hearing in June could prevent the mall’s closure, but it seems likely that the Lloyd Center is in its final days.   After its last anchor stores shuttered in 2021, the mall’s low rents and large usable space attracted a wide array of community groups and independent retailers. In its last incarnation, the mall became a hub for the kind of quirky community that Portland prides itself on.   We’ll listen back to three conversations that capture that recent era: Jason Leivian is the owner of Floating World Comics. We spoke with him in 2022, shortly after he relocated his store from Old Town to the Lloyd Center.   In 2023, we talked about a production of Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days” that was staged in a former Victoria’s Secret store in the Lloyd Center. It was put on by the Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative, which aims to bring theater to nontraditional spaces. We were joined by director Patrick Walsh, the collaborative’s executive artistic director, and Portland actress Diane Kondrat, who starred as “Winnie” in the play.   Finally, Krista Catwood joined us last summer to talk about the Food Court 5000. That’s a 1980s-themed mall walk that Catwood leads every Sunday morning in the Lloyd Center.  

Central Oregon recorded a nearly 20% drop in people experiencing homelessness compared to last year. That’s according to an annual Point in Time count that took place this year from Jan. 27 through Feb. 2 in Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson Counties and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.   Eliza Wilson is the chair of the Homeless Leadership Coalition in Central Oregon and the executive director of RootedHomes, an affordable housing developer based in Bend. Wilson says this has been the largest year-over-year decline she has seen in over 20 years of helping with the annual snapshot of people experiencing homelessness in the region. She attributes this unprecedented decline to opening new shelters and expanding shelter bed capacity in communities like Madras, Bend, Redmond and Prineville, while also providing rental assistance and case management to help people transition into stable housing.    Wilson joins us for more details on the progress that’s being made in Central Oregon to tackle homelessness and the work that still needs to be done.  

Oregonians overwhelmingly voted against Measure 120, a proposal meant to address funding shortfalls for the Oregon Department of Transportation.   Known as the gas tax, the measure would have increased the state’s gas tax by 6 cents per gallon, temporarily hike payroll tax, and double fees for registrations and titles. Without the tax, the agency only has funding to support core services until the end of 2027. Daniel Porter is ODOT's Finance and Budget Division Administrator. He joins us to share how he’s thinking about the future of the agency’s budget.  

The housing crisis is worse than ever, and it’s one that many elected representatives and nonprofits have been working on for some time. Last month Gov. Kotek signed a package of housing related bills into law. They allow cities to expand their urban growth boundaries, protect existing affordable housing and provide financing to encourage the construction of new housing. Estimates put the need for new homes at 29,500 a year to keep up with population growth and the demand for housing.   Constructing new housing for middle income families is at the heart of the Oregon Community Foundation’s announcement of its $100 million “Building Hope Fund.” OCF says it’s a kind of down payment to spur even more investment from other sources to create a fund that will make affordable loans to developers so they can build middle income housing. OCF’s goal is 10,000 new homes built all around Oregon in the next 10 years. Lisa Mensah is the President and CEO of the Foundation. She joins us to explain how she sees the loan program working and how it fits into their extensive and longstanding granting program for housing and other community needs throughout the state.

A recent study by Pew Research showed that half of U.S. adults under 50 get health and wellness information from influencers on social media and podcasts. One in five people surveyed said the information they get from influencers is different than the information from medical professionals. Ashley Hass is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Portland, who focuses on digital marketing, social media influencers, and the digital wellness of consumers. Jonathan Garcia directs the public health graduate program at OSU. He studies medical mistrust and misinformation. They join us to share more on the impact of the wellness industry on social media and its implications for public health.   

 In February, a split ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the sweeping tariffs President Trump had imposed early last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. As a result, last month the Customs and Border Protection agency opened an online portal for importers and customs brokers seeking refunds for the estimated $166 billion in tariffs companies had paid to import goods.    Some businesses have started receiving their refunds while others, including Portland-based Steven Smith Teamaker, are still waiting. As the Portland Business Journal reported last month, 90% of its ingredients are imported, making the company subject to volatile tariff rates that rocketed as high as 50% at one point last year. CEO Darren Marshall says that the company spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in unanticipated tariffs, which its customs broker has filed on its behalf to recoup. Revant Optics, a Portland manufacturer of replacement lenses for sunglasses that launched its own line of sunglasses last June, is owed nearly $700,000 in duties it paid on imports from China and Taiwan, according to CEO and founder Jason Bolt.    Marshall and Bolt join us for more details, along with Chris McKinney, president of Brownstone International. The Portland-based customs broker has filed claims for tariff refunds on behalf of Steven Smith Teamaker and dozens of other clients.  

At 17 years old, Mary Cain became one of few females to ever run 800 meters faster than two minutes. Later that year she became the youngest American runner ever to compete in the World Championships. And all the while she says she was facing bullying from coaches and teammates and emotional abuse from Nike Oregon Project coach Alberto Salazar. Cain has written a new memoir, “This is Not About Running,” and joins us to talk about her experiences.

 Oregon voters resoundingly rejected a statewide ballot measure that would have raised the state gas tax from 40 to 46 cents and  doubled car title and registration fees to help fund road maintenance and other transportation projects. Measure 120 was widely expected to fail, especially as gas prices continue to soar in Oregon and across the nation.   Last year, Gov. Tina Kotek and Democrats in the Legislature approved a bill that included the gas tax and fee hikes, but Republican lawmakers succeeded in raising enough signatures to put the issue before voters. Democrats, however, countered by ensuring the measure appeared on the May ballot instead of in November, when Gov. Kotek is up for reelection.    Gov. Kotek will now face Republican state Sen. Christine Drazan in a rematch of the 2022 gubernatorial race. On Tuesday, Republican voters selected Drazan to be their gubernatorial nominee over former Portland Trail Blazer Chris Dudley, state Rep. Ed Diehl and other candidates.    OPB political reporter Lauren Dake joins us for more details about Drazan’s victory and the failed gas tax measure.

The Woodburn School District and Woodburn Education Association are currently amid a contract dispute that has lasted over a year. One issue that has been highly contested in the community is codifying rights and protections around Immigration and Customs enforcement activity on school campuses in the district, where 87% of the student population is Latino.    The Woodburn School Board has had heavy turnover the past year, since the prior board sparked community backlash after their management of the “Safe and Welcoming Schools resolution,” — causing many to lose their seats. District policies were already in place to protect students against ICE enforcement, but supporters of the resolution maintained it was an important step by school leaders to reaffirm and publicly support these protections in the largely-immigrant led community.   We’ll hear from Jason Levin, a union representative with the Woodburn Education Association and a Career and Technical Education teacher at Woodburn High School, as well as Woodburn School District Superintendent Juan Larios, and Debbie Ballweber, chair of the Woodburn School Board.  

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, there are nearly 170 Million employed civilians in the American workforce. However, that number may be an undercount because it does not include kids working at BizTown.   Junior Achievement’s BizTown gives kids in fourth, fifth and sixth grade the chance to experience working in a simulated city in various fields, including healthcare, construction, food service, journalism, banking and more. Kids are given jobs based on interviews they’ve done and BizTown money to purchase various goods and services in their make believe city.   Host Dave Miller and producer Rolie Hernandez spent a day at Biztown recently, talking to students at Boring's Hood View Adventist School and Vancouver's Columbia Valley Elementary to find out what a day of adulthood was like for students. They also spoke to the actual adult responsible for the exercise: Barbara Smith, CEO of Junior Achievement's BizTown.

Portland filmmaker Brian Lindstrom died last Friday, May 15, 2026 at age 65.  He was diagnosed with the rare brain disease Progressive Supranuclear Palsy only last month.  “He was a stellar husband. He was the most magnificent dad,” wrote his wife author Cheryl Strayed on Instagram Friday. “He was a man whose every word and deed was driven by kindness, compassion, and generosity. He saw the goodness in everyone. He believed that we are all sacred and redeemable.” Lindstrom was a guest on “Think Out Loud" in 2015 to talk about his film “Mothering Inside,” a program that aimed to keep families intact after mothers are sent to prison.  He said the film was the third in a trilogy, after “Finding Normal” and “Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse," all centered around one thing:  “Really trying to shine a light on people that we, as society, usually put an X through, and try to reveal their humanity and strength. And I feel so privileged to have been let into the program and to really see these women, not only nurture and develop bonds with their children, but really work on themselves and change. Their kind of life story in a sense, to change the way they thought of themselves and to put their experiences in a different context: one based on strength … I found that wonderful spiritual humility that comes about when someone takes a hard look at their life, admits that it's not working, and will do anything to change it.”  It was Lindstrom’s wish that any donations made in his memory go to the  Family Preservation Project, the organization that runs the “Mothering Inside” program. To hear a longer excerpt that includes a participant in the program who was in conversation with Lindstrom and “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller, click the arrow below.  

One of the most popular jazz albums of all time is still “Kind of Blue”, from trumpeter Miles Davis. Over the course of his career, Davis was pioneering in almost every major form of jazz, from be-bop to fusion. Early in his career, he recorded the compilation “Birth of the Cool” with nine other musicians, which is considered seminal to the era of cool jazz. KMHD and Portland trumpeter Noah Simpson will celebrate Miles Davis’ 100th birthday later this month with a performance of the classic 1957 album in its entirety.

Children in the foster care system are among the most vulnerable in Oregon. Their mistreatment was one of the key reasons a class action lawsuit was brought against the state. The 2024 settlement included a number of required actions to decrease the rate of abuse and improve the lives of children in the state’s custody. The state recently submitted its first settlement-mandated report of its progress, including increasing the number of kids placed with a member of their family. But the increase in abuse cases is noteworthy, says OPB reporter Lauren Dake, given the policy priorities of the child welfare system after the class action settlement. Dake joins us to share more about the latest numbers and what state officials say they’re going to do about it.  

As wildfires grow larger and more destructive across the West, state governments are having a hard time paying for response and prevention. Oregon lawmakers were called into an emergency session in December 2024 after the state’s most expensive fire season left the Oregon Department of Forestry with nearly $100 million in unpaid bills. They also created a new tax in the 2025 session on nicotine pouches, such as Zyn, to fund wildfire prevention.   Kyle Williams is the deputy director of fire operations for ODF. He joins us with more details about the state’s wildfire funding ahead of what could be a historic fire season.  

The Oregon Supreme Court unanimously ruled last week that Washington County can ban the sale of flavored tobacco products, including vapes and hookah. County commissioners passed the ban in 2021, but it’s been tied up in court since retailers sued to stop it in 2022. The decision came just days after the federal Food and Drug Administration, for the first time, authorized the sale of some fruit-flavored vape pods.   Gwyn Ashcom is a senior program coordinator at Washington County Public Health. She joins us to share more about the county’s plans now that the ban can go forward.

Last December, Kareem Alson-Rosales launched the nonprofit “Film 4 Good Fund.” Alson-Rosales noticed gaps in access to funding for independent filmmakers after years of work in philanthropy. The nonprofit, which aims to make it easier for independent filmmakers to receive direct grant funding for projects that are nearing the finish line, just gave out its first grant last week to Portland-based filmmaker Ime N. Etuk.  Alson-Rosales and Etuk join us to discuss the Film 4 Good Fund’s work, and what these pathways to grant funding can mean for independent filmmakers.

Medication abortions now comprise up to an estimated two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S., and about a quarter of the mifepristone-misoprostol combination are prescribed via telehealth. Medication abortions are safe and effective when used within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Forty percent of all abortions occur at 6 weeks or less, another 38% between 7 - 9 weeks, and 14% between 10 - 13 weeks, according to the Guttmacher Institute.    Not having to visit a doctor in person to get the medication can make all the difference for access, particularly for those who are low-income or live in rural areas. Telehealth access to mifepristone was briefly paused after the state of Louisiana sued the FDA, saying its rules violated its total abortion ban.  On May 1, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Louisiana's request for a stay, which meant doctors could not prescribe the drugs via telehealth. But the U.S. Supreme Court blocked that stay, restoring the FDA’s rules while the Louisiana lawsuit continues.    Sara Kennedy the CEO of Planned Parenthood Columbia Willadrmette and an OBGYN, and Amy Handler is the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon. They join us to discuss the implications of this case—and the impact of the law signed this week by Gov. Tina Kotek to restore Planned Parenthood’s medicaid funding.

This Saturday, the inaugural Schnitzer Prize of the West will be awarded to Brad Parry, vice chairman of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, at a ceremony at the Portland Art Museum. Parry was one of nearly 100 people from 12 states nominated for the new award, which includes $50,000 and will be given annually by the High Desert Museum in Bend in partnership with the Jordan D. Schnitzer and the Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation.    Parry is receiving the award because of his leadership of the Wuda Ogwa Cultural and Land Restoration Project, located on the site of the worst massacre of Native Americans by the U.S. military. In 1863, a U.S. Army colonel led an attack on a campsite near the Bear River on the Idaho and Utah border where the ancestors of the Northwestern Shoshone would gather in the winter. An estimated 400 people were murdered, including dozens of women, children and infants.    In 2018, the Northwestern Shoshone purchased the 350-acre property from private owners and began the painstaking process of restoring the site to what it looked like before the massacre. That includes replacing roughly 400,000 invasive Russian olive trees with willows and native plants; creating 15 acres of wetlands; bringing back beavers, trout and other native wildlife; and restoring a tributary of the Bear River to send an expected 10,000 acre-feet of water annually to the Great Salt Lake.     Parry joins us to share the significance of winning this award and the lessons he’s learned that could apply to other conservation efforts in the West.   

A mining operation that will create close to 100 jobs and cost upwards of $60 million to build could be coming to Baker County. As first reporter in the Baker City Herald, Sumpter Development LLC is planning to reopen four historic mines near Bourne. The company is currently meeting with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries to see if it can get permission and permits from the state agency to use the mines. Jayson Jacoby is the editor of the publication and reported on this story. He joins us to share more.

Wildfire managers and policy makers in Oregon and Washington often evaluate a community’s wildfire risk based on environmental factors such as the probability of wildfire exposure or the number of threatened homes and buildings. They can also take into account a community’s social vulnerability, or a set of demographic characteristics that includes household income, educational attainment and racial and ethnic minority status.   For the first time, researchers at Oregon State University have created a tool that integrates both social vulnerability and wildfire hazard measurements to help inform the distribution of resources needed to reduce wildfire risk. The study found, for example, that more than 450 communities in Oregon and Washington face increased wildfire risk when their social vulnerability was included in risk assessments. Communities such as Warm Springs in Central Oregon and Mosier in the Columbia Gorge with high levels of social vulnerability, for example, could be prioritized for educational outreach, home hardening or fuels reduction programs.    Joining us for more details are Andy McEvoy, a faculty research assistant in the College of Forestry at OSU.  

 Election day in Oregon is next week. Oregonians must submit their ballots by Tuesday, May 19th. There are a number of measures and candidates running in local and statewide elections, but as reported in Bolts, not a single district attorney race is being contested. Oregonians will only have one option in determining who will play a critical role in how criminal justice is handled in the state.   Daniel Nichanian is the founder and editor-in-chief of Bolts. He joins us to share more on why many incumbents around the state aren’t being challenged and what we lose as voters when races go uncontested.

A series of cascading problems, including financial mismanagement, industry failures and questionable city contracts have pushed Lakeview, Oregon into millions of dollars of debt it can’t pay off. Like many former timber towns, Lakeview has struggled to rebound from the collapse of the logging mills that once powered its economy and helped the community survive in an isolated corner of Southern Oregon. OPB reporter Bryce Dole joins us to explain how Lakeview got into this predicament, and what residents are trying to do to get out of it.

As Jefferson Public Radio reported, the  Southern Oregon University Board of Trustees voted unanimously last Friday to create its own plan for long-term financial stability rather than adopt entirely the steep cuts and revenue-raising measures the consulting firm Deloitte has recommended. SOU is facing a deficit of more than $12 million which is expected to grow to nearly $17 million by 2030.    SOU has until next month to adopt a financial stability plan in order to receive $15 million in emergency funding approved by Oregon lawmakers in March. Deloitte’s plan calls for cutting four academic programs, including music and creative writing, and reconfiguring or consolidating nine other programs in subjects like Native American studies and philosophy.   This is the latest financial emergency the university has faced in recent years it’s attempted to address through workforce and academic cuts. Last September, for example, the SOU Board of Trustees approved a plan to slash more than $10 million over four years by eliminating more than 20 academic majors and minors. SOU President Rick Bailey joins us for a perspective, along with Sage TeBeest, a creative arts program assistant at SOU and the president of SEIU 503 Sublocal 84, which represents classified staff at the university.

 It’s estimated that 1 in 10 adults experience tinnitus, often described as a phantom ringing noise in the ears. The condition can develop due to head trauma, hearing loss, exposure to loud noise or as a side effect of certain medications.   There’s no cure for tinnitus and its origins have long been a mystery. But new research from Oregon Health & Science University has linked tinnitus with elevated serotonin levels in certain regions of the brain. While far from a cure, the discovery could one day help scientists understand how to reverse the condition through brain chemistry.   Larry Trussell is a professor of otolaryngology at OHSU and interim director of the Oregon Hearing Research Center. Angie Garinis is an associate professor of otolaryngology at OHSU and a member of the Oregon Hearing Research Center. She’s also a principal investigator at the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research at the Portland VA.   They both join us to talk about what this new information could mean for patients who suffer from tinnitus.  

The near total dominance of the two major political parties is nothing new. Democrats and Republicans have distinct ideological and political differences, but for some, it’s their similarities that drive them away from both.  Many voters are not affiliated with any party. In fact, those unaffiliated voters number more than either of the major parties by a substantial margin. Most of the remaining registered voters are members of the other minor parties: The Independent Party, the Constitution party, the Libertarian Party, No Labels, the Pacific Green Party, the Progressive Party, We the People Party and the Working Families Party.   In next week’s Oregon Primary, all voters will be sent ballots that include local and state candidates for nonpartisan offices and measures. But for those who are unaffiliated or a member of a minor party, no partisan candidates will appear, and they cannot vote for any of the major party candidates. Minor parties do not have their primary process funded by taxpayers, as the two major parties do.   A public opinion survey from January 2026 by DHM Research showed significant frustration with both major parties. And a recent national survey of voter opinions of Congress indicated contempt for both Democrats and Republicans. But what does all this mean for minor parties, if anything?   We ask representatives from three of those minor parties to share how they think two-party rule is working for the electorate at large and what changes they’d like to see to include more voters more often. Our guests are Annie Naranjo-Rivera with the Oregon Working Families Party, Sonja Feintech with the Libertarian Party of Oregon and Sal Peralta with the Independent Party of Oregon.  

 If you’ve ever driven to the Oregon Coast, you’ve likely been on Highway 101. The scenic roadway was officially designated a federal highway 100 years ago in 1926. The highway changed how people across the state accessed the coast, bringing new opportunities for industry and tourism from Astoria to Brookings.  The Oregon Historical Society is celebrating the highway's 100th anniversary with an exhibit that runs through Oct. 11. Megan Lallier-Barron, curator of exhibitions for OHS, joins us to share more about the history of Highway 101.

According to a lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Rural Organizing Project, state police have allowed federal immigration officials to access law enforcement databases to acquire Oregonians’ data.   The lawsuit, filed last Tuesday, claims that Oregon State Police has violated Oregon’s sanctuary laws by allowing federal immigration authorities to search state and national databases, including those containing drivers license information, including license photos, as well as Social Security numbers.    We’ll hear from Martha Verduzco Ortega, the director of Immigrant Help Centers at the Rural Organizing Project, with more details.  

Next Tuesday, voters in Lane County will decide the fate of Measure 20-373, also known as the “Watersheds Bill of Rights,” in the May primary election. Organizers of the measure say it is in response to years of aerial spraying of pesticides in the county they claim has polluted drinking water and sickened residents. The measure also appears to be inspired by a global rights of nature movement, by claiming that watersheds –  including rivers, creeks and the lands they flow through –  possess “inalienable rights” that any resident in Lane County can sue on behalf of in order to protect those watersheds and their ecosystems from pollution by corporate, business or government activities.  Opposition to the measure is being led by Protect Our County, a coalition that includes current and former elected officials and Lane County business groups such the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce. Brittany Quick-Warner, the chamber’s president and CEO, joins us for a debate with Rob Dickinson, a grassroots organizer of the Yes on Measure 20-373 campaign who helped draft the ballot measure.

When local folk legend Michael Hurley died last spring, his friend Alela Diane was inspired to write “Spring Is A Fine Time (To Die)," an homage to her friend and his career. The song helped catalyze her new album, which was recorded live in the attic of her Portland home. Diane joins us in the studio, along with fellow musician Peter Lalish, for a conversation and live performance.

Last year, Oregon lawmakers passed one of the toughest corporate medicine laws in the nation and a recent court case put this law to the test. SB 951 limits corporate influence in medical decisions and was at the center of a courtroom battle between Apollo MD, Peacehealth and local physicians in Eugene. The issue came up when Peacehealth announced it would not renew its contract with Eugene Emergency Physicians and instead would instead contract with Georgia-based Apollo MD. The case took a turn when it was announced that a tentative agreement between EEP and Peacehealth was made. Ashli Blow is an environment and public health correspondent for Lookout Eugene-Springfield. She joins us to share more on what agreement was made and what this court battle says about Oregon’s corporate medicine law.   

OR Unplugged” is a coalition created by parents in Portland to support healthy digital environments for children. The group provides resources to parents and families like curriculums for digital wellness, suggestions for alternative devices to smartphones, and community events with “unplugged” activities. The group also works as a thread to unite several smaller, local groups of parents across Oregon that are like-minded about creating phone-free environments for their children. Currently, these groups exist around Central Oregon, Hood River, Ashland, Salem and the Portland-Metro area.   One of these groups, based in Sherwood, was founded by Daniel Golder, a father who wanted to create a screen-free upbringing for his children. He calls the local group “Analog Alpha,” because of the group’s goal of helping Generation Alpha being “adept at technology without being dominated by it.”   Kathy Masarie is the founder of OR Unplugged — she’s a retired pediatrician who pivoted to this advocacy work after two decades in healthcare. We’ll hear from Masarie and Golder about their work. 

More than two dozen artists are participating in the 2026 Oregon Contemporary Artists’ Biennial, which launched last month and ends on July 5. The current exhibit is titled “The Price of the Ticket” and is on display at the Oregon Contemporary gallery in North Portland. Audiences can also experience performances, poetry readings and public talks at other venues in the city.     TK Smith is a writer and cultural historian who is curating the 2026 OCA Biennial that coincides with the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding. Smith took inspiration from author and civil rights activist James Baldwin’s anthology of essays, “The Price of the Ticket,” to select a diverse array of works that explore America’s history, identity and the price of citizenship, especially for marginalized communities.    Last fall, Oregon Contemporary announced that the National Endowment for the Arts had canceled a $30,000 grant it had previously awarded to the Biennial, per reporting by Willamette Week and other media outlets. The nonprofit Sitka Center for Art and Ecology quickly pledged its help to fill the funding shortfall.     Smith joins us, along  with artists Mako Miyamoto and Jaleesa Johnston who are featured in the Biennial.    

Rachael Allen says business is booming these days at Allen’s Crosley Lanes, a Vancouver bowling alley that her family has owned for nearly four decades. The Columbian’s recent profile of Allen and Crosley Lanes helped remind readers that the 71-year-old bowling alley is not only still around, but today thriving. That’s despite a couple of close but ultimately failed attempts Allen and her husband, Don, had made since 2018 to sell the business due to his declining health.    Don died last May, and a few months later, Allen decided to throw a party at Crosley Lanes to honor his memory and celebrate the bowling alley’s 70th anniversary. She credits the community’s turnout and its continued show of support for renewing her faith in the business as an investment worth keeping and hand over to her son and daughter some day.    Allen joins us to talk about Crosley Lanes, its history and the loyal patrons who are helping it endure.     

Henderson Ave and Brooks Wine are two Oregon winemakers that operate at different price points, but are currently faced with many of the same questions: How do wineries appeal to consumers when American alcohol consumption has waned in recent years? How do producers ease barriers to entry for wine consumption and education? How do vintners approach sustainability when wine is facing challenges due to climate change? Tiquette Bramlett is the founder of Henderson Ave, a collection of canned wines that launched last year. Jen Cossey is the general manager of Brooks Wine. They both join us to share more about the state of Oregon’s wine industry.

The Lullaby Project was created more than a decade ago by the  Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. The program pairs singer-songwriters with parents who are incarcerated or experiencing homelessness, and together they create a lullaby.  In Oregon, those songs are arranged for the Oregon Symphony and then publicly performed. This year’s performance is next Tuesday, May 12 at the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland.   Ada McGraw was one of the first women to participate in this program after it expanded to the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility last year. While serving her sentence, McGraw was paired with singer-songwriter Bre Gregg. The lullaby they wrote was for her son Legend and included a poem from Legend’s father. Jessica Katz is the director of The Family Preservation Project and facilitated their meeting. We talk with Katz, Gregg and McGraw to hear about this creative process and learn more about the larger impact of The Lullaby Project.

As commuters are seeing continuous hikes on gas prices in Oregon and across the nation, some are forced to reevaluate their commuting habits. Public transportation could currently be a vital alternative to commuters in Oregon and the Northwest as a whole. But, how well are public transportation systems in Oregon cities serving the public? How can they serve their communities in more efficient ways?   Jarrett Walker is a transportation consultant based in Portland — and he’s been answering these kinds of questions for public transit agencies across the nation for the last 35 years. We’ll hear his thoughts on the current challenges and opportunities ahead for modes of transportation such as buses, light rail and more.  

 Adam Nattress has been playing poker since he was 19 years old, but it wasn’t until he got sober that he was able to really support his family and dedicate himself to the game. Nattress recently won nearly $140,000 dollars in South Lake Tahoe at the World Series of Poker Circuit Main Event. The $1,700 buy-in tournament drew over 400 players from around the U.S. We talk to Nattress about why he loves poker, addiction and what the tournament circuit is like.  

Oregon lawmakers passed eight immigration bills in the last legislative session that ended in March, and Gov. Tina Kotek signed them into law in April. The package of bills came as a response to a host of federal actions in 2025 that put immigrants and their families in jeopardy. Oregon was the first in the nation to become a sanctuary state in 1987 and has strengthened its protections in the intervening years. It is already illegal for law enforcement or public agencies to cooperate with federal agents without a warrant.    The new laws strengthen existing protections and establish new ones. Among other provisions, they direct schools and hospitals to create alert systems, formalizing responses to federal actions. And they protect immigrant’s data and aim to prevent employer retaliation. Isa Peña is the director of strategy at Innovation Law Lab, an immigrant rights organization that lobbied for the bills. She joins us to share more about what the laws will do and the difference they’re expected to make for immigrant communities in Oregon.   

Amazon has plenty of huge warehouses around Oregon to get goods to online shoppers quickly, including one that’s 3.8 million square feet one in Woodburn, its biggest in the entire Northwest. But the giant retailer has started moving toward smaller facilities in more communities around the state, like Hood River, Eugene and Redmond. Amazon says this will provide better service for rural and smaller communities. But some people aren’t so keen on this idea. We hear more from Mike Rogoway, who covers business and technology at The Oregonian/Oregonlive to hear more about Amazon’s strategy and the variety of reactions it's getting from residents.