Think Out Loud

 Portland filmmaker Jan Haaken has a new short documentary called “SUMUD: A doctor’s report on genocide and survival in Gaza.” “Sumud” in Arabic means “steadfast perseverance.” The film follows Oregon Health and Science University anesthesiologist Travis Melin as he provided volunteer medical care in Gaza in August of 2025. We’re joined by Haaken and Melin who share more about making the documentary -- and what effect they hope the stories in the film will have.

Ten of Oregon’s 34 rural hospitals have no labor and delivery units, and even more are at risk of shutting their doors. This raises concerns for those seeking maternal healthcare in rural areas as residents face high drive times to the remaining providers, limiting their access to prenatal visits and increasing risk in cases of emergency.   Late last month, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek announced $15 million in funding for maternity care in rural hospitals across the state. This will provide payments to rural hospitals with labor and delivery units that have “fewer than 50 beds and may or may not be within 30 miles of another hospital.”   Jeanna Romer is an obstetrician and gynecologist at Grande Ronde Hospital in La Grande. Nora Hawkins is a direct-entry midwife in Wallowa County. They both join us to give us a sense of what that funding might mean, and the general state of obstetric care in Northeast Oregon.    

Like many ideas, it started over a round of drinks. Musicians, Shorty Delgado, James Jones and Joshua Josué were discussing where they stood in the world of music, each of their sounds not classically Country music, Americana and having spanish thrown into the mix, doesn’t make them Tejano either. Thus, Electric Chololand Records was born. An indie-start up record label celebrating Chicano musicians, stories and heritage, with a specialty in Chicano Rock. Delgado is the head of the label, which launched in 2024. Josué is one of the artists under the label whose new album, “Broadcast to the Surf Ballroom,” is a tribute album made up of demos and unfinished songs from artists Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, two musical inspirations for Josué. Delgado joins us to share more on the record label and its creation. And Josué joins us to discuss his music and share a few songs, with performances from Ben Rice, Nick Skalberg, Marilyn Darrel and Yoshi Sheetz.

The Columbian recently reported that Clark County recorded the highest rate of evictions per capita in Washington state for the third year in a row. In 2025, Clark County landlords filed 2,275 cases to evict tenants, an increase of roughly 33% since 2023.    Washington has passed legislation in recent years to help tenants, including a new law Governor Bob Ferguson signed last May that limits rent increases  to no more than 10% in a year. In 2021, Washington became the first state in the nation to establish a right to free legal counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction. But amid growing need and rising caseloads, the Washington State Office of Legal Aid is seeking $3 million in supplemental funding from lawmakers for the next fiscal year.    Mia Ryder-Marks is a reporter for The Columbian covering homelessness, affordable housing and veterans. She joins us for more details.  

Yabusame is a form of Japanese horseback archery that dates back centuries. The sport has traditionally only been practiced in Japan, but in recent years, students outside the country have been allowed to participate — including in Oregon. As reported in Eugene Weekly, Carey Norland participated in one of the first yabusame clinics outside Japan last summer. He then traveled from Eugene to Japan to compete in the World Yabusame Championships in October.  Norland is now set to become one of the first certified yabusame instructors outside of Japan. He joins us to talk about bringing the sport and its spiritual practice to students in the Pacific Northwest.

The Portland-based Innovation Law Lab was in federal court Wednesday, challenging the ICE policy of arresting immigrants and U.S. citizens without warrants and without due process. If successful, Oregon would join Washington, D.C. and Colorado in preventing this tactic.    From warrantless arrests to unlawful use of force to arresting of journalists and other violations of civil rights, Portland constitutional law scholar Steve Kanter says these federal unconstitutional actions threaten democracy itself. Kanter joins us to put these actions in the context of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments. Jordan Cunnings, legal director of the Innovation Law Lab, also joins us to share details about the federal court hearing on warrantless arrests in Oregon.    

 The U.S. Forest Service is responsible for over 370,000 miles of roads and around 160,000 miles of trails, much of which are on federal lands. But, a government report from 2013 found that only about a quarter of these trails met safety or maintenance standards. Even more recent, in November an internal report from the agency showed a 100% loss of trail staff and widespread declining morale. What do we lose when we don’t maintain our trails? What do these trails across the country, and in Oregon, tell us about our history? And what challenges do staff and volunteers maintaining these routes face today? Dillon Osleger is a writer and public lands analyst. His forthcoming book “Trail Works” releases in May and he had a recent story in RE:PUBLIC and High Country News. He joins us to answer these questions and more.

If a 10-billion-ton hunk of glacial ice falls into the arctic ocean and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?   Erin Pettit and researchers at Oregon State University were set to find out.   They’ve been studying melting glaciers by dropping hydrophones — specialized underwater microphones — into the water near these massive ice formations. It turns out, glacial ice has a surprising song: Hissing, popping and sizzling of pressurized bubbles bursting, and low rumbling and crackling of glacial calving events. Some of these distinct noises can tell researchers how the formations have changed over time.   Pettit joins us to discuss her research and show us some of the sounds of glaciers she’s collected.  

A vast amount of our built environment is made of concrete. It’s largely affordable, durable and easy to make. It’s also responsible, by some estimates, for roughly 8% of global CO2 emissions.   But the U.S. is also facing a significant housing demand shortage, and since concrete is one of the primary building materials for houses and apartments, scientists are working to make it more sustainable to produce.   Late last year, a research lab at Oregon State University made a breakthrough when they created a more environmentally friendly concrete derived from soil instead of cement. Besides emitting less CO2 during production, it’s strong, dries fast and it can be 3D printed more rapidly.   Devin Roach is an assistant professor of manufacturing and mechanical engineering at OSU. He joins us to share more about how the concrete was made, why it’s useful and the possibilities for commercial use.  

 Last year, when Kaarin Knudson became the mayor of Oregon’s third-largest city, her plan was to revitalize downtown Eugene, build more housing and shrink the city’s roughly $10 million budget gap for the 2025-2027 biennium.    The goalposts haven’t shifted much, except now there’s a growing problem. Knudson says many of her constituents are concerned about federal law enforcement in their communities, especially after a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity across Oregon last fall.    Now, Knudson’s mayorship has turned into a balancing act: tackling housing supply, transportation infrastructure and public safety, all with the city’s eyes on Knudson and her office as they navigate ongoing federal uncertainty.    Mayor Knudson joins us to reflect on her first year in office and share how she’s thinking about the road ahead  

 Over the weekend thousands gathered to peacefully protest in S. Portland to speak out against  increased immigration enforcement across the country. But demonstrations did not stay peaceful as federal agents near the ICE facility deployed tear gas that traveled several blocks, affecting many who gathered, including families, children and elderly people. Soon after these events, Portland Mayor Keith Wilson released a statement, asking for those who are working for ICE to resign and said that the city will “swiftly” work to enforce an ordinance that passed earlier this month, which would fine the detention center for using chemical munitions. Alex Zielinski is OPB’s Portland city government reporter and joins us with more details.

A few months ago, Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny guest hosted an episode of “Saturday Night Live” where he appeared in a skit as a Spanish nobleman from the Middle Ages wearing an inky blue robe with gold threading on the collar and sleeves. The costume he wore didn’t come from the show’s wardrobe department. Instead, it was shipped overnight by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival Costume Rentals department in Talent.    As profiled in a recent article in Oregon ArtsWatch, for more than 20 years, OSF Costume Rentals has been making costumes and accessories that were created for its productions available to rent by local theater companies, academic institutions, film and photo shoots and TV shows like “SNL.” The vast digital inventory is searchable online and spans more than 30,000 costumes and accessories, from elaborate Elizabethan gowns and silky Regency dresses to velour smoking jackets and butterfly-collared shirts.    OSF Costume Rentals supervisor Celina Gigliello-Pretto and OSF Director of Productions Malia Argüello share how OSF is preserving its costumes and helping other productions reimagine their possibilities.  

The podcast “Conspirituality” digs into the conspiracy theories arising at the intersection of health, wellness and spirituality. As reported in Willamette Week, the show’s three co-hosts combine their expertise in health journalism, psychology and cult research to "discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds.”  Portlander Derek Beres is one of the co-hosts of “Conspirituality.” He joins us to talk about analyzing and debunking pseudoscience in a time of unprecedented health misinformation.

If you want to see some really old stuff, Portland isn’t a bad place to be. With dozens of antique shops around the city, it isn’t hard to find objects more than a hundred years old.   But from now until March 6, Lewis & Clark College will do you one better: Its special collections department has unveiled an exhibit featuring manuscripts from the Middle Ages, some dating back to 13th century Europe. While rare now in the 21st century, the items on display were once mundane, everyday objects, including legal documents and prayer books with colorful illustrations.   It’s not often that small liberal arts colleges gain access to such rare documents, as larger research institutions and elite universities frequently take priority. In fact, it’s the first time in nearly three decades that a collection this old has made its way to the Rose City. The exhibit, “Shaping the Soul,” is free and open to the public.   At Lewis & Clark College, Hannah Crummé is the head of special collections, and Karen Gross is a medievalist and professor of English. They join us to share more about the manuscripts and their significance today, hundreds of years later.

After the murder of George Floyd, federal law enforcement agencies banned the use of chokeholds during arrests. But new reporting from ProPublica found more than 40 cases where immigration agents used these banned practices, including in Portland. Nicole Foy reported on this story and joins us to share more.

The 2026 Winter Olympics kick off next Friday in northern Italy, with nearly 3,000 athletes from more than 90 countries vying for a medal in events ranging from figure skating to curling. Twelve athletes from Oregon and Washington have qualified for Team USA’s roster competing in Milan, Cortina D’Ampezzo and a handful of other sites where skiing and snowboarding events will be held.     Yoav Dubinsky, an associate teaching professor of marketing at University of Oregon, will also be there to attend matches, do research and help organize an Olympic studies symposium in Naples. Dubinsky is also the operational director of the Olympic Studies Hub, which he helped launch within the UO’s business college in December 2024. It’s part of a network of more than 80 Olympic Studies and Research Centers recognized by the International Olympic Committee.    Although this is the sixth Olympics Dubinsky will attend, which he first did as a former sports journalist, it will be his first Winter Olympics. We’ll talk to him about what events he plans to attend and his research interests, including the marketing and branding opportunities host nations seize on to promote their culture and polish their image with visitors and viewers worldwide.  

 A 2022 study from the Oregon Coast Visitors Association found that 90% of seafood sold on the Oregon coast wasn’t locally caught. In fact, much of the seafood caught in Oregon is exported to other countries. The OCVA estimates that Oregon's coastal communities lose roughly $252 million a year because of seafood exportation. There are many challenges with trying to keep Oregon seafood in Oregon, including a lack of workforce and existing infrastructure. The OCVA and the Oregon Ocean Cluster are working to address this. This weekend, the group will be hosting its 2nd annual Blue Food Forum where consumers, researchers and industry professionals can get a taste of local products and learn more on the latest challenges facing the industry today. Marcus Hinz, director of the OCVA, joins us to share more.

Education research shows a strong connection between spending time in school and academic achievement. Oregon has the third highest rate of chronic absenteeism in the nation, and it has fewer days of instruction than most other states. Student achievement in reading and math have dropped dramatically in the last decade. We talk with Sarah Pope, the executive director of Stand for Children, which commissioned a new report that points to paths for improvement.

Of the thousands of apple varieties grown in the U.S., only a small handful are actually bought and sold on a large scale. They have familiar names, like Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith and Red Delicious. But these hugely commercially, successful apple varieties tend to overshadow older, more unique varieties known as heirloom, or heritage, apples. Some of these apples are almost literally hidden, found in small orchards and sometimes growing in backyards or on roadsides. While less commercially viable, heritage apples have unique flavors, colors and textures, and their genetic information can be studied to make apples more resistant to disease and even to breed new varieties.   The Washington state legislature recently introduced a bill that would task Washington State University with establishing a heritage apple orchard program. If passed, the university would create a registry of heritage apple orchards, documenting rare or lost apples throughout the state and providing resources to orchards that grow them. We’re joined by Matthew Whiting, a tree fruit scientist at WSU, to hear more about the significance of heritage apples and what a heritage orchard program could mean for the country’s leading apple producer.  

In 2010, environmental advocates, elected officials and executives from TransAlta, a Canada-based electricity supplier, assembled a plan to close down Washington’s last remaining coal-burning power plant by the end of 2025. The 15-year long project was a sort of benchmark for transitions of this kind – it included comprehensive financial support and educational opportunities for employees and their families. It eventually lent itself to Washington’s clean energy goals passed in 2019, one of which declared that all state utilities must cease purchasing and using coal-powered energy by the end of 2025. But late last month, when the plant was on track to shut down its operations, the Department of Energy issued an emergency order, ruling that the plant must remain operational for another 90 days. This posed many questions for the future of the plant, due to the long-term effort to close its doors and the lack of customers for coal-powered energy because of the Clean Energy Transformation Act. The plant remains shut down despite the emergency order, but its future hangs in limbo. Joining us to discuss the details is Amanda Zhou, a climate and environment reporter at the Seattle Times.

On Monday, Oregon state lawmakers will convene in Salem to start the 2026 short legislative session. They’ll have just 35 days to tackle their legislative priorities, including the future of transportation funding, housing and rebalancing the state budget, which is facing a nearly $900 million shortfall due to projected federal spending cuts on programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have also seized on growing concerns around affordability and the cost of living, although with different views on what’s to blame. Also expected on the agenda is legislation Gov. Tina Kotek is sponsoring to accelerate job growth and ease business permitting as part of a multi-pronged effort that Kotek recently unveiled and appointed former state Senate Republican leader Tim Knopp to lead.  House Minority Leader Lucetta Elmer, R-McMinnville, and House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, join us to share their perspectives and priorities for the legislative session.

Southern Oregon artist Crystal Proffitt has always had a connection to hair. As a dancer, she grew comfortable styling her own hair for performances, and later worked as a professional hairstylist. But she’s also had strangers approach her to touch or tug her curls unsolicited, an experience she says isn’t uncommon for people of color.    Proffitt channeled those experiences and others into the art installation “Don’t Touch My Hair: An Interactive Crowned Experience.” It features portraits of local models accompanied by audio descriptions of their own experiences with their hair. The installation will be on display at the Rogue Gallery & Art Center in Medford through Feb. 27.   Proffitt joins us to talk more about the installation and the ways hair can convey beauty, culture, memory and identity.

Hand-in-hand with Jefferson High School’s planned expansion comes a change in boundaries for Portland’s school districts. Portland Public Schools voted earlier this month to end the dual-assignment policy, which for the last 15 years has allowed families to let their student opt-out of attending Jefferson High School and instead choose to attend one of three other high schools in the area.   This dual-assignment policy has led to steadily declining enrollment rates for the public high school in North Portland. Jefferson High school currently enrolls just under 400 students. Grant High School has an enrollment of over 2,000, McDaniel High School has over 1,600 students, and Roosevelt High School enrolls over 1,400. The new boundary plan aims to even out enrollment between the three schools by 2030, with the $465 million expansion set to open in 2028. Joining us to discuss the changes are Michelle DePass, vice-chair of the Portland School Board, and Lakeitha Elliot, Jefferson High graduate and former PTA member

 Many Native American tribes use the phrase “time immemorial” to describe how long they’ve been living in North America. But how long is “time immemorial”? What does it really mean?    Indigenous affairs reporter Toastie Oaster dug into the history and significance of the phrase for High Country News. It was part of the magazine’s larger issue on “deep time” in the West. Oaster joins us to share what they learned.

The U.S. Constitution likely would not have been ratified in 1788 without Article 5, which allowed for amendment. Many of the original founders championed the idea that the document would need to change as the country changed. As historian Jill Lepore points out in her newest book most of the 27 amendments to the constitution have happened just after times of war or conflict, and after 33 years without an amendment, we may be headed that way again. OPB’s Geoff Norcross speaks to Lepore in front of an audience at the 2025 Portland Book Festival about “We the People: A history of the U.S. Constitution.”

Music and science don’t often overlap, but University of Oregon professor Leif Karlstrom is making it happen with the Volcano Listening Project. Karlstrom turns datasets from the volcanoes he studies every day into sound, then uses those soundtracks to make music with a wide array of musicians. The project will be on display at a pair of upcoming shows in Portland and Hood River on Jan. 28 and 29.    Karlstrom joins us to share music from the Volcano Listening Project and what it takes to turn data into song.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, requires museums, universities and other institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American ancestral remains and cultural items to their original tribes. Though the law passed nearly 35 years ago, many institutions have failed to fulfill its requirements.     Oregon State University recently opened a new facility designed to advance its NAGPRA obligations. The two buildings house a records room, a laboratory and a space to consult with tribal members as they move through the repatriation process. The new buildings are also better equipped than the old facility to store cultural items and remains of tribal ancestors awaiting return.   Dawn Marie Alapisco is the director of the NAGPRA Office within OSU’s Office of Institutional Diversity. She joins us to share more about the new facility and how institutions should be approaching their NAGPRA requirements.

 Clark County resident Wayne Sutton was only 7 or 8 years old, he says, when his father, who worked in the logging industry, helped him buy his first chainsaw. That was 60 years ago. Today, Sutton is the founder and curator of Wayne’s Chainsaw Museum, a private museum located a few miles outside of Amboy in Clark County that is free and open to visitors by appointment.    The Columbian recently profiled Sutton and his museum which is big enough to display only about half of the 4,000 or 5,000 chainsaws he has amassed over the years and continues to collect, or have donated to him. Sutton opened the museum in 2000 when he started working for Stihl, the world’s leading maker of gas-powered chainsaws.    Sutton retired from Stihl in 2024. Although his museum boasts hundreds of models made by his former employer, it also showcases other brands and rare, decades-old examples that serve as a time capsule of the evolution of this power tool that is inextricably tied to the logging history of the Pacific Northwest. Sutton joins us to share his love of chainsaws and future plans for sharing his massive collection with more enthusiasts.

 If you were around Portland in the '90s, you probably heard the infectious, upbeat pop tunes of the band Sunset Valley. They toured up and down the West Coast, played in front of big audiences and eventually signed with a big record label. But breakout fame wasn’t in the cards for this group, and the members have since moved on to other things. Now the band is reissuing their record "Boyscout Superhero," and playing a concert to celebrate their 30-year anniversary. We talk to band members Herman Jolly, Jonathan Drews and Tony Lash and hear some music.

Morgan Stanley has projected the weight loss medication market to reach $150 billion globally by 2035. The use of GLP-1s, such as Ozempic, have increased drastically since 2019. At the same time, new research shows that the use of these drugs still comes with the risk of judgement and social pressures that all relate to weight stigma. An Oregon-based group, Body Liberation for Public Health, wants to help end these stigmas. The group is advocating for body liberation, which is a movement aimed to dismantle the systems that have created weight stigmas and bias, as opposed to the body positivity movement, which encourages acceptance of all body types. Debbie Kaufman is the creator of the project. She joins us to share more on what body liberation is and why it’s important to incorporate it into public health.

If you’ve been in Portland for a while, you’ve probably seen Mike Bennett’s artwork: It’s on the facade of the Wonderwood Restaurant & Indoor Mini Golf course. It’s on Trailblazer hats and Portland Timbers banners. It’s on road signs and beer cans. Now, the famous cartoonist and immersive space designer has launched a new video-podcast series that explores the animal kingdom for a youth audience. Every episode of “The Zooquarium Podcast” begins with a listener-submitted question — mostly from young kids — and the video element features animations in Bennett’s whimsical cartoon style. The first episode aired Tuesday, with a silly and science-backed conversation about sloth stool.   Bennett joins us to share more about the origins and details of his new podcast. We’re also joined by his co-host, Chanel Hason, a marine biologist, science communicator and director of outreach and community relations at the Elakha Alliance.

Earlier this month, the Oregon Community Foundation and Oregon Humanities announced the names of four recipients of Fields Artist Fellowships. Each of the winners will be awarded $150,000 during the two-year fellowship to work on artistic projects inspired by the communities and cultural traditions they hail from.   Ernesto Javier Martínez is a 2026-2028 Fields Artist Fellow based in Eugene. He is also an associate professor and head of the indigenous, race and ethnic studies department at University of Oregon. Martinez is a filmmaker and children’s book author whose award-winning works provide a rare glimpse into the experiences of queer Latinx youth. He joins us to share his plans for the Fields Artist Fellowship, which include producing an animated TV pilot inspired by the real-life tragic story of a man and his child who drowned while attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.  

Oregon became the first in the nation to legalize psychedelic therapy through psilocybin back in 2020. What soon followed were bans in various jurisdictions, large costs for individuals seeking treatment and other barriers to access. Now, new reporting from The New York Times found that a third of psilocybin service centers have closed and other states have also begun offering this therapy, including Colorado and New Mexico. Andrew Jacobs is a health and science reporter for the NYT. He joins us to share more on where things stand in Oregon’s program and what other states have learned from the state’s first-in-the-nation rollout. 

This weekend the Portland band Typhoon will play two concerts celebrating 20 years of making music together. The band broke out in the early 2010s, with albums like "Hunger and Thirst" and "White Lighter." Two members of the band, Kyle Morton and Shannon Steele, join us to talk about the band’s history and future.

State lawmakers and business leaders have argued high taxes and stringent regulations are hurting Oregon businesses. In 2025, not long after a CNBC report ranked Oregon near the bottom of states to do business, Gov. Tina Kotek announced a plan to change that. Among other goals, it aims to sharpen the state’s competitive edge through changes to permitting and taxation, partnerships with the private sector and incentives to invest in Oregon.  Angela Wilhelms is the president and CEO of Oregon Business and Industry, the state’s largest business advocacy organization. She joins us to discuss why businesses are leaving Oregon and whether the state can improve its business climate to keep them. We also talk with OPB business reporter Kyra Buckley about Gov. Kotek’s roadmap and the challenges currently facing Oregon’s business community.

Since President Trump took office a year ago, Oregon has sued the administration more than 50 times, often teaming up with other Democrat-led states. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has held a series of town hall meetings with other state attorney generals to discuss their efforts and ask for feedback. We ask Attorney General Dan Rayfield about what he has learned from these events.

 There are 27 different species of reptiles and amphibians in Columbia County, Oregon, according to the first ever herpetological-assemblage report of the region. The report is the work of Jon Hakim, who grew up in Columbia County and has been obsessed with reptiles and amphibians his whole life. It took over 15 months and many volunteer hours to visit every possible habitat type in the county and log all the different species, including 6 never seen before in the county. We talk to Hakim about his work and what he’s learned.

 Amid crackdowns by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some are turning to serve for the U.S. military in order to receive protections for their undocumented family members. The Parole in Place program provides a protection from deportation for undocumented parents and spouses of military members. New York Times reporter Greg Jaffe, who covers the Pentagon and the U.S. military, spent eight days in The Dalles, reporting on National Guard recruitments in the city and speaking to members of the community. He joins us to discuss his reporting in The Dalles.

After three city council meetings, a dozen rounds of deadlocked voting and hours of debate, the 12 councilors on Portland City Council have officially elected a new council president and vice president. Jamie Dunphy, representing District 1, was elected as the new council president with Olivia Clark, representing District 4, as vice president. Both were notably reluctant to take on the role. As president, Dunphy will be in charge of running council meetings, appointing city committee leaders and will serve as the middle-man between the council and the mayor’s office. Dunphy and Clark both join us to share more on their priorities for the coming year.

Kwame Alexander has written many books and picture books for children, tackling a range of different topics. In 2022, his book, “The Door of No Return,” was published as the first installment in a trilogy starting in Ghana in the 1800’s. The book is written as a series of poems, following a young boy, Kofi, who is eventually captured and sold into the slave trade. Kwame Alexander joined us for a conversation recorded at the Portland Book Festival in 2022 to talk about the 10-year process of working on this book.

In October 2025, more than 30 farmworkers were arrested outside Woodburn, OR in a raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It was one of ICE’s most aggressive enforcement actions that year in Oregon. But it was also one of the moments that led the state’s largest farmworker union to launch a series of monthly boycotts in protest.   Why? Immigrant labor fuels the state’s economic engine, and so do their dollars: 2023 data show immigrants in Oregon hold about $14 billion in spending power and contribute more than $5 billion in taxes. The boycotts, which kicked off in December, urge immigrants to refrain from economic activity, including working, shopping and going to school.   Reyna Lopez is the president and executive director of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN). She joins us to talk about the first day of boycotts, as well as the goals they hope to achieve.

Surro Connections was once a reputable surrogacy agency that operated out of Camas, Washington. The company helped match surrogates with prospective parents and facilitated communication and payments between them. But the agency abruptly closed late last year, leaving clients without access to the tens of thousands of dollars needed to pay the surrogates carrying their children. The whereabouts of the company’s founder, Megan Hall-Greenberg, are unknown. Investigative health care reporter Sarah Kliff talked to clients, surrogates and former employees of Surro Connections for the New York Times. She joins us with more details about the closure and the largely unregulated surrogacy industry in the U.S.