Think Out Loud

When we talk about forestry jobs in Oregon, you might automatically think of logging. But there are countless other roles in the industry, including planting trees after a forested area has been clear cut to   thinning the understory for wildfire management. As recently reported by Jefferson Public Radio, that workforce has evolved from worker cooperatives of the late 1960s to largely immigrant contractors, known as “pineros,” which we see today. JPR reporter Justin Higginbottom joins us to talk more about his deep dive into this side of the forestry industry and how it’s changed over the last 50 years.

Vishaka Priyan is a junior at Catlin Gabel, a private school in Portland.   She doesn’t have personal experience with foster care. But she came across a group called Project 48 that helps kids in the first 48 hours after they enter the child welfare system. And as she heard stories about the trauma and economic challenges they face in care and after, she wanted to do something that would both support them and help them develop self-sufficiency. That’s why Priyan says she decided to research incentives for businesses to employ youth in the child welfare system or who were aging out of it. The result of her self-assigned project was a bill that is making its way through the Oregon state legislature. Priyan plans to testify for the bill once it gets a hearing. She joins us to share more.

In 2020, Oregon voters passed Measure 110, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of controlled substances. In 2024, the state passed HB 4002, which made possession a misdemeanor crime, but also allocated millions for counties to establish “deflection programs.” Reporter Ben Botkin recently finished a series of articles for the Oregon Capital Chronicle about deflection programs have looked like in different parts of the state.

An estimated 650,000 adults in Bangladesh suffer from blindness, according to researchers. At the end of November, Oregon Health & Science University ophthalmologist Beth Edmunds traveled to the country to teach local doctors a minimally-invasive operation for adults and children with glaucoma. She joins us to share what she took away from her time volunteering and what it was like operating in the world’s only flying teaching hospital. 

According to a new report from the Portland Metro Chamber, foot traffic in the central city is still down -21% compared to 2019. On top of that, the region lost nearly 10,000 jobs and has continued to lose population. Andrew Hoan, president and CEO of the Portland Metro Chamber, joins us to talk through the report, and what he thinks is needed to help downtown Portland thrive.

Exactly three years ago, Russia mounted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, triggering a war that has killed more than 12,000 civilians, displaced 4 million people internally and created nearly 7 million refugees, according to the United Nations. Today, Russian forces occupy roughly 20% of Ukraine.   Last week, President Trump falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war, called its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a “dictator” and initiated talks with Russia – but not Ukraine – to end the conflict.  Two members of the Ukrainian American community in the Portland area join us to share their perspectives: Tatiana Terdal, president of the Portland-Lviv Friendship City Association and a board member of the Ukrainian Foundation; and Yulia Brockdorf, a Ukrainian American psychotherapist in Hillsboro who is the co-founder and president of DAWN, a nonprofit which delivers medical supplies and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Brockdorf and Terdal will speak at a war commemoration event on Monday, which will be held at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland from 5-8 p.m.    

Earlier this month, J.D. Tovey was appointed the executive director of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation following a vote by its board. Tovey is an enrolled member of the CTUIR, and he had been serving as the interim executive director since last May.         An urban planner by training, Tovey was appointed by Gov. Kotek as co-chair of the Housing Production Advisory Council in March 2023. The council finished its work with a report released last year containing recommendations on how to meet the state’s target of building 36,000 new homes a year over the next decade.   Tovey joins us to talk about his work on the council and his priorities for the CTUIR, including the development of the Nixyáawii neighborhood within the Umatilla Indian Reservation to ease the housing shortage for tribal members. He also shares how the Trump administration’s policies and directives could affect tribal relations with the federal government.    

Medical Teams International is based in Tigard but its workers and volunteers bring life-saving, humanitarian aid around the world. The nonprofit’s president and CEO Eric Ha says the refugees they serve in East Africa fled violence, war or natural disasters. Many of them came years ago from Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan, Tanzania and other countries. The camps over time have become settlements, and in some cases the MTI programs are people’s only access to any kind of medical care - from treating common diseases like cholera and malaria to providing vaccinations to child health to maternity care. Ha joins us to tell us how MTI is handling the Trump-Musk freeze of federal funds from the state department and USAID.

On Monday, the Salem city council will vote to place a property tax levy on the May ballot which would cost the average Salem homeowner nearly $230 a year. If approved, it would help the city address a $14 million budget deficit and restore library hours which were cut last year. The levy would also fund parks maintenance, recreation programs such as youth camps, and classes and activities for seniors at Center 50+.       The vote will take place just two weeks after the abrupt resignation of city manager Keith Stahley. The Salem Reporter broke the news of Stahley’s resignation and the circumstances surrounding it after a performance audit released last month raised concerns about Stahley’s leadership and decision-making. Joe Siess covers local government for the Salem Reporter. He joins us to discuss the property tax levy and the controversy surrounding the city manager’s departure.  

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians recently purchased roughly 2,000 acres of land near the Table Rocks preserve north of Medford. The property is part of the ancestral homeland of several tribes that were forced out of the Rogue Valley in the mid-1850s. The tribes were relocated to the newly-created Siletz reservation on the coast, forcing them to adapt to an unfamiliar climate and way of life. The tribe plans to use the Table Rocks property for conservation and the cultivation of first foods going forward. Robert Kentta serves on the Siletz Tribal Council. He joins us to share more about the cultural, spiritual and historical significance of the site.