Think Out Loud

By 2040 about 78 million Americans will be 65 or older, according to the Administration on Aging. In Oregon, lower birth rates combined with longer life expectancies means that Oregon’s population is rapidly growing older. The shift in population affects sectors like healthcare and affordable housing. AGE+ is a nonprofit that advocates for older Oregonians. It’s pushing for a statewide task force to plan for Oregon’s changing demographics -- a shift that many of the state's rural areas are already seeing. In 2023, South Morrow County Seniors Matter created a meal program for older residents. Now, the organization continues providing free weekly lunches to adults 60 and older along with classes and help navigating resources. Stephanie Hooper is the president and CEO of AGE+. Jerry Conklin is the board chair of South Morrow County Seniors Matter. They join us with more about what an influx of aging residents could mean for the state.

Oregon launched a program last summer to pay parents who care for their children with severe disabilities or medical needs. Advocates pushed for the Children’s Extraordinary Needs waiver after a similar COVID-era program ended in 2023.  But parents say the state program is underfunded and falling short of its promise. It can only serve a tenth of the families that qualify, and only pays caregivers for up to 20 hours of work per week. SB 538, or Tensy’s Law, aims to provide adequate funding to expand the program to all eligible families. Calli Ross is the legislative director for Advocates for Disability Supports. She’s also the primary caregiver for her 9-year-old son, Tensy, who is the bill’s namesake. She joins us to talk about the Children’s Extraordinary Needs program and the legislative push to expand it.

A new study made national headlines, estimating that in the next three decades, around 42% of adults over the age of 55 will develop dementia. Allison Lindauer is an associate professor of neurology at the Oregon Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at OHSU. She joins us to share what we know about dementia and what people can do to prevent it.

Around 14,000 subscribers read the locally-owned community newspaper Hoodview News every month. Along with community events, feel-good stories about the East County area and advertisements, readers find columns that espouse and encourage a transphobic worldview. Hoodview News is published by longtime Oregon political operative Mike Wiley — perhaps best known for his work as communications director for the Oregon Citizens Alliance, or OCA, an ultra-conservative activist group that pushed stridently anti-LGBTQ+ ballot measures across the state in the 1980s and 1990s. OPB journalist Leah Sottile joins us with the story.

The bridge connecting Oregon and Washington on Interstate 5 has needed replacement for decades. Experts say it would not withstand earthquakes of the size that the Northwest is certain to experience in coming years. Hundreds of millions of state and federal dollars went under the metaphorical bridge when the Columbia River Crossing project fell apart more than a decade ago. Now the I-5 replacement plan that Oregon, Washington and other public agencies have created depends on funding from both states, future tolling, and the federal government coming through with money it pledged to the project long before President Trump began his second term.  Erik Neumann is OPB’s Southwest Washington Bureau Chief and has been following developments closely. He joins to share the details on where replacement stands and remind us what’s at stake.

 Earlier this month, Stephanie Johnson, a first grade teacher at Pine Ridge Elementary School in Bend, found out she won a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Central Oregon Daily News first reported on Johnson’s achievement. The award is considered to be the highest national honor a K-12 educator can receive for teaching science, technology, engineering or mathematics.   Johnson was one of five teachers in Oregon who received the most recent award, which was given to educators nominated in 2021, 2022 or 2023. It includes a certificate signed by former President Biden, an invitation to attend the awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. and $10,000 from the National Science Foundation. Johnson joins us to talk about her achievement and the joy she gets from teaching math to 1st graders. 

Glyphosate is an herbicide that’s widely used in agriculture in the U.S. and around the world. It’s the active ingredient in Roundup, which is commonly applied to crops like soy, cotton and corn that have been genetically modified to withstand the weed killer. The Environmental Protection Agency maintains that glyphosate is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans,” although a ruling in 2022 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has prompted the agency to review the chemical’s risks to human health and the environment.  A new study by economists at the University of Oregon examined how glyphosate may also be impacting the health of infants. It looked at millions of birth records from 1990 to 2013 to see if there were differences in birth weight and gestational length after Roundup use intensified in rural counties that grew genetically modified corn, soy and cotton compared to rural counties that weren’t suitable for growing those GM crops. It found that exposure to glyphosate was associated with lower birth weights and shorter gestations, with those effects being greater for some babies more than others. Joining us to talk about the findings is Ed Rubin, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Oregon.

In 2020, the Almeda Fire ripped through the Rogue Valley and it destroyed about a third of the town of Talent. Among the losses were nearly 90 homes located at the Talent Mobile Estates park. Years later, the town continues to rebuild, including a groundbreaking ceremony for the mobile home park last year. We check in on recovery efforts from Darby Ayers-Flood, the mayor of Talent.       

Oregon lawmakers gathered in Salem on Tuesday for the start of the 2025 legislative session. They’ll have five months to tackle the state’s pressing challenges, including passing a two-year budget. Last month, Governor Kotek unveiled a budget proposal that boosts spending on her top priorities such as building more affordable housing, combating homelessness and funding for K-12 schools.  Lawmakers are also expected to pass a multibillion-dollar transportation package to shore up the state’s aging bridges and crumbling roads and highways. And although Democrats narrowly won a supermajority in the legislature, they may still face resistance from Republicans who have competing visions on education, public safety and addressing the housing crisis. Joining us to discuss all this and more is OPB political reporter Dirk VanderHart. 

Looking at the history of psychological operations, “Stories Are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind” is the latest book by author and journalist Annalee Newitz. It explores misinformation, propaganda and how the stories we hear can manipulate us. The book also features a chapter on the work the Coquille Indian Tribe has done to undo damage these operations did to some Oregon tribes in the past. Newitz spoke in front of an audience with “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller at a Powell’s Books event on June 4.