Think Out Loud

The Portland Trail Blazers are coming in hot with a three-game win streak after beating the Minnesota Timberwolves twice and another against the Atlanta Hawks. Their record now stands at 6 wins with 8 losses, moving them up in power rankings. Mike Richman is the host of the Locked on Blazers podcast. He joins us to break down the wins, losses and the hope for the future of Rip City’s beloved team.

With the days getting shorter and the rain setting in, many Pacific Northwesterners are already feeling the effects of seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. The disorder is thought to be caused by the body’s internal clock being disrupted by a lack of sunlight in autumn and winter months. Treatments include antidepressants and exposure to bright lights that mimic sunlight. As covered in OPB’s “All Science. No Fiction.,” researchers at the University of Washington have developed a new type of light therapy that could more effectively treat the symptoms of SAD. Jay Neitz is the Bishop Professor of Ophthalmology at UW. He co-authored the study and joins us with more details.

A legal fight is brewing in Eastern Oregon where a coalition of timber interests is trying to block the sale of the only sawmill still operating in Grant County to Iron Triangle, a logging company in John Day. The Malheur Forest Fairness Coalition filed a federal lawsuit last year against Iron Triangle and the sawmill, Malheur Lumber, alleging that the two companies were conspiring to stifle competition. Although the suit was dismissed in September, it is currently being appealed, with the coalition threatening further legal action if the sale is pursued.    As first reported in The Blue Mountain Eagle, Malheur Lumber, announced in July it was shutting down after more than 40 years. It cited a range of factors that led to the decision, including difficulty hiring reliable workers and a lack of housing to recruit them. The company’s financial woes are emblematic of the state of the timber industry in Oregon where seven mills announced their closures this year. Bennett Hall is the editor of the Blue Mountain Eagle. He joins us to share his reporting on this issue and how federal assistance could once again offer a lifeline to timber operations in Grant County and the region.  

The Salem City Council recently voted to censure two of its members, Councilor Deanna Gwyn and Mayor-elect Julie Hoy. The two potentially violated Salem’s city charter by participating in a land use vote involving a developer who donated to both of their campaigns. Sitting Mayor Chris Hoy brought the motion to censure, saying the councilors should have recused themselves from the vote after disclosing the financial relationship. Gwyn and Julie Hoy have said the censure is nothing more than an attempt to create division on council, while other councilors have said their failure to recuse themselves has created a conflict of interest. Whitney Woodworth is a city reporter for the Statesman Journal. She’s been covering the censure and joins us with more details.

Nurse navigation programs have been proposed as one solution to overburdened emergency services systems. Instead of sending an ambulance, dispatchers direct low-level 911 calls to a team of nurses who can give advice or help callers set up an urgent care or telehealth appointment. The idea is to provide patients with the appropriate level of care while freeing up EMS resources to respond to life-threatening calls. Clackamas County recently launched a nurse navigation program, and Clark County has been operating its program in Southwest Washington for more than a year. Rocco Roncarati is the regional director for ambulance provider American Medical Response’s operations in Southwest Washington. Marlow Macht is the medical program director for Clark County EMS and an emergency physician at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center. They both join us to talk about how the nurse navigation program is going in Clark County

Some tenants in Southwest Washington and other parts of the state could face a predicament the next time they sign or renew a lease: either sign a nondisclosure agreement or risk eviction and having to look elsewhere in a tight housing market. The NDAs are being used to prevent tenants from disclosing to others, with the exception of immediate family members, how much they pay in rent, security deposits or other associated fees. According to reporting by The Columbian, the use of NDAs by landlords is raising concerns among tenant advocates that they could be used to discriminate against prospective renters, such as people who use Section 8 federal housing vouchers. Landlords could, for example, advertise properties with high monthly rents and security deposits while reducing those fees through NDAs in contracts they offer higher-income tenants.  Alexis Weisend, the affordable housing and homelessness reporter at The Columbian, joins us to share more details.  

The founders of SnoPlanks, a Bend-based snowboard company, decided to donate it to the Oregon State University Cascades campus. Now, students are running the show.  SnoPlanks Academy aims to teach students skills like marketing, sales and supply chain management with hands-on experience. Students also ran a booth at the Snowvana trade show in Portland earlier this month.  We learn more about the program from Caitlin Colgin, the president of SnoPlanks and a senior majoring in outdoor products in the college of engineering and Todd Laurence, an instructor and the executive director of SnoPlanks Academy at OSU-Cascades.

Under a waiver program, states can test new ways to offer Medicaid services.  For Oregon, that means some people on the Oregon Health Plan can get help with housing costs. Oregon is the first in the nation to roll out rental assistance as a statewide Medicaid benefit for eligible OHP members, according to the Oregon Health Authority.  People would need to have a qualifying risk factor to be eligible for the aid, which could include rental assistance for up to six months and help paying utility bills.  Steph Jarem is the 1115 waiver policy director for OHA. Andrea Bell is the Executive Director of Oregon Housing and Community Services. They join us with details of the program and what it means for Oregonians. 

Nationwide, the Democratic Party had little to celebrate this election cycle. Republicans took control of the Senate, the House and the presidency. But in Oregon, state Representative Janelle Bynum ran against 5th District Republican incumbent Lori Chavez-DeRemer - and won. Her victory is also notable as she will become the state’s first Black Representative in Congress. We talk with Bynum from Washington D.C. where she's already prepping for office. Promo: 11/15 Nationwide, the Democratic party had little to celebrate this election cycle. But in Oregon, Janelle Bynum’s victory in the 5th District over the Republican incumbent flipped the script. Her win is also notable as she will become the state’s first Black Representative in Congress. We talk with Bynum from Washington D.C. where she's already prepping for office.

Kintsugi is the traditional Japanese art of repairing ceramics with lacquer and gold dust. The idea is to highlight the imperfections of a piece and celebrate its new form, rather than hide its chips and cracks. Artist Naoko Fukumaru wasn’t initially interested in kintsugi — as a conservator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts and other institutions, she was focused on rendering imperfections invisible. But after the collapse of her marriage following her move to Canada, she began to appreciate the message of resilience and reinvention that are fundamental to the practice. Fukumaru’s first solo kintsugi exhibition in the U.S. is currently on display at the Portland Japanese Garden and runs through Jan. 27. She joins us to talk more about the exhibit and the message she hopes visitors take from it.