Think Out Loud

In October, Lane County signed a contract with Eugene-based Bulk Handling Systems to create a state-of-the-art recycling center unlike any other in Oregon. It will sort garbage and commingled recycling and produce methane from the organic waste, generating renewable natural gas. According to the county, it will be ​“the most technologically advanced waste processing facility in the country, diverting about 80,000 tons from the county’s landfill annually. That could extend the life of the county-owned landfill by 20 years, officials say, while reducing the amount of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Landfills are a major source of methane, which can also be harmful to human health. Steve Miller, the CEO of Bulk Handling Systems, and Lane County Public Works Director Dan Hurley join us to explain how this project came into being, its environmental goals and the implications for other metro areas with similar waste issues.

Over 100 years ago, a Missouri-based lumber company built what became known as Maxville, a segregated logging town in northeastern Oregon. In September, archaeologists and students from Southern Oregon University dug to find artifacts from the town’s lost Black neighborhood. Now, the students are working to process and understand what they found. Mark Axel Tveskov is a professor of anthropology at Southern Oregon University who ran the dig this summer. His former student Sophia Tribelhorn was there, and is helping to catalog the finds. We are also joined by Gwendolyn Trice, founder and executive director of Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center, which manages the site.

The Federal Railroad Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, is investing more than  $40 million in rail funding for Oregon. Projects span the state and include work in Linn and Lake Counties and Coos Bay.   Prineville is getting funding specifically allocated for rural communities. The grant will help the city restore its rail line and improve safety. Prineville’s railway has experienced its ups and downs. When the lumber business was booming in the ’60s, the railway was a major economic driver for the region.   In recent years, the railway has had to reinvent itself to stay in business. We hear more about the efforts from Matt Wiederholt, the general manager of the City of Prineville Railway.          

Marie Tosa, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of botany and plant pathology at Oregon State University, spent two and a half years trapping and tracking the movements of western spotted skunks across thousands of acres in forests in the western Cascades, roughly 60 miles east of Eugene.   Little is known about the small, nocturnal carnivores which weigh between one and two pounds and burrow inside logs and hollows to avoid predators like bobcats and owls. Tosa’s field work unearthed new information about the behavior of these skunks, including a home range of up to 12 square miles they can cover while hunting for food. She also found that western spotted skunks may be vulnerable to extreme winters, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change, and the importance of old growth forests for their habitat. Tosa joins us to share more of her findings and remaining questions about their resilience to climate change.  

Democratic congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez defeated a challenge from Trump-identified Republican Joe Kent in Washington's 3rd District — despite the fact that Trump won that same district. Gluesenkamp Perez told the New York Times that result was because she refused to nationalize her local race and had solid support from working class voters, who she says her party needs to do a much better job representing. Despite a number of races around the country still too close to call, control of the U.S. House looks likely to fall to the GOP. With that party’s control of the Senate, Donald Trump re-elected as president, and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, Republicans would have a lock on all three branches of government. Gluesenkamp Perez joins us from Washington, D.C. to tell us more about how she plans to represent her district and work across the aisle.

“Think Out Loud” is joined by the “Politics Now” podcast team on the air and on video livestream. Dirk VanderHart, Lauren Dake, Bryce Dole and Alex Zielinski join us to discuss the outcomes of key races and ballot measures across Oregon and Southwest Washington, what implications they may have and how they might affect the lives of Pacific Northwest residents in the year to come. 

Author Tim O’Brien is best known for his book “The Things They Carried,” about the Vietnam War. His latest book is a compilation of anecdotes and reflections on becoming a parent in late middle age, and what he wants his young children to know about him before he dies. This conversation was recorded in front of an audience at the Portland Book Festival in the fall of 2019.

From homelessness to a budget crisis, Portland officials will have a lot to navigate as they take office. This year, Portlanders used ranked choice voting to decide the next mayor and council. And the city council has expanded from five seats to 12 across four geographic districts. We check in on how the election went and what’s next for the city with Alex Zielinski, OPB’s Portland city politics reporter.

On Wednesday, three Portland Commissioners - Mingus Mapps, Rene Gonzalez and Dan Ryan - decided to pull an ordinance they had filed to end the city’s 8-year partnership with Multnomah County to fight homelessness. The decision was made as Portland is poised to elect Keith Wilson, the owner of a trucking company as its next mayor, who opposes the city leaving the Joint Office of Homeless Services. The newly elected 12-person city council, along with the new mayor, will get to decide the fate of the intergovernmental agreement with the county in just two months. In a letter she sent on election day, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said she was ready to work with Portland’s next mayor and new Multnomah County and Portland city commissioners on “solving the most pressing and challenging issues this community will face in the coming months and years.” Chair Vega Pederson joins us to talk about how new Portland city leaders might affect the future of the Joint Office on Homeless Services.

 After the second release of preliminary election results from Multnomah County on Wednesday night, Keith Wilson maintained his lead in the mayoral race. The Oregonian has already called the race, and opponents Carmen Rubio and Rene Gonzalez have both conceded to him. Wilson is the CEO of a local trucking company and ran on a platform to end homelessness by 2026 by expanding shelter capacity and strengthening the city’s partnership with Multnomah County to tackle the crisis. Wilson joins us now to share more on his recent victory and vision for the city.