Think Out Loud

A veritable gold rush appears to be opening up, not in the dusty hills of California but in the deep seabeds of the Pacific Ocean that’s being driven by an insatiable global demand of critical minerals that power our electric cars, smartphones, computer chips and more. While manganese, nickel, cobalt and other critical minerals are currently being mined on land, they could also be extracted b...

Home Forward, the housing authority for Portland and Multnomah County, is the largest provider of affordable housing in the state. Reporting from Willamette Week has found that the agency has an unusually high vacancy rate and takes, on average, half a year to fill vacant units at some of its properties. The lack of rental revenue from empty units is making it difficult for the agency to pay off it...

The Oregon state Senate may soon take up the bill that would enshrine additional protections for Oregonian patients and providers of reproductive services or gender-affirming care. That bill, HB 4088, has already passed in the House and has been referred to the Senate by committee. Chief sponsor Rep. Lisa Fragala (D-Eugene) says the bill reflects a commitment to the rights of Oregonians to access these types of...

In the last decade, more than 150 teachers in Washington were disciplined for sexual misconduct. But new reporting from Investigate West found that many of these cases weren’t easily accessible to the public. The reason the information is hidden? When a teacher voluntarily surrenders their license, their information in the state’s misconduct database is shielded from public view. Nearly 45% of teach...

There were more than 70,000 cases of alleged drug use during pregnancy sent to law enforcement officials across 21 states over six years, including Oregon. As reported in The Marshall Project, these cases involved unreliable drug tests that show inaccurate results, are difficult to read or are simply wrong. In Oregon, and in 12 other states, welfare agencies automatically report any positive test result to auth...

Susan Sokolowski holds more than 100 patents, most of which she earned during the nearly 18 years she worked as a sports product designer at Nike. One of her favorite patents was for Flyknit, a knitted fabric upper that’s lightweight and provides a sock-like fit on shoes. The inspiration for it came, she says, from conversations she had with women athletes while working as a designer on Nike&...

Artificial intelligence is beginning to change the entry-level job market. AI often automates the repetitive tasks that might otherwise allow new employees to learn on the job, and some worry it could eventually replace those jobs altogether. A study from Stanford University found these changes were most likely to affect “AI exposed occupations” such as software development and customer...

College newspapers are often on shoestring budget, and at the same time they’re a vitally important source of information — especially for their student readers. At the University of Oregon’s The Daily Emerald and Portland State University’s The Vanguard, reporters have been tear-gassed while covering immigration protests. Though reporters at Oregon State University’s The Daily Bar...

Next Friday, the 2026 Paralympic Games kick off in Milan Cortina, the same region in Northern Italy which hosted the recently concluded Winter Olympics. Anna Soens is an alpine skier from Bend with incomplete paralysis who earned a spot on the Team USA roster. She will now head to Italy to join more than 650 athletes from around the world vying for victory in nearly 80 medal events. 

Portland Playhouse in Northeast Portland is currently performing "Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous." The play follows four Black women artists as they confront their own and each other’s evolving definitions of art, protest, and storytelling.

Audiences have until March 15 to see performances by Faith Lavon and Ashlee Radney, who play actors of different generations. They ...

On October 7, 2023, Liat Beinin Atzili and her husband Aviv Atzili were kidnapped from their home in an Israeli kibbutz. The new documentary “Holding Liat” follows Liat’s family — including members in Portland — in the days and months that followed as they fight for her release and face their own conflicting perspectives on the crisis in Israel and Gaza. Lance Kramer, one of the pr...

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs were recently recognized by the Wild Sheep Foundation for their ongoing efforts to preserve bighorn sheep populations. They’ve been taking measures to protect wild sheep in Oregon since the 1980s, helping to manage disease and predation. 

Austin Smith, general manager of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs branch of natural ...

Earlier this month, Oregon Health and Science University released new nationwide data that found low physician participation in Medicaid. 

Researchers deemed these physicians “ghost” providers: physicians who are enrolled in Medicaid, but don’t care for even a single patient covered by the federal health insurance program.

Those findings also reveale...

The Oregon public defense system has been in crisis for many years. The number of defendants who need representation has far outstripped the number of available public defenders. Previous reports found the state’s system violated Oregonians’ constitutional rights. Earlier this month the Oregon Supreme Court ruled unanimously  that criminal charges against defendants must be dropped if an attorn...

          According to recent surveys, the number of people who say they are experiencing burnout is on the rise. Dr. Zarya Rubin practices functional medicine in Portland who specializes in identifying and relieving burnout. She started a podcast last year that she both produces and hosts called “Outsmart Burnout.” She says burnout can manifest as physical and mental exhaus...

Last month marked the beginning of a statewide ban on cell phones in Oregon schools. The executive order, issued by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, prohibits the use of personal devices such as phones, smart watches and earbuds during instructional hours, including lunchtime and between periods. School districts were to adopt policies by October 31, 2025, and enforce the new rules beginning January 1.

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The Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River is currently hosting “Black Infinity House,” a free, immersive art exhibit on display for Black History Month until March 29. 

The exhibit is arranged into three spaces - an artist’s studio, a living room and a porch – that visitors walk through to experience art made by more than 30 Black Oregon artists whose ...

The Black newspaper The Skanner was founded more than 50 years ago by Bernie and Bobbie Foster. It became something of an institution and community organization for Black communities in Portland. The paper went entirely online in 2020 but continued to play a critical role in the lives of many Black Oregonians. Recently, the Fosters announced the paper had shut down as of Jan. 30. We sit down with former reporte...

Last August, a van carrying seven farmworkers in rural Marion County was stopped by immigration agents. OPB reported on the arrest of the farmworkers, including a man identified as LJPL in court documents. He was arrested even though he had no criminal record and had a pending asylum application. That case and others involving the arrests of workers at dairy farms in Wisconsin and Vermont and ...