Think Out Loud

 A recent study from the University of Washington School of Medicine reveals a national snapshot of the ways Americans are vulnerable to financial insecurity after undergoing medical procedures. 

Surveys showed that about 38% of people who undergo surgery in the United States report experiencing financial hardship after surgery – meaning they have incurred medica...

On Monday, Washington state lawmakers will meet in Olympia to kick off a 60-day legislative session. Last month, Gov. Bob Ferguson unveiled a proposed $79 billion supplemental budget that aims to fill a $2.3 billion shortfall in part by tapping the state’s rainy day fund and making cuts to spending on state programs and services. Lawmakers in both chambers will consider other proposals to sho...

Yesterday afternoon, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent opened fire on a man and woman during an attempted traffic stop in East Portland, according to local and federal law enforcement officials. Responding to a report of a shooting, Portland Police found the man and woman who were shot and applied first aid before the two were transported to local hospitals for treatment. 

Do we need art critics? If you ask Bob Hicks, executive editor of Oregon ArtsWatch, he says “critic” is a dumb word. As he argues in his recently published piece, the role of art criticism isn’t to be the final say in whether a piece of work is good or bad, but rather to be the start of a conversation. At the same time, arts journalism as a whole has faced a number of setbacks in the industry ...

Last month, President Trump signed an executive order seeking to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug. Cannabis is currently Schedule I, alongside drugs the DEA defines as having no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Trump’s order fast-tracks the reclassification, and it could significantly change the industry, opening new doors for cannabis research and eas...

 On Jan. 2, 2016, a dozen armed anti-government militants led by Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan, took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters outside of Burns in Harney County. The 41-day siege at the bird sanctuary in rural Eastern Oregon attracted national and international media attention. On Jan. 26, one of the militants, Arizona rancher Robert “LaVoy” Finicum...

 In September, Olivia Miller returned to Eugene to start her new position as the executive director of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon. She earned a master’s degree in art history from UO in 2009 and most recently served as the director of the University of Arizona’s Museum of Art in Tucson.  

Miller curated two exhibits ...

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife estimates 14.5 million wild vertebrate animals are killed on Oregon’s roadways each year. Data shows it’s difficult to control driver behavior with things like road signs and traffic regulations. A more effective way to mitigate animal fatalities is by redirecting the animals themselves.

Wildlife crossings — human-made struct...

According to the Oregon Health Authority, nearly 35,000 Oregonians visited emergency rooms in 2023 for issues related to a brain injury. These injuries can result in a range of symptoms, from confusion and short-term memory loss to depression, anger issues and lack of impulse control. Depending on the severity of the injury, survivors may need access to resources such as employment and housing assi...

It’s estimated that more than 80,000 Oregonians are living with disabilities related to a brain injury. That includes Portlander Cheryl Green, who sustained a brain injury in 2010. Since then, Green has showcased the experiences of brain injury survivors through a number of projects, including a podcast, documentary film, short videos and her work as a self-described “access artist.&rdq...

The Astoria library reopened in the fall of 2025 after a major renovation. When discussions about remodeling the library surfaced, it begged the question: What exactly does a community need from a public space? The same kinds of questions were posed when the original library was designed.

Trailblazing Astorian architect Ebba Wicks Brown, the first woman in Oregon to receive an a...

 It’s been one year since Portland welcomed its new 12-member city council, which was a part of a major voter-approved overhaul of the city’s government. Since January 2, 2025, the city has seen 48 council meetings, more than 190 pieces of legislation passed and nearly 40 resolutions. The new council has seen some wins, such as broader representation on the council and bureaucracy for bureaus m...

 Wildfires, extreme heat, ice storms and other weather events have Oregonians thinking about climate change in a much more personal way. We talk with clinical psychologist Thomas Doherty, who helps people cope with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues brought on by the climate crisis. His new book, “Surviving Climate Anxiety,” teaches how to cope and heal from the psychological im...

 In 2016, Tara Roberts was living in Washington D.C. and working at a nonprofit when she visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture and a photograph she saw there changed her life. The image was of Black scuba divers from the group Diving with a Purpose which searches for and documents slave shipwrecks around the ...

What can animals teach us about ourselves? That’s part of what poets Reginald Dwayne Betts and Mai Der Vang are both exploring in their new collections. “Doggerel” is Bett’s collection about the relationship between dogs and their humans. “Primordial” by Der Vang tells of a nearly extinct deer-like creature ...

 It was a big year in news for the Pacific Northwest. The president attempted to send the National Guard into Portland, plans for a potential ICE facility caused unrest in Newport, and communities across the region saw an uptick in aggressive immigration enforcement activity.

Meanwhile, a significant road funding bill died — then was resurrected — in the Oregon ...

The immigration detention center in Tacoma, WA is one of the largest detention centers in the country. This prison-like facility has rapidly filled to capacity as a new era of ICE enforcement gains steam and brings profound changes for people locked inside detention — many who are longtime residents of Oregon and Washington. Today we bri...

Sometimes laughter can be the best way to make it through difficult times. And a good joke can go a long way to connecting with another person, no matter how different they are. Those are themes in the two new books “Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One” by Kristen Arnett and “So Far Gone” by Jess Walter. OPB’s Jess Hazel talked to Walter and Arnett about their books...