Think Out Loud

The Portland Art Museum already has one of the most significant collections of modern Japanese prints in North America. On September 27, it burnished those credentials with the opening of the first solo U.S. exhibition of the late artist Yoshida Chizuko (1924-2017).

Born in 1924, Chizuko forged a place for herself in Japan’s male-dominated postwar art world. And though she...

Portland will host Major League Table Tennis events this weekend at the Oregon Convention Center. On Friday, the Portland Paddlers will face off against the Los Angeles Spinners at 7:30 p.m.  Hampus Nordberg is a Portland Paddler player, and Christian Lillieroos coaches the team. They join us with more about what table tennis looks like i...

 Last month, Oregon became the first state in the nation to be verified for its accessibility for travelers with disabilities by the travel website Wheel the World. The company worked with Travel Oregon to assess hundreds of hotels, restaurants, tourism providers and state parks in seven regions across the state for their accessibility. That includes features like step-free entrances at museum...

 In 2007, the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries released a report looking at the seismic safety of more than 3,000 schools and other public buildings. A new analysis from The Oregonian/OregonLive found that of the 138 schools in the Portland area that were considered  at “high” or “very high”...

Nationwide polling suggests that about half of Americans oppose the deployment of National guard troops to American cities. But the poll also suggests a significant number - 38% - do support deployment. Dan Mason is a National Committeeman for the Oregon Republican Party and former member of the Oregon Ethics Commission. He says while those ar...

In June, President Trump deployed thousands of National Guard members and hundreds of active duty Marines to Los Angeles to respond to largely peaceful protests over the administration’s immigration sweeps. A judge recently ruled that the use of federal troops in LA was illegal since they performed law enforcement duties the military are constitutionally prohibited from doing.

For the first time since 2019, the federal government has shut down after Congress failed to pass a funding bill before a midnight deadline. A vote called by Senate Republicans on a stopgap funding bill that was passed previously by Republicans in the House failed on Tuesday evening. That bill would have kept the government funded at current levels until Nov. 21. 

Deep divi...

President Trump’s authorization of the deployment of Oregon National Guard troops to Portland brought swift opposition from civic and business leaders across the state. AG Dan Rayfield has filed a lawsuit and an emergency motion aimed at stopping the deployment. 

Lewis & Clark Law professor Tung Yin, author of &ldqu...

President Trump has ordered 200 Oregon National Guard members into Portland, citing protests outside immigration facilities. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has filed both a lawsuit and a temporary restraining order to block the deployment. The State of Oregon and the City of Portland will appear in federal court at 10 a.m. on Friday for ...

Several hundred people gathered outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland on Sunday to protest the Trump administration’s decision to send 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to the city. Although the protest was mostly peaceful, more than a dozen counterprotesters verbally clashed with protesters and several protesters were hit with pepper balls as ICE ag...

The Beaverton Sobriety Opportunity for Beginning Recovery treatment court is open to Beaverton or Washington County residents who have at least one prior Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants conviction and who agree to the program’s strict requirements. About 200 people have graduated from B-SOBR since its launch in 2011. 

Participants must agree to wear an ankl...

On Sunday, the Trump administration sent a memo to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek authorizing the deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard members in Portland immediately for 60 days. The memo says the troops will be deployed to protect federal property and personnel in Portland, which President Trump has called a “war-ravaged city.” Portland and state officials responded by filing a lawsuit and...

Earlier this month, Brett Hollins embarked on a road trip to Oregon from his parents’ home in San Antonio. He didn’t come to experience the high desert splendor of Central Oregon or to snap selfies at Multnomah Falls. He came to present workshops and play basketball with inmates at six prisons across the state, including Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario and Warner Creek C...

The Hanford nuclear reservation in Southeastern Washington was the epicenter of plutonium enrichment during the WW II and through the cold war. For more than 20 years, an effort to safely dispose and store 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored at the site has been in the works. The vitrification plant would turn some of that waste int...

In September 2024, we packed up our vans and drove about four and a half hours from Portland to Richland, WA, to set up a mobile broadcast studio on the campus of Washington State University Tri-Cities. We broadcast a week of shows that included conversations about the WW II and Manhattan Project history that created the radioactive waste from war-time plutonium enrichment at Hanford. Our coverage ...

Have you ever heard a color, or seen a piece of music? Maybe you’ve tasted a sunset, or felt a particular smell? If so, you might have synesthesia. It’s a phenomenon in which one or more sensory pathways blend in the brain to create a new experience. Researchers aren’t sure how many people have synesthesia, but estimates range from 1 in 200 to 1 in 20 people.

E...

After someone survives a disaster like a wildfire or hurricane, they often face daunting decisions while trying to rebuild. A growing number of scammers are targeting people seeking contractors, especially as events like flooding, hurricanes and wildfires happen more often.  Naveena Sadasivam is a senior staff writer for Grist. She’s covered disaster scams for the outlet and joins us wit...

White-nose syndrome is a fungal disease that grows on hibernating bats, causing them to wake up in the winter. The bats then burn up their fat stores while searching for food and die as a result. The disease was first detected in the northeastern U.S. in 2006 and has since spread to 40 U.S. states.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife recently announced that the fungus tha...