OPB's Think Out Loud

Lewis & Clark law professor Jim Oleske and Drexel University associate law professor Lisa Tucker join us to preview some of the cases the U.S. Supreme Court will be taking up this term.

We get the latest regional business news from Suzanne Stevens, editor of the Portland Business Journal.

The Mims House, Eugene’s first black-owned property, was run by C.B. and Annie Mims. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, it served as a safe harbor and boarding house for African-American travelers who were unwelcome at many hotels. We hear more about its history and its current role in the Eugene community from Nisha Burton, who recently made a short film about the Mims House for Oregon Humanities.

Courtney Sherwood, the executive editor of The Lund Report, joins us to explain the nature of ZoomCare’s current financial problems. The company has been growing, and now an estimated 250 thousand people get health care from ZoomCare clinics.

We talk with Ian Campbell, managing editor of the Roseburg News-Review newspaper about how that community is dealing with the second anniversary of the Umpqua Community College shooting and the news of the mass shooting in Las Vegas. Phil Lemman, spokesman for the Oregon Judicial Department, also joins us to discuss implementation of the Oregon law passed earlier this year that would allow guns to be taken from people who are found by a judge to be a risk to themselves or others.

Partly in response to a new Oregon law requiring recordings and transcripts for grand jury testimony, Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill is phasing out the use of grand juries for many cases. He’s moving to preliminary hearings. We talk with Underhill and Lane Borg, executive director of Metropolitan Public Defender Services, about how they’re different, and what this change will mean for defendants, prosecutors, and victims.

Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler wants to extend the city’s housing state of emergency for a year and a half. It was put in place by former Mayor Charlie Hales, and has already been extended once. We talk with Marc Jolin, director of the Multnomah County and City of Portland Joint Office of Homeless Services, about how the state of emergency fits in with other initiatives addressing housing and homelessness.

Marisa Zapata, Christopher McKnight Nichols, and Jim Pasero join us to discuss some of the biggest local news last week.

On Oct. 1, a new law goes into effect in Oregon making it illegal to do almost anything with your phone while you’re driving — besides making or receiving hands-free calls. We talk with Jay Winsten, associate dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, about how laws like this fit into the uphill battle to change people’s behavior when it comes to cellphone use behind the wheel.

Many people of color spoke up at a recent Multnomah County board of commissioners meeting when the board took up a workforce equity resolution. They shared stories of overt as well as more subtle forms of racism they’ve experienced as county employees and how they felt their complaints about discrimination were ignored. Multnomah County COO Marissa Madrigal joins us to talk about what the county is doing in both the short-term and the long-term to address discrimination and racism.

During the last session, the legislature eliminated a tax credit for residential solar panel installation. Also, a new court ruling means that President Trump will have to make a decision about whether to impose a tariff on Chinese manufactured solar panels. Jon Miller, Executive Director of the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association, tells us how all of that will affect Oregon’s solar industry.

In the past week, professional athletes have been at the center of a national debate about political protest. An ongoing protest during the playing of the national anthem by NFL players, as well as Golden State Warriors player Steph Curry’s passing on a White House invitation, have both drawn rebukes from President Trump. Athletes across the country have spoken out on the issue — including the Portland Trailblazers’ Damian Lillard. He joins us to reflect on the role athletes play in political conversations.

After the Civil War ended, General Oliver Otis Howard was put in charge of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, the first social welfare organization in this country. But after the efforts of Reconstruction collapsed, Howard got as far away from the politics of Washington, D.C. as he could — he came to Portland, Oregon. And it was in Oregon that he met Chief Joseph and led a four-month military campaign against the Nez Perce Tribe. Daniel Sharfstein has written a new book about Howard and Joseph. We spoke with him in April.

We talk with Chas Hundley from Gales Creek, Oregon, who’s about to leave his job in tech, to do journalism full time. He plans to take his two online newspapers, The Banks Post and the Gales Creek Journal, to print in November.

The Washington Supreme Court recently upheld the felony child pornography conviction of a 17-year-old who texted an unsolicited sexual photo of himself to an adult acquaintance. Legal advocates have argued against charging teens who “sext” explicit selfies with felony sex offenses. What laws apply to juveniles and sexting in Oregon, and how are teens taught about it in schools? We talk to Oregon criminal defense attorney Emily Simon and sex education specialist Kris Gowen to find out more.