OPB's Think Out Loud

Portland Community College Rock Creek Campus President Sandra Fowler-Hill and Liliana Luna, DACA recipient and PCC Multicultural Center Coordinator join us to talk about a new resource center aimed at helping DACA recipients navigate and pay for their education.

The Forest Service has given a Canadian company permission to explore for gold and copper near Mount St. Helens. EarthFix reporter Eilis O’Neill tells us what’s at stake.

There have always been wild turkeys in Pilot Rock, Or. But in the last few years the flock has grown. Now there are over 100 birds wandering through town, stopping traffic, and making a mess of the houses and cars they roost over at night. Virginia Carnes, Mayor of Pilot Rock, tells us about the options the town is considering.

Oregon startup business writer Rick Turoczy and Uncorked Studios CEO Marcelino Alvarez have a hunch: The state’s startup world has two distinct communities, the techs and the makers. These communities need to talk more, they argue, and they started this week’s BuiltUp Festival in an effort to facilitate the conversations. Turoczy joins us to talk about what they hope to change.

The city of Portland is considering tightening the regulations that developers have to follow to ensure that they safely deal with lead and asbestos when they tear down old homes. Meanwhile, a recent investigation by the Portland Tribune found a number of cases when developers aren’t even following the current regulations. Joining us are Marshall Runkel, chief of staff to City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, Perry Cabot, lead specialist for the Multnomah County Health Department, and Randy Sebastian, president of Renaissance Homes.

Naseem Rakha, Scott Bruun and Jim Moore join us on the news roundtable to discuss some of the big stories of the week.

We sit down with Oregon native [now living in Toronto] Teva Harrison. In her memoir “In-Between Days,” she blends her drawings and graphics with prose to tell the story of her stage four breast cancer diagnosis at age 37, her subsequent treatment, and her struggle to find meaning and joy in her day-to-day life.

The University of Washington’s Julian Marshall joins us to explain the significance of a 10 year air pollution study that found that air quality improved overall, but was worse for people of color, regardless of income.

Oregon State University geography professor Aaron Wolf has traveled the world helping negotiate water conflicts. Even though he’s a scientist, he’s relied on a variety of spiritual practices in his work, which he writes about in his new book, “The Spirit of Dialogue: Lessons from Faith Traditions in Transforming Conflict.”

In Lane County, people struggling with mental health can now fill out a voluntary mental health consent form, providing medical details and emergency contacts to local law enforcement. The program was recently launched by Lane County Behavioral Health, in the hope of helping first responders better respond to mental health crises without making arrests.

Last year, the US Attorney’s office of Oregon helped to organize an event in Portland aimed at increasing understanding between police and communities of color. The second event will be held next week. What can be accomplished in a one-day conference?

We talk with Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese to hear his response to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s remarks in Portland Tuesday.

Last month, Portlander Erika Preuitt was sworn in as the first African American president of the American Probation and Parole Association. We talk to Erika Preuitt about what role probation and parole play in our society today, and what she hopes to accomplish in her new role.

As the Trump administration begins an overhaul of Obama-era policy guidance on the way colleges handle sexual assault, the University of Oregon is adopting a new policy of its own this school year. Under the new rule, most school faculty will no longer be required to file a report if a student confides in them about an alleged sexual assault, in favor of a more “student-led” approach to reporting. We learn more from UO Associate Vice President and Title IX Coordinator Darci Heroy and UO professor of psychology Jennifer Freyd.

Governor Kate Brown holds a ceremonial signing celebration today of the bill to guarantee a Bill of Rights for children of incarcerated parents. We’re joined by Sarah Carson with the San Francisco based nonprofit that pioneered this idea, Ebony Howard who was incarcerated and separated from her son for a year, and Heather Rowlett, who never knew her incarcerated father growing up.