OPB's Think Out Loud

Oregonian Taylor Zajonc hunts for sunken treasure. But he’s not a pirate. He’s a historical researcher. He does most of his hunting in dusty books and old files.

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

OPB's daily conversation covering news, politics, culture and the arts.

Live coverage of the 2017 Solar Eclipse from Williamette University in Salem, Oregon.

This week, OPB’s State of Wonder will be driving across Oregon ahead of the eclipse, checking out the preparations towns in the path of the totality are making. Today they’re at Suttle Lodge, north of Sisters, where Portland musicians are putting on an eclipse music festival.

Laura Gunderson, Elizabeth Hovde and Naseem Rakha join us on the news roundtable to analyse some of the big national and regional stories of the week.

One of the largest meetings of volcano scientists in the world is going on in Portland this week. We talk with one of the local organizers, USGS geophysicist Mike Poland, about what’s new in the world of volcanology.

The new executive director of the Port of Portland joins us to discuss the agency’s role in economic development, changes to the PDX airport and the clean up of the Willamette river Superfund site.

As of this week, Rahmat Shoureshi is the new president of Portland State University. We talk with him about his vision for PSU and his impressions of Portland.

A Portland couple may have to remove a mural painted on their house for their 20th wedding anniversary because of a city code which prohibits murals on residences with fewer than four units. We talk to Ted and Amy Occhialino about how they are trying to keep their mural, and Phil Nameny, city planner with the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, who helped develop the laws for mural permits.

This week, OPB’s State of Wonder is driving across Oregon ahead of the eclipse, checking out the preparations towns in the path of the totality are making. Today they’re in the middle of the Ochoco National Forest at the Symbiosis Fest.

The Overlook Neighborhood Association met on Tuesday to address a proposal to restrict membership to people with a legal home address in the neighborhood. Some have argued that this revision would exclude homeless people. After Portland’s Office of Neighborhood Involvement threatened to revoke formal recognition of the Overlook Neighborhood Association if the proposal passed, the board decided not to introduce it for a vote. We hear from Overlook Neighborhood Association chair Chris Trejbal.

In Medford, Oregon, a summer school program for migrant students has grown rapidly in recent years, with record enrollment this year. We hear more about the Medford School District’s migrant summer school on the last day of its high school program from Michael Torguson, Coordinator of Migrant Education at Central Medford High School, and student Evelyn Villa.

As part of OHSU’s “Sharing History through Active Reminiscence and Photo-Imagery” study, African-American seniors take guided walks together through historically Black Portland neighborhoods and talk about their memories there. It’s an effort to see if reminiscing and community-building can improve brain health and slow the development of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, which disproportionately impact Black seniors. We learn more from OHSU’s Dr. Raina Croff, who leads the study, and Edna White, a local study participant.

This week, OPB’s State of Wonder will be driving across Oregon ahead of the eclipse, checking out the preparations towns in the path of the totality are making. Today they’re in Madras.