Think Out Loud

Oregon state Senator Lew Frederick (D-Portland) says that police officers who are accused of serious misconduct often end up staying on the job because their discipline is overturned in arbitration. He wants to change that. Portland's police union is pushing back. We hear from Frederick and Portland police association president Daryl Turner.

Residents in Klamath Falls have seen the Eternal Hills cemetery in their town fall into disrepair in recent years. Now, the cemetery’s owner is in bankruptcy and some of the structures have been vandalized. Klamath Falls resident Shelly Ayers tells us about the volunteer clean up efforts at the cemetery and how the situation has been affecting the community.

What should you do if you experience hate speech -- as either a target or as a bystander? Debra Kolodny teaches a class on the subject. Kolodny is a rabbi and the program director Portland United Against Hate. Their Interrupting Hate Speech workshops help participants understand the history of hate in Oregon, the prevalence of hate speech today, and what to do if you encounter it. We hear about the workshops and what Kolodny has learned along the way.

The new coronavirus has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. We hear from SEIU Local 503 executive director Melissa Unger and attorney Sean Ray about what this means for some workers and employers in the state and Ron Witczak, executive director of the Office of International Affairs at Portland State University, will talk with us about how PSU is communicating with its students about the virus.

The public has now learned of the second presumptive case of COVID19 in Oregon, and one man died from complications related to the virus in the state of Washington. Oregon Health Authority, the Multnomah County Public Health Department, and the Port of Portland tell us about the precautions they are taking and what their recommendations are to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

Copyright laws are designed to protect creators from unfair use of their intellectual property. But some independent makers say it’s too expensive for them to get those protections. A bill currently working its way through Congress could fix that. But many librarians and authors are opposed to the bill because they fear increased risks for students and professors. We talk with M. Ryan Clough, senior director of public policy and general counsel at the Association of Research Libraries and Sam Tarrel, owner of Light Science Photography Studios.

We get opinion and analysis on some of the biggest news stories of the week from Camilla Mortensen, Eric Fruits, and Marisa Zapata.

The global economic impact of the new coronavirus is already evident here in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. Bob Whelan, senior economist with ECONorthwest, says that while the situation is not entirely predictable, it’s likely to further slow down the local economy. The loss of Chinese, Japanese and European tourists would hit Oregon particularly hard, and impact manufacturing and other industries as well.

When Andy McMillan quit drinking five years ago, he learned more about the evolving sobriety movement. For two years now he's been holding so-called "zero proof" events featuring mixed drinks that he hopes will appeal to everyone. Now he says it's the right time to open Portland’s first completely non-alcoholic bar.

The Oregon Children’s Theatre is presenting “The Journal of Ben Uchida,” a play about a Japanese American family that is relocated from their home and imprisoned in detention camps during World War II. Actor David Loftus’s family was imprisoned in the World War II camps in California and Wyoming. He and the play’s director, Dmae Roberts, join us to discuss what audiences today can learn from the play.

Huge murals painted on the walls of the Grant High School auditorium nearly 90 years ago depict white settlers and Native Americans existing in peace and harmony. A planned restoration of these murals has ignited fierce opposition from many students at the school, including the Indigenous Peoples Student Union. They say the depictions are ahistorical and offensive, and they want the murals removed. The Alumni Association, which has raised money for the restoration with the approval of Portland Public Schools, favors restoring the painting. It wants to use the paintings as a way to educate students about the actual history of whites and Indigenous People, and provide other supplemental art at the school that would do this. Our guests are Grant High School Alumni Association’s Bob Erickson; Indigenous Peoples Student Union representative, Aanii Tate; Nina Olsson, a conservator of paintings who’s contracted to restore the murals; and Grant High School principal, Carol Campbell.

As a legislative stalemate brought the Capitol to a standstill this week, Republicans have been adamant: They’ll return to work, if Democrats agree to put their landmark climate change proposal before voters. In the meantime, only three bills have passed so far this legislative session. And many more are left on the table. OPB political reporter Lauren Dake tells us about all the other legislative efforts aside from Cap and Trade that are now at a standstill this session.

The 2020 census is still a few months away from arriving at households across the country, but efforts to get the word out about the census is underway in many states. Oregon has spent nearly $8 million on outreach efforts to historically under-counted communities. We Count Oregon is working to ensure that those communities are represented on the 2020 census. We speak with We Count Oregon campaign manager Esperanza Tervalon-Garrett, APANO’s census equity manager Mar Hirshfield and Shana Radford, the tribal partnership specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau, focusing on Oregon and Idaho.

Oregon’s Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has created a new task force to address labor abuse. We talk to Chanpone Sinlapasai, an immigration attorney, on the Labor Trafficking Task Force and its goals.

February 29, also known as “leap day,” comes once every four years. Historian Katherine Parkin has studied a leap day tradition that was popular in the early 20th century: women proposing marriage to men. The gender role reversal was more of a joke than an actual tradition, promoted by a popular form of communication at the time: postcards. Parkin joins us to talk about her research.

Oregon Senate Republicans have walked out of the legislative session over a cap and trade bill. The Democrats’ signature climate change bill is headed to the Senate floor, but Republicans aim to stop its passage by denying Democrats the quorum they need. We discuss how this legislative walkout compares to past walkouts in Oregon and around the nation with Jim Moore, Director of the Tom McCall Center for Policy Innovation at Pacific University, and Andrew Downs, the Director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics.

Oregon Democrats are working to pass a bill that would set a statewide cap on carbon dioxide emissions, and require some polluters to get allowances for their emissions. OPB reporter Cassandra Profita fills us in on what the bill would do.

Sarah Lozoff is the first resident intimacy director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She will be working with actors on scenes involving everything from sex to assault. Lozoff talks to us about her unique new role and how it will impact the upcoming season.

A violinist in Corvallis has been teaching a student in China over skype for several years. Earlier this month, Anthea Kreston realized her student, Kevin, was living under quarantine for coronavirus in Chengdu. Kreston decided to set Kevin a special challenge to help the time pass faster.