Think Out Loud

Trust in journalism in the U.S. continues to erode, but a new Trust Project at the independent student newspaper at the University of Oregon is responding to the problem head-on. It’s educating the paper’s readership about how reporters and editors make decisions, soliciting feedback and increasing transparency about errors and corrections. The Daily Emerald’s editor-in-chief, Michael Tobin, and journalism instructor and researcher Lisa Heyamoto join us to discuss the project and what the research shows about how these and other practices work to increase consumers’ trust in news media.

Native Americans in Oregon get cervical cancer 1.5 times more than the general state population and die from it two times more often. A gynecologic oncologist at OHSU just got a prestigious fellowship to find out why. Dr. Amanda Bruegl has been studying HPV infection among Native Americans in Oregon.

Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would ban discrimination based on hairstyles associated with ethnicity or race. The bill, sponsored by the Clackamas Democrat Janelle Bynum, has passed the House and is now headed to the Senate. We talk with Bynum about her experience with this kind of discrimination and why she’s pushing for a new law to explicitly protect hairstyles.

A group of non-profits are working to increase the number of minority-led sustainable farming businesses in Oregon. Latino residents make up over 12 percent of the state's population. Yet only 3% of the state’s total of farms are owned by people of color. We talk with Marissa Zarate, Executive Director of Huerto de la Familia, about why she thinks the collective’s work is important.

We hear opinions and analysis on this week’s regional news from George Rede, Jason Conger and Kalpana Krishnamurthy.

We listen back to a conversation from last month, when Portland Public School students were treated to a live performance from an opera singer. It was part of a program from Portland SummerFest Opera to expose more people to the music of opera. Soprano Angela Brown performed her one woman show, “Opera from a Sistah’s Point of View,” at Roosevelt and Franklin high schools.

Oregon lawmakers are approaching the halfway point in this year’s short legislative session, the Republican minority is seeking to slow the pace. Almost all of the Republican house members declined to show up for an evening floor session on Tuesday and they are insisting that all bills be read in full, which can take a very long time. Democrats are still hoping to pass the cap-and-trade bill that failed in the last session after a Republican walkout. OPB political reporter Dirk VanderHart gives us the lay of the land in Salem.

A new exhibit at the Portland Art Museum marks the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. It features art made before, during, and after the eruption. The curator, Dawson Carr, has been interested in volcanoes since he was seven years old.

More than 1 million Oregonians live in an area with a shortage of dental care providers. A new program at Pacific University aims to bolster the dental workforce. The first cohort of the university’s dental therapy pilot program started their training on February 1. Dental therapists are mid-level practitioners who can provide dental services at a lower cost than dentists. We talk with Amy Coplen, program director of the School of Dental Hygiene at Pacific University.

Black and indigenous women in the U.S. are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues than white women. But studies have shown that culturally specific doulas can improve outcomes for black mothers. Sacred Roots Doulas at the Black Parent Initiative is the only culturally specific doula program in Portland. We talk with program manager Linda Bryant-Daaka.

The Clackamas County Sheriff’s office is planning to overhaul its approach to search-and-rescue efforts. As first reported by the Oregonian/OregonLive, Sheriff Craig Roberts says he wants to stop working with outside groups of trained volunteers like Portland Mountain Rescue and instead rely on his own in-house team. The change is likely to take place over the next six to 18 months and threatens the existence of independent groups that have been doing difficult rescues on Mount Hood and elsewhere for decades. We hear from the sheriff and from Mark Morford, rescue leader and board member for Portland Mountain Rescue.

A controversial rule affecting immigrants seeking green cards will go into effect later this month. The Trump Administration has a new interpretation of an existing policy known as the “public charge rule.” The new interpretation would allow immigration officials to reject applications from people deemed likely to become dependent on public assistance benefits. The rule is facing legal challenges from several states, including Oregon. But a recent Supreme Court ruling allows the new interpretation of the rule to go into effect Feb. 24 even while those legal challenges are pending. We hear from immigration and family law attorney John Marandas and Oregon Health Authority director Patrick Allen about how the rule could affect immigrants in Oregon.

Flooding in northeastern Oregon destroyed homes and displaced residents across Umatilla County. Now that floodwaters have largely receded, the county, along with the city of Pendleton, is starting to pick up the pieces and look ahead to long-term recovery plans. This includes fixing levees, finding housing solutions and helping people whose jobs were impacted. We hear from Pendleton Mayor John Turner about how the recovery is going.

Concordia Students Suing The University After Its Announced ClosureConcordia University announced suddenly that it will be closing its doors and that its spring 2020 semester will be its last. For students who had enrolled at Concordia after Marylhurst suddenly closed its doors last year, the financial burden is compounded. We talk with Concordia senior Lauren Harris and her lawyer Michael Fuller, who is filing a class action on behalf of students who enrolled Concordia this spring who will not be able graduate because of the closure.

Mitchell Jackson’s new book, “Survival Math,” is by and about a man trying hard to make sense of where he came from and how that place formed him. Most simply, it’s a memoir about his life growing up in Northeast Portland among pimps and drug dealers, about how he survived, and eventually thrived, becoming a celebrated writer and a professor at NYU. The book is also woven through with history, criminology, sociology and mythology. But it’s much more than just a personal memoir. Mitchell gives voice to other men in his life: a dozen family members, each of whom answered the same question: “What’s the toughest thing you’ve survived?”

Tech journalist and University of Oregon graduate James Vlahos joined us last spring to discuss his new book “Talk To Me: How Voice Computing Will Transform The Way We Live, Work, And Think.” It’s all about the quest to teach digital devices how to talk and listen — and what that means for the humans that interact with them.

There is currently one place in Oregon that’s burning trash to create energy. Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that could allow trash incineration in Marion County to be considered a form of renewable energy. Opponents say that a waste incineration facility from 1987 should not be eligible for credits intended for new renewable projects, like wind and solar. We talk with Marion County Commissioner Sam Brentano and Damon Motz-Storey, the healthy climate program director for Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Ever since the Unity Center for Behavioral Health opened in Portland in 2017, it’s been plagued with problems. Unity patients have assaulted other patients and staff. Safety concerns escalated to the point that the Center was in danger of losing its ability to receive Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. The Center, which is a collaboration among Legacy, Kaiser, Adventist Health and Oregon Health and Science University, expected to lose several million every year on this kind of specialized care. But a series of factors have compounded the problems, and the Center expects to lose about 20 million in 2020. Portland Business Journal health reporter Elizabeth Hayes has followed this story from the beginning and we talk with her about her latest article detailing the Center’s challenges.

Portlander Colin O’Brady has a new book about his much-lauded solo trip across part of Antarctica in 2018. It’s called “The Impossible First.” Earlier this week, we talked with Aaron Teasdale who covered the trip as it was happening for National Geographic Magazine and recently wrote an in-depth followup article digging into the claims O’Brady made before, during and after his Arctic trip. Colin O’Brady joins us to respond to Teasdale’s investigative reporting in National Geographic.

History, demographic shifts, social science, and the evolving media landscape are all part of the puzzle political journalist Ezra Klein puts together in his new book "Why We're Polarized." We talk with Klein about how polarization is changing our country. Ezra Klein will be at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing Wednesday, February 12 at 7pm. He’ll be in conversation with Omar El Akkad, author of 'American War.'