Think Out Loud

University of Oregon chemistry professor Geri Richmond has been widely recognized for her work in the lab. She studies the surface of water and how it interacts with other substances, such as oil, to better understand how to mitigate environmental hazards. She’s also devoted much of her career to teaching and mentoring women in science around the world. We talk with Richmond about her work and what it means to her to receive the Linus Pauling Legacy Award from Oregon State University.

All Classical Portland launched yesterday a new radio station -- this time aimed at children. The International Children’s Arts Network, or ICAN, is a new station on 89.9 HD-2 and online, which will feature music, poems, and literature, and much of it will be presented on air by kids. We talk with Program Manager Sarah Zwinklis, and youth reporter Emma Clarke, who tell us all about the new network and producing radio for kids.

About five percent of the young people in Oregon Youth Authority custody are Native American. That’s more than twice their rate in the population as a whole. Culturally specific events run by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde aim to give these Native youth mentorship and connection. We hear from David Fullerton, general manager for the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, and one of the youth who’s taken part in the events.

Following last month’s announcement of a new construction project by NuScale, an Oregon company focused on modular nuclear reactors, we talked to an energy consultant Scott Montgomery about the NuScale technology — and the perils and promise of nuclear power in the context of climate change. We get another perspective, including the history of the region’s experience with nuclear energy from University of Oregon emeritus history professor Daniel Pope, and author of “Nuclear Implosions: The Rise and Fall of the Washington Public Power Supply System.”

The nation’s top law enforcement agency is overwhelmingly white. When James Comey was still head of the FBI, he called the lack of diversity a ‘crisis.’ Later this week, the local office will hold an event to recruit diverse agents. Joan Schiller, the chief recruiter, and a Special Agent share their experience with the agency.

Oregon’s senior Senator, Ron Wyden (D-OR), is one of the sponsors of a bill called the “Taxpayer First Act”. He’s gotten pushback this week after ProPublica reported that his bill would make it impossible for the IRS to create free tax preparation software that would compete with products like TurboTax. We talk to the senator about it.

The high cost of health insurance, the scarcity of psychiatric treatment beds, and an overburdened emergency clinic for psychiatric patients, all make finding mental health treatment difficult, especially for someone in the midst of a crisis. In the past year, three of the four people fatally shot by PPB officers were in the midst of apparent mental health crises. Vince and Sara Salvi have two sons who have struggled with mental illness. They share their experiences of negotiating the system, and their interactions with police.

OPB’s Anna Griffin, Portland State University’s Lisa Bates, and former GOP lawmaker Julie Parrish join us to analyze and give their opinions on some of the big stories of the week.

Suicide rates among Native Americans are over 3 times higher than those among racial and ethnic groups with the lowest rates. Doug Barrett is a suicide prevention coordinator for the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians. He says native youth need programs that are tailored to their own culture.

Willie Poinsette joins us to talk about the changes she’s seen in Lake Oswego over the last three decades she’s lived there. Poinsette co-founded the community action group Respond To Racism in 2017 and she was recently awarded Community Leader of the Year by the Lake Oswego Chamber of Commerce.

There’s a new print publication geared towards a specific audience. “News Inside” is aimed at informing and inspiring people who are in prison. The Marshall Project, the nonprofit news organization behind it, has put Lawrence Bartley in charge of the project. Bartley was recently released after 27 years behind bars and he says he’s excited to be distributing “News Inside” to 30 facilities in 19 states, including Oregon and Washington.

The opioid crisis has hit the Tulalip Tribes pretty hard, as it has many Native American communities. The Washington tribe has come up with a unique solution. They’re putting $2 million towards research on cannabis as a treatment for opioid addiction. We hear from Les Parks, a tribal council member for the Tulalip Tribes and Annelise Barron, an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford who is working on this research project.

In 1976, a group of community leaders in Eugene came up with a new model to help prevent child abuse and neglect. They provided respite child care to parents and called the program the “Relief Nursery.” Since then, Relief Nurseries have broadened the services they offer, and have opened locations in dozens of other Oregon communities. We hear about how it works, and talk to a family who received help through the program.

The humanitarian agency Mercy Corps has teamed up with NASA to use satellite data and weather modeling to help people on the ground. The scientific data from NASA has helped farmers find access to water and improve yields in Niger. David Green is the disasters program director at NASA’s Earth Science Division, and David Nicholson is the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Mercy Corps.

An hour-long documentary by KOMO News called “Seattle is Dying” tackles the homeless crisis in the city. The documentary concludes that lax enforcement of the law in the city is the culprit for increasing property crime and unsafe public spaces. We’ll talk about the controversy that has ensued.

Breaking the Silence is a media collaboration highlighting problems and solutions around Oregon’s suicide crisis. As part of this project, we talk with Dan Reidenberg, executive director of SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education). The conversation will focus on the trainings Reidenberg has lead all over the country for media organizations covering this challenging topic, to talk about the ways we can make our coverage helpful and not harmful.

Portland author Elizabeth Rhodes tells us about her new children’s book, “Feminism Is For Boys.” It talks about challenging gender roles and young boys’ role in feminism.

When Sophia Shalmiyev was 11 years old, she and her father immigrated to the U.S. from the Soviet Union, leaving her mother behind. In her new memoir, “Mother Winter,” Shalmiyev chronicles her relationship with a mother she barely knew, her journey back to Russia to find her, and her own experience with motherhood.

Barbara Dudley, Eric Fruits and Camilla Mortensen join us to share some analysis and opinions on some of the biggest regional stories from the past week.