Think Out Loud

The US turns 250 years old this year. Oregon teachers share what the anniversary means for the classroom

HIS YEAR MARKS THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE UNITED STATES. SPECIFICALLY, IT IS WHEN THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNING BODY OF THE 13 COLONIES, ADOPTED THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.   IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT MUCH HAS CHANGED SINCE THEN. BUT WHAT WOULD OUR FOUNDING FATHERS THINK OF OUR SOCIETY TODAY? HOW SHOULD HISTORY, BOTH PAST EVENTS AND CURRENT, BE TAUGHT IN CLASSROOMS? TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS MORE WE’RE JOINED BY TWO OREGON HISTORY TEACHERS. JACQUELINE POPE-BROTHERS TEACHES U.S. GOVERNMENT, AP GOVERNMENT AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AT SPRAGUE HIGH SCHOOL IN SALEM. MAURICE COWLEY TEACHES ENGLISH AND AP AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES AT MCDANIEL HIGH SCHOOL IN PORTLAND.

Portland downtown hotels are still struggling to recover from the pandemic

THE PORTLAND BUSINESS JOURNAL [https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2026/05/26/portland-hotels-pre-pandemic-levels-costar.html] REPORTED THIS WEEK THAT HOTELS IN DOWNTOWN PORTLAND ARE STILL STRUGGLING YEARS LATER TO RECOVER FROM THE PANDEMIC. ACCORDING TO THE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE ANALYTICS FIRM COSTAR, THE OCCUPANCY RATE FOR DOWNTOWN PORTLAND HOTELS WAS ROUGHLY 62% LAST YEAR – NEARLY 10% LESS THAN THEIR PRE-PANDEMIC OCCUPANCY LEVELS IN 2019. IN ANOTHER OMINOUS SIGN OF THE MARKET’S RECOVERY, THE REVENUE THE HOTELS GENERATED PER ROOM WAS $13 LESS LAST YEAR THAN WHAT THEY EARNED IN 2019. RECOVERY FOR OTHER DOWNTOWN BUSINESSES, INCLUDING RESTAURANTS AND COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE, HAS ALSO BEEN SLOW. A recent report [https://industry.traveloregon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Travel-Impacts-2025-Oregon_2026_04_09.pdf] from Travel Oregon, meanwhile, showed that spending on hotels and motels by visitors to the Portland region increased by 2% last year from 2024. That might suggest that business travelers and tourists are returning to the area, but choosing to stay overnight and spend their money outside of downtown. Sara Edwards is a staff reporter at the Portland Business Journal who covers commercial real estate. She joins us to explain the grim outlook facing Portland’s downtown hotels.

Oregon LGBTQ+ Aging Coalition expands services to seniors through new collaboration

THE ONLY COALITION IN OREGON THAT SUPPORTS AGING MEMBERS OF LGBTQ+ COMMUNITIES [https://www.oregon.gov/odhs/agency/pages/apd-lgbtq-initiatives.aspx] IS EXPANDING ITS REACH.   OVER THE PAST DECADE, THE OREGON LGBTQ+ AGING COALITION [https://www.linkedin.com/company/oprideac/] HAS CONDUCTED A SURVEY [https://www.oregon.gov/odhs/data/apddata/apd-lgbtq-survey-fact-sheet-2021-en.pdf] ON THE NEEDS OF OLDER LGBTQ+ ADULTS AND HELPED PASS LEGISLATION [https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB99] THAT AIMS TO PROTECT QUEER SENIORS LIVING IN LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES. IT’S CURRENTLY A VOLUNTEER-RUN EFFORT, BUT A NEW COLLABORATION WITH THE NONPROFIT AGE+ [https://ageplus.org/] WILL ALLOW THE GROUP TO HIRE ITS FIRST PAID STAFF AND EVENTUALLY ASSUME ITS OWN NONPROFIT STATUS.   BRANDY PENNER IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE COALITION. SHE JOINS US TO TALK ABOUT THE NEW PARTNERSHIP AND THE NEEDS OF THIS POPULATION.

If you think Portland train delays have gotten longer and more frequent, you’re not wrong

THE TRAIN-RELATED TRAFFIC DELAYS IN PORTLAND — ESPECIALLY IN THE CITY’S INNER EAST SIDE — HAVE GOTTEN WORSE AND MORE FREQUENT IN RECENT YEARS. AS RAIL TRANSPORTATION CONSULTANT BILL BURGEL TOLD WILLAMETTE WEEK, [https://www.wweek.com/news/2026/05/20/its-the-most-annoying-traffic-jam-in-portland-heres-how-to-fix-it/] THAT’S IN LARGE PART BECAUSE THE AVERAGE LENGTH OF A FREIGHT TRAIN HAS DOUBLED. TRAINS USED TO BE 7,500 FEET, AND NOW THEY’RE COMMONLY 15,000 FEET OR MORE.    AS A FORMER EMPLOYEE OF UNION PACIFIC WITH 50 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN THE RAIL INDUSTRY, AND AS A MEMBER OF THE CITY’S FREIGHT COMMITTEE [https://www.portland.gov/transportation/freight-committee/portland-freight-committee-members], BURGEL PAYS CLOSE ATTENTION TO THESE DELAYS [https://www.up.com/communities/notify-union-pacific]. AND HE HAS SOME STRUCTURAL IDEAS TO SOLVE OR ALLEVIATE THE DELAYS THAT REGULARLY LAST AN HOUR OR MORE. WE SIT DOWN WITH BURGEL TO UNDERSTAND ALL THE FACTORS BEHIND THESE MIND-BLOWING DELAYS AND MORE ABOUT POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS.

Federal officials eye vineyard southeast of Salem for a new veterans cemetery

STRADDLING MULTNOMAH AND CLACKAMAS COUNTIES, THE WILLAMETTE NATIONAL CEMETERY [https://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/Willamette.asp] IS THE LARGEST CEMETERY IN OREGON FOR MILITARY VETERANS, THEIR SPOUSES AND DEPENDENT CHILDREN. EVEN THOUGH IT WON’T REACH CAPACITY FOR 15 YEARS, THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS IS ALREADY PLANNING FOR EXPANSION BY POSSIBLY ACQUIRING ROUGHLY 300 ACRES OF FARMLAND SOUTHEAST OF SALEM.   PER REPORTING BY THE SALEM REPORTER [https://www.salemreporter.com/2025/09/26/plans-in-motion-to-expand-willamette-national-cemetery-to-salem/], THE AGENCY ANNOUNCED LAST SEPTEMBER IT WAS CONDUCTING AN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE PROPERTY, A FUNCTIONING VINEYARD LOCATED IN THE UNINCORPORATED COMMUNITY OF MACLEAY. RESIDENTS THERE HAVE EXPRESSED CONCERNS TO VA OFFICIALS ABOUT IMPACTS ON WATER USAGE, TRAFFIC AND THE RURAL CHARACTER OF THEIR FARMING COMMUNITY.     EARLIER THIS MONTH, MARION COUNTY COMMISSIONERS SENT A LETTER [https://www.salemreporter.com/2026/05/15/governor-county-commissioners-side-with-locals-against-federal-plan-to-build-a-cemetery-near-salem/]TO THE VA ECHOING THOSE CONCERNS AND URGING THE AGENCY TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE SITE. GOV. TINA KOTEK HAS ALSO NOW GOTTEN INVOLVED BY WRITING DIRECTLY TO VA SECRETARY DOUG COLLINS TO WORK WITH THE COMMISSIONERS TO FIND A DIFFERENT LOCATION.    The Salem Reporter’s Hailey Cook has been following these developments and joins us to share more details.