Think Out Loud

How Portlanders are navigating the ups and downs of modern dating

“Think Out Loud” wanted to hear how people are navigating the dating scene right now. So we gathered a panel of “experts” to help us break it down.     Sarah Ruby Armstrong is the creator of Dating Profile Tune-Ups, Playdates and Kissing Booth Social Club [https://anbco.squarespace.com/]. Taylor Kravitz is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the CEO of Empowered Fulfillment Therapy [https://www.empoweredfulfillment.com/taylor-kravitz], and an adjunct professor at Lewis & Clark College. Margaret Bagan is a marketing specialist in Portland and served as our resident dating single.    They bravely joined us in front of a live audience at Portland’s Revolution Hall to talk about the highs and lows of modern dating.

Bend considers requiring fire-resistant materials in new homes

The city of Bend is considering changing its building code to require fire-resistant roofs, siding and other materials in new homes. As reported in the Bend Bulletin [https://bendbulletin.com/2026/03/04/bend-moves-toward-wildfire-building-codes/], the proposal comes after a surge of interest in wildfire preparedness assessments after the devastating Los Angeles wildfires [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/us/la-fires-palisades-eaton-altadena.html] in early 2025. The Bend City Council is set to consider the measure at its meeting on April 1.    Melissa Steele is the city’s Deputy Fire Marshal for Wildfire Preparedness. She joins us to talk about how using fire-resistant materials could make Bend more resilient in the face of more frequent and intense wildfires.

Clatsop Community College course explores book bans and challenges

For the first time, Clatsop Community College in Astoria is offering a course on the spike in recent years of book bans and challenges [https://pen.org/report/the-normalization-of-book-banning/#heading-10]. The 10-week course launches on March 30 and will explore the reasons why titles such as “The Bluest Eye,” “Looking for Alaska” and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower” are being targeted in school districts or public libraries. The course will also cover TV shows and movie adaptations [https://pen.org/the-color-purple-and-30-other-banned-and-challenged-books-you-should-be-watching/] of novels that have also been targeted to restrict their viewing in school classrooms and public libraries.    The course is being taught by Kama O’Connor, a writing and English instructor at CCC who also writes romance novels under the pen name Kristine Lynn. O’Connor says whereas in previous years most book bans originated by individuals, the bans and challenges today are increasingly arising from religious and conservative organizations [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/books/book-bans-libraries.html] that are targeting works they find objectionable, including those with romantic themes or feature characters who are people of color or identify as LGBTQ+ [https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/banned-books-lgbtq-transgender-black-people-of-color-pen-america-rcna193879].    O’Connor joins us for more details about the course and her personal motivations for teaching it.

Ambitious Astoria shipyard project faces lawsuits

An ambitious plan to develop a shipyard at an under-utilized industrial area near Astoria has come into question recently. Several lawsuits claim that a shipyard project at Tongue Point isn’t living up to promises made to partners, the community and the state. Among other claims, the lawsuits say a boat lift intended to help inspect and repair up to 50 boats a year has only lifted two vessels, even as the project has received $21 million in state funding and a 15-year break in local property taxes. KMUN news director Katie Frankowicz joins us to explain.

Portland audit on controversial Arts Tax says the city needs to do better

The Portland Arts Tax [https://www.portland.gov/revenue/arts-tax] was passed by voters in 2012. It requires those 18 or older to pay the city a flat $35 dollars, if they make $1,000 or more a year and live in a household above the federal poverty line. Residents pay online or by mail separate from their other taxes.  Since it was enacted the tax has drawn criticism [https://www.orartswatch.org/reforms-coming-for-controversial-portland-arts-tax/] for the collection mechanism and how the funds were distributed to public school districts, and large and small arts organizations. As OPB recently reported, the tax has generated a fund of $9 million [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/09/portland-arts-tax-go-unused/] that has not been spent, even as many local arts organizations lost federal grant funding and are in dire need. Today the city released a new audit of the tax [https://www.portland.gov/auditor/audit-services/news/2026/3/18/arts-tax-city-needs-make-improvements-deliver-voter-approved], with recommendations for improvement. We sit down with Audit Services Director KC Jones [https://www.portland.gov/auditor/audit-services/about-us/meet-staff] to get the details.