Think Out Loud

Oregon program aimed at helping people get jobs after prison may come to an end

The WorkSource Oregon Reentry program helps people incarcerated in the state work on resumes, map out career goals and even connect with future employers. The program is funded by a roughly $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and from the state, but those funds are set to expire this year. A bill in the Oregon legislature earlier this year would have funded the program, but failed to become law. Danielle Dawson is a collaborative investigative reporter for InvestigateWest [https://www.investigatewest.org/budget-cuts-threaten-oregon-program-helping-people-get-jobs-after-prison/]and worked on this story with Wesley Vaughan for Bolts. Dawson joins us to share more on the impact this program has had and its future.

University of Washington study reveals financial impacts of surgery

A recent study from the University of Washington School of Medicine reveals a national snapshot of the ways Americans are vulnerable to financial insecurity after undergoing medical procedures.    Surveys showed that about 38% of people who undergo surgery in the United States report experiencing financial hardship after surgery – meaning they have incurred medical debt and have difficulty paying medical bills, or they delay medical care for fear of cost.    John Scott is a trauma surgeon and researcher who studies health policy at the University of Washington. He joins us to discuss his findings.

A preview of Washington’s 2026 legislative session

On Monday, Washington state lawmakers will meet in Olympia to kick off a 60-day legislative session. Last month, Gov. Bob Ferguson unveiled a proposed $79 billion supplemental budget [https://governor.wa.gov/news/2025/governor-ferguson-announces-supplemental-budget]that aims to fill a $2.3 billion shortfall in part by tapping the state’s rainy day fund and making cuts to spending on state programs and services. Lawmakers in both chambers will consider other proposals to shore up the state’s finances, including a contentious plan by Senate Democrats that would impose a nearly 10% tax on Washingtonians making more than $1 million a year. The so-called millionaires’ tax [https://www.kuow.org/stories/gov-ferguson-wants-to-see-a-millionaires-tax-in-washington-state]would raise an estimated $3 billion annually, but it faces opposition by Republicans who’ve threatened to sue if it wins passage by the Democratic majority in the Legislature.   Scott Greenstone, a politics reporter at our partner station KUOW and co-host of the Sound Politics [https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/sound-politics] podcast, joins us to share more details about that plan and other priorities facing Washington lawmakers during the short session

Latest updates about Border Patrol shooting of 2 people in East Portland

Yesterday afternoon, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent opened fire on a man and woman [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/08/portland-shooting-federal-agents/] during an attempted traffic stop in East Portland, according to local and federal law enforcement officials. Responding to a report of a shooting, Portland Police found the man and woman who were shot and applied first aid before the two were transported to local hospitals for treatment.    U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the Portland shooting occurred as Border Patrol agents were stopping a vehicle. She claimed the driver and passenger were members of a Venezuelan gang and that the driver attempted to run over the federal agents, prompting one of the agents to open fire in self-defense.    According to Portland Police Chief Bob Day, the FBI is leading an investigation into the shooting. Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said the Oregon Department of Justice would open its own investigation. Federal, state and local officials, including Portland Mayor Keith Wilson [https://www.portland.gov/mayor/keith-wilson/news/2026/1/8/portland-mayor-issues-statement-following-hazelwood-neighborhood] and Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek [https://web.govpress.oregon.gov/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100169172.5981.43&gen=1]condemned the shooting. Portland Police said they made six arrests during a protest Thursday night outside the ICE facility in south Portland that attracted hundreds of people.    The shooting in Portland happened just one day after a U.S.  Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a U.S. citizen, Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis.    Joining us for more details is OPB reporter Joni Auden Land.

What is the point of an art critic? Oregon arts writers shares their thoughts

Do we need art critics? If you ask Bob Hicks, executive editor of Oregon ArtsWatch, he says “critic” is a dumb word. As he argues in his recently published piece [https://www.orartswatch.org/the-first-thing-we-do-lets-kill-all-the-critics/], the role of art criticism isn’t to be the final say in whether a piece of work is good or bad, but rather to be the start of a conversation. At the same time, arts journalism as a whole has faced a number of setbacks in the industry this year, including [https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025/10/arts-criticism-future/684523/?gift=VFSJ6MT2hEf9HZId98JST4s3aQHHqkWoGErhQOmWjYY&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share] the Associated Press ending its book reviews, Vanity Fair eliminating its reviews and the Chicago Tribune losing full-time movie reviewer Michael Phillips. But as Portland-based arts and culture writer Justin Duyao writes in his piece [https://www.orartswatch.org/maybe-the-critics-are-already-dead/] in response to Hicks, arts and cultural criticism isn’t dead, but has evolved to online spaces, including social media. Hicks and Duyao both join us to share their thoughts on modern day criticism.