Think Out Loud

New biography explores life and LGBTQ+ activism of former University of Portland president

Father Tom Oddo [https://sites.up.edu/museum/in-memory-rev-thomas-c-oddo-csc-1944-1989/] served as president of the University of Portland from 1982 until his death in a car crash in 1989. During his presidency, he helped UP transition to coed housing, oversaw construction of the Chiles Center [https://portlandpilots.com/sports/2008/8/11/MBB_0811084643.aspx] and reversed the university’s declining enrollment.    Before coming to Portland, Oddo was a key member of the gay rights movement in Boston, advocating for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ Catholics in the church. From 1973 to 1977, Oddo served as the first secretary of DignityUSA [https://www.dignityusa.org/], a nationwide organization that supports LGBTQ+ Catholics. Portland author Tyler Bieber explores Oddo’s life in the new biography “Against the Current: Father Tom Oddo and the New American Catholic.” [https://unencumberedpress.com/nonfiction/against-the-current-biography/] Bieber joins us to talk about Oddo’s activism, his time at UP and the legacy he left.

Eugene Weekly continues to recover after embezzler nearly shut down the alternative pape

Just over two years ago, Eugene Weekly, the city’s longtime alternative-weekly newspaper, came to a shocking halt. EW’s editor announced that their beloved paper was flat broke [https://eugeneweekly.com/2023/12/28/wheres-the-damn-paper/] — not because of mismanagement, but because their business manager had apparently been embezzling for years [https://eugeneweekly.com/2024/04/04/stung/]. The paper was missing $100,000, with an additional $200,000 in bills that hadn't been paid. Editor Camilla Mortenson [https://eugeneweekly.com/author/camilla-mortensen/] said she had no choice but to lay off the entire staff, including herself, just before Christmas in 2023. But with a strong upwelling of community support, the paper resumed printing in February 2024. In the meantime, a veritable saga unfolded as Elisha Young, the former business manager, was brought to  justice. She ultimately pled guilty this week [https://eugeneweekly.com/2026/03/24/former-eugene-weekly-business-manager-pleads-guilty/] to five felony counts of theft, just weeks before she was set to face a jury trial in May. Mortensen said the paper has been thriving, but is still building back to where it was before the embezzlement began. She joins us to share the more details about the impact these unfolding events have had on the paper, its staff and the community it serves.

InvestigateWest reporting on child welfare system finds court-appointed guardians have low oversight, puts parents at disadvantage

New reporting from InvestigateWest finds it’s difficult for parents in Washington to challenge flawed reports concerning guardians ad litem, the court-appointed guardians assigned to children in custody cases, who decide where their children will stay temporarily. If parents do challenge these professionals, they risk hurting their case to regain custody of their children. In Washington, with little oversight and inadequate state-mandated training for guardians, parents are seldom able to hold guardians ad litem accountable for inaccurate or biased investigations. In some situations, children have been placed by these guardians in homes with abusive adults, and some parents have even lost custody of their children to abusers.   Kelsey Turner, a reporter with InvestigateWest, joins us to discuss her reporting, including a few Washington cases that have shaped the call to reform standards for this role.

Oregon’s land use and water laws suppress housing and jobs, developer says

The Thornburgh Resort is a planned resort in Deschutes County that would provide 950 residential units, 380 overnight lodging units, two golf courses and a luxury hotel, among other offerings. But for more than two decades, the resort has faced continued challenges with the state’s regulatory laws, delaying its progress. A new report from the developer says the continued delays have cost the state and county hundreds of millions of dollars in potential public revenue. Thornburgh Resort founder Kameron Delashmutt joins us to share more on where things stand with the project.

New UW study looks at how rising temperatures affect avalanche risk

he Pacific Northwest has had an unusually warm winter. This year, Portland saw one of the warmest winters [https://www.oregonlive.com/weather/2026/03/portlands-winter-felt-unusually-warm-heres-what-90-years-of-data-actually-show.html] it has seen in the last 88 years. In fact, this February was one of the warmest and driest months in the nation's records [https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/national-climate-202602]. But what do these warmer winters mean for snow? A new study [https://janeway.uncpress.org/ARC-GR/article/id/2451/] from the University of Washington found that warming temperatures leads to snow crusts happening more often in colder areas. This increase can pose new challenges for avalanche forecasting, ski operations and even for local wildlife. Clinton Alden is a PhD student at UW and the lead author of the study. He joins us to share more details.