Think Out Loud

iLoveMakonnen headlines his first Portland Pride weekend concert

For most artists, Portland isn’t the place to relocate amid the heights of their career. But for iLoveMakonnen [https://www.ilovemakonnen.com/], relocating to Portland from Atlanta offered a space away from the pressure and attention of the music industry, and the opportunity to explore himself. Makonnen joins us to share more about his upcoming performance [https://www.startheaterportland.com/?s=iLoveMakonnen] at the Pride in Demand Queer Takeover and what has kept him in Portland nearly 10 years later.

Oregon’s school funding formula hurts kids in poverty the most, according to Oregonian reporting

Oregon school districts rely on the state for funds they need to educate students in their schools, but some educators and advocates say the formula they use to allocate those funds is outdated and inequitable. In-depth reporting by The Oregonian/OregonLive describes the way that students in poverty are undercounted, their schools underfunded and details how the resulting cuts are affecting some of the most vulnerable children in the state.    Education reporter Julia Silverman spent time with a student, a teacher, a principal and an attendance specialist in the Reynold’s school district in east Multnomah county. The district serves the highest percentage of low-income students in the Portland area. Silverman joins us to share more about her reporting and the possibility of state lawmakers reforming or overhauling the funding formula.

Washington voters to decide candidates for 4 seats on state supreme court, with vote on 5th seat in November

July 17 is the deadline for Washington counties to mail out ballots to voters. And it’s the first day voters can submit ballots. In the state’s top two primary, an unusual number of state supreme court judicial candidates appear on the ballot. And five of the nine seats will be decided in November. We talk with Sarah Mizes-Tan, state government reporter for KUOW and KNKX, about this unusual turn of events and other notable primary races.

OSU study explores how wildfire smoke affects songbird behavior

Despite wildfires becoming more frequent and intense, little is known about how wildlife responds to the threats they present. Researchers at Oregon State University are attempting to shed some light on the issue.    A recent study [https://news.oregonstate.edu/news/robin-study-suggests-fleeing-isn%E2%80%99t-necessarily-wildlife%E2%80%99s-first-response-wildfire-smoke] looked at how wildfire smoke affected the behavior of robins. Instead of simply fleeing the smoky conditions, the birds often reduced their activity and shortened their flight distances to remain in their home environments.   Jamie Cornelius is an associate professor in the department of integrative biology at OSU and principal investigator of the university’s Little Bird Lab [https://littlebirdlab.org/]. She joins us to talk about what scientists are learning about how different wildlife species respond to wildfire.

Portland Police Chief Bob Day on police response times and budget numbers

A new report [https://www.scribd.com/document/1055589349/PPB-Recruitment-Report-Final-6-15-2026] found that Portland Police Bureau response times for high-priority calls is on average more than 20 minutes. And as reported in Willamette Week [https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2026/06/25/new-research-shows-how-police-response-times-vary-across-the-city/], some neighborhoods in Portland can wait as much as 40 minutes. The reports of these delays come as a  new city budget is adopted [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/06/18/portland-budget-city-council-cuts/] that will lead to cuts to public safety. A PPA-backed [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/07/06/measure-to-divert-portland-climate-funds-to-hire-more-police-could-be-headed-to-voters-in-november/] proposed measure aims to direct Portland Clean Energy Fund dollars to the bureau. Portland Police Chief Bob Day joins us to share more on response times and the new budget.