Think Out Loud

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.

Oregon files civil complaint against former Morrow County officials

Amazon has a big footprint in Morrow County driven by tax incentives, cheap power and available land. A new complaint [https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2025/07/oregon-doj-says-public-officials-exploited-nonprofit-to-cash-in-on-amazon-data-centers-reap-millions-for-themselves.html] from the Oregon Department of Justice claims that some of those tax incentives and land sales were approved by people who benefitted from the company’s purchase of internet services from a small company called WindWave. Mike Rogoway, business and technology reporter for The Oregonian, reported the details of this story [https://reader.theoregonian.com/amazon-paid-oregon-officials-company-more-than-100m/content.html] and joins us to explain.

Oregon lawmakers among the first to pass protections for kids using chatbots

Artificial Intelligence is impacting business, government, social media — and countless aspects of modern life. Child health and safety advocates say the effects of social media and the rise of chatbots and other AI [https://time.com/7379564/ai-emotional-intelligence-support-bots/] on children can be devastating and lead to depression, and in the worst cases, suicide. Oregon lawmakers passed a bill [https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/housedemocrats/Documents/Legislature%20Acts%20on%20Mounting%20Concerns%20Over%20AI%20and%20Youth%20Mental%20Health.pdf] in the short session to protect children and youth from these emerging technologies [https://www.wweek.com/news/health/2026/02/24/new-guardrails-for-ai-companions-could-be-coming-to-oregon/], which will provide guardrails for adults using chatbots as well.   We talk with one of the bill's sponsors, Oregon Sen. Lisa Reynolds [https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/reynolds] (D - Portland). And we hear from Kristin Bride, the executive director of the Carson J. Bride Effect [https://www.cjbeffect.org/about], which she founded to protect kids from predatory tech practices, after the death of her son by suicide in 2020.

Oregon fails to protect residents against gambling harm, says recent nationwide report

The Center for Addiction Science, Policy, and Research [https://caspr.org/], or CASPR, released a nationwide report ranking states based on their ability to protect residents from online gambling harm. Oregon received an “F” grade [https://caspr.org/state-gambling-scorecard/states/oregon] — among the bottom 10 states for its lack of gambling harm reduction methods.   Gambling is often regarded as an invisible addiction due to its lack of visible physical symptoms or side effects — and it has become more accessible than ever. As people have begun to participate in sports betting, online poker, casino games and lottery from their mobile devices, guardrails protecting against harmful gambling behaviors have seldom kept pace.   We’ll discuss problem gambling in Oregon and recovery methods with Kitty Martz, the executive director of Voices of Problem Gambling Recovery, and Brian Ward, a certified gambling recovery mentor with the state of Oregon.   Note: If you or a loved one is experiencing gambling harm, Oregon’s Problem Gambling Resource call helpline is available at 1-877-MY-LIMIT (1-877-695-4648).