Think Out Loud

Oregon Donkey Sanctuary saves animals and provides tranquil space for visitors

When you think of a donkey, you might think of some stubborn, more dangerous version of a horse. But the couple that runs the state’s only donkey sanctuary in Oregon City say, if so, you’d be dead wrong. The myths and folklore about these animals is one reason they need special care in the first place. Jim and Rhonda Urquhart formally incorporated their nonprofit five years ago, but the sanctuary has been growing since they took in their first donkey in 2010. They now have 160 volunteers who facilitate visits from the public to spend peaceful time with the donkeys [https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/10/oregon-donkey-sanctuary-respite/]. The Urquharts say educating people about donkeys and creating the space for them to spend time with the animals has become an integral part of their mission. We’ll sit down with the couple to learn more about the Oregon Donkey Sanctuary [https://www.oregondonkeys.org/] — and how people respond to these donkeys, which they say are actually more like dogs than horses.

The Portland Fire gears up for their inaugural WNBA season

Typically, new WNBA teams have five to six months to acquire players and practice as a team before the season starts. The Portland Fire have only five weeks.   With the WNBA expansion draft [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/02/portland-fire-wnba-expansion-what-to-know/] on April 3, the Fire were finally able to start building their team roster. The draft was delayed several months due to tense contract negotiations [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/03/09/wnba-players-union-labor-deal-portland-fire-delay/] between the WNBA and the players’ union. The season is set to tip off [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/01/22/portland-fire-first-contract-negotiation/] May 9 at the Moda Center.   Kimberly Veale is the senior vice president of communications for the Portland Fire. She joins us to talk about the draft and the team’s upcoming season.

How should Portland’s clean energy fund be spent?

The Portland Clean Energy Fund was passed by voters in 2018. The 1% tax on retail sales of companies that make a billion dollars or more has generated a fund much bigger than expected. Many non-climate projects have asked for some of this money. Now the mayor and other officials want to spend $75 million in PCEF funds to go toward Portland’s share of the $600 million in total taxpayer money for the Moda center remodel. We talk with Portland City Councilor Steve Novick [http://portland.gov/council/districts/3/steve-novick], who is opposed to this plan, about how he’d like to see the fund spent, and what he thinks of the city’s current approach to climate change.

Cheetah researcher and conservationist Laurie Marker shares how her career began in Oregon

Laurie Marker has spent nearly half a century with cheetahs. Her career began when she moved to Oregon in the early 1970s to open the third winery in the state. She began working at Wildlife Safari in Winston, OR to help support her business. This move would start a decades long career working with cheetahs. She eventually found the Cheetah Conservation Fund and moved to Namibia to create a dedicated wildlife reserve and research center for these large felines. Today, cheetahs are considered to have a vulnerable status, with less than 7,000 in the wild. Marker joins us to share more on her life and work with the fastest mammal on the planet that is racing to extinction.

Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation acquires massive private collection of tribal art and artifacts

On Tuesday, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation signed an agreement [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/03/31/agreement-historical-items-umatilla-indian-reservation-tamastslikt/]with Fred Mitchell to acquire his vast collection of Columbia River Plateau tribal artwork and artifacts. The collection includes 15,000 stone points and tools, 1,250 historic photographs, 800 beaded bags and pouches, baskets and other items. Mitchell is a retired former mayor and firefighter from Walla Walla, Washington who started collecting arrowheads when he was 5 years old [https://whitmanwire.com/magazine-2/2024/05/02/in-preservation-of-history-a-look-inside-the-home-and-collection-of-fred-l-mitchell/] and amassed other tribal items over the past seven decades.  The Fred L. Mitchell & Family Collection also includes objects collected by Mitchell’s parents and other relatives, according to Bobbie Conner, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and director of the Tamástslikt Cultural Institute [https://www.tamastslikt.org/]. The museum has featured several temporary exhibits in recent years with items loaned by Mitchell, including one that showcased beaded depictions of horses [https://www.tamastslikt.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/100-Horses-September-2023-Release.pdf] made by Columbia Plateau tribes. Conner joins us to discuss the cultural and historical significance of the items within Mitchell’s collection, including Native American cradleboards, or infant carriers, that will be featured in an exhibit at TCI in June.