Think Out Loud

Portland resident chronicles battle to confiscate firearms from mother with mental illness

Portland resident Kelli Caldwell’s mother suffers from severe mental illness and episodes of psychosis. She also had access to multiple firearms and other weapons. As her mother's mental illness progressed, the responsibility fell on Caldwell and her family to remove the weapons so her mother wouldn't harm herself or others. Caldwell tried appealing to law enforcement, social services, healthcare agencies and courts for help in removing weapons from her mother’s possession. But help has rarely become available to her.   Caldwell recently wrote about her decades-long journey navigating systems of law enforcement, social services and healthcare agencies for The Marshall Project [https://www.themarshallproject.org/2026/03/06/gun-oregon-mom-mental-illness]. She joins us for more details. 3/11 A recent essay in The Marshall Project chronicles a Portland resident’s decadeslong struggle navigating legal systems to remove firearms and other weapons from her mother, who suffers from severe mental illness and psychosis. The author joins us to share more.

Washington’s short legislative session comes to a close

Washington state lawmakers concluded the 60-day short legislative session in Olympia yesterday. One of the closely watched bills they passed imposes a state income tax of 9.9% on households earning more than $1 million annually. The so-called millionaires’ tax garnered a record-breaking 25-hour debate [https://www.kuow.org/stories/washington-state-income-tax-passes-house-after-grueling-25-hour-floor-debate] on the House floor. Gov. Bob Ferguson is expected to sign the legislation which would not go into effect until 2028.    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 discuss the bill and other key developments in the session.   PROMO: 3/13 Washington lawmakers concluded the 60-day short legislative session yesterday, including a highly debated income tax on millionaires passed after a record-breaking 25-hour debate. We’ll hear from a reporter with our partner station, KUOW, with more.

Portland Public Schools now facing even steeper cuts with deeper budget hole

Portland Public Schools Superintendent Kimberlee Armstrong announced this week [https://www.wweek.com/news/schools/2026/03/10/pps-plans-to-close-several-schools-by-fall-2027/] the district may need to close five to 10 of its 74 elementary, K-8, middle and alternative schools -- by the fall of 2027. Steadily declining student enrollment and rising costs are tied to the funding crunch, which amounts to $50 million for the next 2026-2027 academic year.  And now, the district recently discovered a $10 million dollar budget gap [https://www.opb.org/article/2026/02/24/portland-public-schools-mid-year-cuts-shortages/] for this year. The district is moving forward with staff cuts [https://www.kgw.com/article/money/pps-introduces-cost-cutting-plan-close-10m-budget-gap/283-c39d5d6d-5e04-48b9-ba78-ac4232eabde7] and other reductions to shore up the current budget by June 30. We sit down with Armstrong to get more financial details and what she sees as the way forward.

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pens this year’s Multnomah County Everybody Reads autobiography

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman ever confirmed to the highest court in the land, and a consistent and clear voice of dissent on it. She's also the author of a memoir, “Lovely One, [https://multcolib.bibliocommons.com/v2/search?query=groupKey%3Alovely_1%EF%BF%BDjackson_ketanji_brown%EF%BF%BDtext_eng&searchType=bl&title=Lovely%20One]” which was picked as this year’s choice for the Multnomah County Library “Everybody Reads [https://multcolib.org/everybody-reads]” program. We talk to Justice Jackson in front of an audience of Portland high school students.

All-ages concert venue opens in North Portland

Many concert venues rely on alcohol sales for revenue, meaning people under age 21 are often left out of shows. Not so at The Off Beat [https://friendsofnoise.org/the-off-beat/]. Portland nonprofit Friends of Noise opened the venue [https://www.wweek.com/music/2025/10/14/friends-of-noises-new-all-ages-venue-opens-next-month/] in the Kenton neighborhood last fall and held a grand-opening show headlined by Team Dresch [https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/19/think-out-loudnorthwest-punk-band-team-dresch/] last month.   André Middleton is the executive director of Friends of Noise. Clara Kornelis is a musician and a booker for The Off Beat. They join us to talk about the importance of creating an all-ages space for young performers and live music fans.