Think Out Loud

Growing PERS Liability | Sheriffs | In The Land Of Missing Persons | Oregon Candidate

By Sage Van Wing (OPB) and Phoebe Flanigan (OPB)

March 29, 2016 3:03 p.m.

Frank T. Johns in a 1928 press photo. — Frank T. Johns in a 1928 press photo.
Deschutes Historical Museum

Salem Statesman Journal reporter Gordon Friedman fills us in on Oregon's more than $21 billion PERS liability.

We ask John Bishop, Executive Director of the Oregon Sheriff's Association, about the role of Sheriffs in Oregon, how much leeway they have to interpret laws and whether they should be elected or appointed.

Then Pulitzer-Prize winning Oregon journalist Alex Tizon unravels the mystery behind two men gone missing in the Alaskan wild. It's a story he's been following for more than a decade.

And we learn about an Oregonian who was nominated as a presidential candidate in the early part of last century, and the tragedy of his first campaign stop. His Carnegie medal is on view now at the Deschutes Historical Museum in Bend. Kelly Cannon-Miller, Executive Director of the museum, fills us in.