Oregon’s two Planned Parenthood affiliates both welcomed new CEOs recently.

Dr. Sara Kennedy will oversee Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, which operates clinics in Vancouver, Washington, the Portland metro area, Salem, Bend and Ontario. Amy Handler will oversee Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, which has clinics in the Eugene-Springfield area, Grants Pass and Medford.

They’re taking over at a time when nearly half of U.S. states, including Idaho, have passed laws restricting access to abortion and other reproductive health services after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

“Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller recently spoke to Kennedy and Handler about how Oregon’s Planned Parenthood network is responding. The following excerpts from that interview have been edited for length and clarity.

How they’re serving out-of-state patients post-Dobbs decision

Sara Kennedy: “Since August of 2022, we’ve seen a 1,200% increase in people from Idaho traveling across the state to get care with us… We intentionally, within 12 months of Dobbs, opened up this health center in Ontario, Oregon, with the knowledge that we were going to have to be the caretakers of the state of Idaho.”

Amy Handler: “Actually, even before Dobbs… it only took 10 days after SB8 passed for us to see our first patient from Texas in Medford… That was a family — they showed up with three kids in the backseat and they were like, ‘You were the next available [appointment.] We’re here.’”

SK: “No matter what, Oregon is here to take care of folks within Oregon, Southwest Washington, as well as beyond.”

AH: “We just need to be prepared — at least Oregon, more broadly — to see patients that are in extreme circumstances.”

How they’re preparing for a Supreme Court ruling on abortion medication mifepristone

AH: “All of the attorneys general on the West Coast, from Washington, Oregon and California, have said they will protect us in all scenarios… I think they’re looking at this as a highly unlikely scenario. And we’ve prepared in terms of, we have mifepristone stockpiled in the state, and I think our attorneys general would be looking at any way to fight the case.”

SK: “I want people to know that no matter what — there’s so many scenarios of how this could all play out — Planned Parenthood in Oregon will always provide medication abortion, and it will always be legal, safe and effective here in the state of Oregon.”

How they’re planning to expand across Oregon

AH: “We’re definitely thinking about the coastal communities and how we can grow our telehealth program as a first touchpoint for folks before they come in for their first visit.”

SK: “I look at the state of Oregon and I just see so much opportunity. We only have this one, lone Eastern Oregon health center and we know that there’s a huge number of communities and rural folks who need our care… It takes about a year or two for an organization to plan and make sure that we’re doing this thoughtfully. So we’re a good year or two out [from new clinics opening.]”

PPCW CEO Sara Kennedy and PPSO CEO Amy Handler spoke to “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller. Click play to listen to the full conversation:

HILLSBORO Ore. (KPTV) – Oregon’s 36th annual international air show kicked off Friday night in Hillsboro and hundreds of people showed up for the occasion!

For people who show up every year, including Chris Roman, he said it never gets old.

“You know, it’s like a birthday. It’s not quite the same every year but it’s still fun each and every year. There’s always something different and there’s always different stories you hear about the pilots so it’s a great time,” Roman said.

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The show features the U.S. Air Force F-16 Viper and U.S. Navy F/A-18 Rhino demonstration teams which will both fly heritage flights with the P-51 Val-Halla and F6F Hellcat.

People who attended the event also got to see the F-15 Strike Eagles of the 366th Fighter Wing, the Air Force’s C-17 and KC-135 demonstration teams.

“These guys are acrobats, and they are stunt kings,” Perry Manns said.

Some planes even brought back memories for some, including Teresa Busch.

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“I brought my dad the last year, prior to this passing. He was a World War II vet and Korean war vet, and they treated him like royalty,” Busch said.

Another attendee said seeing the planes up close and personal made him regret his own career decision.

“Oh my God…I should’ve joined the Air Force, instead of the Coast Guard,” Perry Manns laughed.

The 2024 Oregon International Air Show will take the skies from May 17-19 at the Hillsboro Municipal Airport at 3355 NE Cornell Rd., Hillsboro, OR 97124.

Tickets can be found here.

Copyright 2024 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved.

An Oregon man has been charged in the murders of three women who were found dead under “suspicious circumstances” last year, officials announced Friday.

Authorities have identified one suspect in the deaths of the three women – Charity Lynn Perry, 24, Bridget Leanne Webster, 31, and Joanna Speaks, 32 – the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.

Jesse Lee Calhoun, 39, has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of second-degree abuse of a corpse in connection with the women’s deaths, the district attorney’s office said, after a grand jury returned the six-count indictment on Thursday.

At a press briefing Friday, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt called the case “complex,” and said it required a “significant investigation” involving multiple law enforcement agencies.

“There’s still more work to be done, investigations are ongoing,” Schmidt said.

Calhoun has been in custody at Snake River Correctional Institution since July 2023 for unrelated charges and was scheduled to be released next month, online Oregon Department of Corrections records show. He is expected to be transferred to the custody of Multnomah County authorities for arraignment, prosecutors said. It is unclear if Calhoun has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.

Multnomah County authorities, citing the ongoing investigation, released few details about the case, including what alleged evidence led them to the suspect and how the women died.

Speaks’ body was found at an abandoned property in Ridgefield, Washington, on April 8, 2023, authorities said. Police in Portland, Oregon, said in November 2023 that the homicide was believed to have happened in Portland.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said in July 2023 that they were investigating whether the deaths of four women – including Perry and Webster – who were found dead throughout Oregon were related. The announcement came weeks after Portland police spoke out against online speculation regarding a possible serial killer in the Pacific Northwest.

Perry’s body was found in a culvert near Ainsworth State Park in east Multnomah County on April 24, 2023, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon said Webster’s body was found six days later, on April 30, 2023.

Perry’s mother, Diana Allen, told reporters Friday that it’s been “very, very frustrating” for the families of the victims not to have answers amid the ongoing investigation, but that she has had respect for the district attorney office’s process.

“Even though they wouldn’t give me the answers, I knew they had answers,” she said.

The deaths of two other women – Kristin Smith and Ashley Real, both 22 – initially believed to have been linked, remain under investigation, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.

The body of Smith, who was reported missing in December 2022, was found on Feb. 19, 2023, in a wooded area in Portland, police said. Real’s body was found in a wooded area in Clackamas County in Oregon in May 2023, a month after she was reported missing to Portland police, authorities said.

“We keep waiting, we keep praying and stay hopeful,” Melissa Smith, Kristin Smith’s mother, said during Friday’s press briefing. “We stay hopeful that we soon can get justice for them as well.”