The Jefferson Exchange

We’ve all seen the beautiful pictures of ancient Redwood trees on social media. It’s almost a necessity when you visit to take a picture and share it with the world. But are those posts harming the trees? After seeing photos on social media, some adventure to find the exact local, where that specific tree is, even if it’s off the designated trail. Known as “social trails,” they are unmarked trails that humans create through repeated use, and they prove to be harmful to the surprisingly...

Oregon's Measure 105 seeks to revoke Oregon's status as a "sanctuary state," which limits local law agencies' cooperation with federal immigration officers. The Oregon AFL-CIO took up a position against the measure . A union rep visits to explain why the union wants the sanctuary status to stay in place. We also hear from Innovation Law Lab , a Portland-based nonprofit focused on immigration law, which is against the measure.

Hip-hop has eclipsed rock as America's most important musical culture. In this month's The Kennest Observers, guest Vikki Tobak joins host Robert Goodwin in discussing a striking collection of candid photographs of the legends and innovators of hip-hop. From the last shoots of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls just weeks before their deaths, to Jerome Albertini’s shoot of all the members of Wu-Tang Clan, "Contact High" features rare photos of iconic artists, some of which have never been shared...

Johnny Rotten had it easy in England. Try being an east German punk with the Stasi looking over your shoulder. Tim Mohr, legendary Berlin-based DJ and music scholar, has written a history of the underground punk scene in East Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, called Burning Down the Haus: Punk Rock, Revolution, and the Fall of the Berlin Wall .

Homework help, computer lab, play place and more. Those are among the functions of the new Spark Space opening at the Jackson County Library branch in Central Point. It's a STEM kind of place (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), but also gives teens and tweens a place to be creative with computers, blogging and coding and more.

Up for a vote in November is Oregon's Measure 105 , which proposes repealing an Oregon law that forbids local law enforcement from apprehending people who might be violating federal immigration law.

Simple concept, difficult execution: bringing peace to all the world. The World Peace Flame was first lit in 1999, and now burns on all the continents of the Earth. Only one burns in the United States, at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. A second one begins to burn in Ashland tonight (September 21), at the Thalden Pavilion on the Southern Oregon University campus.

Oregon recently approved a rule requiring licensed marijuana producers to notify the state when they harvest cannabis. Growers have railed against the new rule as another bureaucratic step in an already complicated licensing process. But others see it as a means of keeping weed out of the black market.

We live in the age of division, social media echo chambers and fake news. Which begs the question, is there any way we can ever reach a common ground, agree on a basic set of facts, and have a reasonable discussion? Mathematician Eugenia Cheng says, emphatically, yes.

Wildfires plague our region every summer, threatening thousands of lives and livelihoods. So when director Alex Jablonski set out to make a documentary about the lives of firefighters out in the field, he looked to Grants Pass, Oregon.

It's a part of autumn just as much as falling leaves: the beginning of the Rogue Valley Symphony's concert season. Big pieces and big players are on the menu for the season, beginning next Friday (September 28) in Ashland. Music Director Martin Majkut splits his time between the Rogue Valley, another orchestra in New York City, and home in Slovakia.

In our current divided political climate the word "fascist" is an all-purpose insult used by the left to describe members of the alt-right. Much like "socialist" or "liberal" is hurled in the opposite direction. But what exactly constitutes fascism? In his new book, How Fascism Works , Jason Stanley has a simple formula: fascist politics uses divisiveness to attain power. He also describes the ten pillars of fascist politics. And he points out that a country need not be fascist to experience...

That old brick warehouse at the corner of California and Shasta Streets in Redding may look nondescript. But it's got a bright future, at least if the McConnell Foundation and Shasta Living Streets have anything to say about it. And they do... the foundation just gave a grant to Shasta Living Streets to develop uses for the warehouse, now dubbed California Street Labs .

Discussions of the opioid drug crisis often get well beyond the original reason for using the drugs: pain. People take Oxycontin and the other opioids, or did at first, because they were suffering with pain. But the drugs turned out to be much more addictive than first thought. The Oregon Health Authority put out guidelines on prescribing opioids for chronic pain two years ago. Now a task force is wrapping up work on guidelines for using opioids for acute pain.

The Cascade Theater in Redding was inaugurated in 1935. By the mid-1990s, it was on the verge of collapse.

It's become everyday in our age of anxiety. Many of us just don't sleep well, don't sleep enough, or both. 20 percent of Americans suffer from some sort of sleep disorder. Science writer Henry Nicholls comes to this topic from a different personal experience: he sleeps too much. He first noticed symptoms of narcolepsy when he was 21, and his disorder has progressed. In his latest book, Sleepyhead: The Neuroscience of a Good Night's Rest , Nicholls digs into the latest neurological research...

Ocean fishing with large nets always catches creatures besides the intended fish; "bycatch," it's called in the business. But some large nets are known for scooping up and killing marine mammals as well as fish. Driftnets were banned in Washington and Oregon years ago. Now California legislators have passed a law to ban driftnet fishing a few years down the road. Turtle Island Restoration Network and allied groups are thrilled with the passage.

College is necessary, college is expensive. Both of those things are true for many young people today. And making college more accessible is the driving force behind "promise" programs, which offer incentives--like free or reduced tuition--to students who meet certain benchmarks. Ben Cannon administers the Oregon Promise program at the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.

Who knew board games could still be a big deal in the age of video and virtual reality? Jeff DeBoer, for one. He turned his love for board, card, and table games into a business model years ago: Funagain Games . The company runs physical stores in Ashland and Eugene, but sells games both new and old online to customers all over the world. Our business segment, The Ground Floor, pays a visit to Jeff DeBoer to learn more about how he got his game business from square one to success.

Beer drinkers are living in a very good time. They have a plethora of choices in colors, flavors, makers, and more. The United States has more breweries now than at any time since Prohibition. But any business that grows this fast is bound to have some growing pains, and John Holl says it certainly does. Holl is the author of Drink Beer, Think Beer: Getting to the Bottom of Every Pint . And that subtitle is a double-entendre; Holl gets to the bottom of the story about beer in our time,...