The Jefferson Exchange

It's part of the imagery of the American West that wild horses still roam the landscape. But the beauty and freedom belie the ongoing debate about how best to manage the herds. The federal Bureau of Land Management is responsible for managing wild horses and burros, and BLM is trying a few new techniques. Those include an adoption event coming up in mid-April in South Central Oregon in partnership with Beaty Butte Wild Horses .

If timber management is the number one ongoing source of environmental debate in the region, cattle grazing is not far behind. Ranchers and environmental groups are often at odds with each other and with agencies responsible for managing grazing on public lands. Now researchers at Michigan State University inject a new note into the melody: a study showing how cattle production can be environmentally friendly . Paige Stanley is one of the researchers, now at the University of California-Berkeley

Political figures are fond of making moves they say will help "the economy." And often, out of sight, economists roll their eyes at the politicians. They rely upon each other, but economist Alan S. Blinder sees a dysfunctional relationship. And he demonstrates why in his book Advice and Dissent: Why America Suffers When Economics and Politics Collide . Blinder advocates for more hard-headed but soft-hearted policies.

There is a race gap in many things in America, health care among them. Health outcomes are just generally better for people with white skin. But Oregon's ongoing work in expanding Medicaid through the Oregon Health Plan may be closing that gap. Recent research shows an improvement in health for members of minority groups, since Oregon began using CCOs--coordinated care organizations--to deliver OHP services. The study comes from OHSU in Portland.

Only one color is supposed to make a difference in renting or buying a house: green. As in, if you have enough money, you get the home. But evidence of racial discrimination in housing lingers across the country. This despite the fact that it's been 50 years since Congress passed the Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Council of Oregon tracks compliance with this and other laws. The Racial Equity Coalition of Southern Oregon also keeps tabs on the progress.

We understand that all things are made of atoms. Quantum physics explains how atoms move and relate, but there still plenty of mysteries left for scientists to discover. And the approach to mystery-solving has changed over the years. Adam Becker, science writer with PhD in astrophysics, reports on the change in approaches in his book What Is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics . Yes, Schrödinger's Cat makes an appearance on page 3.

We're still two years away from the centennial of women getting the right to vote under the Constitution. For women in the United Kingdom, the party is this year. 1918 was the year British women gained the right to vote, an event commemorated in a new play “Pankhurst: Freedom or Death,” a one-woman show presented by Ashland Contemporary Theatre starting April 7th. Jeannine Grizzard is the playwright and actor, playing suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst.

The engine's fine, the tires are good, the brakes work... but still, there's SOMETHING making noise underneath your favorite motor vehicle. Is there something amiss with the suspension? Something out of whack in the steering mechanism? These are the parts of the car we focus on in this month's installment of The Squeaky Wheel, with Ashland Automotive owner Zach Edwards.

You can probably remember a few names from the early days of white settlement in Oregon and California. A few people were prominent in the formation of both states, including Peter Burnett. Who? Well, Mr. Burnett organized one of the first wagon trains to Oregon Territory and served in prominent positions there. Then he moved to California and became the first governor of the new state. And he's generally regarded as a failure in that role and several others. Historian and former Oregonian

Crater Lake would just not be the same without that big blue lake. Would it be very different without the big whitebark pine trees? There's a chance we could find out, because the trees appear to be under great stress, from insect infestation, tree diseases, and climate change. Sean Smith at the Klamath Inventory and Monitoring Network has been keeping an eye on the fate of the trees for several years now.

Southern Oregon University has been recognized for five straight years as one of the country's Top 25 LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges and Universities. Programs to ensure the inclusion of LGBTQ+ students abound. And they include an upcoming session combining LGBTQ+ issues with leadership programs, “ The Audacity: A Queer Leadership Experience .”

The recent revelation that 50 million Facebook users had their personal information vacuumed up by a third party got a few people thinking their use of digital devices. It's a constant concern in a culture where people put a lot of time, energy, and information into phones and other devices. How long could you go without? For Christina Cook, the answer is a month. That's how long she performed an experiment in being un-wired, the story she tells in The Joy of Missing Out: Finding Balance in a

It all starts with dreams for Denise Kester. Before the paints and oils and other materials of her art come the dreams. The animals and people that come to her in dreams end up on paper, in a complicated art process called monoprinting. The artist provides both instruction and insight in her book Drawing on the Dream: Finding my way by art .

Butterflies and bees are skilled in finding their way from plant to plant. People need a little help. So that's why the Rogue Buzzway Project came into being... now people who want to track the progress of pollinators can find pollinator hangouts. A GIS (Geographic Information System) class at Southern Oregon University has been instrumental in making a map showing pollinator pathways.

Business students are trained to solve problems. So Southern Oregon University and several cities in Jackson County set the MBA students loose on homelessness. Students set out to assess community attitudes toward homeless people and problems, from the perspective of residents, businesses, and homeless service providers. Corey Murphy and Lisa Marston were on the team of students studying the business community attitudes.