Geoffrey Riley

Did you hear the one about the politician who apologized?  Yeah, neither did we. 

Public official apologies are usually along the lines of "I'm sorry if anyone took offense..."  Notice the careful construction. 

Linguist Edwin Battistella of Southern Oregon University certainly noticed. 

An opera premiering in Portland in September is meant to be more than just theater with music; it is also meant to heal. 

"The Canticle of the Black Madonna" is a modern story of a soldier struggling with PTSD from the Afghanistan war… in his native Louisiana during the oil spill. 

The opera is the creation of composer Ethan Gans-Morse and librettist Tiziana DellaRovere of the Rogue Valley. 

Both employers and potential employees are complaining about the current hiring climate in Oregon. 

The employers want workers and the workers want jobs, but there are mismatches. 

Many employers report difficulty filling jobs, because they require more skills than many of the available workers possess. 

Oregon's 2008 Medicaid (Oregon Health Plan) expansion offered a gift to health researchers. 

Since people either got Medicaid coverage or didn't by lottery, large numbers of people--thousands--would be available to test the results of health insurance coverage (or not) on previously uncovered populations. 

Bottom line: the covered people are not a whole lot healthier, but they made more use of health care services and spent less of their own money. 

The week that includes the Fourth of July creates some challenges: on one hand, the Exchange crew only has to schedule four days of new material.

On the other hand, our First Friday Arts segment has to move to THURSDAY, so it doesn't fall on the holiday. 

Keep the need to call in with arts events a day early in mind... as you peruse the list of the rest of the week's attractions on The Jefferson Exchange... (pictures and web links sold separately).

Sea creatures and their habitat already enjoy protection in federal marine sanctuaries off the California coast. 

Now those sanctuaries may expand, and people interested in the process can comment... for a few more days ('til June 30th... here).

The proposal would expand both the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. 

It's exciting to watch lightning strike, but its effects can be devastating. 

Just witness the flock of wildfires that started in our region late last July. 

Before we get to the heart of lightning season, we're getting warnings about how WE should behave around lightning. 

Because we sure can't do anything about ITS behavior. 

Maybe you like the IDEA of baking your own bread, but find the process daunting. 

We may have just the thing for you, a book on baking bread for beginners, Josey Baker Bread. 

Josey Baker is a former science teacher; with a name like his, he might have been destined to make bread, and he does. 

Right between Mother's Day and Father's Day, wildlife officials confirmed that Oregon's most famous wolf is a father. 

OR-7, the wandering wolf, found a mate and is rearing pups in the Cascades. 

The news punctuated a busy period for wolves in both of our states. 

California wildlife officials announced endangered species protection for gray wolves... even though none are known to exist in the state. 

Some of us may be afraid to take days off from work when we're sick, because we have no paid sick leave. 

And the roads on the way to work may be poth0le-strewn, because of deficiencies in highway funding.  These are the topics of this week's VENTSday segment.

We do not schedule guests for Wednesday at 8:30, because that's the time for VENTSday, your chance to vent (politely, please) on a pair of topics in the news. 

We bring the topics, you bring the opinions.