The Jefferson Exchange

The latest federal figures show more than 47 million Americans receiving "food stamps," the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

But that number is already smaller than a year earlier. 

Few people celebrate the reduction, because it has less to do with life circumstances improving than with Congress simply voting to cut the program. 

It's not easy to say "neonicotinoid pesticide," perhaps harder still to pass legislation regulating it. 

The Oregon Legislature backed off new regulations on the pesticides, opting instead for further study and a task force. 

This is the class of pesticides blamed for a major bee kill near Portland in Summer 2013. 

Throw another log on the fire of debate over proper use of forests in the region. 

Scientists from here and Germany just released a study making the case for the benefits of leaving trees standing. 

Our region is right smack in the middle of a band of temperate rainforests from the Redwoods to Alaska. 

The dawn of a new month means the approach of another First Friday Arts segment on The Jefferson Exchange. 

Here's the gist: Charlotte Duren and Geoffrey Riley run through a list of arts events submitted to the Community Calendar here at iJPR.org.

Politicians like to talk about helping out small businesses and "job creators," but they seldom talk specifically about people who work for non-profit organizations. 

And there are millions of those across the country. 

The last time we talked to Jacob Hess, it was about politics. 

This time, it's about romance.  So much for avoiding the touchy subjects.

One of the challenges of starting a small business is having information about the potential market for a product or service. 

Market research costs money, sometimes a lot of it.  So the Oregon Small Business Development Center Network just launched a Market Research Institute to perform market research for clients of the OSBDCN's centers. 

"School is out completely!"  Alice Cooper sang that more than four decades ago, and a few people took the words seriously. 

But whether we seek education or not, we're still learning things as we live, and the process helps keep aging brains supple. 

We change jobs and even careers more often than in the past, but 50 jobs in a year? 

That's what Daniel Seddiqui did.  His own experiences with the job market after college graduation sparked an idea: to spend a year working a job in each of the 50 states, a week at a time. 

The election is more than two months away, but the debate over GMO crops in Jackson County started a long time ago. 

The May primary election will feature Ballot Measure 15-119, which would ban the growing of genetically engineered crops in Jackson County if it passed.