The Jefferson Exchange

The idea of outdoor recreation differs widely from person to person. 

Where one person may enjoy zooming through the forest on a motorcycle, another would much prefer being able to hike to a place where no human sounds can be heard.  Call that "quiet recreation," because the term is catching on. 

And so is the practice, as measured by an ECONorthwest study funded by Pew Charitable Trusts. 

Society seems to have gained a new appreciation for bees.  Mostly for their work as pollinators... but can we pause for a moment and say thanks for the honey? 

Honey and all the things that can be made from it--including the alcoholic drink mead--will be celebrated this weekend at the Oregon Honey Festival in Ashland. 

The mind may boggle at the variety of eats and drinks that honey can lead to. 

Exhibition games are already underway in the NFL, and college football is just days away now. 

Don't ask Steve Almond to watch a game with you.  He loves football, but hates what it does to the people who play it and the society that celebrates it. 

We thrill at great catches and long runs, but overlook the toll on brains and bodies.  As Almond puts it, "we want the bacon, but we don't want to see the slaughterhouse." 

Legal marijuana puts states in some strange positions. 

Under state law, adults can use marijuana for either recreational or medical purposes. 

Either way, it's still illegal under federal law. 

And people can abuse it, so the Oregon Health Authority still maintains a marijuana use prevention program.  OHA is also taking its youth program, Stay True to You, statewide after a pilot project.

The two major political parties have lost a bunch of ground in recent decades. 

The people who self-identify as "independent" far outnumber the people who identify as either Democrat or Republican.  But nearly all major political figures are party members. 

That is precisely the situation the Centrist Project wants to change.  The projects wants to get independent candidates elected at all levels of government, but especially the U.S. Senate... because electing a handful of independents would deny either party a majority. 

That was fast.  Alaska-based Peninsula Air, "Pen Air", began flying to several airports in our region just last year. 

Now Pen Air has filed for bankruptcy and announced the ending of flights to Portland from Redding, Klamath Falls, Coos Bay/North Bend, Crescent City and Eureka/Arcata. 

That leaves Klamath Falls with no airline service for a second time in five years. 

Help wanted: teachers.  The need for teachers will stay strong for years to come, partly because so many are retiring of late. 

What adds pressure to the situation is the numbers of people training to be teachers... it is not keeping up with the rise in the numbers of students. 

Oregon and California both have fairly high teacher turnover rates. 

The Learning Policy Institute tracks these and many other numbers. 

Regardless of your feelings, it is safe to say that the Trump administration takes a very different approach to science and the environment from the Obama administration.  Science has noticed. 

And so has the legal profession.  Professor Dan Rohlf at the Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland is one of several authors of a paper on how to defend science, specifically conservation science, against political attack. 

Twin Heroes is an Ashland-based arts group that brings together artists based in New York and Southern Oregon for a series of performances ranging from classical music to cutting-edge dance vibes. This summer's festival kicks off this weekend at Ashland's Dance Space with Transcend: Queer Arts Festival.

Given the deep divisions in the country, the festival theme is compassion and common ground.

"All science is either physics or stamp collecting," said Lord Rutherford, the nuclear physicist. 

A little harsh, perhaps, but Raghu Parthasarathy can probably relate.  Parthasarathy is a physicist at the University of Oregon whose work crosses over into biology, chemistry and neuroscience. 

His work includes researching the microbiome of the gut, which influences a person's overall health. 

When cars drive themselves, will we all be backseat drivers?  There's something to think about. 

Jokes and philosophy aside, there are many issues yet to be resolved with self-driving cars. 

A simple one: how do they work?  A listener suggested this topic after our last session with mechanic Zach Edwards, the owner of Ashland Automotive. 

He joins us monthly for a segment we call The Squeaky Wheel.