The loss of all federal funding with little advance notice has rocked the public media ecosystem. Hardest hit are stations serving small, rural communities which reach less wealthy parts of the country and which need to support and maintain expensive infrastructures because their audiences are spread across larger geographic areas – stations just like JPR.

I knew about the Rogue Valley’s thriving food scene long before I came to live here. I’d spent the better part of two years driving up on the weekends with my dog, exploring the towns, strolling through quiet neighborhoods, and getting a taste of the region’s offerings: its wineries, friendly eateries, natural craft foods, and organic markets. But when I arrived to join the Jefferson Public Radio team, what struck me most wasn’t just the scenic beauty or the food—it was the people.

That goes for me too. Maybe especially for me. I’ve done my fair share of freaking out about AI both in conversations with friends and colleagues as well as right here, in writing, in past columns. Perhaps saying “freaking out” is a bit hyperbolic, but let’s roll with that.

On June 12th the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4, the Rescissions Act of 2025, by a vote of 214-212. This is the bill advanced by the Trump Administration that would claw back funds previously appropriated by the current Congress and authorized by President Trump to fund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes operating grants to public radio and television stations around the country.

According to Google, its latest quantum computing chip, Willow, is capable of solving a complex computation problem in just 5 minutes that would take the world’s fastest supercomputer 10 septillion years to solve.

For most of us, there is a soundtrack to our lives. Songs from our childhoods, our weddings, or the background for the big and small events, parties, and road trips that shape us. Music is inherently ephemeral, and often only made available to archaeologists via ancient instruments or illustrations, but archaeological investigations from a former commune in Northern California have provided an exciting opportunity to explore the “sonic debris” from the mid-20th century.

In the academy award winning Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, Timothèe Chalamet, (portraying Bob Dylan) suggests that to truly create something new, you have to destroy the past. The British writer Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch referred to this as “killing your darlings.” David Lowery of the band Cracker sings, in Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) “What the world needs now is another folk-singer like I need a hole in my head.” The idea is that to create truly original art, literature, music, or cultural movements, you must forget the past.

The drumbeat to cancel all federal funding for public media has continued in Washington and significant new steps have been taken to make this outcome a reality. Here’s an update on where we stand.

In recent weeks the Trump administration has taken several steps that cast an ominous shadow on public broadcasting and may forebode future actions that attempt to weaken the role public radio and television stations play in communities across the country.

As we look to the year ahead, we expect a great deal of uncertainty. Following the November election, the incoming Trump administration has announced the formation of a committee called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The charge of this committee, according to the administration, is to reduce the size of government and save money by improving efficiency and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Who could be against that?