The Jefferson Exchange

The Jefferson Exchange, June 132014, Hour 2.Fans of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival took delight in the recent Tony Awards ceremony. "All TheWay," a play that began its life at OSF, won the award for Best Play on Broadway this season. It's a feather in the cap of the festival and Artistic Director Bill Rauch, who directed "All The Way" in Ashland and New York.  Playwright Robert Schenkkan joins us to talk about the play and its sequel "The Great Society," debuting next month in Ashland.   

The Jefferson Exchange: June 12, 2014, Hour 1A:Big changes are coming to public higher education in Oregon. Some of those changes have already taken place, with the formation of separate governing boards for several of the state university campuses, and the creation of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission.   But the big questions remain: will the changes do anything to improve program offerings or hold the line on tuition increases?  HECC executive director Ben Cannon and board chair Tim Nesbitt join us.   

The Jefferson Exchange: June 12, 2014, Hour 1B:Using renewable energy in Oregon provides a double benefit. First, there's the obvious benefit of using wind or solar or geothermal power instead of burning fossil fuels. Second, money from Pacific Power's Blue Sky program goes to help restore fish habitat in key streams around the region. The streams include tributaries of the Rogue and Illinois rivers, among others.  We hear the details on the restoration projects.  

The Jefferson Exchange: June 12, 2014, Hour 2:Interstate Five may be the main travel artery in our region, but the Pacific Crest Trail is our sidewalk. People come from far and wide to hike the PCT, for hours or even weeks. John Riha and his son gave the PCT a whirl. And that might not have been a great idea, in hindsight... neither was particularly trail-savvy, and they chose a portion through the rugged Trinity Alps.  At least John, who lives in Ashland, got a good story out of it... a story he tells in his book Rookies in the Wild: Fear and Gloaming on the Pacific Crest Trail.

The Jefferson Exchange: June 11, 2014, Hour 1A:Kids may be happy that school is out for the summer (or will be shortly). But there's a downside, too, especially for children of low-income families. Free or cheap school lunches disappear in most locations when the schools shut down.  We hear about the extent of summertime hunger, and learn about programs to help kids stay fed over the long vacation. 

The Jefferson Exchange: March 28, 2014, Hour 1A: Long before Interstate Five, the railroad was the main artery of commerce in the region.  Railroads remain important to the working of the nation, and bring excitement to trackside observers. The Grants Pass branch of Josephine Community Libraries will host a series of programs on trains and railroads called "All Aboard" in the coming months. Train buff and library volunteer Robert Herning tells us what's coming 'round the bend.     

The Jefferson Exchange: March 28, 2014, Hour 1B:There's high culture, and then there's something else.  We'll assume Ashland's Ed Polish is drawn to the "something else." Polish is the head of Ashland's Bad Film Society, and he's preparing a music special for JPR (on April Fool's Day, natch) called "Sleazy Listening."  Polish joins us to talk about his adventures in low culture.  

The Jefferson Exchange: March 28, 2014, Hour 2:Brad Willis roamed the world covering wars and other difficult situations for NBC News, before a broken back and failed surgery sidelined him.  And that was just the beginning of his difficulties. A diagnosis of cancer made him believe the end was near.  So he changed his focus.Brad Willis became Bhava Ram, and immersed himself in yoga to heal his mind and body.  He tells his story in the book "Warrior Pose: A War Correspondent's Memoir."  

The Jefferson Exchange: March 27, 2014, Hour 1A:It's not a happy memory, but it's an important one: a tsunami wiped out downtown Crescent City, California on this date in 1964. A huge earthquake in Alaska caused the tsunami. The coordinator of the Del Norte County Museum joins us to talk about the immediate effects of the tsunami, and the long aftermath of the disaster.    

The Jefferson Exchange: March 27, 2014, Hour 1B:By all rights, we should be stuck between a rock and a hard place as a society. We have more gadgets--electric cars included--requiring energy. And the burning of fossil fuels to create electricity contributes to climate change. But a recent report indicates that the wider use of renewable energy is cutting carbon pollution in Oregon. Environment Oregon and its affiliated groups prepared the report. 

The Jefferson Exchange: March 27, 2014, Hour 2:While we stayed focused on heroin and other illegal drugs, prescription painkiller leaped to the top of the list of most-abused drugs in America. Efforts to bring the so-called "opioid" (synthetic opium) drugs under greater control led to the formation of the Opioid Prescribers Group in Jackson and Josephine Counties. The group works with doctors to limit the circumstances in which medical patients receive prescriptions for addictive drugs. We visit with group members to discuss process and success.   

The Jefferson Exchange: March 26, 2014, Hour 1A:The rains returned to the region this week, but for how long?  Unless they continue for a very long time, much of the region is looking at a drought this year. California declared a statewide drought in January.  Individual counties in Oregon have been following along in the weeks since.  Jackson County joined the list just last week. County Commissioner Doug Breidenthal joins us to explain what sorts of processes are set in motion by a drought declaration.      

The Jefferson Exchange: March 26, 2014, Hour 1B: The handling of the drought by governments/individuals and the idea of free tuition at public institutions are our topics on this week's VENTSday. 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. It's VENTSday on The Jefferson Exchange, and you participate by calling 1-800-838-3760 or 541-552-6782 or emailing JX@jeffnet.org.The topics again:  What people and governments should do to manage water for the expected drought Should we give free tuition in public higher education--and if so, how do we pay for it?

The Jefferson Exchange: March 26, 2014, Hour 2A:There may well be cautionary tales for people and parts of our region in this year's crop of movies at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. Take "Rich Hill," for example. It's about a small town in Missouri where a coal mine played out decades ago, and the town continues to struggle.Then there's "Running Wild," about wild horses and how they are managed in Oregon and other places around the west.  The directors of those two movies will join us to talk about their projects.  

The Jefferson Exchange: March 26, Hour 2B:There may well be cautionary tales for people and parts of our region in this year's crop of movies at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. Co-Directors Ben Cotner and Ryan White of "The Case Against 8," join us to talk about the Supreme Court case challenging California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage.