High school lessons on Oregon racism, then and now
Jan 20, 2025
Sinclair Lewis watched the rise of the Fascists and Nazis in Europe and wrote the novel It Can't Happen Here, published in 1935.
The Oregon Historical Society shows high school students that ultra-nationalism and racism took root in the Northwest in the late 20th century in a curriculum called It Did Happen Here. The curriculum first demonstrates that Oregon was founded as a white-only state, with a Black exclusion law enshrined in the first Oregon constitution. Then, it follows the story through to the present day.
Joshua joins the Exchange to talk about his research, which is laid out case-by-case in an easy-to-read, fast-paced, slim 185 pages of detailed evidence to support his premise that the U.S. Supreme Court has incrementally eroded the voting power of the people.
Oregon Caves Chateau undergoes restoration
Jan 16, 2025
(Photo courtesy of the Oregon Caves)
The Oregon Caves are probably well-known to most Southern Oregonians as a fun day trip to visit the forest and to explore the caves, an activity known as spelunking.
The Chateau at the Oregon Caves National Monument, completed in 1934, may be less well-known. However, it is a designated National Historic Landmark and has been described as a national treasure akin to the more famous chateaus at other National Parks.
The Chateau is currently closed for large-scale rehabilitation, even as cave tours continue. Reconstruction projects can be both expensive and environmentally challenging. The Friends of the Oregon Caves, who are supervising this effort, are doing their best to ensure that the rehabilitation is as environmentally benign as possible.
Sue Densmore, Executive Director of Friends of the Oregon Caves, along with Sierra Heimel, a geologist and cave specialist with the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, both join the Exchange.
Sue Densmore in the studio with Charlie Zimmerman, JPR Associate Producer(Natalie Golay, JPR Senior Producer)
Katie Wendt, Assistant Professor at Oregon State University and Sierra Heimel, Geologist and Cave Specialist with Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve, are undertaking climate history research in the caves themselves, using the stalactites and stalagmites as research subjects. The project seeks to develop reconstructions of temperature conditions during the warm period between 130,000 and 180,000 years ago that preceded the Wisconsin Glaciation. We will also learn about this research project.
Learning the signs to prevent human trafficking in our region
Jan 16, 2025
(ODOT)
January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month. You may have seen the digital signs on the highway reminding us that human trafficking is both a regional and national problem.
To learn more about the issue of human trafficking in our region, Charlie Zimmermann spoke with Erin Martin-Fournier, Director of Advocacy at Community Works.
To contact Community Works, call (541) 779-2393 or click here.
To contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline, click here.
A concert in Ashland will benefit organizations serving vulnerable populations
Jan 16, 2025
A collaboration of local organizations and Indivisible are producing a People's March benefit concert in Ashland to support the needs of vulnerable populations in the region.( JPR and People's March)
Teresa Safay joins the Exchange to discuss a People's March benefit concert on Jan 18 at the Oak Knoll Golf Course from Noon to 2pm. The concert will support multiple organizations supporting vulnerable people in the southern Oregon region.
People's March Benefit Concert Poster Teresa Safay and Kathy Keesee join Charlie Zimmerman, JPR Associate Producer(Natalie Golay, JPR Senior Producer)
We'll learn more about the challenges faced by vulnerable populations in the region, why they believe those challenges will soon increase, and what you can do to help.
DONATIONS: To donate to any organization listed below or all of them, click here. The concert will raise funds to support the work of the following organizations:
The Rogue Valley has a new 2025 Food Action Plan
Jan 15, 2025
The Rogue Valley Food System Network produced a new Food Action Plan: State of the Food System Rogue Valley Community Food Assessment Action Plan 2025-2030.
Alison Sexauer, Executive Director of the RVFSN, joins the Exchange to discuss the plan and upcoming summit on Jan 17.
The Food Plan has four priority goals:
Reduce Hunger and Ensure Access for All: Making healthy, fresh, affordable food available to all community members
Invest in Our Local Food and Farm Economy: Supporting farmers, food producers, and businesses to strengthen our regional economy
Protect and Restore Soil and Water Health: Protecting our soil and water resources through sustainable farming practices
Reduce Food Waste: Creating efficient systems to minimize waste and maximize resource use
A Central Oregon irrigation district converts canals to buried pipes
Jan 15, 2025
(Tumalo Irrigation District)
The Tumalo Irrigation District recently received $8.4 million in federal funds to support their project to convert more than 10 miles of open canal to buried pipe. The plan is expected to significantly reduce the current 50% rate of water loss due to evaporation and seepage. It will also improve habitat and water quality for Redband Trout and the Oregon Spotted Frog. However, the plan is not without controversy.
Chris Schull, Tumalo Irrigation District Manager, joins the Exchange to discuss the plan.
The death of a calf highlights threats to Pacific orca population
Jan 15, 2025
(Earth Island Journal)
Tahlequah, also known as J35, made headlines in 2018 after carrying her dead calf with her for 17 days. Now, she has lost another one. This heartbreaking news comes amidst a significant decline in the population of orcas in the Pacific Northwest, fueled by a lack of prey and other environmental factors. Because orcas are apex predators and an integral part of the food chain, losing the local population entirely could have vast implications for the local ecosystem.
Brady Bradshaw, Senior Oceans Campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, joins the Exchange to discuss.
MLK Day 2025: How should America's most famous King be remembered?
Jan 14, 2025
(Photos courtesy of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival)
January 20, 2025 is MLK Day, marking the 30th anniversary of the federal holiday in honor of the life, impact and legacy of Dr. King. Americans celebrated the first official Martin Luther King Day on Jan 20, 1986. It is the only federal holiday commemorating an African-American.
D.L. Richardson, JPR reporter Roman Battaglia (interim host), JPR Host Mike Green and Kamilah Long(Senior Producer Natalie Golay)
Joining the JX is D.L. Richardson. He has more than 25 years of experience in teaching & diversity training. He has taught communication courses at the university and high school levels, including Civil Rights history. He also co-founded the community-based organization Black Southern Oregon Alliance. D.L. has also served on the boards of the Oregon Cares Fund for Black Relief and Resiliency, The Oregon African American/Black Student Success Advisory Committee, Oregon Racial Justice Council’s Education Recovery Committee, the Jackson County United Way, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Ashland.News. D.L. has also worked as an Equity Specialist with both Medford and Ashland School Districts, as well as the Southern Oregon Education Service District. And last, but not least, D.L. was the emcee of the Ashland MLK Day celebration for the past 20 years.
Also joining the JX is Kamilah Long, the former Chief Development Officer at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and incoming emcee of the Ashland MLK Day celebration. (She is replacing D.L.) Kamilah is also the founder and CEO of The Black Whole (W. H. O.L.E.), a multimedia company that centers the Black community through art and storytelling. Kameela co-produced the short film You Go Girl! which has been selected for the Sundance Film Festival.
From The King Center in Atlanta: Our strategic theme for 2025 is ‘Mission Possible: Protecting Freedom, Justice, and Democracy in the Spirit of Nonviolence365′. This theme defines the 2025 King Holiday Observance events and programming while serving as a compass for all the work we will do this upcoming calendar year and beyond.
Cal Poly Humboldt sets sail with a new research vessel
Jan 14, 2025
(Photo courtesy of All American Marine)
Cal Poly Humboldt's new $8.5 million research vessel is a 78-foot-by-28-foot custom-built aluminum catamaran that can travel at speeds up to 24 knots. It can carry up to 40 students, faculty, and crew on research voyages. The vessel is equipped with a lab, a pilot house, diving platforms, and a variety of machinery for handling equipment and instrumentation.
The boat is named R/V North Wind ("R/V" stands for research vehicle) which was arrived at following a significant process involving students, faculty and consultation with Tribal organizations. The R/V North Wind was chosen from the selection of name proposals. The name celebrates the region and speaks to the university’s strengths in the natural resources and sciences.
Eric Riggs, Dean of the College of Natural Resources & Sciences, joins the Exchange to discuss how the the new vessel will be used by the university.
Homelessness in Grants Pass; library loses lease; wildfire hazard maps
Jan 10, 2025
The JPR news team gathers for a roundtable discussion of the top news stories they've been working on this week. Top stories include:
Tuesday's City Council special meeting was the first conducted by Grants Pass's new leadership, elected in November and sworn in on Monday. The council made several big decisions that will change how the city addresses its homelessness crisis.
Two new county commissioners sided with outgoing Commissioner John West to ax the county’s lease with its biggest library. The library has been paying only $1 a year to rent the county-owned building in downtown Grants Pass, which has housed the library since 1959.
Final maps were released Tuesday by the Oregon Department of Forestry showing the wildfire hazard for every property in the state. This is the second time a statewide wildfire map has been released. The first one in 2022, called the wildfire risk map, was promptly withdrawn after public outcry over a lack of information about the map’s development.
President Biden established two national monuments on Tuesday, spanning over 800,000 acres. One of those protected areas is located near Mt. Shasta. The recently designated Sáttítla Highlands National Monument covers over 224,000 acres within Northern California’s Modoc, Shasta-Trinity and Klamath National Forests.
19th century painters depict scenes of southern Oregon and northern California
Jan 10, 2025
In this field episode of Underground History, Chelsea Rose visits the archives of the Southern Oregon Historical Society. She's joined by historian Peter Boag, a professor at Washington State University working on a biography of an early Northwest landscape painter, William Samuel Parrott (1844-1915), and SOHS curator Anna Sloan.
Together, they examine paintings in SOHS's archive depicting scenes of our region.
Mount Shasta. Painting by James Everett Stewart, c. 1882( Southern Oregon Historical Society)
Step. Think. Repeat. An 80-year-old woman's 800-mile-long project
Jan 10, 2025
Diana Coogle takes a hike(Diana Coogle / Diana Coogle)
Longtime listeners of Jefferson Public Radio might be familiar with the voice of Diana Coogle. Starting in the 1980s, she aired commentaries about life living off the grid in the Siskiyou Mountains, raising a son in a home she built herself.
The 21st century has been fruitful for her, too. In her 60s, she earned her PhD at the University of Oregon. And when she turned 79, she decided to walk 800 miles in the year leading up to her 80th birthday.
Sequoia Park Zoo opens annual grant competition for conservation projects
Jan 09, 2025
(Sequoia Park Zoo)
The Sequoia Park Zoo Advisory Group’s Conservation Council is now accepting proposals for its thirteenth annual Conservation Grant Program.
Ruth Mock joins the JX to provide details. She's Director of Conservation and Research and also Chair of the Conservation Council, which manages the grant program for the zoo in Eureka, CA.
According to the Council, grant proposals should be submitted by individuals or organizations for projects that have a clear and direct impact on the conservation of wildlife or habitats. Appropriate projects include proposals for research, certain educational programs, and habitat management. Special consideration is given to projects that are in line with the Sequoia Park Zoo’s mission, focus on species represented at the Zoo, or support local wildlife or habitats.
Funds will be granted up to $3,000 for projects that can be completed within two years. The deadline for applications is Friday, January 31, 2025 at 5 PM. Click here for more details and to download an application.
Looking on the bright side: Paralyzed woman recounts what it took to succeed
Jan 09, 2025
It took perhaps a second to change the rest of Brooke Ellison's life irrevocably. She was 11 years old when a car hit her on a busy street, paralyzing her from the neck down. It certainly limited her options, but she still got an education, got a degree from Harvard, and went on to become a professor herself.
She tells the story of keeping her eyes on her eyes on her goals in a new memoir, Look Both Ways. This is a follow-up to an earlier memoir that actor Christopher Reeve turned into a movie.
Brooke Ellison visits the JX to add detail to what she put in the book.
Phantom operators use AI to exploit local media landscape in Oregon
Jan 08, 2025
The Ashland Daily Tidings permanently closed in 2023. But a digital imposter has been generated by phantom operators using AI technology to deceive local residents.(Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB)
We discuss the problem of phantom operators leveraging artificial intelligence (Ai) to exploit local media deserts while coopting on the work of existing local media.
The work of JPR reporter Justin Higginbottom was directly impacted by the Ai invasion. He also joins the JX to describe the experience.
Former Jackson County District Attorney looks back ... and ahead
Jan 08, 2025
Retired Jackson County District Attorney Beth Heckert(JPR Reporter Jane Vaughan)
Jackson County swore in its new District Attorney, Patrick Green, on Jan 6. The outgoing DA, Beth Heckert, had served in that role since 2012 when she was elected. She decided not to run for re-election in 2024.
Throughout her career and tenure as DA, Beth Heckert oversaw a variety of cases, as well as major statewide legislative changes. JPR's Jane Vaughan recently spoke with Heckert about her time as DA, changes over the years, and what's next on the horizon for her.
Siletz Tribes regain part of their Oregon homeland at Table Rock
Jan 07, 2025
Siletz Tribal Council members (L to R) Robert Kentta (Treasurer), July Muschamp (Secretary), Delores Pigsley (Chairman) and Gerald Ben on newly purchased Table Rock land.(Photo by Matt Hill, Lone Rock Strategies)
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (Siletz Tribe) announced the purchase of approximately 2,000 acres of privately-owned property within the original Table Rock Reserve in southern Oregon.
Joining the Exchange are Robert Kentta and Buddy Lane. Both are members of the Siletz Tribal Council. Robert has conducted historical research for the tribe for more than 30 years and Buddy serves as the tribe's cultural resource manager.
The Siletz Tribe's history is inseparably linked to the Table Rocks, dating back to and beyond the 1853 Table Rock Treaty, which was the first treaty signed by any native tribe in the west and ratified by the U.S. Senate. The treaty came on the heels of significant bloodshed that compelled groups of native tribes to cede their lands and join the Siletz Confederation. Other tribes ceding their lands are: Takelma, Applegate River, Galice Creek, Shasta Chasta, Scoton and Grave Creek.
The U.S. moved the tribes to reserved lands at Grand Ronde, a journey experience remembered as a "Trail of Tears" by western tribes.
The Siletz Tribe's purchase of private lands from willing landowners is the largest contiguous block of private land within the historic 1853 Table Rock Reserve. It covers more than 2,000 acres of undeveloped land from the western cliffs of the Lower Table rock to the Rogue River. The Siletz Tribe believes the likely location where the 1853 treaty was signed sits within the recovered lands. The tribe intends to use their Table Rock property for cultural purposes, just as their ancestors did.
OHSU expands its drug addiction training across the state by nearly 65 percent
Jan 07, 2025
Oregon Health & Science Institute map of drug addiction training participation across the state of Oregon.( OHSU)
The number of Oregonians dying of drug overdoses nearly tripled over the past five years. To equip professionals in the field who engage with drug users, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) has significantly expanded the reach of its addiction training program among health care professionals and law enforcement.
The program is a partnership between the Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) Network and OHSU addiction medicine specialists. The model started in 2003 in New Mexico as a way of extending specialized medical training to health care professionals in rural areas. Notably, with Oregon recriminalizing possession of small amounts of illicit drugs this year, law enforcement officers and leaders participated in training related to substance use disorder.
Dr. Dan Hoover is Director of the Addiction Medicine ECHO Program and an assistant professor in the OHSU School of Medicine. Dr. Hoover joins the Exchange to discuss growing interest in the training program, especially among law enforcement agencies in counties that have agreed to provide a chance for people found in possession of illicit drugs to “deflect” from the criminal justice system into treatment.
What will living in Oregon be like in 2050?
Jan 06, 2025
(Portland State University)
A little more than 50 years ago, in 1973, the Oregon state legislature passed a bill that set in motion the nation's first statewide comprehensive planning system and shaped the growth and character of Oregon for the last 50 years. Now, the state has asked Portland State University researchers and planners to look ahead and provide information on past and current trends occurring across a broad variety of societal conditions.
Using data and contextualized information, from food production, land use and climate change, to housing and homelessness, along with myriad other major considerations, PSU researchers authored "Toward Oregon 2050: Planning a Better Future."
Editor Megan Horst joins the Exchange to talk about the statewide comprehensive planning effort, looking ahead 25 years into the future.
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