In every crisis, there is opportunity. But woe be to the people who use a crisis for an ill-gotten gain in income. The coronavirus pandemic has seen a rise in false cures and offers of supplies that will do nothing to stop the disease or its spread, and the Oregon U.S. Attorney's office is warning consumers to be cautious. Don't let the urgency of the moment spur a rash decision on buying something you haven't checked out completely.

Most of us are living life differently to avoid getting sick from COVID-19. Health workers are putting in long hours and enduring some risks in treating (and finding) people carrying the coronavirus. Updates on the situation help. Dr. Jim Shames is the medical director at Jackson County Health and Human Services .

Where did you top out in math--algebra, geometry, something else? Mitchell Jackson and a lot of people he knew had to perform something called "survival math:" quick calculations to figure what it would take to survive a confrontation in a tough neighborhood. Jackson tells the story in his memoir Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family . He joined us last year for an interview in our segment The Keenest Observers, with Rob Goodwin.

Problems in Oregon's foster care system in recent years demonstrated the severe shortage of places to house children who have been removed from their homes. And recruiting efforts continue, but not every adult wants to, or should be, a foster parent. Now the state is starting a new program called My NeighbOR , an effort to match people with skills or material goods to give with the needs of foster children in their communities. The needs are only exacerbated by the spread of the novel

We may not like it, but now we're used to daily life changing, as we try to avoid huge numbers of people getting sick from the new coronavirus. Getting started was one thing; now how does the lockdown end? President Trump and other political figures have been chafing at the damage to the economy, but health workers warn of a higher disease and death toll if social distancing ends prematurely. Dr. Ralph Eccles is an endocrinologist and former administrator at Oregon Health & Science

We find ourselves talking about home schooling a lot of late. And that's obvious: the ONLY kind of school available in-person at the moment is home school. Julie Bogart has been waiting for us. Bogart teaches writing through a program called The Brave Writer, founded a Homeschool Alliance for parents teaching their kids, and recently published the book The Brave Learner . She knows of what she speaks, having taught all five of her children at home.

The U.S. State Department recommended recently that all Americans abroad return home , because they could be stuck in their current countries for a long time. Gary Poulos of Talent already knows this; he's been in Ecuador since January and desperately wants to return home. But Ecuador is already locked down, with extreme travel restrictions. And the State Department is not able to offer much help to get him home.

Coronavirus is a disease of the body; but it is likely to have lingering effects on mental health as well. Because the restrictions set up to thwart the spread of the virus are the most extreme in a century. No one alive has a memory of being asked to stay home and off the streets for this long. Dr. Jan Jacobs is an Ashland psychologist long in clinical practice.

You just can't tell at the outset of a relationship how it's going to go. You can feel "sure," but what does that really mean? Jill Andres and Brook Silva-Braga decided that if their bond was a good one, it could take some testing. So they proceeded to run themselves and each other through a series of trials, all recounted in their book The Marriage Test: Our 40 Dates Before "I Do."

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival brings tourists by the thousands to Ashland every year to see its award-winning plays. But with Covid-19 on the loose, there are no plays, no tourists, and no ticket income. OSF planned to reopen in the second week of April, but has now taken the drastic step of staying dark until September 8th, and cancelling five plays planned for the season.