Multiply by five. That is the general formula for computing the price of a prescription drug in the United States, versus what it costs in the rest of the world. That is one of the starker findings in a year-end report on prescription drugs prepared by Oregon's Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS). The report is one of the requirements of a prescription drug price transparency program created by the legislature two years ago.

It's become something of dogma that grief will follow a standard trajectory: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. But it's entirely possible for people to feel these in random order, or several of them at once. Psychologist George Bonanno took up the subject in his book The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss . It received an update after ten years, but still holds to the idea that our emotions help us deal with loss--all of

The raging wildfires of our time in history provide plenty of impetus to understand fire better. And that reminds us that there are thousands of years of knowledge about fire still resident in the region. Native Americans used fire to manage the land before white settlers arrived. Chris Chambers, chief of the forestry division of Ashland Fire & Rescue, begins with that history and brings it up to the present day in a pair of upcoming lectures on wildfires past and present, January 8th and

It hasn't been too tough so far, but winter can be hard on cars and their owners. Getting them to start on cold mornings and shoving them out of snowbanks can be hard on both vehicles and operators. We have some questions about good procedures for Zach Edwards, the owner of Ashland Automotive , and our regular guest in The Squeaky Wheel. What questions or stories do you have to share on driving in winter (or any other season, for that matter)?

When we talk about developing brains, we usually mean for little kids. The first three years are critical to the shaping of the mind and person, we're told. But add 60 years to that kid, and there's still development going on. The post-60 brain has needs just like the young one does, in order to stay supple and meet the challenges of aging.

Christmas concerts, Christmas pageants, Christmas plays... yeah, that's all over. Now it's January, the days are short, and even the pretty lights are coming down. SOME of the pretty lights, we stress. There are still lights shining on stages and gallery walls all over the region, and we highlight those in our monthly First Friday Arts segment. This is a public participation party... the list of events is provided by arts organizers calling 800-838-3760 .

Bicycles are moving around the city of Medford, sometimes ridden by people who do not own them. Medford Police report an uptick in bike thefts this year, more than 62% up from the same time last year. The reasons are not clear, but some preventive actions could curb the trend.

Quick, name the powerful figures behind the rise of right-wing politics in America. The Koch Brothers? Yes, and... James McGill Buchanan. Who? Buchanan was a Nobel-winning economist whose ideas were largely taken up and boosted by the Koch Brothers. Historian Nancy MacLean told the story in her book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America .

Norma Paulus left the planet in 2019. She was Oregon's first woman secretary of state, first woman major party candidate for governor, and later Superintendent of Public Instruction. Paulus did not take no for an answer, at a time in history when many men in positions of power said "no" to her. Before her health declined, Paulus and a pair of co-authors joined forces to tell her story, in The Only Woman In the Room: The Norma Paulus Story .

Athletic teams will get new places to play in Grants Pass in the new year and there's an issue over the surfaces the teams will play on. Artificial turf will be used on the new fields at the Josephine County Fairgrounds, and the plans call for "crumb rubber" fill... the little beads of rubber that make the field more springy and natural, and make those little black sprays when players slide across the "grass."