Until the mid-1990s, the rest of the country did not know much about the University of Oregon. But the improvement of the football team and other sports teams allowed the Ducks to gain a national profile. It came with a cost, says investigative journalist Joshua Hunt.

The Shakespeare Festival (indoor) theaters are open, the weather is warming up, and April figures to be a fine month in the arts in the region. So let's catch up on the arts scene: our monthly arts buffet, First Friday Arts, returns. It's all listener-generated content: we open the phone lines for calls from and about arts organizations, about arts events in the coming weeks. All calls go to 800-838-3760 .

Like a lot of stories about the "Old West," the story of the California Gold Rush is a very white story. And while it's true that white people reaped most of the riches to be had, people of darker skin colors got involved, too. Mark Oliver of Mount Shasta created a stage piece on black workers, both enslaved and free, who worked the gold veins in the mid-19th century. "Voices of the Golden Ghosts" comes to Shasta College Theater on Saturday (April 6th).

Every click on the web can communicate your choices to computers, which then use algorithms to help you with next choices. Which may be great if you're shopping for shoes or music, but a bit more concerning when the decisions reach the point of life and death. Doctors, pilots, and judges are among the people who rely more on computers for decisions now. Kartik Hosanagar explains the situation fully in his book A Human’s Guide to Machine Intelligence: How Algorithms Are Shaping Our Lives and How

California's enormous agricultural bounty involves the use of a lot of pesticides. In fact, pesticide use trended upward in recent years. This is despite state laws requiring county agricultural commissioners to sign off on local pesticide use, to protect farmworkers. A study out of UCLA finds counties not taking many steps to exercise their responsibilities under the state law.

We like our time on the Web, but there's a near-constant concern about what we give, in addition to what we get. At this point, we give away our data, unless we're extremely cautious. In February, California Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a "data dividend," in which people would get paid for surrendering their data online. Details have yet to be worked out. But the Center for Digital Democracy has some ideas about privacy and the appropriate uses of our personal information.

One of the features of this year's Ashland Independent Film Festival is an acknowledgement of the 40th anniversary of the movie "Apocalypse Now." And in a trend AIFF started a few years ago, the acknowledgement includes fine art, a program called "Expanded Cinema." "Apocalypse" goes on display at Ashland's Schneider Museum of Art on April 10th, the day before the festival opens. Festival Artistic and Executive Director Richard Herskowitz returns, along with artist Matthew Picton.

There's a vibrant music scene in the region, and once a month we get a sampling of who's playing from Josh Gross . He plays music, writes and performs music, and writes about music. And his monthly visit is a lively segment we call Rogue Sounds. We hear the music of five bands playing gigs in the weeks ahead: this month, The Mondegreens, The Brothers Reed, Douse, Haiku D'Etat, and Powerman 5000.

Much of the negative reaction to Donald Trump comes from Democrats and liberals in America. But far from all of it. Case in point: an Arkansas pastor, lifelong Republican Robb Ryerse, who felt he had to run for Congress to inject some true Christian love into the body politic. The story is told in the film "True Believer," playing at this year's Ashland Independent Film Festival.

The days are getting slowly warmer, so fire season can't be far off. It never is in our region. Which is why Ashland Fire and Rescue adopted the Firewise USA program years ago, to help residents prepare their homes and neighborhoods to be as fire-resistant as possible. Dan Dawson is a member of the city's Wildfire Safety Commission and has made changes to his property to improve its odds of surviving a fire.