The numbers come flying at us daily: unemployment reports, Dow Jones averages, top-grossing movies, you name it. But just once every year, the Oregon Community Foundation releases its TOP report, TOP standing for Tracking Oregon's Progress . Last year's TOP tracked several measures of success for children in the state, and found some issues. The new report is arriving now, accompanied by OCF's Sonia Worcel. Its title is "Oregonians Mobilizing for Change."

You've probably heard about people who try to avoid using plastic for a month, or who spend a year not buying products from China. But a month not using any products from Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, or Microsoft? It's harder than it sounds. Daniel Oberhaus even wanted to run his phone on something other than Android or iPhone platforms. He wrote about his experience for an article on Motherboard , focusing on not sharing his information with the tech giants.

The deep rifts in American society are evident. But how did they develop? Historian Kevin M. Kruse and CNN political analyst Julian E. Zelizer have traced the divide back to 1974, a year in which the country was rocked by political, economic and cultural events (think Watergate). Their new book, Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974 , is based on a popular history course they teach at Princeton.

The last time Shasta State Historic Park was open was a scary time. The Carr Fire was bearing down on the park and workers loaded all the portable valuables onto trucks for a trip to Sacramento. Only now is the park ready to reopen (on January 25th), minus the Old Schoolhouse, which burned in the fire. Park Superintendent Lori Martin and crew spent the last several months making the park habitable again.

We like to think we're long past the days when people were forced into slavery or prostitution. But the stories of people who have been victims of human trafficking reveal how contemporary a problem it is. Shine A Light plans to raise awareness and money in its annual yoga fundraiser, January 27th in Ashland. Celina Reppond runs the program, while Staysha Hackmann spoke last year and coordinates the Jackson County Sex Trafficking Task Force at Community Works .

We're generally heavier than we used to be across society, we get more kinds of allergies and other health issues, and nobody seems to be making much money. Pediatrician/professor/researcher Leonardo Trasande points the finger in his book Sicker, Fatter, Poorer: The Urgent Threat of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals to Our Health and Future . . . and What We Can Do About It . The author asserts that endocrine-disrupting chemicals in common household products are causing a whole range of serious

It will be a while (we hope) before anyone says "sure is a hot one today." July, maybe? We don't really know anymore, now that our summers seem to come earlier and hotter (and smokier, in our region). Health workers have to deal with more cases of heat-related illness and even death each year. Science journalist Dave Levitan says that's something health departments should be prepared to handle.

They show up in the news all the time: events in which police and/or sanitation workers come to a homeless camp and clear the place out, people and all. There's compassion for the people who don't have permanent homes, but what about the people who do, and not far away? It's a tricky situation, one we explore in this discussion. Rogue Retreat helps homeless people find homes; Julie Akins covers homeless issues as a journalist, works to create spaces for homeless people, and recently joined the

The party bosses and the people they got elected used to wield all the power in America. But we've democratized many processes, through initiative and referendum laws, and party primaries and caucuses. Which raises the question: how's that working out for us? Putting more of the machinery of the politics in the hands of the people produces things like ballot measures legalizing marijuana... but also results like Brexit, in the United Kingdom. The idea that the problems of democracy are solved by

When money gets tight, what do you do? Payday and car-title loans are among the options that low-income Oregonians resort to, according to a recent report from the Center for Responsible Lending . Student loans, car loans, and credit card debt exert a crushing burden on people who make between $20,000 and $30,000 a year. The report includes input from several Oregon nonprofits, including Innovative Changes , which makes small loans itself.