Start an argument with a winemaker; bring up the term "smoke taint." It refers to the effect on wine grapes of being exposed to wildfire smoke for prolong periods, as many grapes (and people) in our region were last fire season. The best minds in the wine business are on the case, including the Viticulture & Enology department at the University of California-Davis. The Rogue Valley Winegrowers Association is also focused on it.

The quality of health care, and health itself, is different between gay and straight populations in California. And the Center for Health Policy Research at UCLA is trying to figure out why. People in the LGBT community often have health insurance, but don't appear to seek out health care as much as straight people. Surveys indicate discrimination is among the reasons. The health policy center recently put out a brief on the situation.

Nik Sharma likes food. Well, who doesn't? No, he REALLY likes food... enough to take pictures of it and write about it in a blog called A Brown Table . That blog has made him a force in the food world, an award winner, and now, the author of a cookbook called simply Season . There's Indian cooking, and California cuisine, and Southern dishes.

No one will soon forget the Carr Fire's destructive sweep into Redding in late July. 270 homes inside the city limits went up in smoke, hundreds more outside of town. The city government is putting some work into the idea of a fire fuels management district. If created, the district would have taxing power to raise money for the clearing of brush and other fire fuels.

Lost Valley Farms in northern Oregon gave the dairy business a black eye. It repeatedly violated water quality standards and other violations, and a recent court decision will end up with the operation sold off by early next year. Lost Valley is huge; Oregon's second-largest dairy. Is size a factor in its dysfunction? Can a farm be too big to manage? Friends of Family Farmers considers such questions in its work promoting responsible farming that treats people, animals, and the land with respect

Donald Trump was far from the first person to use the phrase "America First." And the history of the phrase explains why many people shuddered at its return. "America First" has often been entangled with white supremacy and authoritarianism, and has had a troubled relationship with other philosophies of American society and governance. Sarah Churchwell digs into those philosophies in the book Behold, America: The Entangled History of "America First" and "the American Dream" .

Far too many people had to get familiar with the insurance industry in California this year. Fire destroyed hundreds of homes, many in the Redding area. The situation gets worse as the climate changes and the fire "season" goes year-round. So California's Insurance Commissioner ordered a report on the financial stresses on the insurance system, which is forced to pay out billions of dollars for people who lost property to fire and other disasters. The report--appropriately called "Trial By Fire"

Ashland is home to Southern Oregon University, recognized as one of the top 30 LGBTQ-friendly college campuses in the country. The city prides itself on tolerance for people of all colors, genders, and sexual orientations. So it came as a surprise to some people to see Ashland's low score (43 of 100) on the Municipal Equality Index put out by the Human Rights Campaign. Even Birmingham, Alabama scored higher (100 of 100). A look at the numbers reveals it's less about the presence of troubles than

They already teamed up on a book that took a middle road on the vaccine debate. Now Dr. Paul Thomas and Ashland journalist Jennifer Margulis explore addiction in a new book, The Addiction Spectrum: A Compassionate, Holistic Approach to Recovery . The book explores the mechanisms of addiction and how they can be countered. The pleasure the brain gets from addictive substances is immense, and for most people it does not work to "just say no."

From pristine mountain trickle to sludgy brown industrial pool, the Willamette River is a major part of Oregon's circulatory system. Its aorta, perhaps. Most of the state's population lives within a few miles of the river, and often takes it for granted. Not the essayists featured in Wild in the Willamette: Exploring the Mid-Valley’s Parks, Trails, and Natural Areas . As the "Mid-Valley" of the subtitle indicates, the literary survey of the rivers focuses on the area round Corvallis.