We stopped the "warehousing" of people with mental illness years ago. Or did we? The huge state hospitals with thousands of residents are generally gone, but our jail and prison population has boomed. And there's plenty of evidence that the two trends are related... like the fact that up to half of the people in lockup have psychiatric disorders. Journalist Alisa Roth researched the trends and the people they represent for her book Insane: America's Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness .

Charles Longjaw had already admitted to a killing in Oregon and a rape in Washington. Yet he was released from custody in 2015 , and charged with committing another murder the next year. The situation comes back to the law under which he was found "guilty except for insanity." GEI verdicts, as they are known, can lead to offenders being released despite predictions of danger. The non-profit news organization ProPublica uncovered issues with the law in a joint project with the Malheur Enterprise.

Drought and wet years tend to alternate in our part of the world. We get used to a winter with little snow followed by one with above-average snowpack. But computer climate models show the situation getting worse as the planet warms, with something like a "precipitation whiplash" effect: deep and prolonged droughts followed by deluges.

Silent since her death in 1959, the voice of Billie Holiday still echoes for generations of Americans. The story of "Lady Day" has been told many times, but author Tracy Fessenden tells the story of Holiday's music with a religious focus. Fessenden's book is Religion Around Billie Holiday , and it explores religious influences ranging from Holiday's time in a convent as a child to the Jewish predominance in the Tin Pan Alley pop music culture. Each helped shape the work of the singer who flamed

Tales of people fighting fires go way back in the region. And there's a special aura of mystery and romance around smokejumpers, people who actually jump out of planes (yes, with parachutes) to fight wildfires. Mystery and romance? More like grunts and groans, from the tales of the smokejumpers themselves. The physical conditioning they undergo to be ready for action is challenging, to say the least. This month's Stories of Southern Oregon features a return visit from Gary Buck of the Siskiyou

There is a pressing need for affordable housing all around the region, especially in pricey Ashland. And now there's a possibility that a grocery store could provide some help. The Ashland Food Co-op recently announced a deal to buy a parcel of land across the railroad tracks from its current location. The parcel is big enough for a bigger store and more parking, but could also have space left over for "workforce housing."

For four straight elections, Oregon U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) has faced Republican Art Robinson in the general election for the 4th Congressional District. That could change this November, because Robinson faces several opponents in the primary election next week (May 15th; ballots went out in late April). Curry County Commissioner Court Boice also is making a bid for a move to Washington, along with Jo Rae Perkins of Albany, Michael Polen of Grants Pass, and Stefan Strek

It's one of the worst sounds you can hear coming from under your vehicle... that grinding sound when you step on the brakes, indicating something has worn out and needs to be replaced. But which something? That's among the questions we have for Zach Edwards, the owner of Ashland Automotive , as he returns for another edition of The Squeaky Wheel, our monthly visit on car care and feeding. But we won't limit the discussion to how the car stops.

Paint your skin green, stagger around like your joints hurt, and make sounds like "arrrrr!" and people will generally get it: you're Frankenstein's monster. Dr. Frankenstein's creation is actually 200 years old this year; Mary Shelley's little book came out in early 1818. And yet we still make new movies and plays and even musicals about the mad scientist and his creation of life from death. Ashland author Tod Davies has some ideas about the durability of the characters and story. She talks

It is true that Plato and Socrates did not create works with titles like "Maximizing Happiness in Your Life." But they did address the subject of happiness in their philosophy. So did many other philosophers through the years, a fact capitalized upon by modern philosopher Frederic Lenoir. He culls the ranks of philosophers past and present for the material in his book, Happiness: A Philosopher's Guide .