It's a regular feature of hanging out by the ocean: the cries of the gulls. They get most of the attention (volume helps), but there are many other interesting birds to see where land and water meet. And those birds will be celebrated and observed when the 31st annual Oregon Shorebird Festival convenes in the Bandon area on Labor Day weekend. Attendees will grab a variety of devices to get close looks at the birds. Photographer and author Paul Bannick will be one of the presenters at the

Drive from Arcata to Eureka on 101, and the water in the bay looks like it's right at the road level. Which is not a good thing. Because sea levels are rising and the land is subsiding. The disappearing of land into water could have greater impacts in Humboldt County than anywhere else in California. Earlier this month (August 9), the California Coastal Commission awarded a $50,000 grant to Humboldt County to develop collaborative strategies to address sea level rise for some of the county’s

No one can know absolutely what it's like to live in another person's skin. But Zinzi Clemmons shares what it is like to come of age as an African-American woman in her debut novel, "What We Lose." Clemmons is Philadelphia-raised, with roots in South Africa and Trinidad. And she is host Robert Goodwin's guest in another edition of The Keenest Observers.

The fire situation continues to grind on day after day, with evacuation orders in effect in several places, and smoke nearly everywhere. Several agencies joined forces to establish a Joint Information Center on the fires in Southwest Oregon, including the Chetco Bar Fire threatening Brookings. The creation of the JIC is a rare move, and one that underscores the severity of the fire season.

A frequent complaint from hourly workers in many businesses is that they do not know what hours they will be working until a new schedule is posted. Oregon state law now addresses when that posting has to take place. Under the Fair Work Week Law, in effect for three weeks now, some large employers now have to post worker schedules two weeks in advance. Oregon Working Families pushed hard to get the bill passed, with help from both parties.

Let's talk about light. You know, flip the switch and the room gets brighter? But light is a much broader category than what we can perceive with our eyes. And science writer Bob Berman reminds us about all the kinds of light we can't see in his book Zapped: From Infrared to X-rays, the Curious History of Invisible Light .

He came, he saw, he recommended. Interior Secretary Brian Zinke recommends shrinking the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in his report to the White House on recent monument namings and expansions. That is the word from the Washington Post, and no surprise to many people familiar with the monument and the longstanding battle over it. If the recommendation is as expected, and if President Trump chooses to accept it, the lawyers are ready. Including at the Western Environmental Law Center ,

There are many anecdotes about homeless people, but not so many firm figures. It's just hard to count people who do not live in one place all the time, especially when the people sleep out of doors. But the point-in-time (PIT) homeless count attempts to track homeless people in Oregon every other January. The numbers are out for this year; they show Jackson County with one of the higher populations of homeless veterans in Oregon. Access, Inc. led the point-in-time study this year.

You notice the singer, the actor, the barista, and the guy at the checkout counter, among others. But there are plenty of people who make the world work who you never hear about. As long as things are working well, anyway. These are the people David Zweig calls "invisibles."

It's not a viola, but it's not a cello, either. The Viola da Gamba is a stringed instrument that looks like both of the above, but rests between the knees.