"Transparency" is the term often used to describe a government in which the workings are visible and open to the public. Which is how things are supposed to be in America. But even places that profess to believe in transparency can throw up obstacles. Oregon passed a major public records law decades ago, then passed many exemptions to that law. Now the 2017 legislature has produced four new laws that should affirm the primacy of openness in government. It impressed the state's chapter of the

The path of the August 21st solar eclipse goes right over the American land mass, from Oregon on the Pacific to South Carolina on the Atlantic. So the tag "American Eclipse" has been attached to the event. And it's not the first time... in July 1878, another solar eclipse passed over the country, also called American Eclipse . Which is also the name of a book on that event by David Baron. He tracks three people of scientific bent, including Thomas Edison, into the path of the celestial event,

Recent history has not been very kind to one of the primary keepers of history in Jackson County. The Southern Oregon Historical Society lost its primary funding source through a change in property-tax law; it is currently all-volunteer. But still working to preserve the region's history, and working to raise money for the effort. SOHS presents a fundraiser on Saturday, August 5th, the Hanley Farm Music Festival .

The eclipse is now three weeks away (August 21st), and the excitement is mounting. In parts of Oregon and in many other states, the eclipse will be total. And you could totally damage your eyes by trying to sneak a look at it without protective eyewear or a viewing device. Dr. John Hyatt at the Retina & Vitreous Center of Southern Oregon knows a thing or two about how the eyes work, and what (like looking at the sun) can make them work poorly.

Michael Pollan's quote could not be simpler: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants." And many people have taken that advice. Myra Goodman is here to help them; she is the co-founder of Earthbound Farm in California, and the co-author, with daughter Marea, of Straight from the Earth: Irresistible Vegan Recipes for Everyone . It contains recipes meant to appeal to all, not just vegetarians.

Barri Chase has made many short films and music videos. She brings years of experience from the fashion, beauty and fine art photography industries, to carefully create and shape each scene. Her film "Hand of the Earth" won 5 festival awards including: best director, best in category, best editor, best sound design and best visual effects. Barri’s music video "Weather, Whether" is an example of her directing style and aesthetic talents. "The Watchman's Canoe" was filmed in the Coos Bay area,

The wildlife refuges of the Klamath Basin are great places to see (and hear) birds in great numbers. But the numbers would be even greater with an additional ingredient: water. Status as a wildlife refuge not only does not guarantee an allocation of water, the refuges are used as farmland in some areas. Jes Burns from our EarthFix unit investigated the situation for a series of reports ( here's part one ).

Can you pull yourself away from the news long enough to get immersed in a good book? The long, warm days lend themselves to reading, and we'll spend the summer getting advice on WHAT to read from some of our local bookstores. Oregon Books in Grants Pass checks in with the latest installment of "Summer Reads".

We live in an age of unprecedented, irreversible decline—or so we’re often told. Jonathan Tepperman’s The Fix: How Countries Use Crises to Solve the World’s Worst Problems presents a very different picture. It identifies ten pervasive and seemingly impossible challenges—including immigration reform, economic stagnation, political gridlock, corruption, and Islamist extremism—and shows that, contrary to the general consensus, each has a solution, and not merely a hypothetical one. By taking a

Before you click on that cute GIF of the fuzzy kitten, you might want to hear a few words from Mike Ahmadi. He is well acquainted with the baits and lures used by hackers to get people to surrender critical information over the web, sometimes real money. Southern Oregon University was recently victimized in a scam that resulted in nearly $2 Million dollars being wired to a fraudster by mistake. Mike Ahmadi sees such activity all the time in his job helping big companies protect their computers