It seems like just a short time ago that award-winning writer Brian Doyle visited our studio, brimming with stories and good humor. Less than a year after his visit, his doctors diagnosed a brain tumor. Brian Doyle died on May 27th at the age of 60; his memorial service is set for today (June 2nd) in Portland. The occasion is sad, but the life was brilliant.

Yeah, your pets cost you a few bucks when you have to take them to the vet. But aren't they worth it? For that matter, is it possible they've saved you from a few trips to the doctor? Pets do certainly enhance life for humans. And Carlyn Montes De Oca says there are real health benefits for humans in keeping animals around. She writes of those benefits in Dog as My Doctor, Cat as My Nurse .

June is busting out all over. Yes, we borrowed the words from "Carousel," but it's true... arts events break out all over as summer approaches. One example: the outdoor theater at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival opens for the summer. So does the grassy hillside at the Britt Festivals in Jacksonville. Our First Friday Arts segment returns to take an audio tour of the arts events in the region in June. At the center of it all is our on-air phone number: 800-838-3760.

Josh Gross has an addiction, and it's one we're only too happy to share. He loves music, and across a wide spectrum of genres and styles. Josh makes music, and writes about music for the Rogue Valley Messenger . And once a month, he visits the studio with "Rogue Sounds," a compilation of musical samples and news of coming band dates.

If we all--all seven billion of us--got serious about reversing global warming today, change would not come overnight. This is the reality David Orr presents in his book Dangerous Years: Climate Change, the Long Emergency, and the Way Forward . He demonstrates the ways in which Earth is becoming a different planet from the one many of us knew. But there's some optimism in the book, too: Orr does not believe we're fated to destroy Earth.

All three West Coast states are now hooked up to the ShakeAlert system, set up to provide some warning of seismic activity. California, Oregon, and Washington can all receive real-time warnings from a network of sensors monitoring the Earth for movement. There is much more left to do, both in placing sensors and in further developing the program.

Poor humans. Such big noses, so little ability to smell. Even rats and mice get credit for better senses of smell than we have. But that could change with the work of John McGann at Rutgers University. The title of his recent publication pretty much hits the nail on the head: "Poor human olfaction is a 19th-century myth."

Meredith Maran had a pretty sweet life as a free-lance writer. Then, in a rather short window of time, she lost her best friend, her marriage and her life savings. So, at age 60, she started over: new city, new job, new friends, new lovers. She shows off her new life in the memoir The New Old Me .

Maybe you've heard about the permafrost that is proving not so permanent in the world's colder places. Melting permafrost is damaging and even swallowing houses and bigger buildings. And a recently published study shows greenhouse gas buildup figures prominently in the warming of Russia, contrary to prevailing theory. Matthew Lachniet at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas is one of the authors.

Redding's Neighborhood Police Unit (NPU) racked up some impressive numbers in curtailing crime in its first couple of years. But city voters rejected a sales tax in the November 2016 election that would have provided continued funding for NPU. Yet it persists; a campaign to raise the money privately has been set up, and Bethel Church pledged $500,000 and some additional funds to help keep neighborhood policing intact.