All eyes have been on the Oroville Dam of late, with its damaged spillway leading to evacuation orders for thousands of people. The problem there is a problem across much of California: an abundance of water. The problem was the opposite in recent years of drought, now many dams, Shasta Dam included, have had to ramp up water releases to leave room for the water from later storms.

First the U.S. Department of Education sent guidance to schools across the country, pointing out how transgender students were to be treated. Within months, several states sued, and a court blocked the implementation of the guidance--which said transgender students should be able to use bathroom and locker room facilities corresponding to their gender identity. Now the Trump administration has chosen not to defend the Obama-era guidance in court. Which leaves anyone in school administration

The world wasn't created yesterday. And over the years, human beings have learned a few things about how the body works and thrives. Some of the things learned are very old, including the ancient Indian healing wisdom of Ayurveda. Acharya Shunya is a practitioner, and offers up advice in her book Ayurveda Lifestyle Wisdom: A Complete Prescription to Optimize Your Health, Prevent Disease, and Live with Vitality and Joy .

Money helps in today's world, but many of us want a sense of fulfillment from our work, too. And maybe that does NOT involve profits. Vicki Lind started her own company in Portland, counseling people who want to work for nonprofit organizations. Donnie Maclurcan envisions a future in which MOST workplaces are nonprofits.

It's an issue now and will become a bigger issue in the future: people need care from other people when they are very old and very young. And as the average age in America slides up, more care workers will be needed. Family Forward Oregon joined forces with SEIU, the service workers union, to create a project called Oregon CareWorks , examining issues with the care economy--paid and unpaid--in Oregon. An initial report finds care workers largely overworked and underpaid. The report makes the

Two organizations of similar focus and similar size, with similar approaches to management. One grows steadily, the other grows by leaps and bounds. What is the difference? That is exactly what management guru Subir Chowdhury explores in his book The Difference: When Good Enough Isn't Enough . For one thing, a caring mindset that pervades an organization seems to help.

Maybe the details take a while to sort through, but filing your taxes is a straightforward process: you fill out a return, and file it by April 15th. And if you need help and can afford it, you use a tax preparer. All easier said than done for people in the marijuana business, because it's legal under state law and forbidden under federal law. Ben Yuma is the manager of Jefferson State Farms , in the marijuana business. Justin Botillier is managing partner of Rogue Tax Professionals .

The American approach to immigration changed with the departure of Barack Obama and the arrival of Donald Trump. And that is a concern for any and all organizations that work with and for immigrants, legal and not. Educational institutions in particular generally work to educate anyone who shows up. Rogue Community College and Southern Oregon University are both taking steps to adapt to the new landscape. SOU President Linda Schott visits with Marjorie Trueblood-Gamble, the director of diversity

It's not like composers are all over the place, but we have a few we can call on from time to time. One of them is Teddy Abrams, the music director for the Britt Orchestra Season . The concert season is still more than six months away, but it was announced recently.

Certain words in the English language come with an "ick factor" attached. One of those is: cannibalism. It's just not something we like to think about, at least for our species: eating others of our own kind (except in zombie movies). But cannibalism is not unusual in nature, and may actually serve a purpose. Zoologist Bill Schutt explains in his book Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History. He gives us the whole picture, from smaller organisms up to the Donner party.