Pepper Trail: “This stretch of Interstate-5 in Southern Oregon is a known killing field for wildlife and dangerous for motorists. The highway cuts through a critical connection for wildlife moving between two mountain ranges and home to the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, which is the only national monument specifically established for the protection of its rich biodiversity.”
Matt Witt: “Consumers could make it a point to patronize local stores and food producers, and also ask why a company like Costco can afford to set its minimum wage at $17 an hour when Walmart says it can’t.”
Pepper Trail: “I’m not ready to declare myself a citizen of the post-apocalypse. We don’t have to live there. Instead, let’s accept that humanity and the whole planet are ‘apocalypse-adjacent.’ The apocalypse is before us and we can see it clearly. But the world is not yet ruined.”
Matt Witt: “Communities in the rural West can stand up to giant outside gas companies, if they work together despite their differences. That’s how the Jordan Cove gas pipeline project was finally killed in Oregon by a coalition of conservative ranchers and farmers, climate activists, Indigenous tribal leaders, anglers and coastal residents.”
We have unleashed the fire-predator through our own choices By Pepper Trail The grizzly bear. The wolf. The cougar. These magnificent creatures, apex predators, how can we not admire them?
The Say Their Names T-shirt memorial at Railroad Park in Ashland was vandalized again this week, but a group of community members long invested with maintaining the shirts have organized an event for Sunday, April 2, to rebuild the memorial.
Obituary: Jefferson Straub, 78, passed away Feb.25, 2023, in the arms of his wife, Kelly Nash Straub. A celebration of Jeff’s life will be held at the Ashland Congregational Church at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 6.
Herbert Rothschild: “When they covered the 20th anniversary of our invasion of Iraq, our mainstream media were as craven as they were during the run-up to the invasion itself.”
Productions of all kinds and sizes abound at the Oregon Fringe Festival, which will begin its five-day run of unfiltered creative outpourings in Ashland on April 26. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the festival is produced by the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University.
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument officials are accepting applications for the annual Artist-In-Residence program through April 17. Selected artists receive a residency at the monument during the early summer months, where they will spend time creating art while surrounded by the monument’s natural beauty.
Ashland Rotary will host its annual Easter egg hunt event at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 9, at Lithia Park near the pickleball courts, according to a news release.
(It’s free)
