When you are not ready to adopt a dog but you miss dogginess, fostering is the perfect solution. And for folks who might want to take a smaller step than fostering, there is the Field Trip program: Take a foster dog for the day, or maybe just a hike.
Ashland’s largest social services hub has announced the hire of Dan Cano as its new executive director, according to a news release from nonprofit Opportunities for Housing, Resources & Assistance. Cano served most recently as Vocational Services Director at Transitions-Mental Health Association in San Luis Obispo, California.
More than 200 people turned out Thursday for the ninth Community Peace Meal and Thanksgiving Celebration at the First Presbyterian Church of Ashland, according to organizers Jason and Vanessa Houk of Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice, which does the Peace Meal every Thursday and Friday in Lithia Park near the bandshell at 3:30 p.m., rain or shine.
Oregon Rep. Pam Marsh, D-Ashland, has secured a leadership role for the 2025 legislative session that is already racking up a long list of pressing issues. Marsh will be sworn in to her fifth term on Jan. 13 and has been appointed as one of the three assistant majority leaders. She is the only representative selected for a leadership role in the House who lives south of Eugene.
Curtain Call: Abigail Mace is the artistic director and conductor of Jefferson Baroque Orchestra, a position she assumed last March. Jefferson Baroque’s upcoming concerts will be December performances of Handel’s “Messiah,” a beloved holiday tradition.
Cancer patients may soon see safer, more effective treatments thanks to groundbreaking research by a team that included Dr. Dawn Lemanne of Oregon Integrative Oncology in Ashland. Her team won first prize and a $50,000 grant at an international mathematical oncology competition in early November at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.
Ashland-based Two Sisters Writing & Publishing has published two new books addressing how to live your best life and ways to overcome harms from religious and other life experiences. “Joyously Free” provides “stories and tips to live your truth as LGBTQ+ people, parents and allies,” and “Healing Religious Hurts” offers “stories and tips to find love and peace.”
A new wellness hub has opened in Ashland. The Ashland Wellness Collective held its grand opening to the public Oct. 12. Women own each of the five independent businesses, and the businesses focus on mindfulness, relaxation and fitness.
Pamela Dehnke (den-key) is a retired California court reporter, who now owns Nightingales Bed and Breakfast in Ashland. She’s mined her career for the Court Reporter Mystery series, which includes “The Court Reporter Always Gets the Last Word,” “Upon Further Examination” and “Wrong Place, Wrong Time.”
A Southern Oregon University professor has been awarded a $250,000 grant for research in artificial intelligence that’s slated to benefit not only SOU, but UCLA and Cornell University.
Catty Corner: Following up on Part 1 about feeding your felines, today we cover fussy cats, multi-cat households, free-feeding and treats.
Poetry Corner: It’s that time of the year for organizing end-of-year tasks and thinking about turning the calendar page to a new year. If you have a poem for any holiday that celebrates with light, even if not at this time of the year — Chanukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Diwali, Lantern Festival, Lunar New Year, New Year’s, or any other festivity where light plays a significant role — please, consider submitting to the Poetry Corner.
A woman’s in the hospital and a man is in jail on charges of attempted murder following a shooting Monday evening in Ashland, according to an Ashland Police Department news release issued Tuesday afternoon. Cory A. Davison, 49, of Ashland is being held without bail at Jackson County Jail on charges of attempted murder in the second degree, domestic violence assault in the second degree, and unlawful use of weapon in connection with an incidence of domestic violence.
A rash of break-ins over the past few days resulted in about $5,000 damage at two Ashland low-income houses under construction by Rogue Valley Habitat for Humanity. No suspects have been arrested. Food and drinks for volunteers who were building the house near North Mountain Avenue in the Beach Creek subdivision were eaten.
Obituary: Donald Richard Montgomery passed peacefully on Nov. 27, 2024, aged 94, at his home in Ashland, Oregon. He became Director of Ocean Services at NOAA, and he authored several articles and co-authored a book about the Surveyor spacecraft. His work took him around the world, from Kenya, Australia and the South Pacific, to the arctic regions of Iceland, Greenland and Norway.
The Ashland Daily Tidings — established as a newspaper in 1876 — ceased operations in 2021 (its parent company, Rosebud Media, held on until 2023), but if you were a local reader, you may not have known. Almost as soon as it closed, a website for the Tidings reemerged, supposedly boasting a team of eight reporters who cranked out densely reported stories every few days. The reality was that none of the people allegedly working for the Ashland Daily Tidings existed, or at least were who they claimed to be. The bylines listed on Daily Tidings articles were put there by scammers using artificial intelligence, and in some cases stolen identities, to dupe local readers.
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