Ashland’s SOPride Festival celebrates 15 years, with festivities kicking off on Friday, Oct. 3. The three-day event honoring LGBTQIA+ pride and progress will feature a downtown parade Saturday and other community activities.
Just over a dozen community members, volunteers and those with lived experience of homelessness gathered at the Bear Creek Social Center in Talent for a 90-minute workshop and open discussion on de-escalation, trauma and homelessness on Wednesday, Sept. 24.
The Ashland Community Food Bank doubled its volume in August, reflecting a troubling trend fueled by inflation, job loss and tightening access to food assistance programs. Executive Director Amy Broeker warns the level of need could soon become the norm as food bank faces shortfalls in funding and more competition for scarce local grants. Broeker and other leaders are calling on the community to step in.
Big-name comedians will perform at the Holly Theatre in Medford on Sept. 5 at the BASE Southern Oregon Comedy inaugural Comedy Jam. The event will raise money for local youth and community initiatives.
Two Ashland groups that need volunteers to help feed the unhoused will host a training from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11 at the Ashland Public Library.
A surge in harassment and spam calls to a statewide hotline for victims of hate and bias crimes, and an unusual decrease in legitimate bias complaints being reported, is prompting calls for reform from state officials.
Indigenous youth from around the globe signed a pact Sunday at the mouth of the Klamath River calling for the removal of dams around the world. It also came on the heels of the first source-to-sea descent of the Klamath River, which saw youth from various tribes kayak the river for the first time since four hydroelectric dams were removed in 2024.
It’s almost time to celebrate. Young members of tribes that live along the Klamath River and its tributaries are nearing the end of their 30-day First Descent paddle that begin June 12 at the headwaters of the Wood River and will end Friday at Requa, where the river reaches the Pacific Ocean.
A surprise display to mark the end of Pride Month went up in Ashland early Saturday morning, June 28, Pride Day. Twenty-five Pride flags were placed on the posts of the streetlights along the dividing median on Siskiyou Boulevard from its western end at East Main Street to the Southern Oregon University campus at Garfield Street.
A 35-lb bronze plaque “in honor of the ‘Say Their Names’ Memorial and all the fallen Black and brown brothers and sisters it enshrined” now has a permanent home in the sidewalk along Railroad Park, at the intersection of A St. and 7th St. A formal unveiling took place Sunday afternoon.
A Medford teen was reported missing Friday, Jan. 16, and is believed to possibly have left with an unknown adult. The teen was last seen in the Coleman Creek Road area between 8:20 p.m. and 8:40 p.m. Friday.
Criminal charges will not be filed against a Talent resident reported to police for watching videos of naked children on three separate days in December at the Talent library. The Jackson County District Attorney’s office announced Thursday afternoon that it found no evidence of illegal conduct after reviewing the incident involving 33-year-old Nicholas Johnson, a Talent resident who identified himself to police as a registered sex offender.
Ashland City Council debated whether to consolidate city services into a single civic campus, potentially including the sale or lease of City Hall, during a special study session Wednesday.
A South Ashland retail space that has sat vacant since 2020 has new life again, returning to its roots as a grocery store with the opening of Grocery Outlet next week, adding 20 full-time jobs to Ashland’s economy.
For 37 years, people in Ashland have gathered to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision of justice, service and community. This year’s celebration, themed “The time is always right to do right,” features music, dance, spoken word and a call to action, urging people to not only to remember Dr. King’s legacy, but to carry it forward throughout the year.
Dennis Kendig: Give away tickets to Native individuals if you wish, but don’t make me sit through your self-serving announcements.
(It’s free)
