The Oregon Department of Education released 2024-25 Oregon Statewide Assessment System scores (OSAS) earlier this month, with the numbers showing overall gains for Ashland schools and students testing above the state average in English Language Arts (ELA), math and science, but also declines in math scores among some middle and high school students.
Ashland School District plans to contract with a Eugene-based firm to “shore up” the 1948 wing of the shuttered Lincoln School building, which the city fire marshal ordered shut days before the beginning of the school year in August.
Nearly 600 people packed the Angus Bowmer Theatre in Ashland Monday for a talk by internationally recognized civil rights expert john a. powell and the launch of a new local initiative aimed at fostering collaboration.
One of Southern Oregon University’s most elite programs – its Honors College – is on its way out as part of $10 million in cost cuts detailed in the Resiliency Plan approved by the Board of Trustees in September.
Southern Oregon University will have three new trustees at the table at their upcoming Oct. 16 and 17 board meetings, following new appointments by Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek this week.
Two Southern Oregon University faculty members from a program set to be cut from the university amid $10 million in budget cuts have co-authored a book about transgender experiences.
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.
An estimated 514 freshmen started classes Wednesday at SOU, out of an overall estimated 795 new students. The class was anticipated to be down by 9% in enrollment compared to fall 2024, according to projections shared by SOU President Rick Bailey earlier this summer.
Despite millions in state investments, all but two counties in Oregon are childcare deserts for infants and toddlers. In rural parts of the state licensed infant care is nonexistent, leaving parents to rely on friends, family or go without.
In what has been described as a “fight for the future” of Southern Oregon University, the Board of Trustees Thursday morning voted 7-2 to approve the final “Resiliency Plan,” authorizing a total of $10 million in cuts over the next four years, including about $5 million this year from SOU’s $71 million budget as of June, according to SOU President Rick Bailey’s presentation to the board.
In a reversal of fortune, a proposed 6-acre solar installation on Ashland’s northwest side along Highway 99 appears headed for approval after a public hearing Monday, Dec. 1, before a county hearing officer. The proposal had been tentatively denied by staff, then appealed to the hearing officer by the applicant, Medella Bison Ranch.
With growing concerns over major state budget deficits, stagnating population growth, rising unemployment and new data showing Oregon businesses have started looking elsewhere as they expand, Governor Tina Kotek announced her intention to dig the Beaver State’s business cred out of the basement
Asante Ashland Community Hospital’s birthing center and inpatient surgery will close by spring 2026, leaving only the emergency room and outpatient services, according to plans shared with staff Wednesday, Dec. 3, by Asante, the Medford-based health care provider serving Southern Oregon and Northern California.
Obituary: Mary Linda Jackson passed away on Thursday, Nov. 27, after a courageous battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. A Catholic Mass and Memorial Service will be held on Monday, Dec. 22 in Ashland.
Ask Strider: For Christmas, a reader would rather have pizza in her pajamas than Beef Wellington in her dressing up clothes, but family members feel differently. What to do? And another reader makes Strider wag his tail and think of pancakes.
A potentially dire budget cliff prompted the Ashland City Council Monday to look at possible future cuts to police, fire, the City Band and burial services, along with various ideas to increase revenues. The council held a five-hour “retreat” in its council chamber Monday to hash out ways to avoid expected budget shortfalls over the next three bienniums that ranged from just over $1 million in a best-case scenario to more than $23 million in a worst-case scenario.
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