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Councilor Bob Kaplan: Did you know that Ashland is one of just 12 Oregon municipalities that owns its electric utility? Ashland households pay significantly less for electricity than our neighbors in Talent, Phoenix and Medford.
City Corner: Please remember, effective emergency preparedness means ensuring ALL your family members have access to Citizen Alerts, including older children with cellphones.
City Corner: All tourist accommodations require approval from the Planning Department. This includes short-term rentals offered through online platforms like Airbnb.
City Corner: If you are interested in running and have questions after reading this, please set up an appointment with our city recorder. We’re here to help.
Mayor Tonya Graham: While we can’t keep wildfire from coming, we can narrow its path of destruction by reducing wildfire risk around our homes before it arrives.
Council Corner: Ashland’s diverse network of trails is world-class! Considering all of the awesome opportunities that our existing trials offer, I believe the city needs to keep trails at the forefront of our strategic expansion and development.
Jeff Dahle: (Consider) how life as we know it would come to an immediate and abrupt standstill if one day we turned on the faucet and nothing happened. No drinking. No cooking. No cleaning. No personal hygiene or basic sanitation.
Bob Kaplan: We need to replace our aging water treatment plant. … There’s no space there to treat toxic algae that are a growing risk with hotter summers, and the treatment plant is vulnerable to floods, fires and landslides.
Council Corner: Oregon is a childcare desert. For every three children needing early learning or childcare, there is only one slot available. According to the Southern Oregon Education Service District, only 40% of families seeking early learning and childcare in Ashland have access to slots.
The unveiling of the final version of a major mural project in downtown Ashland was a big night for the local art scene. More than one hundred people crowded into the warehouse-sized studio of muralist John Pugh on Helman Street on Friday night to see Pugh’s vision for a mural that will adorn the Ashland Elks Lodge at 255 E. Main Street.
Obituary: Amanda Louise (Butler) Pyle, 80, a longtime Rogue Valley resident and elementary school teacher, passed away Sept. 3 at Celia’s Hospice House in Medford. Teaching was not a “job” for Amanda — it was a passion. She is especially remembered for involving students in creative projects and also for giving every one of them a hug as they left her classroom at the end of each school day.
Local law enforcement agencies say they’d love nothing more than a break in the investigation into the cause of the devastating Almeda Fire of Sept. 8, 2020. Sadly, four years since the fire destroyed more than 2,500 homes and burned 3,200 acres between Ashland and Phoenix, investigators don’t know much more than they did immediately after the fire.
While the mayor’s office and one council seat failed to draw incumbent candidates, council seat positions 1, 2 and 3 and Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission seats 1 and 2 all have multiple candidates filed for the approaching election.
After five years of display and many weeks of discussion, a decision was made to take down a pride banner at Ashland Public Library, the library’s management decided on a split vote at a meeting Aug. 21, a followup to an earlier meeting on July 29.
Janai “Grandma Boom” Mestrovich: Mom collected frog memorabilia and also enjoyed drumming. It just made sense to be near the frogs when I drummed and chanted to honor her.
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