Public hearings on a pair of projects, one in a quiet residential neighborhood along Scenic Drive and the other in a busy commercial area near Shop’n Kart grocery market are set before the Ashland Planning Commission Tuesday, Dec. 9.
The Ashland City Council on Tuesday, Dec. 2, took steps to repurpose two city-owned properties — the 846-acre Imperatrice property and the 380 Clay St. parcel — as part of a broader effort to rein in city finances.
Gov. Kotek formally announced her 2026 reelection bid Thursday, leaving her less than a year to convince Oregonians she remains the best choice to lead the state. News came after weeks of signals that Kotek, whose campaign has been emailing supporters for months, was officially gearing up for the 2026 election.
The city of Ashland on Thursday said officials are reviewing a 2013 agreement between the city and Asante and will monitor the Ashland hospital’s transition to a satellite of Rogue Regional Medical Center in May as announced by Asante on Wednesday, according to a city news release issued late afternoon Thursday.
The Ashland Rotary Centennial Ice Rink may not open this season due to delays over a required engineering sign-off for its canopy.
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.
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.
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.
A Thanksgiving touch-football game that began in the late 1970s with a handful of Ashland High teens reached its 48th consecutive year Thursday.
Southern Oregon University’s Small Business Development Center will cease operations Dec. 31 after helping some 11,000 individuals over 41 years, but the state plans to offer virtual services in the new year and hopes to find a subcontractor to offer personal service in the Rogue Valley.
John Paul Valdez: The necessity for service model reform in Jackson County is starkly illuminated by the failure of the centralized system to recognize the organic, effective mutual aid operating within sparse communities.
Michael O’Looney: President Donald Trump’s relentless name-calling of those he regards as his adversaries in politics and the media has become something more than a feeble attempt at conjuring up innocuous nicknames. Besides being childish and unimaginative, his slurs have become methodically vicious.
Public hearings on a pair of projects, one in a quiet residential neighborhood along Scenic Drive and the other in a busy commercial area near Shop’n Kart grocery market are set before the Ashland Planning Commission Tuesday, Dec. 9.
The Ashland City Council on Tuesday, Dec. 2, took steps to repurpose two city-owned properties — the 846-acre Imperatrice property and the 380 Clay St. parcel — as part of a broader effort to rein in city finances.
Concert violinist Carla Ecker moves in a steady triangle between Phoenix, Arizona; Santa Fe, New Mexico; and the Rogue Valley — performing opera, symphony and chamber music.
Don’t miss your chance to experience the Ashland High School production of “Wizard of Oz” in its closing weekend.
(It’s free)
