Poetry Corner: Ashland is alive with theater and music. There are so many choices: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Rogue Theater Company, Cabaret and several music venues, including the Thursday Ashland City Band concerts in Lithia Park.
Southern Oregon University budgeted for a 1-3% reduction in student credit hours this fall, but is now facing the need to restructure its budget by $2.7 million as the university lowers enrollment projections due to a significantly delayed rollout of federal aid applications anticipated to prompt a 6% reduction in student credit hours.
A wind-driven grass fire ignited near Almeda Drive on Sept. 8, 2020, ravaged its way northwest through the wildland urban interface, destroying thousands of structures through Talent and Phoenix. The direction of the wind that day is often credited with preserving Ashland from the fire. But there was also a quick intervention from the south, when firefighters with the Greensprings Rural Fire District extinguished a vehicle fire intentionally set on fire at Emigrant Lake.
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.
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