Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-25
After 48 years in the location where it was born and raised, Grace Christian School is making plans to move a year from now. The private Christian elementary school and early-education program is graduating from its place in Medford’s First Baptist Church to an 85,000-square-foot building with Pepsi Bottling Group and a Costco distribution center for new neighbors. For now, the building at 555 Airport Road is true in appearance to the industrial zone it occupies. Brick walls two stories high gua
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-25
This story has been edited for clarity on dates of occurrence. Sage Connolly found out his son Cyrus’ preschool would be closing through a text message from another parent last Friday night. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” Sage Connolly said. Cyrus’ grandmother had picked him up from Schneider Children’s Center a few hours earlier. The next day, Debbie Gary, director of the center formerly run by Southern Oregon University, called the Connollys and all other families of the approximately 60
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-25
SALEM — Some farmers are renewing an effort to get Oregon lawmakers to allow local governments to regulate, and potentially ban, genetically modified crops. Cities and counties have been barred from doing so since 2013, when the Legislature passed a preemption bill as part of a bipartisan package of unrelated tax increases and public pension reforms. That year, activists in several counties, including Lane, had been working on going to voters with anti-GMO ballot measures. At the time, De
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-25
State officials will visit Medford next week in one of several public hearings on proposals intended to reduce the lung-choking smoke that has become all too common in the state each summer by increasing controlled burns in non-fire seasons. Oregon departments of Forestry and Environmental Quality will hold the hearing, which is set for 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, at the Smullin Health Education Center, 2825 E. Barnett Road. The hearings come as Oregon suffers through one of its smokiest
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-25
The death of one road worker and the injury of two others over the past week have prompted the Oregon Department of Transportation to warn people to slow down in construction zones. “People are waiting in line and they get impatient and try to break the line,” said Dave Thompson, spokesman for ODOT. Jackson County is abuzz with road construction work right now, from the Highway 62 bypass to chip sealing of roads. Thompson said ODOT is trying to get the word out that motorists need to pay attenti
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-25
A 100-acre fire erupted in a remote corner of Jackson County between Sams Valley and Wimer Wednesday afternoon, threatening homes and prompting helicopter air drops. “It’s scary times,” said Jack Montgomery, a 69-year-old resident of rural Sams Valley who could see columns of smoke rising in the distance from near his house. “My wife got scared, so I headed home from work.” Helicopters from the Klondike fire burning to the west of Grants Pass were called in to help with firefighting efforts, dip
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-25
Firefighters aided by more than a dozen engines and four helicopters were attacking a wildfire off Ramsey Canyon Road near Gold Hill as of 2:20 p.m. today. The flames had consumed 35 to 40 acres, Oregon Department of Forestry Southwest Oregon District spokeswoman Melissa Cano said by telephone this afternoon. The cause of the fire was not yet known, she said. Roads in the area have not been formally closed, but officials are asking the public to respect the work of firefighters and avoid the are
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-19
With the Taylor Creek and Klondike fires merged at nearly 120,000 acres — and still growing — many southwestern Oregonians fear the blaze is poised to enter the record books alongside the 2002 Biscuit fire and last year’s Chetco Bar fire. In an effort to quell that possibility, fire managers brought in reinforcements from California Saturday with the goal of full suppression. Because of the fire’s size and complex challenges, operations have been split between two teams: Taylor Creek Klondike Ea
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-19
There’s no telling how many people flew in and out of Medford in July that hadn’t planned on it a few months ago. Perhaps they were firefighters flown in to fight the region’s wildfires, or maybe Rogue Valley residents took a look at the forecast and then checked their miles and booked a trip. The scores of firefighters with backpacks wandering through the terminal, however, were mere window dressing when it came to tallying up the biggest month ever at the Medford airport. The regional airfield
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-18
Education is the intended legacy of two longtime Ashland ranchers who founded a new nonprofit. The Crest at Willow Witt will begin programming this summer with its Farm & Forest Sleepover Camp, scheduled for July 17-19. Designed for students entering second through fifth grades, the camp furnishes activities on the working farm, lessons in conservation and restoration, hiking, crafts, games, music and food harvested from and prepared on the property. Cost is $325, and several spots remain. “We’r
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-18
One man has died, with two more people in the hospital after overdosing on an unknown substance at the Britt Music and Arts Festival Thursday evening, according to Sgt. Greg Nichols with the Jacksonville Police Department. Two separate calls were made for medical assistance at the Jacksonville outdoor concert venue, one at 6:45 p.m. and the second at 8 p.m., resulting in one woman and two men taken to the Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center Thursday night. All three concertgoers were alive when
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-19
A Nigerian national has admitted his role in using stolen personal information from an Oregon firm to file thousands of bogus federal and Oregon state tax returns during a four-year string, netting close to $5 million before the operation was uncovered by revenue agents. Oluwatobi Reuben Dehinbo, 31, of Georgia, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Medford to a 27-count indictment accusing him of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and identity theft as part of a ring that fun
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-19
After several months of delays because of red tape, construction of Logos Public Charter School’s new home is under way. Executive Director Sheryl Zimmerer says the school’s current building, which is 9,000 square feet and was constructed in the ‘60s, is constraining not only because of its small space, but also its features, such as a shortage of electrical outlets. “I wish we could be in it today,” she said of the new building, which for now is little more than a foundation in a cleared corner
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-19
Thunderstorms could bring more lightning to Southern Oregon — triggering more wildfires and endangering firefighters as wind gusts topple trees. The National Weather Service has forecast a chance of thunderstorms east of the Cascades that could expand west across the mountains into Jackson and Siskiyou counties through Thursday night. Wind flowing out from those new thunderstorms could prove hazardous to firefighters battling wildfires triggered by a massive July 15 lightning storm, according to
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-19
Seven decades after setting forth to make their marks on the world, what was left of a black tornado reconvened in a whirlwind. More than a dozen seniors nearing 90 years old gathered with their spouses Saturday evening at the Springs at Veranda Park in East Medford, remembering the Medford of their youth, spending their school years during the second World War and graduating high school in a time long before iPhones and the internet, and more than a decade before zip codes. In the summer of 194
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-22
Thursday, Aug. 23 Medford Growers Market: Fresh and organic produce, crafts and food carts are available from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursdays in Hawthorne Park, corner of East Jackson and Hawthorne streets, Medford. See rvgrowersmarket.com. Emigrant Lake Water Slide: Cool off with a ride down one of the 280-foot water slides at Emigrant Lake, 5505 Highway 66, Ashland. Slides are open from noon to 6 p.m. Thursday through Monday through Labor Day. A 90-minute wristband is $6 on weekdays, $7 on Sa
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-19
Owen Beasley was born with a jaw so small that if he laid on his back, his airway would become obstructed and he wouldn’t be able to breathe. He required emergency surgery, but no Medford hospital could provide it. “It was an extremely scary moment,” says his mother, Gretchen Beasley of Medford. “We were just told he needed this surgery and a helicopter was coming to pick us up. We did what we had to and had no time to think, but thankfully I was able to be with him the entire time.” Owen was fl
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-20
The defense lawyer for a combat veteran convicted of sexually assaulting an incapacitated woman has filed a motion for a new trial — arguing the prosecutor didn’t act early enough in disclosing a recorded jail phone call of the veteran describing a sex fantasy. The Mail Tribune filed a public records request and obtained a recording of the phone call. When making phone calls, inmates are warned by an automated message that their calls are recorded and monitored. In the November 2015 phone call f
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-19
The triumphant warriors of "Much Ado About Nothing," flush with victory and high spirits, are approaching the estate of Leonato, the governor of Messina, as the play opens. The apparent ease of their success in battle is cause for great joy. "How many gentlemen have you lost in this action?" Leonato (a pitch-perfect Jack Willis) asks the messenger sent by Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon and the company's commander. "But few of any sort, and none of name," says the messenger. These young men got to
Mail Tribune (Medford, OR — Wayback)
· snapshot 2018-08-19
The only other people on the miles-long stretch of beach aren’t even on it, technically speaking. They are two kitesurfers, who launched at quaint Floras Lake, hopped the sand dunes, and are now skimming across the ocean, beyond the breakers, like flying fish. Call me and my wife boring, but we crossed the dunes by simply taking the quarter-mile trail from the lake’s day-use area. Yes, if riding a surfboard while strapped to a giant sail is your thing, you’ll feel right at home in Oregon. But wh