News

The Medford City Council voted Thursday to create the job of emergency manager. The position will cost the city $145,000 a year in salary and benefits plus another $38,000 a year for materials and services and a one-time expense for $31,000. The Mail Tribune reports the manager would help prepare for earthquakes or other disasters and direct the Citizen Emergency Response Team thRead More »

The federal government is recommending that all four aging hydroelectric dams should be removed from the Klamath River in southern Oregon and Northern California to help struggling wild salmon runs, and nearly $1 billion should be spent on environmental restoration. The final environmental impact statement making those recommendations was posted Thursday on a U.S.Read More »

Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Springfield) and Greg Walden (R-Hood River) announced that the House Natural Resources Committee will conduct a hearing on a long-term bipartisan solution for the O&C lands on Thursday, April 11, 2013. The hearing was secured after DeFazio, Walden, and Rep.Read More »

An Oregon court has ruled that eight children in state custody can be given vaccinations over the religion-based protests of their parents. The children have been removed from the parents' home in Marion County for reasons that haven't been disclosed. They are ages 1 through 8 and are considered wards of the state.Read More »

Medford police made an arrest Wednesday in connection with a couple of drive-by shootings in March. 22-year old Toby Martinez of Medford is charged with 6 counts of attempted murder, 6 counts of 1st-degree attempted assault, 2nd-degree assault, and charges related to Martinez eluding police last month. The shootings occurred March 8th on Medford’s Bryant Street, and Chestnut Street on March 9th.Read More »

The most recent report from the Rogue Valley Association of Realtors reflects a robust market. The median sales prices in Jackson County has jumped 26 percent to over $182,000. So-called “normal” transactions now comprise roughly two-thirds of all transactions at 66.9 percent.Read More »

The number of Oregon students in special education has increased for the 12th consecutive year. Statistics released Wednesday by the state Department of Education show that more than 85,000 kids are in special education programs - 13.3 percent of the overall student population.Read More »

If you include people who gave up looking for work and underemployed people in part-time jobs, Oregon's unemployment rate last year was more than 17 percent of the workforce - almost double the state's official jobless rate. Figures released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show 173,300 Oregonians were unemployed in 2012.Read More »

Klamath Falls authorities are looking for a 27-year-old man in the shootings of two people. The Herald and News reports that witnesses said 27-year-old Leland Thomas Nicholson Jr. drove away Sunday from an apartment where the two were wounded.Read More »