Local News

The Bureau of Land Management sold 27.6 million board feet of timber across 1,255 public acres in Oregon, including the Medford and Roseburg Districts, for a total of $8,327,275.

According to the BLM, this timber will feed local mills and support jobs in local communities. They plan to hold seven sales during March 2026 to offer 56.9 million board feet of timber across 1,939 public acres in Oregon.

The Medford District sold the Thom Bone timber tract to Estremado Logging Inc. of Gold Hill for over $458,000. The Roseburg District sold the Muley Mount timber tract to Scott Timber Company of Roseburg for over $1.3 million. The Coos Bay and Northwest Oregon Districts also sold timber tracts

The BLM manages 58 million acres of forests, including 2.4 million acres in western Oregon of some of the most productive forests in the world, and is committed to supplying a reliable, secure, and resilient domestic supply of timber. Each year, the BLM forestry program's sales support approximately 2,000 jobs nationally and generate more than $1 billion for local economies.

 

The Interstate 5 southbound off-ramp at Exit 58 in Grants Pass will close at night for about a week in March.

Beginning Monday, March 9th, the southbound off-ramp will close from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The nighttime closures are expected to continue through Friday, March 13th weather permitting.

The closure will allow crews to work on a project to widen the road, upgrade the guardrail and clear overgrown vegetation. Signs are posted in the area to notify travelers of the upcoming off-ramp closure.

Southbound drivers can reach Grants Pass by following the designated detour or using an alternate route. The project is scheduled to be completed by Fall 2026.

For the latest information on highway conditions and closures, visit TripCheck.com.

 

A Special Meeting has been scheduled for the Board of County Commissioners.

Taking place in the BCC Conference Room Friday at 11 a.m., the board will meet for an agenda item regarding a Public Employment and Labor Law. Pending other matters, the meeting will be adjourned.

The next meeting of the board, a Land Use Hearing for property at 8980 Monument Drive, is scheduled for March 9th at 9 a.m.

Held in the Anne G. Basker Auditorium, the meeting will cover a request to change the Comprehensive Plan designation from Farm to Residential, as well as to change the zone from Farm Resource to Rural Residential and goal exception.

 

Law enforcement located and arrested a wanted man Wednesday afternoon.

Officers with the Grants Pass Police Department tracked down David Wilson at Resting Site Six North at 1:19 p.m. He was known to have a valid and serviceable warrant out for his arrest, so officers took him into custody at the 714 NW 6th Street location.

After his identity was confirmed, Wilson was compliant as officers transported him to the Josephine County Jail. He was lodged for his Police Department misdemeanor warrant that charged him with Possession of Methamphetamine.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a man Wednesday after he was found near the Pregnancy Care Center under the influence and lying on the ground.

A call to dispatch around 7:43 a.m. reported the suspect was slumped over between the sidewalk and curb of the 714 SE 8th Street center. The caller, a landscaper, thought the man may have been deceased. The man appeared to be in his 50's, and looked red and purple.

The caller couldn't tell if the man was breathing, and told dispatch the man had not moved at all in the last 10 minutes. At 7:48 a.m., the suspect woke up and started to walk away. Medical personnel and law enforcement arrived at the scene and contacted the man.

He was identified as Ian Hogue, and appeared to be under the influence. He consented to a search of his person, and officers found a zip baggie containing a small crystal-like substance in his right cargo pocket.

The substance tested presumptive positive for Methamphetamine, and Hogue was subsequently taken into custody. Officers transported him to the Adult Jail Facility where he was lodged for the Meth Possession charge.

 

The Josephine County Sheriff's Department lodged two suspects wanted on warrants, one of them after he turned himself in.

On Wednesday at 9:13 p.m., Norman Berger was in the lobby of the Josephine County Jail wanting to turn himself in. Deputies promptly took him into custody and lodged him on two Sheriff's Office warrants.

Berger was jailed for charges including Murder in the Second Degree, Attempt to Commit a Crime, First Degree Assault, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, and Tampering with a Witness.

That afternoon at 3:44 p.m., deputies took Sarah Jaentsch into custody after locating her at the corner of Redwood Highway and Pugetville Road. She was wanted on a Sheriff's Office warrant for Possession of a Controlled Substance.

Jaentsch was subsequently lodged on the warrant in the Josephine County Jail.

 

A man was arrested outside Gates Home Furnishings after being found screaming and using meth.

Grants Pass Police were alerted around 12:57 p.m. to the suspect yelling near the 700 SW 6th Street business. The man had tin foil and was smoking something in the alley way. It was suspected he was under the influence.

Officers arrived and contacted Robert Smith while he was actively using methamphetamine according to a positive field test. He was uncooperative with law enforcement but was taken into custody at 1:13 p.m.

Smith was transported to the Josephine County Jail where he was lodged for Possession of Meth, Probation Violation, and Second Degree Criminal Trespass.

 

Medford Police officers responded at approximately 1:50 a.m. Wednesday to a report of shots fired at an apartment complex in the 800-block of Swing Lane. Officers arrived at the scene and discovered the apartment had been struck by multiple rounds. Fortunately, no injuries were reported, and officers were able to identify a possible suspect and a vehicle believed to be involved in the incident. Utilizing Automated License Plate Reader technology, investigators located the suspect vehicle around 9:45 a.m. in the parking lot of the South Walmart Supercenter. A drone was deployed to assist with surveillance and it observed the suspect exiting his vehicle and walking toward the store. The individual, 33-year-old Bryce W. Kleinhanz, was safely taken into custody before reaching the store and was arrested without incident. He was transported to the Medford Police Department for an interview while detectives executed a search warrant on his vehicle, recovering evidence in this case. Kleinhanz was later lodged at the Jackson County Jail on charges of Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Assault in the First Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Criminal Mischief in the First Degree, and Recklessly Endangering another Person.

 

During Wednesday night's meeting, City Council moved that the complaint regarding the current agreement between Republic Services and businesses 2 Guys, 1 Truck LLC, and Thrift Right Here is moot. Republic Services and Southern Oregon Sanitation had met with business owner Konnor Kirkpatrick to try and resolve the Franchise Agreement issue prior to the council meeting. His businesses will be allowed access to their transfer stations so long as his activities comply with specific agreement exemptions. The public hearing continued after the Customer Dispute Resolution with discussion of an ordinance annexing property on Hieglen Loop into the city limits. Both motions to adopt the ordinance annexing the property were unanimous. A Dollar Mountain ordinance prohibiting the use of motorized vehicles with the exemption of authorized vehicles was approved by the council, with violators being charged the maximum fine of $720 and restitutions.