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6 days ago | 
opb.org | Jane Vaughan
One of the new homeless campsites, located on 6th Street in Grants Pass, Ore., is equipped with a parking lot nearby, as shown on March 25, 2025. The Grants Pass City Council approved two more homeless campsites on Wednesday night in an effort to get a court order lifted. The court ordered Grants Pass to increase its designated campsites to the same capacity it offered before the city closed a location in January, an estimated 150 tents.
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1 week ago | 
opb.org | Jane Vaughan
The USDA recently cut more than $1 billion in funding for food banks and schools. Food banks in Oregon are seeing historic levels of need. Amey Broeker, executive director of the Ashland Community Food Bank, said that her organization is working on strategic planning for an uncertain future. Shoppers line up at a Rogue Food Unites free farmers market in Talent on Oct. 26, 2023.
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1 week ago | 
opb.org | Jane Vaughan
The USDA recently cut more than $1 billion in funding for food banks and schools. Food banks in Oregon are seeing historic levels of need. Amey Broeker, executive director of the Ashland Community Food Bank, said that her organization is working on strategic planning for an uncertain future. “We’re considering if we can continue to offer as much as we currently offer,” she said during an appearance on JPR’s Jefferson Exchange.
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1 week ago | 
nrtoday.com | Jane Vaughan
Grants Pass is in the middle of a lawsuit that claims the city’s treatment of homeless people violates Oregon state law. A judge recently issued a court order in the case saying Grants Pass has to increase its designated camping sites to the same capacity it offered before the city closed a site in January. As a result, city councilors met at a Tuesday workshop to discuss potential locations.
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1 week ago | 
ijpr.org | Jane Vaughan
Local Head Start programs are preparing for potential closures after some regional offices were recently shut down, part of the Trump administration’s reduction of the Department of Health and Human Services. Now, local programs say their concern isn’t that their funding has been cut, but that they won’t be able to access it, since there aren’t regional staff to approve or process it.
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2 weeks ago | 
opb.org | Jane Vaughan
One of the proposed new homeless campsites: a parking lot adjacent to the current 6th Street site, shown on March 25, 2025. Jane Vaughan/Jefferson Public RadioIf the two proposed sites are approved, all four of the city’s homeless campsites will be within two blocks of each other downtown. Grants Pass is in the middle of a lawsuit that claims the city’s treatment of homeless people violates Oregon state law.
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2 weeks ago | 
ijpr.org | Jane Vaughan
The federal program provides financial support for rural county services, like schools and roads. But this year, the legislation still hasn’t passed Congress. That could devastate rural school districts, especially smaller ones. Jaime Green — superintendent of the Trinity Alps Unified School District in Weaverville, California — said his district uses the money for maintenance and transportation. The district has budgeted for a bit of a funding gap, but Green said it won’t last long.
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2 weeks ago | 
opb.org | Jane Vaughan
From l-r, Harrison Ross, Trenton Abraham, Michael Jones and Nolan Hannam are trying to start up a chapter of the fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon at Southern Oregon University. The TKE plaque is from when a chapter of the frat existed at the university in the 60s and 70s. Jane Vaughan / Jefferson Public RadioA group of men at Southern Oregon University hopes the frat will help increase the university’s enrollment and provide more social opportunities for students.
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3 weeks ago | 
opb.org | Jane Vaughan
The temporary shelter at 2200 Ashland St. is set to shut down on April 1, 2025. A temporary homeless shelter at 2200 Ashland St. in Ashland, Oregon, is set to close Tuesday at 9 a.m. because it doesn’t meet fire codes. The building, originally designed as an approximately 3,000-square-foot commercial-use office space, needs additional exits, smoke detectors and a sprinkler system, among other things, meaning it can only be open for 90 days since opening in January.
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3 weeks ago | 
opb.org | Jane Vaughan
Tents set up at a homeless campsite near Grants Pass City Hall on March 25, 2025. Homeless people can’t be cited, arrested or fined for camping in Grants Pass, Oregon, for now. A Josephine County circuit court judge has issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit against the city. The lawsuit, filed in January by Disability Rights Oregon and five homeless plaintiffs, alleges Grants Pass’ treatment of homeless people violates state law, including disability protections.
