The nurses union and Providence Health & Services officials are returning to in-person mediation Wednesday after Gov. Tina Kotek requested they do so to end the largest health care worker strike in state history.
Oregon is preparing for what could be sweeping changes to its immigration landscape with President Donald Trump back in office. The state is home to about 120,000 undocumented immigrants. There are also tens of thousands more people living in Oregon under other designations, including those fleeing violence and persecution, workers who are here on the H-1B visa, or international students enrolled in Oregon universities. The state also has one of the broadest sanctuary laws in the U.S.
Nearly 5,000 Providence Health & Systems nurses and other professionals walked off their jobs Friday in the largest strike by health workers in state history — and the first involving unionized doctors.
Bundled up and bearing bright-green signs, dozens of nurses gathered outside Providence Medford Medical Center Friday morning to begin their open-ended strike advocating for better pay, safe staffing and more adequate health insurance benefits.
The Oregon Nurses Association issued a 10-day strike notice Monday, setting the stage for what would be the largest healthcare worker and physicians strike in Oregon history. The notice followed a five-day cooling off period and additional mediated discussions that included nurses at Providence Medford Medical Center, as well as ONA members at Providence hospitals across the state. The strike is scheduled to begin Jan. 10.
Ashland has a new Goodwill Retail Store that doubles the previous store’s sales space and includes a Job Connection, a center that helps people in the community develop and upgrade their work skills. A throng of shoppers lined up for the store’s opening Thursday at 777 E. Jefferson Ave., less than a mile from the old store on Tolman Creek Road. The old store is now closed.
A budget crisis didn’t stop Ashland schools Superintendent Joseph Hattrick Monday night from vowing to turn a fiscal corner within a few years with the community’s help. He spoke Monday night before an audience of about 50 parents and school staff at Ashland High School’s Mountain Avenue Theatre during the first of four public outreach sessions this week.
After nearing what they call their “bottom line,” Providence Medford nurses say “nothing is off the table” after a Tuesday bargaining session failed to end in a new contract with hospital administration. A strike authorization vote date is pending for Medford registered nurses represented by the Oregon Nurses Association.
After years of increasing staffing even as enrollment declined, Ashland School District needs to reduce its 2024-2025 fiscal year budget by more than $2.2 million by mid-2025, according to a review by a statewide education official. Superintendent Joseph Hattrick is asking staff and the public to weigh in on a district plan on how to move forward with cuts.
A lightning bolt left Stephen Sklarew in pain for six months in 1996, igniting an interest in artificial intelligence (AI) systems as a way to help heal the natural world. His journey from entomologist to AI leader riveted the attendees at the Ashland RegenAI Summit on Sept. 13-15, an event that showcased how various issues that confront local communities can be aided by artificial intelligence.
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Ask Strider: A worried older brother asks our advice columnist’s advice. And a dog’s guardian wants to know if there is any hope getting their hat-hating dog to calm down. As always, Strider tries to give words that help!
After a successful production of “The Vagina Monologues” and raising more than $2,000 for Planned Parenthood of Southwestern Oregon, Ashland actor and director Lia Dugal intends for “The Climate Monologues” to premiere in Oregon in late 2025 or early 2026 at the Bellview Grange in Ashland.
It’s complicated.
Herbert Rothschild: Whether visualization and intention by themselves can effect broad social change is impossible to determine, but the question merits sustained consideration.
(It’s free)
