Ballot close up

Jackson County residents will receive their primary election ballots in the mail starting May 3, and we’re planning our coverage to help Rogue Valley Times readers understand the races and issues before they cast their votes.

Our team of reporters is working on preview coverage of all contested races, from a seat on the Jackson County Board of Commissioners, to the local district attorney post and judicial races, to seats in the Oregon Legislature. There also will be coverage of the three measures to change the makeup of the county commissioners.

Candidates have been contacted for interviews, and our plan is to start publishing stories online Saturday, April 27. We’ll continue to publish stories online daily until we have exhausted our list, likely by Thursday, May 2. Meanwhile, we’ll be publishing all of our stories over three print editions from Saturday, May 27, through Thursday, May 2.

We also plan full coverage on election night, Tuesday, May 21, and in our print edition Thursday, May 23, and subsequent editions.

Downtown bike lanes: Our coverage of an incident at West Main Street and North Oakdale Avenue in Medford involving a mother and child in a crosswalk and a driver who was cited generated plenty of engagement on social media and brought traffic to our homepage at rv-times.com.

Many people complained aloud about the configuration of the bike lanes, which opened in November 2023. Others said they should be taken out.

Medford public works director John Vial and police Lt. Geoff Kirkpatrick said the pedestrian-vehicle incident was unrelated to the configuration of the bike lanes and parking lanes along Main Street. Also, Vial said data on crashes, ridership and public acceptance of the bike lanes would be brought before Medford City Council after a year of use.

Here are other recent stories you can read only in the Rogue Valley Times:

Jackson County sees record number of voters; nonaffiliated outnumber GOP and Dems

Medford School Board gets stark message on projected $15M budget shortfall

Phoenix man accused in Mouseketeer’s death pleads not guilty to new charges

Thunderous Tunes: Ashland-based rock band to release debut EP

Thank you to our subscribers for helping us deliver the news seven days a week online and three days a week in print. If you haven’t subscribed to the Times, which can include digital-only or a full print edition/digital subscription, we invite you to sign up at http://rv-times.com/subscribe or by calling us at 800-781-3214.

— Troy Heie, editor