Column #1

Strong communities don’t just happen. They rely on connection—residents knowing what’s going on, businesses reaching the customers who keep them open, and citizens having the facts to make good decisions. Local newspapers provide that connection in ways no other source can. In today’s fractured media environment, trust is the rarest commodity. Confidence in “the media” is low. Only 18%...

It took less than five minutes for members of the Medford Planning Commission to give their blessing to a proposed plat for a residential subdivision on city-owned property south of CTH O.This is the second time commission members reviewed the plans for the 33-lot Johnson Subdivision. The subdivision will connect to the existing Simek Subdvision on the south side and to CTH O on the north side. Th...

Think back to a moment in your life when you felt fear about money. Perhaps you were laid off and watched your savings dwindle. Maybe a medical emergency emptied your bank account. Or you remember your parents whispering anxiously at the kitchen table, trying to figure out which bill to pay first.That knot in your stomach—that’s where homelessness begins. For most of us, something intervened. ...