Local News

UPDATE: FOUND SAFE
The family of a 15-year-old Medford girl is asking for the public’s help after she was reported missing late Friday night, reports Medford Alert News. Ava Wall was last seen between 8:20 p.m. and 8:40 p.m. Friday on Coleman Creek Road in rural SW Medford. She is described as 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing about 120 pounds, with blue-green eyes and brown hair. She was last seen wearing light blue jeans and a brown puffy jacket. A witness reported seeing a gray sedan with its hazard lights on in the same area and time frame, with a male driver and a young girl in the front seat. Authorities say the sighting aligns with the period when Ava disappeared. The case is currently classified as a runaway, but her family says they are deeply concerned for her safety. Ava reportedly left a note saying she was with a “trusted adult,” though no such adult has been identified despite extensive outreach. Ava may have had access to an older phone that works only on Wi-Fi and was previously used for Snapchat communication. Anyone with information, sightings, or security footage from the Coleman Creek Road area between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday is urged to contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and reference Case Number 26-270. As of the latest update today (January 19th), the search is ongoing.

 

Grants Pass Police pulled over a man and found him to be wanted on an Assault warrant.

The suspect, Michael Tognoni and a female passenger were pulled over by officers for no bike lights. He attempted to provide a false name, but his true identity was revealed upon placing him into handcuffs.

Tognoni was found to be wanted on an active and serviceable warrant out of the Oregon State Parole Board for Assault. A consent search was then conducted, which located a loaded needle and meth pipe in his backpack.

Officers took Tognoni into custody and transported him to the Josephine County Jail. He was lodged for his warrant and a charge of Possession of Methamphetamine.

 

The Josephine County District Attorney sided with the Daily Courier and directed the city of Grants Pass to release original city manager performance evaluations to the newspaper.

According to the Courier, the DA noted the city broke Oregon public meetings laws and tried to stop the documents from becoming public.

In the January 6th decision, District Attorney Josh Eastman said the city admitted to engaging in multiple illegal closed-door meetings in 2025. There was an illegal chain of behind-the-scenes emails about the city manager's performance evaluations after the Courier requested the documents.

Some discussions involved potentially costly raises for city workers, including City Manager Aaron Cubic. There also appeared to be actions to intentionally ensure the original evaluations were not made public.

The city argued that encouraging frank communication is necessary, final performance evaluations are public records and the illegal meetings were "inadvertent not nefarious."

Eastman wrote, "City's reasoning may have been persuasive had it not been for the illegal meeting(s), the appearance of intentionally modifying/changing the process to subvert political oversight, and the general (as well as drastically heightened current) public interest in transparency."

He continued, saying "this is not a close case," and directed the city to release the original unredacted performance evaluations of the city manager.

 

The Josephine County Board of Commissioners is seeking applications for one vacant seat on the Josephine County Fair Board.

The Fair Board is made up of seven volunteers that serve 3-year terms and participate in monthly meetings. The Fair Board is a governing body charged with the oversight of the annual County Fair and year-round management of the Josephine County Fairgrounds.

In addition to the planning and execution of the Fair, the Fair Board manages the daily activities and future development of the fairgrounds.

Interested candidates must reside in Josephine County and can apply online at
www.josephinecounty.gov.

 

A Grants Pass couple known for running the Blaze-N-Monkey’s food truck and serving their community is now taking on a new role as the owners of Jimmy’s Classic Drive-In.

According to KDRV, Patrick and Misti Hoadley officially became the owners of the longtime Grants Pass diner on January 1st.

Just months earlier, the Hoadley's gained attention for helping feed residents after SNAP benefits were paused indefinitely. Using their Blaze-N-Monkey’s food truck, the couple provided meals to those in need, drawing widespread support from across the city.

Now, that same community-first mindset is guiding their approach to Jimmy’s Classic Drive-In. While the Hoadley's focus on enhancing Jimmy’s Classic Drive-In this winter, they said Blaze-N-Monkey’s will continue operating.

 

Rogue River School District has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the Oregon Community Foundation

This grant, funded by the William and Florence Schneider Fund of Oregon Community Foundation, will help to support a school-based health center that will provide accessible medical and mental health care to students.

The funding will help the district establish a center that ensures students can access healthcare conveniently, supporting both their academic success and overall well-being.

 

An Oregon man was sentenced to federal prison Friday for attempting to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine purchased from the dark web.

Dominick Jeffrey Aragon, 32, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison and 3 years of supervised release.

According to court documents, in February 2025, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement (RADE) task force intercepted a parcel addressed to Aragon’s residence containing approximately one ounce of cocaine.

In March 2025, they intercepted a second parcel destined for Aragon at the same address that contained two ounces of cocaine.

The investigation continued into April 2025, when USPIS and RADE seized two additional parcels addressed to Aragon at an acquaintance’s residence that contained controlled substances.

At the time of these offenses, Aragon was on federal supervised release after completing a 15-month federal prison sentence for distributing cocaine. On September 29, 2025, Aragon pleaded guilty to attempted possession with the intent to distribute cocaine.

 

While Josephine County's emergency management director remains on leave pending results of an Oregon Department of Justice investigation, the department does have leadership.

The Daily Courier reports Commissioner Ron Smith said in a Wednesday interview that the second-in-command of the emergency management department, Jason Allemand, is "handling that department" on an interim basis.

Allemand, one of two employees in the department, was promoted to assistant emergency management director in July 2023, at the request of Emergency Management Director Michael Sellers.

Smith said he doesn't have any information about the investigation into Sellers, which was prompted in the fall when county Finance Director Ruth Nelson filed a whistleblower complaint with law enforcement.

In August, Nelson wrote to the Board of Commissioners that a personnel form she signed, which gave Sellers a promotion to the title of Interim Director of Operations was not included in a public records request filed by a citizen.

Smith said the county is waiting for an Oregon Department of Justice investigation to wrap up to give some information.

 

The Jackson County District attorney's Office has completed its review of the December incident at the Talent Library Branch, where a 33-year-old man was reportedly viewing inappropriate material on a library computer.

According to KDRV, the review found that the material does not meet Oregon's legal definition of child sexual abuse material.

The Talent Police Department was called to the Talent Library on December 15, where a witness provided two recordings of Nicholas Johnson, 33, viewing videos on the library computer. With those recordings and other witness accounts, it was determined the videos Johnson was viewing were parent-related content, showing infants or toddlers in non-sexual contexts.

Under Oregon law, videos and images must depict a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in order to be constituted as child sexual abuse material. Although the videos Johnson was observing did contain nudity, they did not contain sexual conduct or sexualized posing to meet the legal definition of child sexual abuse material.

The Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force further investigated the evidence at the request of the DA's Office and the Talent Police Department. That investigation included a forensic examination of the computer Johnson used and also found no evidence indicating child sexual abuse material had been viewed or attempted to be viewed.

Given the results of both investigations, the DA's Office said it will not file criminal charges related to the incident, but will reevaluate the case if new evidence was to emerge.