Grants Pass City Manager Aaron Cubic has recommended that the city pay up to $17,000 to hire a facilitator for his annual evaluation, hold discussion of his performance with the City Council behind closed doors and restrict release of information about his evaluation to a written summary prepared by the facilitator.

South Medford pitcher Ashlyn Cooper made sure the Panthers’ Southwest Conference softball opener was a memorable one.

Or in this case, nearly perfect.

Cooper, a senior, struck out 11 in a five-inning no-hitter as South Medford cruised to a 12-0 league-opening victory over South Eugene on Tuesday afternoon in Medford.

The only thing that stood between Cooper and a perfect game was a hit batter to lead off the top of the second.

A suspected child molester accused of being in the country illegally is in custody after he was arrested in White City by a task force led by the U.S. Marshals Service.

The suspect, identified by federal authorities as Jose Francisco Gonzalez-Castaneda, was arrested Monday at the Cascade shopping center on Highway 62, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday.

One hundred ten pieces of art will be featured in this year’s Best of the Best, the annual art show of talented high school artists in Josephine and Jackson counties, and, for the first time, some in Douglas County as well.

Coordinated for the past 41 years by Southern Oregon University Youth Programs, this art show offers the students, who are selected by their art teachers, the opportunity to display their work in a professional setting.