Local News

Josephine County Sheriff’s deputies detained one man after having determined probable cause for theft II. Just after 3:00 Wednesday afternoon the Deputy took 40-year-old Anthony Pope into custody. Pope’s parole officer was contacted while the Deputy was in route to the Josephine County Jail. The P.O. placed a detainer on Pope as well and he remained in custody Thursday morning. Pope has a long history of incarcerations in the county jail, this being the 3rd time in the last year where he has faced a myriad of charges including 2nd degree kidnapping, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and strangulation although most of those charges were dismissed.

 

An officer with the Grants Pass Police Department arrested a man following a bicycle stop Wednesday afternoon.

Around 2:58 p.m. the suspect, Kevin Reeves, was detained after being stopped by law enforcement at the corner of NE 7th Street and NE Jackson Street. He was seen riding his bike on the wrong side of the road and had nearly hit the officer's patrol vehicle.

Reeves was found to be wanted by his parole officer, so he was taken into custody. The officer transported Reeves to the Josephine County Jail where he was lodged for a probation violation. A lack of jail resources was the impetus for his later release.

 

A call came in to 911 Wednesday reporting a transient yelling and destroying property at Lawnridge Park.

At 9:03 a.m., the caller said the suspect was acting aggressively, kicking signs and attempting to destroy the gates to the pickleball courts at the 1099 NW Hawthorne Avenue park. The caller told dispatch she could see items all over the ground, and that there were children in the area waiting for the bus.

Grants Pass Police arrived and took the suspect, Charles Howard into custody. He was arrested for a parole violation and found to be in possession of methamphetamine.

Officers transported and lodged Howard in the Josephine County Jail for the violation and the drug charge. Because of a lack of jail resources, he was later released.

 

A man with a felony warrant was arrested by Grants Pass Police after a foot pursuit downtown.

On Wednesday around 2:24 p.m., the suspect, Aleksandr Uchytil, was heading westbound on A Street before going northbound on 5th Street. Law enforcement called the nearby Presbyterian Church to see if he ran inside the building.

Church staff and officers checked and cleared the north side and the playground, before they found Uchytil on the south side of the building heading towards 6th Street. Officers soon tracked him down behind Rogue Barbers and held him at gunpoint.

Uchytil was wanted by the Grants Pass Police Department for a First Degree Theft warrant. He was taken into custody, and also trespassed from The Kitchen Company.

Officers transported and lodged Uchytil in the Josephine County Jail for his active felony warrant, but was later released due to a lack of resources.

 

Grants Pass Police officers arrested suspects in both Resting Site 6 North and South Wednesday.

At the South Site, 704 NW 6th Street, officers detained Andrew Urenda at 9:52 a.m. after he was found in a tent on the north side. He was known to have two valid warrants out for his arrest from the Police Department.

Officers took him into custody for both of his Meth Possession warrants and a Probation Violation. Urenda was trespassed from the site for 30 days, and transported to the Josephine County Jail. He was lodged, but later released due to a lack of jail resources.

Then at the North Site, 714 NW 6th Street, Caleb Rossiter was located by law enforcement, where he was found to be in violation of a park exclusion order. He was then taken into custody at 10:51 a.m. for a charge of Second Degree Criminal Trespass.

He was also found to have what was suspected to be Methamphetamine in his pocket, so a charge of Meth Possession was added to Rossiter. He was taken to the Josephine County Adult Jail Facility and subsequently lodged. A 90 day exclusion from the site was issued to Rossiter.

 

Oregon private employers reported 58,500 job openings at any given time in 2025, according to a release from the Oregon Employment Department (OED).

This was very similar to the 57,800 job openings seen in 2024, new data from the OED’s Job Vacancy Survey shows.

Senior research analyst Anna Johnson reports that the health care and social assistance industry saw the strongest level of hiring in 2025, with over a quarter of all vacancies coming from companies in that sector. Most job openings across the state tended to be for full-time and permanent positions.

Vacancies with higher education requirements also had a greater likelihood for prior experience requirements, and higher average wages.

Oregon saw record high levels of job vacancies in the recovery from the pandemic recession in 2021 and 2022. Vacancies returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2024 and 2025.

 

Josh Eastman, Josephine County District Attorney, concluded the review of the Debbs Potts Bridge officer-involved shooting, determining the use of deadly force was justified. According to a release from the DA's office, the shooting that occurred on February 7th after 12:30 p.m. garnered numerous calls to 911 saying there was a woman on the bridge with two handguns. Grants Pass Police units arrived to set up a perimeter, blocking traffic in both directions. Despite the suspect, Alicia Shelton, pointing her weapon at officers initially, as well as refusing their commands and at one point charging them, officers attempted to de-escalate the situation by giving her verbal warnings, both commanding and asking Shelton to drop the firearm multiple times. Around 12:36 p.m., after having been asked more than ten times to drop her weapon, she pointed it directly at officers parked in the middle of the bridge. An officer, who the firearm was pointed at directly, fired one round from his duty rifle, followed by another officer from his.

 

Two separate fires took place Wednesday, prompting a response from the Illinois Valley Fire District (IVFD) and Rural Metro respectively.

A recreational vehicle fire occurred at 8:57 p.m. at the corner of Thompson Creek Road and Bear Creek Road in Selma. The IVFD responded and managed the fire that occurred after the vehicle was abandoned on the roadway.

The fire was successfully suppressed, with no impact on the surrounding wildland. The Josephine County Sheriff's Office was notified and the vehicle was flagged.

That morning at 11:46 a.m., a passerby reported smoke coming from a structure on Saratoga Way. Rural Metro firefighters responded and quickly knocked down flames and confirmed nobody was at the location.

Additional support was also received from Grants Pass Fire, AMR, Pacific Power, the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office, OLCC and the Oregon State Fire Marshal. The investigation is on-going.

 

Josephine County Sheriff's deputies responded to a report of a trespassing man that started a fire at the corner of Redwood Highway and Lakeshore Drive.

On Tuesday around 10:19 a.m., a man called and reported to dispatch there was a transient on the property down in the brush that had lit a fire. When the man went to check on the fire, the transient came at him with an axe.

Oregon State Police were notified of the situation, but due to the location being off the road way, the Sheriff's Office was then advised. The caller said deputies had responded to the same suspect and location the week prior.

The transient left the scene on a dark colored bicycle heading southbound on Highway 199, but was soon contacted by deputies. The fire at the scene was extinguished, and the suspect, Ryan Jantz, was taken into custody.

He was transported and lodged for a charge of Menacing at the Josephine County Jail.