The latest Klamath Falls News around the Klamath Basin from Wynne Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM/102.5FM, BasinLife.com and The Herald & News.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2019
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Sunny, with a high near 49. Overnight clear and cold with a low of 23 degrees expected.
Friday
Sunny, with a high near 50.
Saturday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 54. Calm wind.
Sunday
Partly sunny, with a high near 54.
Monday
A slight chance of snow showers before 10am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 42.
Today’s Headlines
The Klamath County Public Health Air Advisory is Green until noon today.
Klamath Falls Police Department completed next of kin notifications related to the Fairview Park shooting which occurred in the early morning hours yesterday.
The deceased are Christopher Gregory age 31 and Donald Cheatham Jr. age 43.
Hospitalized from the incident is Sean Dalton Brazil-Gates age 28 who received gunshot injuries and is in stable condition at a hospital. Gillian Bradley age 22 was an involved party and further investigation led to her arrest on charges of Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Attempted Murder, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Hindering Prosecution and Tampering with Evidence. Initial arraignment is expected today at 1:30 p.m.
What can we do about complex community challenges such as plastic pollution, flood fatalities, and school shootings?
The Samsung company’s $3 million Solve for Tomorrow Contest challenges 6th-12th graders nationwide to use science, technology, engineering and math skills to design solutions for their local communities’ most pressing problems.
Ponderosa Middle School has been selected from a pool of more than 2,000 entries nationwide as one of 300 State Finalists in the contest. Only four other middle and high schools in Oregon qualified to compete. Ponderosa was chosen based on a proposal submitted by math teacher Francisco Rico for a Solar Air Heating System. Rico’s 7th-grade advanced math students will do all the work for the project, from inventing and designing the heating system, to building and testing it.
As a State Finalist, Rico will receive a Samsung tablet for his classroom and has the opportunity to advance through future phases of the contest to win additional prizes. In the final round, winners will receive $100,000 prize packages.
Heading to the great outdoors on the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving? You can fish, crab or clam for free anywhere in the state! Oregon Fish and Wildlife hosts annual Free Fishing Days the two days after Thanksgiving.
That means on Friday and Saturday, November 29th and 30th no fishing licenses or tags are required to fish, crab or clam anywhere in Oregon. If you have relatives or friends visiting Oregon from out of state they can come along too as non-residents are also free on these two Free Fishing days.
Lake of the Woods Resort will be participating from 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. You’re invited up to fish!
Fourteen counties that claimed Oregon deprived them of revenue for decades by limiting logging won a $1 billion lawsuit against the state on Wednesday.
The four-week trial in Albany was focused on three words “greatest permanent value” and what they meant when the phrase was written into law 80 years ago. Lawyers for the counties said it meant maximizing revenue from logging. Attorneys for the state argued that it included other factors such as recreation and habitat, and they accused counties of wanting clear-cutting of forests and of not caring about endangered species. The law enabled the state to adopt about 1,000 square miles from 15 counties that receive 64% of the logging revenues. The counties claimed the state breached the contact in 1998 when it adopted a rule defining greatest permanent value to mean healthy, productive and sustainable forest ecosystems that provide a social, economic and environmental benefits to the people of Oregon.
Their lawsuit sought $674 million in lost revenue since 2001, and $392 million in future damages through 2069.
Kelly Armantrout a sophomore from Henley High School has been elected to serve a one-year term on the executive board of the Oregon Association of Student Councils.
The elections took place at the annual fall conference in Seaside where a group of 1,600 students and advisers from more than 100 high schools were in attendance. As an executive board member, Armantrout will represent his region and join a group of 11 other youth board members and 10 adult board members from around the state.
His duties include planning and presiding over two statewide conferences, communicating with schools in his region, writing newsletter articles and participating in policy decisions for the association.
Around the region
The Medford Police Department was alerted of a possible embezzlement involving with the Rogue Valley Youth Hockey Association.
The board of directors discovered missing funds, believed to have been stolen by Cara Ruettgers, who was the treasurer and then president over the course of 2016 to 2019. The Department of Justice assisted with the case by providing a forensic accounting of the non-profit organization. The investigation revealed Ruettgers did embezzle approximately $57,000 during her time with the organization.
On November 8th, 2019, Ruettgers was lodged in jail for one count of Aggravated Theft. Yesterday a Grand Jury indicated Ruettgers on 4 counts of Aggravated Theft, Identity Theft, Forgery and Theft in the 2nd Degree.
…For complete details on these and other stories see today’s Herald & News. Wynne Broadcasting and the Herald and News…stronger together to keep you informed.