The latest Klamath Falls News around the Klamath Basin and the state of Oregon from Wynne Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM/102.5FM, BasinLife.com and The Herald & News.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2019
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Sunny, with a high near 37. Overnight, cloudy with a low around 20.
Tuesday
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Overnight low of 25.
Wednesday
A slight chance of rain and snow after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. Overnight a chance of rain and snow before 10pm, then a chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Thursday
A chance of snow before 10am, then a chance of rain and snow. Cloudy, with a high near 40. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Snow level 5200 feet.
Friday
A chance of rain. Snow level 5400 feet. Cloudy, with a high near 43.
Road Conditions
Traveling? Check our cameras below for the latest road conditions from BasinLife.com.
Lake of the Woods Hiway 140
Greensprings Drive at Hiway 97
Doak Mountain looking east
Chemult, Oregon
LaPine, Oregon
Bly, Oregon
Medford at I-5 -Biddle Road & Crater Lake Parkway
Today’s Klamath Basin Headlines
The Klamath County Public Health Air Advisory is Green until noon today.
Klamath Health Partnership welcomes Ashley Bryson, MD, as its newest primary care provider, according to a news release.
Bryson graduated from Oregon Health Science University School of Medicine. She completed medical school in Klamath Falls and stayed here for residency. She has spent most of her life in the Pacific Northwest and loves the Klamath Basin. She and her husband have two children, three dogs and two goats. She enjoys gardening and crafting. Bryson is dedicated to serving the poor and vulnerable members of the community, the news release states, and she is committed to our respectful and inclusive healthcare environment where everyone feels valued. Bryson is honored to serve the community at Klamath Health Partnership.
Klamath Health Partnership is a Federally Qualified Health Center, a health center program grantee under 42 U.S.C. 254b. Klamath Health Partnership operates four clinics: Klamath Open Door at 2074 S. Sixth St., Campus Convenient Care at 2684 Campus Drive, School Based Health Center at 3013 Summer Lane, and Chiloquin Open Door at 103 Wasco Ave., in Chiloquin. For additional information call 541-851-8110.
Teams of robotics students from Mazama, Lost River, Bonanza and Henley high schools spent four hours Friday in friendly competition during the Klamath Scrimmage hosted by Mazama Robotics.
The goal was to design and program their robots to perform specific tasks within a 2-minute time period. The scrimmage was Henley High School’s first foray into robotics competition. The school started a robotics club for the first time this fall and has two teams competing this year, said adviser and engineering teacher Kristi Lebkowsky. Robotics fits into the school’s robust engineering curriculum.
The winning team received a championship trophy created by Mazama senior and manufacturing student Cooper Hamilton. Referees were two Klamath Community College students – robotics veteran Louden Tyree, a 2017 Bonanza grad; and his friend Michael Diaz.
Near Chiloquin, for the ninth year in a row, the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) is partnering with America’s State Parksto offer free guided First Day Hikes in state parks across Oregon on New Year’s Day. Information about the special hike hosted at Collier Memorial State Park is below.
Hikers should register for the hike at the Oregon State Parks Store, http://bit.ly/ParkStoreEvents. This year’s hike is limited to 100 participants. Registration will help park staff plan for the hike and give park staff contact information should the hike be canceled because of weather or conditions.
Hike time: 9 a.m.
Starting location: Collier Logging Museum
Terrain and length of trail: Easy, three-mile hike on multiple trails
Contact information: (541) 783-2471
Additional details: Hike through a Pine forest along Spring Creek and the Williamson River. Watch for Bald Eagles, ducks, and river otters. Enjoy a warming fire before and after the hike to ward off the winter chill. Dogs must be on a six-foot leash. Hike recommended for children at least six years old.
Participants should dress in layers, wear sturdy shoes, and bring water as well as a camera or binoculars for wildlife viewing.
Share photos of First Day Hikes via Twitter and Instagram by using the hashtag #ORfirstdayhikes or tagging “Oregon State Parks” on Facebook.
If you’re traveling to Medford, be on the lookout next summer for a new twisty 10-mile stretch of road that will be transformed into a “mega corridor”, offering motorists a shortcut through east Medford and creating a substitute route if an earthquake destroys Interstate 5.
The long-sought improvements to Foothill and North Phoenix roads, which were once eyed as a possible alternative route for I-5 in the 1950s, will begin when the Oregon Department of Transportation builds a massive $3.75 million roundabout at Highway 140.
At the same time, Jackson County plans to connect Foothill to the roundabout in a separate $2.5 million project. Foothill currently ends at Corey Road.
The city of Medford is finalizing steps to begin a $13 million project to widen Foothill to four lanes from Hillcrest to McAndrews Road and is working on plans to widen the road from McAndrews to Delta Waters.
Armed with a recently approved $15.5 million federal grant, the city, county and state will undertake a longterm $40 million plan to improve Foothill from Hillcrest to Coker Butte Road.
As part of the roadway improvement plan, the city is scheduled to build an extension of South Stage Road on the east side of the freeway. Longterm plans call for an overpass on I-5 to connect the west and east sections of South Stage Road and to create an east-west corridor from Foothill.
Adding up all the projects that will benefit the new and improved Foothill Road brings the grand total to more than $130 million, or slightly more than the new Rogue Valley Expressway, which runs parallel to Highway 62.
If you’re planning on fishing on the coast be aware that fishing for fall chinook is now banned in multiple rivers on Oregon’s north coast because extremely dry conditions have fueled a widespread die-off of the species.
After two months of low rainfall hundreds of adult fish on multiple coastal streams are dying from an unusual outbreak of a naturally occurring parasite before they get a chance to spawn. Extended periods of low water levels mean that salmon waiting to swim upstream to spawn are spending extra time in shallow water where conditions are more conducive to the parasite. The parasite doesn’t pose a risk to humans and only affects certain species of fish. Steelhead fishing season is not affected.
Around the state
A prosecutor in Oregon has declined to file charges against 21 protesters who were arrested during a sit-in at the governor’s office last month as they protested a planned natural gas pipeline and marine terminal.
The office of Marion County District Attorney Paige Clarkson decided on not to charge the 21 with criminal trespass in the second degree. Hundreds of protesters had come into the Capitol on Nov. 21. Most left within a few hours. But several dozen refused to leave Brown’s office until she opposed the pipeline. She spoke to the protesters by phone, and then in person, but did not denounce the pipeline plan. The state police warned the protesters they would be subject to arrest if they remained and then arrested 21 men and women who ranged in age from 22 to 78. They were jailed overnight and released in the early morning.
A jury has awarded more than $9 million in damages to a man and woman from Vancouver, British Columbia who were struck by an 18-wheeler truck while riding their bikes along Interstate 84 in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon.
The eight-member jury found Exel Inc. — more commonly known as the shipping company DHL liable for the August 2016 collision late Friday after a five-day trial in U.S. District Court in Portland. It awarded $1.3 million in economic damages, $4 million in non-economic damages and $4 million in punitive damages to Eric Moutal, whose lower left leg was nearly amputated, and $400,000 in non-economic damages to his now wife Andrea Newman. The two had been biking along the Historic Columbia River Highway but rode a stretch along the interstate in order to return to their campground.
Under Oregon law, it’s legal to bike on the shoulder of most freeways, except for a handful of urban freeways where the Oregon Department of Transportation has expressly prohibited it in Portland and Medford.
…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.