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.
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Patchy fog throughout the day, cloudy with a high near 45. Overnight, freezing fog, with a low around 29 degrees.
Wednesday
Patchy morning fog, then cloudy with a high near 43. Overnight low of 30.
Thursday
Cloudy, with a high near 46.
Friday
Rain likely. Snow level 5800 feet. Cloudy, with a high near 44. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Saturday
A chance of rain and snow before 10am, then a chance of rain. Snow level 5100 feet. Cloudy, with a high near 42.
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 Headlines
The Klamath County Public Health Air Advisory is Green until noon today.
A home on the 7200 block of Henley Road was destroyed by fire this weekend. No one was injured and the fire was contained to the single structure but the house was described as a total loss by a representative from Klamath Falls Fire District 1.
The department is still investigating the cause of the fire. The initial call to the scene was around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday and the last responding firefighters left the scene by about 7 p.m.
Mazama High School and Oregon Tech have expanded the benefits of their STEM&M partnership, adding additional scholarship opportunities, two terms of free tuition and preferential access to selective Oregon Tech programs.
STEM&M students chose specific pathways in science, technology, engineering, math, or medicine and then take rigorous college prep curriculum that meets Oregon Tech admission requirements. The students also earn dual high school-college credits for many of the classes they take graduating with an estimated 30 college credits already earned. The Oregon Tech-Mazama STEM&M program started in the 2016-17 school year.
School officials, who had agreed to re-evaluate STEM&M’s memorandum of understanding after three years decided to add incentives to the successful program.
The new memorandum which is for 2019-20 has an expanded benefits package that ranges in value between $12,450 to $18,550, up from $10,500.
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, more than 1 million units of blood could be transfused in the United States.
Individuals are urged to give a lifesaving gift this holiday season by making an appointment to donate blood or platelets and help the American Red Cross ensure a sufficient supply is available for patients throughout the holiday season. Those with type O blood are especially needed.
You can donate today and tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Sky Lakes Medical Center. Thursday you can donate from 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at Klamath Basin Behavioral Health at 2210 El Dorado.
Crater Lake National Park Rangers are seeking information about the identity of a park visitor who recently drove off-road from the road to Rim Village, causing substantial damage to plants and park resources.
Rangers believe the vandalism happened during the evening of Saturday, Nov. 23, or early morning on Sunday, Nov. 24. Anyone with information regarding this violation is asked to contact NPS Law Enforcement at 541-594-3053.
Driving off roadways and damaging resources is a federal crime punishable by up to $5,000 and/or six months imprisonment for each offense. Plants at Crater Lake only get sunlight for a very short window over the summer months during which they can grow. The remainder of the year they may be buried under 15 feet or more of snow. Additionally park staff spend countless hours every year rehabilitating areas damaged by visitors driving off-road or hiking off trail.
Klamath County Circuit Court Judge Dan Bunch dismissed the cases against Shawn Brockett and Sonny Dey for their involvement in a drive-by shooting last month.
The shooter, Randall Holmes is still facing attempted murder and assault charges after he allegedly fired nine shots while fleeing a confrontation striking Jack Geenelsh four times, around 1:30 on November 19th..
Brockett was driving the car the men drove away in and Dey was facing charges for allegedly aiding and abetting Holmes. Both cases were dismissed without prejudice on November 21st.
Holmes’ next hearing date is February 10th. Holmes is being held in the Klamath County Jail without bail.
This years Snowflake Festival is in full swing this week with a Tree lighting at 5:30 tonight in Veterans Memorial Park.
A Pack Rat Christmas which is an evening of music and fun take place at 7 pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Ross Ragland Cultural Center. And of course the big Snowflake Parade will get underway along Main Street Thursday night starting at 7pm.
There are many other events as well including the Santa Freeze from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday at the Ella Redkey Pool and Saturday starting at 9 am it’s the Ugly Sweater Run at Harbor Isles, 601 Harbor Isles Blvd.
For more information and full details you can visit klamathsnowflake.com.
As the nation prepares for upcoming census the Klamath Tribes are also preparing to launch a campaign to increase tribal member participation in the 2020 Census throughout the state of Oregon.
The Tribal Council recently approved a resolution to support and recognize the importance of the 2020 Census, acknowledging that the census, which is counted every 10 years, determines the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives and determines allocation of federal funding. Tribal officials are also forming a Tribal Complete Count Committee to help with the campaign. The tribe plans to work with local government and nongovernmental organizations to promote the importance of the census throughout Klamath County and the state of Oregon.
Around the state of Oregon…
An investigation is underway into a traffic stop that ended with a Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office deputy shooting a man near a shopping center northeast of Bend.
The man shot is expected to survive and the deputy was not injured. Neither of their names has been released following the Friday evening incident. Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel says officers received a report of a car stolen from a Bend homeless shelter. Hummel says the shooting occurred after the officers stopped the vehicle. He would not say if the man shot was inside the vehicle. He says there were multiple shots fired and he wasn’t sure if those shots were fired by one deputy or several.
Oregon’s Dungeness crab season is coming up but there’s a problem looming over this fishery. The ropes and buoys that allow crabbers to collect their crab pots from the seafloor can injure and even kill whales when they swim into them.
Last year, 46 whale entanglements were reported off the West Coast, and crab gear was responsible for about a third of them.
The National Marine Fisheries Service recently announced grants for several ropeless fishing gear projects including a new kind of crab pot developed by Coastal Monitoring Associates of California that would keep the offending ropes out of the water column until the crabber is ready to pull the pot. The pot allows crabbers to set a timer for the release of the rope and buoy based on when they expect to be back to collect their catch.
…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.