Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM/102.5FM, BasinLife.com and The Herald & News.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020
Klamath Basin Weather
Today Sunny, with a high near 49. Clear overnight, low of 21.
Thursday Sunny, with a high near 53.
Friday Partly Cloudy with a high near 46 and a low of 26.
Saturday Cloudy with a high of near 46 and a low of 33.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
The Klamath County Public Health Air Advisory is Yellow until noon today.
Sky Lakes Medical Center’s Intensive Care/Critical Care Unit recently earned a Silver-Level Beacon Award of Excellence, conferred by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.
The three-year Beacon Award of Excellence recognizes exceptional patient care and healthy work environments. It follows a rigorous application process in which the unit demonstrated that its practices aligned with the AACN’s standards for optimal patient care. Units that receive the Beacon Award for Excellence meet criteria in six categories: Leadership structures and systems, appropriate staffing and staff engagement, effective communication, learning and development, evidence-based practice and processes, and outcome measurement. Read more on their website here https://www.skylakes.org/.
Gas prices are still more expensive than last year but the price gap is steadily shrinking. Falling crude oil prices and low winter demand are helping to send fuel prices lower in most states.
For the week, the national average for regular falls four cents to $2.43 a gallon. The Oregon average holds steady at $2.98. Oregon is one of only two states where prices are steady this week.
Oregon Institute of Technology has again earned the 2020-2021 Military Friendly School designation.
Institutions earning the Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. In its 19th year, the Military Friendly school list is a standard for which higher education institutions provide the best opportunities for veterans and their spouses. This year only 625 schools in the U.S. earned the designation. Methodology, criteria, and weightings were determined by Viqtory Media with input from the Military Friendly Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher education and military recruitment community.
Final ratings were determined by combining the institution’s survey scores with the assessment of the institution’s ability to meet thresholds for Student Retention, Graduation, Job Placement, Loan Repayment, Persistence (Degree Advancement or Transfer) and Loan Default rates for all students and, specifically, for student veterans.
As an institution founded 72 years ago to help WWII veterans transition to civilian life successfully through technical careers, Oregon Tech remains dedicated to supporting active military personnel and veterans of today with an educational pathway that will prepare them for a prosperous future.
Ella Redkey Pool will shutdown from Monday, March 2 through Friday, April 3 to allow time for multiple planned renovations.
The outdoor, geothermal-heated pool will be shut down in order to accommodate an initial phase of multiple planned upgrades to the facility. The March shutdown will allow crews to focus renovations on the women’s locker room, including sandblasting and painting of walls, replacing shower fixtures, replacing vanities and sinks, and adding new amenities. Additional work will also focus on the development of a snack stand, to be added to the current site of the picnic area, which will offer food and drinks as well as pool games and activities for purchase in addition to complimentary life jacket rentals. Also slated for upgrade is the installation of chemical control enhancements with a new VersaChlor system, regulating the amount of chlorine entering the pool, optimizing the swimming experience. Additionally, new recreation management software will be added to the pool office – CivicRec. CivicRec will allow greater visibility for activities at Ella Redkey Pool, provide online registration and payment solutions, and an easier check-in process.
Pacific Powers says Hold On To Your Balloons.
Balloons capture the imagination with their aspirational upward drift. But their lighter-than-air quality can get out of hand, literally, and have unintended consequences for the power grid.
“Balloons may seem like small things,” said Joe Cissna, Pacific Power’s director of safety and training. “But when escaped balloons touch power lines or substations, even the smallest amount of metal content material can conduct electricity. This can interfere with lines, causing power fluctuations and outages.”
In 2019, Pacific Power recorded 22 instances where balloons caused outages somewhere in the three states the company serves. Each year since 2015, balloons caused between 20 and 30 outages, roughly the same number of outages as those caused by lightning.
“While this may not seem like very many events,” Cissna said, “unlike lightning-caused outages, these are preventable. If we can keep customers from being inconvenienced by asking people to be more careful about how they handle balloons, we’ll do it.”
There are steps you can take to help minimize the potential dangers:
- Keep the balloons indoors where they can’t rise into overhead power lines or drift into contact with transformers or substations.
- Make sure the string for each balloon is securely attached and short enough to control its direction.
- Attach a weight to the balloon’s string so it cannot float away, and never intentionally release metallic balloons.
- Deflate balloons after the holiday and keep as a memento or dispose of properly. Birds and squirrels have been known to carry balloon remnants onto lines.
- Never chase a loose balloon across streets or attempt to retrieve a balloon from a power line or substation.
If you notice a balloon near a power line, do not try to retrieve it. Report it to Pacific Power by calling 1-888-222-7070 anytime.
Around The State
A Chilean company notified Oregon state officials Tuesday that it will shutter a Eugene fiberboard mill and lay off all 84 workers on May 1.
Arauco North America said the closure results from an “economic imbalance” in the U.S. market for medium density fiberboard, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The company said it will shift Eugene production work to its other U.S. facilities. The Eugene facility opened in 1962, according to the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce.
The chamber says Arauco uses local lumber mill by-products and converts them into fiberboard for home construction.
…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.
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