Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM/102.5FM, BasinLife.com and The Herald & News.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2020
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
Sunny, with a high near 59. Light and variable wind. Overnight, cloudy with a low around 30 degrees.
Wednesday
Sunny, with a high near 61.
Thursday
Sunny, with a high near 63. Calm wind.
Friday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 63.
Saturday
A slight chance of rain and snow before 7am, then rain during the day. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49.
Road Conditions
Traveling? Click and check these cameras below for the latest road conditions.
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.
Residents in Klamath County have a new option when it comes to dental care.
The Dental Hygiene Clinic at Oregon Institute of Technology previously was only able to provide preventive services, such as cleanings, radiographs, screenings and fluoride. Now with the addition of a full time dentist, Dr. Andrew Bernhard, the Oregon Tech Dental Clinic provides a full range of dental services to Klamath Falls and the surrounding communities.
Shared department chair Paula Russell said last year 58 Oregon Tech Dental Hygiene students provided discounted services to over 5,200 patients most of which are uninsured. According to Bernhard receiving dental hygiene care in their clinic is unique due to the educational nature of the program; appointments with students are generally three hours. However, in return for their time patients receive the highest quality of preventive care at a fraction of the cost they would pay in a private dental practice.
Klamath County School District’s food services director has received the OSU Extension Service Cooperator Award for his work in procuring local foods for school cafeterias, promoting nutrition education, and helping to secure more than $200,000 in federal and state grants for Farm to School programs.
Chris Dalla, who has worked for the district since 2014 is responsible for overseeing the preparation and delivery of 1 million student meals each year. For the past five years, he has partnered with OSU Extension, helping staff understand the barriers and opportunities in school food service.
The annual award honors individuals, organizations and businesses who have made significant contributions to OSU Extension programs.
Bloopers and blunders in local history will be recalled in the Klamath County Museum’s “Fourth Annual Leap Year Party,” set for 7 p.m. this Saturday.
The light-hearted program will feature examples of community projects and programs over the years that did not turn out as expected. Examples of development efforts that yielded disappointing returns include prospecting for oil at various locations in the Klamath Basin in the 1920s.
Other quirky tidbits of history include efforts to produce artificial falls in Klamath Falls, mistaken reports of President Theodore Roosevelt having visited the city, and the time when Klamath had three county courthouses at one time.
The hour-long program is free and open to anyone interested. Fun refreshments will be served during the party.
Around the region
Coronavirus updates from the OHA. The Oregon Health Authority will begin weekly updates on persons under monitoring and persons under investigation for coronavirus as state epidemiologists, local public health officials and federal partners continue their investigation of the disease that has sickened tens of thousands of people worldwide.
Starting today, and continuing every Tuesday OHA will post data on persons who are under monitoring and persons who are under investigation on its website http://healthoregon.org/coronavirus.
The OHA emphasizes there still are no cases of COVID-19 in Oregon. Because there are no cases, risk to the public remains low.
A civil rights lawsuit filed by a federal agency accuses the owners of a Medford restaurant of subjecting employees to sexual abuse and harassment, even after a manager was convicted on a criminal charge of harassment involving an employee.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against New China, Inc. last week in U.S. District Court in Medford. The lawsuit draws from two complaints filed with the EEOC and Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, which described a hostile work environment for female employees. The complaints included allegations that a restaurant manager repeatedly subjected young women inappropriate touching since at least July 2017 and asked a 15-year-old employee to text him nude pictures of herself, according to information from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The EEOC alleges that despite the repeated employee complaints and the manager’s guilty plea, the restaurant failed to stop Gan’s behavior or discharge him.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund Program is now accepting applications for the 2020 grant cycle. The federally funded reimbursement grant program provides matching grants to state and local governments for land acquisition, development and rehabilitation for public outdoor recreation areas and facilities.
Eligible applicants: cities, counties, metropolitan service districts, park and recreation districts, port districts, Tribal governments, and specified state agencies. Eligible applicants should apply online via the Oregon Parks and Recreation grant application website: oprdgrants.org.
The application deadline is April 13.
Returning applicants should use their existing account to login and complete
the application. New applicants will need request an account via the grants
website; requests can take up to three days to process.
Two workshops will be held in March to help new and returning applicants navigate the application process and learn about the program:
- Webinar workshop: 1 – 4 p.m., March 3. Register in advance via the GoTo Meeting webinar portal on register.gotowebinar.com.
- In-person workshop: 9 a.m. – noon, March 9 in Salem. To register email Nohemi Enciso, Land and Water Conservation Fund Program coordinator, at nohemi.enciso@oregon.gov.
The Land and Water Conservation Fund Program is administrated by Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. Approximately $5 million in matching grants is available for 2020. The program has awarded over $55 million in grant funds to Oregon communities since its inception in 1964.
Spring chinook salmon could return on the Columbia River in the second lowest numbers in 21 years, according to Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
This year’s forecasted return of 81,700 upriver spring chinook is up 12% from last year’s return of 73,100, which was the lowest since 1999, the News Tribune in Tacoma, Washington, reported Sunday.The record low return was just 12,000 fish in 1995.The projected return this year is just 43% of the 10-year average for chinook returning to hatcheries and spawning areas upriver from the Bonneville Dam.
Poor ocean conditions continue to play a significant role in lower projected returns, said Ryan Lothrop, Columbia River policy coordinator for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
U.S. Interior Department officials are seeking to bolster their case for easing restrictions on energy development, mining and grazing in Western states inhabited by a declining bird species.
A federal judge in Idaho blocked the Trump administration plans last year over concerns that they could harm greater sage grouse, a ground-dwelling bird.Assistant Interior Secretary Casey Hammond says a new set of environmental studies published Friday clarifies the steps the government will take to conserve the bird’s habitat.
The Interior Department opened a 45-day public comment period on the studies that cover millions of acres of public lands in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and California.
…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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