The latest and most comprehensive coverage of local News, Sports, Business, and Community News stories in the Klamath Basin, Southern Oregon and around the state of Oregon from Wynne Broadcasting’s KFLS News/Talk 1450AM / 102.5FM, The Herald & News, and BasinLife.com, and powered by Mick Insurance.
Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Klamath Basin Weather
Wednesday, Veterans Day Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high near 40. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Overnight mostly clear, with a low around 21.
Thursday Partly sunny, with a high near 45. Calm wind becoming southwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Chance or rain overnight, low of 31.
Friday Snow likely before 10am, then rain and snow between 10am and 1pm, then rain after 1pm. Snow level rising to 5500 feet in the afternoon. High near 44. South southwest wind 8 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.
Saturday A chance of rain and snow before 7am, then a chance of snow between 7am and 1pm, then a chance of rain and snow after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 42. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.
Sunday A chance of snow before 10am, then a slight chance of rain and snow between 10am and 1pm, then a slight chance of rain after 1pm. Snow level rising to 5900 feet in the afternoon. Partly sunny, with a high near 45.
Today’s Headlines
Today is Veteran’s Day. The Klamath Basin is celebrating Veterans Day a little differently this year. In Klamath Falls, a drive-thru convoy will replace the usual parade today.
Participants will gather and line up at 9 a.m. with the convoy beginning at 10 a.m. to head down Main Street. The convoy will be followed by an 11 a.m. event at Veterans Park.
The event will feature speakers, along with the unveiling of a new Basin Transit Service program that will allow Klamath County veterans to ride BTS for free.
Various veterans’ organizations in town will be hosting meals on Wednesday as well. The American Legion will have free breakfast and lunch. Breakfast will be biscuits and gravy from 8 to 10 a.m. and lunch will be chili from noon to 3 p.m. The Leatherneck Club will have a free spaghetti lunch for members only at noon.
The VFW will serve a 6 p.m. prime rib dinner. The cost is $20 for members or $25 for nonmembers. People can buy raffle tickets throughout the day to enter into a drawing for a 2003 Honda motorcycle and a Remington rifle.
Flags will be placed on Main Street by the American Legion and at Klamath Memorial Park by the VFW. Tulelake will have its 13th annual Veteran’s Day celebration at Tulelake Veteran’s Park beginning at 11 a.m. Tulelake Elementary School fifth and sixth graders will read from entries in this year’s Tulelake Basin Republican Women Federated essay contest. This year’s theme was: “Why is it important to vote”
Oregon health officials reported 771 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, marking a continuation of the state’s recent spike in COVID-19.
The new cases are in the following counties: Baker (7), Benton (13), Clackamas (110), Clatsop (2), Columbia (3), Coos (8), Crook (9), Curry (1), Deschutes (30), Douglas (18), Grant (3), Harney (3), Hood River (2), Jackson (56), Jefferson (7), Josephine (3), Klamath (7), Lane (49), Lincoln (3), Linn (18), Malheur (15), Marion (90), Multnomah (151), Polk (15), Umatilla (23), Union (8), Wallowa (1), Wasco (2), Washington (95) and Yamhill (19).
The Oregon Health Authority said have been nearly 52,000 identified cases in the state since the pandemic began.
A majority of the most recent cases were reported in Multnomah (151), Clackamas (110), and Washington (95) counties. The latest increase in COVID-19 cases reflects a recent increase in the number of daily reported cases. Over the weekend, the state saw a new record daily jump in cases with 988. The governor announced that nine counties will be put on a two-week ‘social pause’ starting Wednesday.
Currently, Klamath County is NOT on that list. Klamath County Public Health (KCPH) officials reported four new cases of COVID-19 in the community on Monday, Nov. 10, according to a news release. The local case count is 490. This week’s total is 20.
Crater Lake National Park’s North Entrance Road and Rim Drive have been closed for the winter season. All visitors to Crater Lake National Park must use Highway 62 to access the park from the south or west during these closures.
The North Entrance Road and Rim Drive, with elevations from 5,850 to 7,960 feet above sea level, receive an average of more than 40 feet of snow each year and are not plowed from fall to late spring because of deep drifts, avalanche risk, and other dangerous conditions.
The North Entrance Road and Rim Drive will reopen in the late spring or early summer of 2021. Exact dates for road openings depend on snow depths each year. Effective Nov. 1, Crater Lake National Park has been charging winter entrance fees of $20 per car, $15 per motorcycle, and $15 per person on foot or bike. This fee is good for seven days and is collected at the Annie Creek Entrance Station.
It is also possible to purchase an annual pass for Crater Lake National Park for $55, which is honored at both Crater Lake and Lava Beds National Monument. Annual passes for Lava Beds are also accepted at Crater Lake.
With Election Day in the rear view mirror, votes from Klamath County residents are still coming in. But local turnout in this election has already surpassed 2016, and there were no major issues during the collection or the counting.
Klamath County Clerk Rochelle Long anticipates that once ballots are fully counted, voter turnout for Klamath County could rise to 75 or 76%. A few hundred outstanding ballots are expected to trickle in from Klamath County voters who dropped off their ballots outside the county. Long said the votes are from Klamath County residents who, for instance, are going to school in another area or dropped their ballot off at a drop site outside Klamath County for any reason.
She anticipates receiving more than 360 ballots from residents who submitted their ballot at a drop site outside Klamath County.
La Niña is here, and meteorologists say it may bring a particularly eventful winter to Oregon this year.
The temperature change in the equatorial Pacific Ocean will likely have significant impacts on weather throughout the northern hemisphere during the next few months. And there’s a chance it could result in a better water year for 2021.
Friday and Saturday’s snow and cold temperatures ended a particularly resilient high-pressure ridge that had been keeping southern Oregon warm and dry well into autumn.
Systems like this weekend’s are more likely to occur under La Niña conditions, which tend to result in cooler, wetter weather in the Pacific Northwest. Late in the summer, strong trade winds pushed warm surface water along the equator in the eastern Pacific westward toward Australia and Indonesia, allowing colder, deeper water to replace it. The western Pacific’s abnormally warm water causes it to experience stronger storms, which pump moisture into the upper atmosphere and send it back east across the Pacific, where it cools, sinks and begins the cycle again.
Search & Rescue volunteers in Siskiyou County worked to find and recover three hikers stranded on Mount Shasta over the weekend, the Sheriff’s Office said on Monday.
Around 5:15 p.m. on Saturday, the Sheriff’s Office said that it received a 911 call from two men reporting a lost hiker in the Clear Creek Trailhead area on Mt. Shasta. The men reported that they had been separated from their friend and needed help. The hikers said that they had reached the summit around 2:30 p.m. and started to descend the mountain, hoping to reach their car before nightfall. When they realized that they wouldn’t make it in time, the Sheriff’s Office said that they did a Google search to find the fastest route down.
As they started on the new route, one of the hikers became separated, prompting the other two to call 911. By 8 a.m. on Sunday, a larger search began. By 10:30 a.m., SAR hikers found two of the missing hikers “alive and well,” but the third man remained missing. At that point, California Highway Patrol’s Northern Division Operations helicopter was called in to assist, quickly finding fresh tracks in the snow.
Rescuers found the third hiker around 11 a.m., taking him to Mercy Mt. Shasta Hospital as a precaution. The Sheriff’s Office said that two of the men were wearing winter clothing, but the third was in a hooded sweatshirt, jeans, and tennis shoes.
Doing Our Part to Flatten the Curve
HealthyKlamath.org and BlueZonesProject remind you that our community is the core of the Blue Zones Project® Power 9® Principles.
In recent weeks, our community has seen a dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases. Whether you are a parent, a student, a spouse, caring for an aging parent, have an underlying health condition, or are a committed and concerned community member, it is important to continue to do our best to follow best practices surrounding disease prevention:
- Stay home when you don’t feel well
- Wash your hands often
- Wear a face covering in public
- Maintain a distance of 6 feet when around people you don’t live with
Did you know? Many diseases, including COVID-19, are contagious before people even show symptoms. Remember, my face mask protects you, and your face mask protects me. On a larger scale, you might not feel an immediate risk to your own health, but people you come in contact with may have concerns beyond that moment of interaction. They could have a loved one with health risks, or a spouse whose job is essential to providing care to others. Please, don’t be the cause of school or workplace closures or major impacts to someone else’s well-being.
Suffering from COVID fatigue? Along with our partners in the Healthy Klamath Coalition, we’ve put together a resource hub to help connect the community to timely information. Resources range from balancing working from home to healthcare information. Visit www.healthyklamath.org/covid-19 for local resources.
Around the state of Oregon
Troubling hospitalization trends
Governor Kate Brown held a news conference today regarding Oregon’s Covid-19 cases, with Dr. Dana Hargunani, Chief Medical Officer for Oregon Health Authority, and Dr. Renee Edwards, Chief Medical Officer of Oregon Health & Science University, as well as several representatives from Oregon hospitals. Leaders addressed Oregon’s increase in patients who are hospitalized with COVID-19.
Currently there are 285 hospitalized patients who have tested positive for COVID-19. The number of people who have been hospitalized has more than doubled over the past week and has increased 83% in the past four weeks. While Oregon has more available ventilators than earlier in the pandemic, the increase in hospitalization is troubling.
Oregonians can help flatten the curve by following Dr. Hargunani’s suggestion, “Let’s repay our health care heroes by taking seriously the recommendations to stay physically distant, wear face coverings when interacting with anyone who lives outside your household and taking the difficult step of avoiding gatherings even as we enter the holiday season.”
Oregon’s centralized voter registration system is a weak point in the state’s election system, county clerks told the secretary of state-elect, days after the incumbent fired the state elections director after he raised similar concerns.
Secretary of State Bev Clarno fired Election Director Stephen Trout on Thursday after he pointed out “major technology challenges ahead in elections.”
Clarno’s action shocked county clerks, who are responsible for running elections in their respective counties and sending results to the state. Trout’s concerns were outlined in a letter, a copy of which The Associated Press obtained, that he sent on the eve of the election to Democratic candidate Shemia Fagan and Republican candidate Kim Thatcher. Fagan won by a 7% margin. Both are state senators.
Trout had pointed out that some of the election systems are running on Windows Server 2008 that Microsoft stopped supporting last January; a lack of multifactor authentication for officials accessing election systems that can create opportunities for hacking; and that public-facing websites are threaded through one power supply with only one internet connection, with no redundancy.
FATAL CRASH ON HWY 26 – WASHINGTON COUNTY
On Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at approximately 1:50 P.M., Oregon State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a three vehicle collision on Hwy 26 near milepost 35.
Preliminary investigation revealed a Toyota 4Runner, operated by an adult male from Portland, was westbound when it went into the eastbound lanes and collided with a Ford Transit commercial van operated by Michael Kromm (34) from Salem. The 4Runner then collided with a Toyota Tacoma operated by Michael Young (69) from Portland.
The operator of the 4Runner sustained fatal injuries and was pronounced deceased. His name will be released when it is appropriate.
Kromm was transported to an area hospital.
Young and his passenger, Lea Young (68) from Portland, were not transported.
Hwy 26 was closed for approximately three hours.
A man is facing nearly two years behind bars after being convicted of beating a man during a protest in Portland over the summer.
A judge sentenced 26-year-old Marquise Love to 20 months in prison yesterday for the assault August 16th near Southwest Taylor and Broadway. Love pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and felony riot. Video of the incident shows Love beating Adam Haner until he was unconscious. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office says Love apologized and expressed remorse during yesterday’s sentencing hearing.
The Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) is pleased to announce the graduation of its 401st Basic Police Class.
The Basic Police Class is 16-weeks in length and includes dozens of training areas including survival skills, firearms, emergency vehicle operations, ethics, cultural diversity, problem solving, community policing, elder abuse, drug recognition, and dozens of other subjects.
Basic Police Class 401 will graduate during a private ceremony at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem, Oregon on Thursday, November 19, 2020 at 1:30 p.m.
Due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the need for social distancing the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training regret that this ceremony will be closed to the public. However, we would like to publicly congratulate Basic Police #BP401 on their successful completion of basic training
Graduating members of BP 401 include among others:
Police Officer Hannah Anderson
Medford Police Department
Police Officer Michael Kissee
Medford Police Department
Police Officer Alexandra Pena
Klamath Falls Police Department
The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST) operates the Oregon Public Safety Academy which spans more than 235 acres in Salem. The Academy is nationally recognized for its innovative training programs and active stakeholder involvement. Les Hallman serves as the Interim Director, and Darren Bucich, Chief of McKenzie Fire & Rescue, serves as the Chair of the Board. The department implements minimum standards established by the Board for the training and certification of more than 40,000 city, tribal, county and state law enforcement officers, corrections officers, parole and probation officers, fire service personnel, telecommunicators, emergency medical dispatchers and private security providers.
Associations representing Oregon’s home builders, bankers and REALTORS® are partnering for the second annual Oregon Housing Economic Summit to be held virtually on January 14, 2021.
The event brings leading housing industry experts, economists, and Oregon legislators together to discuss the state’s housing and economic environment, barriers facing the industry and what the future holds.
Presented by Oregon Home Builders Association, Oregon Bankers Association, and Oregon REALTORS®, the Oregon Housing Economic Summit aims to build consensus around solutions to Oregon’s housing crisis. According to Freddie Mac, Oregon’s housing supply deficit is the worst in the nation.
“Oregon’s housing shortage, combined with the devastation of over 4,000 homes in the recent wildfires, makes it clear that now more than ever we need to come together to discuss solutions to our housing crisis,” says Mark Long, CEO of the Oregon Home Builders Association.
“The pandemic has re-enforced the value of ‘home’ as not just a place to live but now as a place to work and to go to school,” says Jenny Pakula, CEO of Oregon REALTORS®. “Yet home is out of reach for so many in our community because of Oregon’s housing shortage. The Housing Economic Summit will bring together economists, industry leaders, nonprofits and policymakers to discuss how to make it a reality for more Oregonians.”
The Summit is open to the public, but space is limited by the virtual event platform. The event will begin at 9 a.m. with a keynote address on Oregon’s economy, followed by economic, industry and legislative panel discussions. The program concludes at Noon.
Individuals interested in attending are encouraged to register early. Registration is $49 per person. Sponsorships are also available. To register, become an event sponsor, or for general information. visit http://oregonhousingeconomicsummit.com.