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.
Friday, January 8, 2021
Klamath Basin Weather
Today Morning snow, mainly before 8am. High near 38. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
Saturday Partly sunny, with a high near 37.
Sunday Partly sunny, with a high near 42.
See Road Camera Views:
Lake of the Woods
Doak Mtn.
Hiway 97 at Chemult
Hiway 140 at Bly
Hiway 97 at GreenSprings Dr.
Hiway 97 at LaPine
Today’s Headlines
A quick blanket of snow fell on the Klamath Basin this morning in the early morning hours, making the morning commute in the area rather treacherous. Highway 140 at Lake of the Woods is packed with snow today.
The typical Klamath Falls sunshine is already out and the day should be mostly sunny with a high of 38 degrees expected today.
Klamath County’s two school districts were scrambling on Thursday afternoon after learning that their plan to expand in-person learning may leave them exposed to legal risk.
The Klamath County School District Board of Directors held a joint emergency meeting with the board from Klamath Falls City Schools to address whether they should proceed with plans to bring students back into classrooms on January 11.
The concern springs from a bill passed on December 23 in the Oregon legislature that shields schools from COVID-19 liability.
But, according to KCSD, a memo from the Oregon School Boards Association recently revealed that those protections only apply if districts follow all state guidance — including the coronavirus metrics that kept schools from holding in-person classes to begin with.
According to KCSD, the district had some limited liability protection when school started back up in the fall with K-3 students in classrooms and rural students on hybrid models.
COVID-19 has claimed 10 more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 1,568, the Oregon Health Authority reported this morning. They also reported 867 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. today, bringing the state total to 121,085.
Klamath County reported 3 new cases yesterday.
COVID-19 hospitalizations: The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 462, which is 18 fewer than yesterday.
There are 91 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is 29 fewer than yesterday. The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (3), Benton (30), Clackamas (44), Clatsop (1), Columbia (1), Coos (7), Crook (15), Curry (1), Deschutes (44), Douglas (14), Grant (3), Harney (3), Hood River (10), Jackson (71), Jefferson (20), Josephine (5), Klamath (3), Lake (10), Lane (76), Lincoln (7), Linn (33), Malheur (17), Marion (134), Morrow (3), Multnomah (17), Polk (27), Sherman (10), Tillamook (7), Umatilla (159), Union (14), Wallowa (2), Wasco (9), Washington (33) and Yamhill (34).
The Klamath County Board of Commissioners is considering whether to change the structure of county departments after Commissioner Derrick DeGroot proposed a plan to consolidate the current 26 department heads down to four or five.
The board tabled the discussion to revisit it at their meeting Jan. 12 as they did not reach a consensus on Wednesday.
DeGroot has proposed restructuring county departments for the last three years and said he again brought the idea before the board to improve communication between the commissioners and the dozens of departments.
Commissioner Donnie Boyd said he didn’t think major changes were needed. He said whenever he feels uninformed about what a department is doing, he can reach out to that department more often for updates.
Commissioner Kelley Minty Morris is also hesitant to make the move while the county continues to struggle with the effects of COVID-19-related restrictions and while millions of Americans remain unemployed.
A Klamath Falls man is facing attempted assault charges after reports that he allegedly assaulted his girlfriend and witnesses Tuesday night in the parking lot of Taco Bell and Jack in the Box on Washburn Way.
A witness called 911 reporting that Christian Wilkinson, 30, was assaulting his girlfriend in the parking lot around 10 p.m. Tuesday.
According to the probable cause statement, three Taco Bell employees tried to help the woman, and Wilkinson revved his car’s engine and tried to run them over.
Klamath County District Attorney Eve Costello said Wilkinson fled police officers on foot and then in a vehicle. Law enforcement ended the chase because of the risk of Wilkinson’s driving to people in the area. Costello said he later returned to Taco Bell to confront the witnesses, where Wilkinson was arrested.
He is facing three counts of second-degree attempted assault, three counts of unlawful use of a weapon, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and interfering with peace officer.
The National Weather Serivce says a WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT all day Today.
Southwest winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph are expected for Portions of Modoc, Klamath, and Lake Counties, including Highway 31 between Paisely and Summer Lake, Highway 395 near Abert Lake, and the higher terrain of Winter Rim and the Warner and Hart Mountains. Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.
Driving could become difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Blowing snow, especially at higher elevations, could create additional hazards due to reduced visibility.
Around the state of Oregon
The Oregon Employment Department has implemented changes from the recently passed Continued Assistance for Unemployed Workers Act. Unemployment payments continue for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Extended Benefits.
They also started adding the extra 300-dollars a week to payments. They’re still waiting for federal guidance on a new program for people who are self-employed and also have jobs that get regular unemployment benefits. That will take several weeks to put into effect.
Electric Vehicle Production Plant Growing in Eugene
We’re getting word that Arcimoto Company has agreed to purchase a manufacturing site in Eugene which is more than five times the size of its current facility.
The 185,000-square-foot site will play a key role in achieving mass production of Arcimoto’s ultra-efficient electric vehicles within two years, the company said.
“In 2020 we articulated an aggressive goal to achieve mass production within two years,” said Mark Frohnmayer, Arcimoto founder and chief executive officer. “We believe the acquisition of this existing manufacturing facility is a critical leap toward our goal.”
“Purchasing an existing facility helps reduce risk during scale,” said Jesse Fittipaldi, chief strategy officer. “Instead of spending time designing and then building a new factory, we can start right away with facility retrofits and production line layout. We are thrilled that this site became available at an opportune moment in our planning process.”
The site is located on Chambers St. The sale is contingent on the company’s approval of the property, zoning and land use restrictions and an environmental assessment. Closing is scheduled for March 31.
Oregon Congressman Earl Blumeanuer says President Trump should be removed from office under the 25th Amendment. Trump has but two weeks left in the White House.
According toBlumenauer, he insists the President sent a mob down Pennsylvania Avenue to attack and take over the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of an election that he lost. Blumenauer says Trump needs to be removed immediately. He’s urging Vice President Mike Pence and members of the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the President because he’s unfit to serve.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon says the armed Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol building yesterday committed an assault on democracy. In a statement, Wyden said the riot by insurrectionists caps off four years of Donald Trump fanning the flames of fanaticism. Wyden says every Republican lawmaker who supported the president’s effort to overturn a legitimate election shares responsibility for the violence that occurred.
Oregon recreational-cannabis sales soared in 2020, peaking during a challenging summer of racial justice protests and coronavirus lockdowns.
The result was a record year of business for the state’s marijuana purveyors, based on data from the Oregon Liquor Control Commission, which oversees marijuana sales, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
Total marijuana sales in Oregon jumped from $795 million in 2019 to more than $1 billion — $1,110,520,723 — for the year that just ended.
Oregonians began buying a lot more recreational cannabis in March when Gov. Kate Brown instituted a stay-at-home order and other restrictions in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sales numbers for marijuana spiked about 20% in March and kept climbing in the following months. In May, Oregon marijuana sales topped $100 million in a single month for the first time. Sales then surpassed $100 million in each of the three months that followed as well, with a high of more than $106 million in July.
On Thursday, January 7, 2021 at approximately 5:30 P.M., Oregon State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a vehicle that struck a pedestrian on Hwy 101 near milepost 358.
Preliminary investigation revealed a Dodge car, operated by Kristen Batey (44) of Brookings, was northbound when it struck Makenzie Long (28) of Brookings who was in the the northbound lane of Hwy 101.
Long was transported to the hospital where she was pronounced deceased.
The second phase of clean-up following the Almeda Fire is at last set to begin within the coming weeks, according to Jackson County officials.
Crews contracted by the federal EPA largely wrapped up efforts to remove hazardous waste from the burn areas in November. Though those crews removed roughly 300,000 pounds of waste from damaged Oregon properties, it only represents a small fraction of the debris left behind in the wake of those September fires. The next step is to remove ash, structural debris, concrete foundations, and other debris. This process will begin around mid-January, Jackson County said.
Oregon Wildfire Recovery cleanup crews are continuing their preparations of staging equipment, completing environmental testing and coordinating with property owners to begin Step 2 of the Almeda Fire ash and debris removal,. Once this second step is completed, properties will be ready for rebuilding.
Property owners will receive a letter from Oregon DEQ stating that the clean-up is finished.
More than half of 2020 Oregon deer and elk tag holders still haven’t reported results of their hunts. The deadline for most is 11:59 p.m. Jan. 31.
Most reports are due Jan. 31 for hunts ending by the end of 2020, but those extending into 2021 are due April 15. By Wednesday (Jan. 6), unreported numbers were: Elk – 77,945 of 122,292 issued; buck deer – 95,760 of 152,651 issued; antlerless deer – 6,275 of 9,623 issued. Failure to report deer or elk by the deadline results in a $25 penalty, due before the hunter can be issued a 2022 license.
There is no penalty for non-reporting of pronghorn and turkey hunts, but tag holders typically report those at the same time as deer and elk.
Salem, Oregon – Leading a group of five Oregon performing artists awarded 2021 Individual Artists Fellowships, Okaidja Afroso and Michelle Fujii will share the Oregon Arts Commission’s honorary 2021 Joan Shipley Award.
The three additional performing artists awarded 2021 Fellowships are Michael Cavazos, Heidi Duckler and Darryl Thomas. All 2021 Fellows receive $5,000 awards.
The Joan Shipley Award is named for Oregon arts leader Joan Shipley, who passed away in 2011. Shipley was a collector, philanthropist and supporter of many arts and humanities organizations. In 2005, she and her husband John received an Oregon Governor’s Arts Award. Many in the arts community also counted her as a mentor and friend.
The Arts Commission’s Fellowship program is open to more than 20,000 artists who call Oregon home. Applications to the program are reviewed by a panel of Oregon arts professionals who consider artists of outstanding talent, demonstrated ability and commitment to the creation of new work(s). The Arts Commission reviews and acts on the panel’s recommendations for fellowship recipients. A total of 113 applications were received for 2021 Fellowships. Performing and visual artists are honored in alternating years.
The review panel for the 2021 Fellowships was Christopher Acebo, chair, Arts Commissioner; Alito Alessi, artistic director of DanceAbility International; Alexandra Dass, dancer; Darrell Grant, 2020 Governor’s Arts Award recipient, jazz pianist and educator; Anthony Hudson, FY2019 Fellowship recipient and multidisciplinary artist, writer, performer and filmmaker; Isabelle LaForet Senger, violinist and executive director/founder of High Desert Chamber Music.
For over 20 years the Yachats Lions Club has held an “all the Crab you can eat” event in Yachats, Oregon. The annual trek to Yachats to eat Dungeness Crab is a tradition for families and groups from across Oregon and Washington.
This years’ crab feed will be a little different due to covid-19, we will be selling crab
meals available for take-out only. It will consist of one whole local crab, cole slaw,
and homemade bread. Meals will be available for pick-up (scheduled times) at the
Lions Hall, 344 4th Street, Yachats, Oregon.
The $25 per person tickets are available for sale online at
https://yachatslionsclub.org/
You can select your pickup time and order as many meals as you like. Kevin Yorks, coordinator of the popular crab feed this year says, “We get great support from the community and local businesses in Yachats, Waldport and Newport. South Beach Fish Market cooks and cleans the best tasting local crab you ever ate.”
All proceeds from the annual crab feed fundraiser supports Lions Community service projects with scholarships to graduating seniors, food pantries, the Preschool and after school programs of the Yachats Youth and Family program, South Lincoln Resources programs, eyeglasses for children and adults. With the motto “WE SERVE,” Yachats Lions Club is celebrating 71 years of service to Yachats and South Lincoln County. The Yachats Lions Thrift Store across 4th Street from the Yachats Commons, has served our community for more than 40 years.