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, your local health and Medicare agents.
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Klamath Basin Weather
Today A 30% chance of showers before 11am. Mostly sunny, with a high near 62.
Wednesday Sunny, with a high near 76.
Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 76.
Friday Sunny, with a high near 73.
Saturday Sunny, with a high near 76.
Today’s Headlines
The daughter of a Klamath Falls resident said her 75-year-old mother died less than 72 hours after receiving her first dose of the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine.
Carrie Creswell said her mother, Darlene Bartholomew was given her first dose on April 23 at Sky Lakes Medical Center. By Monday, April 26 her mother was found dead inside her home.
Creswell said she asked her mother if she had consulted her primary doctor about getting the vaccine. She said her mother told her that she was getting it done through Sky Lakes Medical Center that has her medical history on file and called her to set up the appointment. Creswell said she wanted her mother to consult with her primary doctor because of her various pre-existing conditions, including Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a heart condition.
Since Bartholomew’s death, Creswell said she has been contacted by the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Moderna. Bartholomew leaves behind four children, 15 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and one great-grandchild on the way.
There are two new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 2,624. Oregon Health Authority reported 284 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the state total to 198,972.
The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Benton (6), Clackamas (46), Clatsop (1), Columbia (2), Coos (3), Crook (3), Curry (1), Deschutes (11), Douglas (8), Harney (2), Jackson (19), Jefferson (4), Josephine (3), Lane (30), Lincoln (1), Linn (17), Marion (32), Multnomah (48), Polk (9), Sherman (1), Wasco (1), Washington (27) and Yamhill (9).
The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 266, which is 18 more than yesterday. There are 75 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is four more than yesterday.
Local disease forecasters are expecting COVID-19 cases to start climbing back up in the fall and winter. Right now, with 85% of the country able to get the shot, 30% are opting out and considering kids under 12 can’t get vaccinated yet, that leaves plenty of space for variants to continue to circulate.
One of the larger problems Oregonians are facing right now, has been the differing messages we’ve heard on mask wearing, indoor and outdoor activity, and when the right time would be to reopen. While the country is expected to see a rise in cases, Oregon looks to be will either be plateauing or trending downward depending on how quickly the states reinstate safety guidelines.
The 173rd Mission Support Group wrapped up their week-long Task Qualification Training at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls earlier this month.
Task Qualification Training is a shop-level training program and its purpose is to ensure that each unit has the ability to perform their duties in a contested environment. The TQT took approximately a month to plan, prepare and organize all facets of the training, then another week to perform the tasks of the specified training, as well as Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive training.
To prepare for the unexpected or for deployed situations is important for Airmen to gain experience and comfortability while donning their Mission Oriented Protective Posture gear before placement into a contested environment. This Task Qualification Training was created by the 173rd MSG leadership and is in the beginning stages of expanding to other group-level units around the base.
Around the state of Oregon
The Oregon House of Representatives on Monday voted unanimously to pass a bill that would require a semester of civics for all high school students before graduation, sending it on to Governor Kate Brown for signature.
Senate Bill 513 passed the Oregon Senate with widespread support in April. The bill ensures that students receive dedicated class time over a semester-long civics education course. The Oregon Department of Education already provided standards for education on civics and government, but it is usually touched on in social studies courses instead of being taught in a single course.
SB 513 promises to provide a “robust, dedicated civics course” so that every student gets a strong grounding in civics, supporters say. Having passed both chambers, SB 513 heads to Governor Brown’s desk for signing into law.
Oregon ranks dead last in the nation when it comes to providing a comfortable environment for veterans to retire, according to a recent report by personal finance website WalletHub.
The WalletHub study looked at three major areas in all 50 states and the District of Columbia: economic environment, quality of life, and health care. Within those categories, WalletHub looked at thirty specific factors — including state taxes on military pensions, share of homeless veterans, and number of VA health facilities per veteran.
States that received top marks in the report were Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, South Dakota, and Alaska. At the bottom were Rhode Island, Nevada, D.C., Vermont, and Oregon. Oregon tied with California, Hawaii, Nevada, and D.C. with the highest percentage of homeless veterans in the nation. It also ranked in the bottom five for availability of affordable housing. Neighboring California also got low marks in a number of categories — due in part to the fact that it was in the bottom five for number of veterans per capita.
Bend Firefighter/Paramedic Jared Hopper was off-duty Friday morning and on his way to his second job when he saw heavy smoke billowing out of a house in Prineville.
Firefighter Hopper noted the smoke and a distressed neighbor and stopped to find out what was happening. The neighbor said there was a disabled woman who lived in the home on Mariposa Ave. 28 year old Firefighter/Paramedic Hopper, who has worked with Bend Fire Department for three years, didn’t hesitate and ran into the smoke filled home.
Inside the home, Hopper found a woman with a broken foot and lifted her into her wheelchair. Hopper made his way out of the smoke filled home before the home became uninhabitable. After pushing her across the street Hopper made sure the woman was ok and didn’t need medical treatment for smoke inhalation. Hopper gives credit to the neighbor, who was the first on scene and called 911. The neighbor went into the house and closed all the doors to the garage, which helped keep the fire mostly isolated to the garage, Hopper said.