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Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023
Klamath Basin Weather
Today
A 30% chance of showers before noon, then gradually becoming sunny, hight near 62 degrees. Southwest wind 6 to 10 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Overnight mostly clear, low of 35.
Today’s Headlines
Sky Lakes Medical Center wants you to know about a Phishing Scam.
Sky Lakes has become aware of a new phishing scam where patients are receiving fake emails or texts representing Sky Lakes telling them that their credit card on file has expired and to click on the link.
Please be advised this is NOT official Sky Lakes communication. Please delete the message. DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Sky Lakes billing department. (Sky Lakes Medical Center)
The Marsh Fire north of Chiloquin burning on the Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge continues to burn. It’s just 3% contained and over 3,000 acres burned in Northwern Klamath County.
The March Fire is currently being held to the north at Military Crossing Rd and to the east by containment line.
The environment continues to pose challenges to firefighters as the fire burns in a southwesterly direction. Today crews will focus on mopping up along containment lines on the north and east sides of the fire.
They are using a specialized vehicle called a Marsh Master to scout and assess access to the fire on the southwest side for more accurate fire line placement. No evacuations are in place at this time. The public is advised to use caution while driving in the area and avoid using Military Crossing Road.
Fire Officials are asking the public to avoid the area of the fire so that fire resources can continue to provide suppression efforts.
A fire camp has been established at the Chiloquin Rodeo Grounds. The public is asked to drive with care and be aware that the incident may cause an increase in fire traffic along Military Crossing Road and Silver Lake Highway. (scofmp press release)
Two telecommunications companies are installing fiberoptic lines this week along streets in Klamath Falls.
News releases from city staff received Monday afternoon said installation crews with Lumen — formerly known as CenturyLink — will be installing both aerial and underground lines along and across a segment of South Sixth Street, spanning from South Broad Street to Spring Street.
Charter Communications is already in the process of installing fiberoptic lines in the area, the other release said, with work that began Monday morning.
Charter’s aerial line installations are located along Shasta and Washburn Ways. The portion of Washburn Way is along the western side of the block between Shasta and Union Avenue. Lines installed along Shasta way will be along half of the block just west of Washburn Way.
Both projects will impact traffic at their respective sites, and traffic control will be in place.
The Lumen project along South Sixth Street will require lane closures during the daytime hours from Tuesday, Sept. 26 to Friday, Sept. 29 when the install is expected to be complete.
Expected completion date for the Charter project is Wednesday, Sept. 27. (more at HeraldandNews.com)
Klamath Insurance Center (KIC) has recently announced its rebranding as Highstreet Insurance & Financial Services, marking a significant milestone in its journey.
The rebranding reflects the company’s alignment with Highstreet Insurance Partners (HSIP), one of the fastest-growing insurance agencies in the nation.
In 2022, KIC joined HSIP, sharing a vision of helping people pursue life’s opportunities and create more robust, more resilient communities. The rebranding emphasizes the company’s commitment to leveraging collective strength, expertise, and resources to deliver even more value to its clients.
HSIP will celebrate this change with a ribbon cutting on September 27 at 12:00 PM. (submitted press release)
Oregon Tech students return from research gathering in Northern Europe
Two Oregon Tech students, Jaime Kuchle and Tarrah Bickford, embarked on a journey this summer to Finland, Sweden, and Iceland to conduct international research. Their work with Associate Professor Sonja Bickford in the undergraduate business research lab, the Business Research (Rural and Arctic) Group, made this opportunity possible.
Jaime Kuchle, a senior majoring in Marketing, and Tarrah Bickford, a freshman with a double major in Environmental Science and Marketing, pursued diverse research projects in these Northern European countries. Both projects aim to develop strategies and solutions for increasing economic development and tourism in the community and the region.
Jaime’s research project assessed the world of destination branding, and sought to understand its definition and impact on consumer decision-making. By comparing Arctic and Pacific Northwest brands, Jaime explored regional branding strategies and their influence on consumer behavior.
Jaime shared, “This research adventure has been a life-changing experience. Stepping out of my comfort zone and conducting international research has given me unforgettable opportunities, from forming connections with industry leaders to receiving a doctoral thesis that aligns with my work. I now understand the immense value of thinking big and embracing every opportunity.”
Tarrah’s project focused on corporate tourism and corporate retreats, looking at best practices in marketing these experiences. During the trip, she met with tourism-focused retreat entrepreneurs and branding and marketing agencies.
Tarrah shared, “During our time in Stockholm we were interviewing people in an old town, and I had a wonderful professional come up to me and introduce herself. Turns out, she operates in the corporate travel industry, and she would love to mentor me. This was unexpected – but what an outcome!
“My recommendation for other students is to take advantage of opportunities. If the opportunity makes you a little nervous, but you have a great group to support you, like the students and faculty in the Business Research Group, do it!”
Professor Bickford, whose leadership and mentorship were instrumental in Jaime and Tarrah’s research efforts, emphasized the significance of exposing students to the international market. She believes that this exposure to research and presenting work at academic conferences equips students with essential skills in global communication and business strategy, preparing students for successful careers in the business world.
The work and data collection conducted by the Business Research (Rural and Arctic) Group was supported by private donations that were matched on Oregon Tech’s Give a Hoot Day fundraiser.
For more information about Oregon Institute of Technology and its research initiatives, please visit www.oit.edu.
The Bend Police Department is still actively working on a homicide investigation that occurred in July where the victim’s stolen Honda CR-V was abandoned in Klamath Falls.
During the course of their investigation, Detectives located video surveillance of the suspect abandoning the vehicle and walking away on South 6th Street. At about that same time, the male pictured in the attached image was also seen walking northwest on South 6th Street near Shasta Way. The suspect appears to cross the street in the direction this male was walking.
Detective TJ Knea of the Bend Police Department would like to speak to the male in the picture as a potential witness. The witness male is wearing shoes in this photo that are relatively distinct. A reward may be offered for information leading to the identification of the suspect who walked away from the vehicle.
If you are the male in this picture, or know the potential witness pictured, please contact Detective Knea at 541-948-0980.
People hoping for a clear view of the annular solar eclipse in Oregon will be in Klamath County on Oct. 14, with most going to Crater Lake National Park, the city of Klamath Falls and EclipseFest, a multi-day festival and watch party that received its needed final permit from county commissioners Wednesday.
Permitting for the festival and its overnight camping was decided after a public hearing Wednesday in which residents voiced concerns about traffic, noise and other consequences if the anticipated throng converges on Klamath County to briefly see the moon too far away to completely block out the sun, leaving a “ring of fire” in the sky.
Although the path of the eclipse will be visible across Oregon, especially within a 90-mile-wide band through the southwest corner of the state, the Klamath Basin is expected to have the best chance of clear skies when the eclipse begins, just after 8 a.m. Oct. 14. Crowd estimates throughout Klamath County range from 15,000 to 70,000.
For visitors wanting to stay overnight, local lodging is expected to be booked by the start of October and residents are worried people might trespass on private land, clog up rural areas and overwhelm emergency services in the county with a population of around 70,200.
There is no place left to stay overnight at Crater Lake National Park, which is directly in the path of the eclipse. Park campgrounds will already be closed for the season, as will many other amenities. Crater Lake Lodge, which will stay open through Oct. 15, has no vacancies. Spillover crowds wanting to stay overnight will need to camp at EclipseFest 2023 or find someplace nearby, said officials.
EclipseFest 2023 will be held Oct. 12-15 on a 175-acre parcel of private land at Fort Klamath. The event was granted final approval based on conditions EclipseFest producer Sara Irvine said were “reasonable” and her company would meet. (more at heraldandnews.com)
There are nearly 9,000 roundabouts in the U.S., according to the Federal Highway Administration. The Oregon Department of Transportation maintains 15 roundabouts on state roads, and some cities — Bend, Oregon in particular — have dozens.
Roundabouts are fairly simple: yield when entering, signal upon exiting. Multi-lane roundabouts require a little additional maneuvering into the proper lane. Despite the simplicity, they take some getting used to.
A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggests that if 10% of the signalized intersections in the U.S. were converted to roundabouts, Americans would have reduced vehicle delays by more than 981 million hours and fuel consumption by more than 654 million gallons in 2018 alone.
But more than fuel economy or better commute times, safety is biggest driving factor for building roundabouts.
In the Klamath Falls area, two roundabouts have recently been installed- one on the southside expressway at the intersection of Homedale Road near the airport, and a new roundabout on campus drive near Sky Lakes Medical center and OIT. (local/regional sources)
CommSurf Pro LLC crews will be performing crack seal operations on the streets in the Harbor View industrial park area this week.
On street parking will not be available during construction. Traffic control will be in place during work hours. Please be cautious when travelling around construction zones. Work is expected to take place between September 26th and October 10th between the hours of 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. For any questions or concerns please contact the city of Klamath FallsStreets Division at 541-883-5385. (City of KF press release)
The Klamath Falls Police Department is pleased to introduce their newest police officer, Gustavo Gutierrez.
Gustavo was born in Campeche, Mexico and lived most of his life in Durham, California. Gustavo moved to Klamath Falls in 2016. Gustavo volunteered as a Firefighter/EMT for Fire District 6 and had several job titles for Sky Lakes Medical Center from Health and Wellness Specialist, Emergency Room Technician and Medical Assistant.
Gustavo also serves in the Air National Guard as an Aerospace Medical Technician for the 173rd MDG and served as a KFPD Reserve Police Officer since 2021. Gustavo enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and daughter, soon the family will welcome a baby boy.
Gustavo is excited and eager to start as a full-time officer and looking forward to continuing to serve the community of Klamath Falls. (KFPD press release)
Henley High School in Klamath Falls ranks as 16th best public high school in Oregon, according to a recent report from U.S. News & World Report’s Best High Schools Rankings.
Other local area public high schools in Klamath and Lake counties in Oregon, and Modoc and Siskiyou counties in California received recognition, as well.
There are 471 Oregon high schools, of which 355 are public and 116 are private. California high schools number 3,892 total, with 3,162 public and 730 private. The rankings for each state are numbered using only a top percentage.
Five of six Klamath County School District high schools received rankings (Henley, 16th; Chiloquin, 95th; Lost River, 98th; Bonanza, 100th; and Mazama, 102nd), and one of two high schools in the Klamath Falls City Schools District (Klamath Union, 93rd) received a ranking. Lakeview (52nd) and North Lake (81st) in Lake County were honored in Oregon top 127, while Tulelake (1,102nd) and Modoc (1,255) made the California list of 1,268 schools. (see more at HeraldandNews.com)
Around the state of Oregon
Nurses at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) successfully reached a tentative agreement with hospital management the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 25 capping off almost 60 hours of negotiation meetings over five days, including work with a mediator. Nearly 3200 nurses at OHSU are represented by the Oregon Nurses Association (ONA).
Members will vote to ratify the tentative agreement from Oct. 1-5 but detailed discussions of the proposed agreement will start Friday, Sept. 29. If approved, the agreement will include historic wage increases, which are key to retaining experienced nurses at OHSU, recruiting the next generation of nurses, and ensuring safe care for our community.
Nurses were also able to secure additional contract protections requiring break-relief assignments so that patient care isn’t compromised. Data from OHSU indicates that nurses missed at least 95,000 legally required rest in the last six months. Research has clearly shown that nurses who miss breaks are more likely to make mistakes, experience exhaustion and moral injury, and are ultimately more likely to leave the bedside—adding to a critical nursing shortage.
Nurses began contract negotiations in December 2022 and their contract with OHSU expired on June 30, 2023. The new agreement will run through June 30, 2026. (ONA press release)
Target has had enough of theft and crime in downtown Portland, Oregon and plans to close three stores, effective Oct. 21.
“We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests,” the company said in a Sept. 26 statement.
Currently, Target is closing nine stores across four states.
The three Portland locations closing are the Galleria at 939 S.W. Morrison St; the Powell location at 3031 S.E. Powell Blvd.; and the Hollywood location at 4030 N.E. Halsey St.
Both eastside locations are relatively small for Target stores and are in former bowling alleys.
Target will still have 15 stores in the Portland area, with more than 2,500 employees, the company said.
A man was arrested in the 100 block of East Fork Road in Williams, Oregon on Sunday after police responded to a call of shots fired.
“When the Deputies arrived on scene, they contacted a male subject at the property who was identified as Senji Sanuma Pintar,” a Tuesday news release from the Josephine County Sheriff’s Office said. “After talking with Senji, an unresponsive subject was located at the scene.”
The unresponsive person was later declared dead, the release said. Pintar was lodged at Josephine County Jail on charges of aggravated murder and unlawful use of a weapon.
“The investigation is ongoing,” the release said. “Further inquiries are directed to the Josephine County District Attorney’s Office.” (kdrv 12/joco sheriff’s office)
Two versions of an initiative to recriminalize drugs in Oregon were filed with the secretary of state on Sept. 19 by the Coalition to Fix and Improve Ballot Measure 110, the campaign behind the initiative.
In 2020, Oregon voters decriminalized personal non-commercial drug possession offenses with the approval of Measure 110. It received 58.5% of the vote. Measure 110 reclassified possession of a controlled substance in Schedule I-IV, such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamines, from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E violation resulting in a $100 fine or a completed health assessment.
The ballot initiative also established the Drug Treatment and Recovery Services Fund governed by the Oregon Health Authority. The fund was designed to give grants to government or community-run organizations to create addiction recovery centers.
The proposed 2024 initiative would make it a misdemeanor to possess or use hard drugs in public and mandate treatment for drug-dependent persons charged with low-level crimes. The second version of the initiative also proposes automatic expungement of misdemeanor possession convictions following addiction treatment and increasing penalties for repeat dealers. The initiative would also transfer oversight of the Drug Treatment and Recovery Services Fund from the Oregon Health Authority to the Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission.
In Oregon, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated state statute for the ballot is equal to 120,413—6% of the votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. The signature deadline is July 5, 2024. (Oregon news)
The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office is warning the public of a new scam where the callers call residents and impersonate police officers.
“The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office received reports over the weekend of callers impersonating members of the Sheriff’s Office to solicit money,” SCSO said in a Facebook post. “These callers often identify themselves under a false name, threaten someone with arrest, and then offer to waive the arrest warrant should the targeted individual agree to pay them.”
Police encouraged callers who receive these phone scams to report them. (kdrv 12)
The Oregon Court of Appeals on Monday asked the state’s highest court to decide whether Republican state senators who carried out a record-setting GOP walkout this year can run for reelection.
The senators are challenging a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2022 that bars them from being reelected after having 10 or more unexcused absences. Oregon voters last year overwhelmingly approved the ballot measure that created the amendment following GOP walkouts in the Legislature in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Statehouses around the nation have become ideological battlegrounds in recent years, including in Montana, Tennessee and Oregon, where the lawmakers’ walkout this year was the longest in state history and the second-longest in the United States.
Several Oregon state senators with at least 10 absences have already filed candidacy papers with election authorities, even though Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade announced on Aug. 8 that they are disqualified from running for legislative seats in the 2024 election.
The senators from the minority party sued Griffin-Valade in the Oregon Court of Appeals, aimed at forcing state officials to allow them to seek reelection. They and Oregon Department of Justice attorneys on the opposite side of the case jointly last month asked the appeals court to send the matter straight to the state Supreme Court.
The appeals court on Monday formally asked the Oregon Supreme Court to take the case, said Todd Sprague, spokesman for the Oregon Judicial Department. The Supreme Court has 20 days to grant or deny and can add up to 10 days to make a decision on the request, Sprague said. (Oregon news)
A local helicopter company had the opportunity to help recover a NASA spacecraft, that landed yesterday after years in space.
Timberland Helicopters Incorporated is a charter helicopter company based in Ashland. They primarily do power line patrol and other works with Pacific Corp, as well as some firefighting.
Timberland also has an aircraft base in Utah, which is where NASA’s Osiris- Rex mission spacecraft landed.
In 2016, the spacecraft started its mission to an asteroid that orbits the sun at a distance closer than earth.
It aimed to collect samples from the asteroid that could give us insight into the early solar system and the origins of life on earth.
Timberland president, Mark Gibson says it was honor to contribute to the mission.
(Oregon news)
A man from Oregon is facing federal charges in connection to the January 6th U.S. Capitol riots in Wshington D.C.
Forty-year-old Ryan Wilson was arrested in Portland this month. He’s charged with felony obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon. Court documents allege Wilson rammed a pipe toward police during a confrontation in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. (Oregon news)
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced its 2024 lineup on Wednesday. Next season will feature nine different plays, with an emphasis on one-person shows.
OSF’s next season will have four more plays than the current year.
The company faced a tighter timeline to plan their next season than in previous years. Planning was delayed as OSF hired new leadership and worked on emergency fundraising to keep this year’s season alive amid financial troubles as ticket sales plummeted during the pandemic.
Next year will be the first full one led by OSF’s new Artistic Director, Tim Bond, who started at the beginning of September.
Bond said he’s been helping to guide the development of this season since before he arrived, and calls it ‘a love letter to our audiences, [our] company and to our artists.’
It will feature a slate of four, one-person shows created and performed by long-time OSF alumni.
Two of the shows were also developed at OSF through the theater’s Black Swan Lab, an incubation project the theater launched in 2009, said Bond.
The other plays include Born With Teeth, a dark comedy depicting William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe collaborating on a history play cycle. Lizard Boy is a quirky, indie-rock musical that previously showed at TheaterWorks Silicon Valley in 2021, when Bond was the artistic director.
Bond hopes the 2024 season will show that theater companies are resilient despite a slow recovery from the pandemic. (more at HeraldandNews.com)
The Oregon International Air Show returns this weekend. The Navy’s Blue Angels will appear for the first time in Oregon in 8 years. It’s part of the show’s 35th anniversary, happening Friday through Sunday.
Tickets for the show are on sale now. The event takes place in McMinnville.
(Oregon news)
What makes a happy town? According to Outside Magazine, safety, outdoor space, affordability, diversity and freedom. And, if the magazine’s new list is to be believed, one Oregon town has all the right qualifications to make it into the list of the 15 happiest towns in the United States: Hood River.
Anyone who has read Outside Magazine or traveled the hour or so east from Portland to visit Hood River won’t be surprised at the main reason the town of roughly 8,300 people made the list – It’s the outside parts. Windsurfing, kiteboarding, sailing, hiking and mountain biking are all mentioned by Outside, as well as the proximity to you-pick fruit farms.
Not every place on the list is an outdoorsy paradise, though many are. Anchorage and Saint Petersburg are mentioned, but so is New Orleans and, don’t tell Seattle, Tacoma. (Oregon news)
As the latest COVID boosters dribble into Oregon, state health officials urged residents to get vaccinated to protect themselves against an expected rise in respiratory infections in the months ahead.
Dr. Paul Cieslak of the Oregon Health Authority and Dr. Katie Sharff of Kaiser Permanente Northwest urged residents to protect themselves in a news conference Thursday by getting shots against COVID, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which often causes cold-like symptoms?. Those who don’t get vaccinated could end up with a trifecta of respiratory infections — and even land in the hospital, they said.
The number of Oregonians infected with COVID has steadily increased since late spring, from about 4% of COVID tests being positive in late May to 15% by mid-September, Cieslak said. And hospitalizations for the disease have doubled since the end of June.
The number of people infected with the flu and RSV remains relatively low, though that’s expected to change, he said. The health authority no longer maintains its COVID data dashboard. Providers at Oregon Health & Science University, which posts a daily update, are treating 18 people with COVID, including four people in intensive care and three on a ventilator, according to Thursday’s post. The patients are a mix of those who’ve not been vaccinated and those who have, including people who have received booster shots. (more at HeraldandNews.com)
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