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 and News, and BasinLife.com, and powered by Mick Insurance. Call them at 541-882-6476.

 

Thursday, February 13, 2024

Klamath Basin Weather

Winter Weather Advisory until February 13, 02:00 PM

Today
Rain mixed with snow then rain in the afternoon. Snow level 4500 feet rising to 5100 feet. High near 40. Southeast winds 10 to 14 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Overnight, rain and snow, snow level around 4500 feet and lowering. Low of 31 degrees. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

 

CVIP Seeks Program Manager to Lead EPA Community Change Grant Initiative

Chiloquin Visions in Progress (CVIP) is seeking a dedicated Program Manager to lead public outreach and engagement activities for the EPA Community Change Grant and manage the Wood Stove Replacement Program.  CVIP is proud to partner with the City of Chiloquin on the transformative Community Resilience Hub and Municipal Center project.

This initiative, funded by an EPA Community Change Grant, will strengthen our community’s resilience and address critical needs through innovative programs and the construction of a cutting-edge Municipal Center that will serve as a resilience hub for the community.This position coordinates public events, manages stakeholder communication, conducts community surveys,
aims to replace up to 150 non-EPA-compliant wood stoves in the project area, improving residents’ air quality and
energy efficiency, and reports progress to the City of Chiloquin, CVIP Board of Directors, and project collaborators. 

How to Apply:
Interested candidates should complete the job application at the bottom of CVIP’s online job board
https://www.chiloquinvisions.com/cvip-job-board/ and upload a resume and cover letter explaining their relevant experience and interest in the position. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

 

Pet of the Week from Klamath Animal Shelter

 

 

Around the State of Oregon

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a woman in connection with the shooting death of her cohabitant in Montague, California, over the weekend.

On Saturday deputies responded to a report of a deceased person in the 5900 block of Jade Ave. Upon arrival, deputies met with Robin Ray Turner, 61, who stated that she had shot Michael Richard Massey, 71, with a firearm.

Massey was found dead inside the home, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds, the sheriff’s office said. The SCSO Major Crimes Unit took over the investigation, and Turner was arrested on charges of murder. She was subsequently booked into the Siskiyou County Jail. The case is still under investigation, and authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office at (530) 841-2900 and reference Case #24-0224.

 

The Oregon Immunization Group within the Oregon Health Authority is reminding families to get student immunizations updated by Wednesday, Feb. 19.

A list of required vaccinations by grade level can be found on the OHA’s website.  State law says all children in Oregon public schools, private schools, preschools, Head Start programs and child care facilities must submit documents showing they are up-to-date on required vaccinations. The school or care center can send a child home if they don’t have the required immunization by Feb. 19. Families looking to get their children vaccinated can contact their local health department, dial 211 over the phone or visit the 211 information website.

 

The Oregon Employment Department says it still doesn’t plan to hire an ombudsman to advocate for claimants, resisting a top recommendation state auditors first made three years ago. The agency embraced many of the other recommendations in the auditors’ report from 2022. The agency upgraded its computer systems, worked to expedite the adjudication of disputes, and adopted policies to make it easier for marginalized communities to receive aid. The employment department hasn’t hired an ombudsman, though, and isn’t asking lawmakers for money to do so anytime in the next two years. The agency says it wants to spend what the Legislature allocates on more customer service staff to answer claimants’ questions directly, rather than on an ombudsman to help find systemic issues.

 

Nobody really expects to win the lottery. After all, the odds are heavily stacked against every player. But, as the saying goes, somebody has to win. Those somebodys also have to claim their prizes, which seems like the easy part – but not always. The Lottery is pointing this out now because there are four Powerball winners who haven’t claimed their cash – and soon won’t be able to do so anymore. People must step forward and take their prizes within one year of drawing their winning ticket. The unclaimed prizes are for three separate $50,000 tickets bought in Portland, and a $100,000 ticket bought in Brooks, near Salem. The $100,000 prize expires February 21, the others in March and April. The Oregon Lottery says that, in the last fiscal year, $8 million in prizes went unclaimed.

 

Tax season is here and there may be good reasons to file a tax return even for people who aren’t required to file, which is the case for many young people. Young people who work often don’t end up filing a tax return. They may not meet the income threshold requiring them to file a return. Or they be under the misconception that their parents file for them because they are a dependent. Also, they may find tax forms confusing and worry about making a mistake. In most cases, young people should file a return to report their income and get any excess withholding refunded.Through an ODHS pilot program last year at seven urban, rural and suburban high schools in Oregon, students met after school and prepared their own tax returns using IRS-approved software. A teacher-facilitator helped them access the software on the IRS website and answered their questions about forms and terms. Students in the pilot received refunds of their state and federal tax withholding between $95 and $1,246.  No matter how old someone is, finding ways to file a tax return for free is easy. The Oregon Department of Revenue’s website lists many ways to file for free or to get free help.  And it isn’t too late to file returns from prior years to get withholding back from those years too. Many software programs now help individuals prepare and file their tax returns from previous years.

 

While Elon Musk is helping reduce the size of the federal work force and has already discovered millions of dollars of fraud, waste and abuse in several agencies of the federal government, liberal new Oregon U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter has introduced a bill in Congress to prohibit Elon Musk from retaliating against federal employees.

The doctor ran for Congress to work on lowering prescription drug prices and expand access to behavioral health treatment, as well as addressing other issues she sees working with patients. But constituents in her east Portland district demanded action after Musk and people working for him seized control of federal administrative offices, gained access to the U.S. Treasury Department’s records of Americans’ personal financial information and dismantled the federal agency that distributes aid overseas, which has already uncovered millions of dollars of waste and misuse of funds given to agencies and other countries.  The amount of waste of taxpayer money is astounding.

Dexter however, introduced the “Stop Musk Act,” her first bill, spelling out that no federal employee can face retaliation for “resisting, circumventing or preventing Elon Musk or individuals he oversees from taking unlawful or unconstitutional actions relating to federal agencies.”

Dexter’s proposal, which she acknowledged has next to no chance of passing in the Republican-controlled House, is among several actions Oregon’s Democratic congressional delegation have taken to oppose the Trump administration and Musk’s unprecedented power over federal agencies.

U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum, a swing-district Democrat who like Dexter is in her first term, joined Oregon’s Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley at a rally outside the U.S. Treasury last Tuesday.

Over the weekend, U.S. Reps. Val Hoyle and Andrea Salinas joined Merkley for town hall events in Newport, Philomath and Salem where they told crowds of hundreds that they were ready to fight. Dexter is planning more town halls and hopes to have attorney general Dan Rayfield join her at one. Rayfield, who served with Dexter in the state House, is leading Oregon’s legal response to the Trump administration, including securing an indefinite block Thursday to a Trump executive order that attempted to repeal a constitutional guarantee that babies born in the U.S. to immigrant parents are automatically citizens, even if their parents are not.

 

North Medford High School is actively searching for relocation options after the recent snowfall caused damage to the school’s gym.

One of the supporting beams cracked Friday after school hours. Nobody was injured and crews are now in the process of planning necessary repairs. The relocation spots being considered include Oakdale Middle School and Rogue X. This is all happening in the middle of the boy’s and girl’s basketball seasons. North Medford’s Athletic Director Pieter Voskes says this is a bump in the road for all the sports who need the gym, but he hopes to get those athletes back on the floor.

The North Medford gym has been surrounded by fencing as school operations continue as usual.

 

A state board overrode a request from Gov. Tina Kotek to spend the entirety of Oregon’s national opioid settlement money over the next two years on harm reduction services and supplies, preserving funding for drug treatment and prevention programs.

That means Save Lives Oregon, a state-funded program that provides harm reduction resources, training and items such as clean syringes, Narcan and fentanyl test strips to local organizations, will get $5.1 million instead of $21.6 million in opioid settlement funding through 2027. 

Several members of the 18-person Opioid Settlement Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Board, established in 2022 to allocate state funds from legal settlements with national pharmaceutical companies, said the board’s decision Wednesday aligned with its previous funding formula.

 

A Salem man is facing possible bias crime charges after allegedly threatening a Hispanic family with a shot gun and yelling racist remarks at them.

The Salem Police Department says officers arrested 27-year-old Jonathan Haun Sunday. Police say the family of two adults and one young girl were waiting for a tow truck when Haun approached them with the shotgun and started shouting at them. Police are encouraging anyone who experiences or witnesses a bias crime to report it.

 

The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation is warning about a romance scam called ‘pig butchering.’ It often starts with a text or direct message from a stranger that builds into a romantic relationship.

After gaining the victim’s trust, the scammer convinces them to send money for phony investments. They send claims the investment is making money and then disappear with the victim’s investment.

The FBI says that in 2023, investment scams cost Americans more than four-and-a-half-billion dollars.

 

A 32-year-old North Bend man is in jail on an attempted rape charge after attacking a 19-year-old in the parking lot of a Coos Bay Walmart last week.

According to the Coos Bay Police Department, officers responded to a report of a fight in the parking lot of the Walmart on Newmark Avenue just after 6 p.m. on Thursday. Officers arrived to find three men fighting outside of one of the store entrances.

Police say two of the men involved, as well as other witnesses, said the third man, identified as 32-year-old Andrew Orr had assaulted a woman in the parking lot. Officers learned that Orr had intentionally attacked the 19-year-old woman, who was unknown to him. That’s when the other two men intervened and pulled Orr off the woman.

Orr is in the Coos County Jail and faces several charges including attempted rape, sex abuse, and harassment among others.

 

Nurses at eight Providence hospitals continue to strike after rejecting a contract that was approved by union leadership.

The contract offered a 20 percent wage increase over three years. A typical full-time acute-care nurse would make around 150-thousand-dollars a year. They would have also received ratification bonuses of up to 10-thousand-dollars and a 25-hundred-dollar retention bonus after a year.

The contract also included Oregon’s new law that regulates nurse staffing levels. Hospitalists at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center approved their contract.

 

Oregon residents are bracing for continued cold winter storms later this week which may bring snow, ice, and increased risks of falling tree branches and downed power lines.

Emergency management officials urge the public to remain alert, be properly prepared for winter driving, and follow safety guidelines to protect homes, vehicles, and personal well-being. Many regions in Oregon are experiencing snowfall and ice buildup on trees. The added weight can cause branches–or even entire trees–to snap unexpectedly.

Falling branches pose a danger to:

Vehicles: Branches can damage cars, so avoid parking under trees whenever possible.

Pedestrians: Tree limbs can break without warning, so be extra cautious when walking outdoors. 

Power lines: Branches falling onto power lines may cause electrical hazards or widespread outage. 

Stock up on essentials: Have flashlights, batteries, portable chargers, and blankets ready in case the lights go out.

Keep extra supplies: If safe to do so, store a few days’ worth of food and water, especially in rural areas where utility restoration may be delayed.

Stay informed: Monitor local weather updates through official channels.

Follow any advisories from the National Weather Service or your local emergency management office.

 

The organization that makes policies for Oregon school sports teams is looking into the local implications of President Trump’s order banning transgender women from women’s sports.

The Oregon Schools Activities Association says it is working with the state Department of Education and legal counsel to determine what to do about the order. The liberal Oregon School Activities Association previously said a ban on transgender athletes would violate the state’s anti-discrimination law.

President Trump signed the executive order last week directing the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to interpret Title IX rules as banning transgender women and girls from participating in female sports. Trump says he’s requiring immediate enforcement of the new rule across the nation. Stay tuned.

 

The U.S. winter virus season is in full force, and by one measure is the most intense in 15 years. Oregon is one of 14 states with the most cases of flu in the nation.

One indicator of flu activity is the percentage of doctor’s office visits driven by flu-like symptoms. Last week, that number was clearly higher than the peak of any winter flu season since 2009-2010, according to data posted Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of course, other viral infections can be mistaken for flu.

But COVID-19 appears to be on the decline, according to hospital data and to CDC modeling projections. Available data also suggests another respiratory illness, RSV, has been fading nationally.

Some 14 other states, along with New York City, are now at the CDC’s highest tier of influenza activity: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee. 

Overall, 43 states reported high or very high flu activity last week. Flu was most intense in the South, Southwest and western states.  U.S. health officials recommends that everyone 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccination.

About 44% of adults got flu shots as winter began, which is the same as last winter. But coverage of children is down, at about 45% this winter. It’s usually around 50%, according to CDC data.

 

A bill that would require thousands of farmers to report their fertilizer use to the Oregon Department of Agriculture drew a big crowd largely in opposition to the proposal in its first public hearing.

Senate Bill 747 would require farms larger than 200 acres to report their annual fertilizer use — including the quantity applied, the type of fertilizer and the crop grown on the fertilized land — to the department.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Khanh Pham, D-Portland, said she wants the state agriculture department to track fertilizer applications to help identify where and how large concentrations of nutrients found in fertilizers, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are getting into and contaminating ground and surface water. Excesses of those nutrients cause frequent summer algal blooms in parts of the state and are making well water unsafe to drink in critical groundwater areas.

Irrigated agriculture is responsible for the bulk of groundwater nitrate contamination in Morrow and Umatilla counties, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

 

The Jackson County Expo is announcing its 2025 summer concert lineup to take the stage during the Jackson County Fair this July.

According to the Expo, musical acts including Outlaw Mariachi, Jo Dee Messina, and a Taylor Swift tribute will take the stage in Central Point this summer. The Jackson County Fair runs from July 15 through July 20.

Fair tickets start at $12 and include lawn seats at the Bi-Mart Amphitheater. Meanwhile, concert ticket prices start at $25 and go on sale to the public on Tuesday. Fair admission is included with the purchase of a reserved seat.

For more information or to purchase a ticket, visit the Jackson County Expo’s website.

 

The Britt Festival Orchestra (BFO) announces its 2025 season, with three weeks of exciting outdoor programming in historic Jacksonville, Oregon, June 12 – 28, 2025.

Under the leadership of four guest conductors, Damon Gupton (June 12-13); Chia-Hsuan Lin (June 15-18); Roberto Kalb (June 21-23); and Normal Huynh (June 26-28) the Orchestra’s 63^rd season highlights a feature film alongside beloved classical favorites.

The season features seven extraordinary guest artists: pianist Clayton Stephenson performing Ravel’s Concerto in G Major; violinist William Hagen performing Korngold’s Concerto in D Major; violinist Tessa Lark and cellist Wei Yu performing Brahms Double concerto for Violin & Violoncello in A minor; vocalist Sun-Ly Pierce performing Ravel’s Shéhérazade; pianist Jaeden Izik-Dzurko performing Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 3 in D minor; and violinist Simone Porter performing Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto in D and Ravel’s Tzigane. The season will begin with two evenings of Jurassic Park in Concert where John Williams’ score will be performed live-to-picture by the full orchestra in one of the most beloved films of the 20^th Century.

Britt Music & Arts Festival shares extraordinary live performances and arts education experiences that inspire discovery and build community, anchored at the Britt hill amphitheater. Since its grassroots beginnings in 1963, the non-profit organization has grown from a two-week chamber music festival to a summer-long series of concerts in a variety of genres, including a three-week orchestra season, and year-round education and engagement programs. For more information, visit www.brittfest.org

 

You’ll need a Real ID to fly domestically, starting in May of this year, that’s unless you have a passport or enhanced driver’s license issued by several states.

The deadline is May 7, 2025, but you probably don’t want to wait until the last minute to get your Real ID. You can apply for your Real ID driver’s license or ID card through your local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

Real IDs are marked with a star on the top of the card. Real IDs will also be needed to access certain federal facilities. Congress mandated the real IDs in 2005 on the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission.

 

Wildlife Safari, south of Roseburg has a new baby giraffe named Watson who from Fort Worth, Texas.

Giraffes are the tallest land animals on earth, yet populations are declining in the wild, due to habitat loss and poaching. Wildlife Safari says Watson’s arrival will allow visitors to learn more about these “gentle giants,” and their importance in the wild.

Thanks for reading the the news on BasinLife.com from Wynne Broadcasting.

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