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Monday, March 17, 2025

Klamath Basin Weather

A winter weather advisory is in effect until 3pm today, Monday.

 

 

 

Around the State of Oregon

A Wolf Creek man is in the Douglas County Jail on second-degree manslaughter charges after a pickup truck crash on Monday killed his daughter.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) said driver impairment is a factor in the crash. Deputies were sent to respond to a crash on ODF land bordering the 1200 block of Tunnel Rd in Glendale at about 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Mar. 11. DCSO said the truck, a green Ford F250, was occupied by the driver, 55-year-old Ian Anthony Fleming of Wolf Creek, when the crash happened.

Three juvenile girls were also reportedly in the truck at the time of the crash.  DCSO said the three girls were thrown from the truck as it rolled down an embankment, with all three sustaining injuries. Fleming got out of the truck and tried to get medical care for his daughter, who was seriously injured. 

Fleming borrowed a car to drive his daughter to the Tunnel Rd ambulance station, where Glendale Ambulance paramedics declared her dead. Paramedics took the other two girls to Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford for treatment. DCSO said on Tuesday its detectives responded to the scene after deputies said Fleming had fled.

Detectives determined alcohol and drugs were a factor in the crash, arresting Fleming on charges of second-degree manslaughter.

 

A Bend man died in a skiing accident on Thursday after being trapped in an avalanche on Mt. Bailey.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) said on Friday that a group of skiers experienced an avalanche at around 3:45 p.m. Thursday while cat skiing at Mt. Bailey. One member of the group got trapped in the snow. Other party members dug the man out and nurses attempted lifesaving efforts, but he died of his injuries.

The rest of the group met responders and Diamond Lake Resort staff at the nearest snowmobile trail. One other member of the group got a laceration or puncture injury during the avalanche but declined ambulance transport.

Diamond Lake Resort employees, DCSO and its Search and Rescue department, US Forest Service law enforcement officers and Umpqua Valley Ambulance responded to the incident. DCSO also got support from the Search and Rescue coordinator with the Oregon Department of Emergency Management.

 

Jackson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) detectives are investigating an assault that led to a stabbing around 8:30 Thursday  morning in rural Eagle Point.

Detectives’ preliminary investigation revealed this was an apparent case of self-defense.  On March 13, ECSO 911 Dispatch received a call for a stabbing in the 2100 block of Rogue River Drive in Rural Eagle Point. JCSO deputies responded along with Jackson County Fire District 3 and Mercy Flights.

Deputies secured the scene, and a Mercy Flights ambulance transported the wounded suspect to a local hospital.  During the investigation, detectives learned a commercial electrician was in the area working when a man approached and assaulted him unprovoked. The electrician used his pocket knife to stop the attack, wounding the suspect in the process. No other people were involved in the altercation.

The suspect underwent surgery for superficial wounds at a local hospital and is in stable condition. Charges for the suspect are pending review by the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office. The suspect’s name will be released pending charges.  JCSO detectives are continuing their investigation.

 

Gov. Tina Kotek has been saying for months that Oregon’s public schools need more money, and they need to be held accountable for better academic outcomes.

Now Kotek — along with fellow Democrats Senate President Rob Wagner and Speaker of the House Julie Fahey — pushed two complementary bills forward to legislators this week.  House Bill 2009 had its first hearing Monday afternoon; Senate Bill 141 is set to have its first hearing on Wednesday.

Both were presented earlier in the session as placeholder bills meant to study the adequacy of public education and school accountability. They now carry amendment proposals that lay out more specifics. This is the latest of several efforts in recent months to give Oregon more teeth when it comes to education. 

This week’s bills would set new metrics for public schools, paying more attention to existing markers, like graduation rates, but with some additional measures as well, such as eighth-grade math and early grade attendance rates.

They also aim to fine-tune what the Oregon Department of Education is responsible for. But perhaps the biggest change is that the bills would require districts to take certain steps if they aren’t showing enough improvement.

As it stands now, districts that have been struggling and qualify for state “intensive” support can choose whether to opt in — a measure that was designed and funded through the Student Success Act in 2019. As of this fall, only a fraction of the districts that qualify have taken the state up on their offer.

 

An Oregon appeals court on Wednesday found that a gun control law approved by voters over two years ago is constitutional, reversing a lower court ruling from a state judge who had kept it on hold.

The law, one of the toughest in the nation, requires people to undergo a criminal background check and complete a gun safety training course in order to obtain a permit to buy a firearm.

It also bans high-capacity magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Measure 114 has been tied up in state and federal court since it was narrowly approved by voters in November 2022. It was among the first gun restrictions to be passed after a major 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling changed the guidance judges are expected to follow when considering Second Amendment cases. 

A state judge in rural southeastern Oregon temporarily blocked the law from taking effect after gun owners filed a lawsuit claiming it violated the right to bear arms under the Oregon Constitution. Circuit Court Judge Robert S. Raschio then presided over a 2023 trial in Harney County and ruled that the law violated the state constitution. The Oregon attorney general’s office appealed the ruling.

 

Oregon ranchers want higher payouts from the state to recoup their losses for cattle and other livestock killed by wolves. But the fate of a bill that would increase those payments will be determined by whether enough Democratic lawmakers, who hold the majority in Salem, are willing to defy environmentalists and support the proposal.

For years, Oregon ranchers have complained about wolves preying on their cows, horses and other animals. Because shooting a wolf is against state hunting laws, lawmakers in 2011 agreed to compensate ranchers for the financial loss of any animal that dies following a wolf attack.

Ranchers say the money is vital to keeping their operations profitable. In 2023, Oregon counties gave ranchers $70,300 from state coffers for dead or injured cattle that experts determined were likely attacked by wolves. Ranchers are currently compensated for the market value of the cattle lost to wolves. But ranchers say the losses they suffer are deeper than merely the cost of a replacement calf or cow.

Numerous Republican lawmakers agree. Sen. Todd Nash, a Republican from Enterprise and former president of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, introduced a bill in January that would require the state to pay ranchers at least the fair market value – and in many cases far more – for animals injured or killed by wolves.

Under the bill, Oregon would have to pay seven times the market value of cow calves, sheep and goats, and three times the market value for other cows.

 

Every year, the Oregon Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony honors the state’s law enforcement officers who have died in the line of duty.

This year’s ceremony will be held Tuesday, May 6th at 1 p.m. at the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem.

The annual event commemorates the more than 190 fallen officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to the state of Oregon since the 1860s. This includes law enforcement, corrections, and parole and probation officers from city, county, state, tribal and federal law enforcement agencies.

The Department of Public Safety Standards and Training is proud to host the ceremony in partnership with the Oregon Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, Oregon Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S.), Oregon Fallen Badge Foundation, and various statewide law enforcement associations.

 

Northwest Natural wants to raise gas rates nearly seven percent for single family homes.

That would increase an average monthly bill five-dollars 55-cents. Northwest Natural says the increase is needed for inflation, higher interest rates, and investments to increase safety. The Oregon Public Utility Commission will hold a virtual hearing to take comment on March 18th.

 

A recent Josephine County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) sex offender compliance and outstanding warrant sweep resulted in 25 arrests and three probationary detainers. 

According to JCSO, called Operation Sentinel, the sweep was a multi-agency, county-wide sweep took place from March 6 through 10. It targeted sex offenders and those individuals with outstanding warrants, for both felonies and misdemeanors. This includes repeat and violent offenders as well as those individuals who took off to avoid prosecution.

The sweep resulted in 19 felony arrests, five misdemeanor arrests, 1 probable cause arrest, and three probationary detailers. Police also found and seized over 10 grams of illegal drugs.

During the operation police also conducted door to door verifications of addresses reported by sex offenders as their residences in an effort to check the validity of their registrations.

The U.S. Marshals Service, Oregon State Police, Rogue Area Drug Enforcement, Josephine County Parole and Probation, Grants Pass Police Department, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Josephine County District Attorney’s Office assisted with Operation Sentinel.

 

The Oregon Department of Revenue has added features to the “Where’s My Refund” tool.

Users can learn more about the status of their refund, they can see when additional information is needed, and the website is easier to navigate. To use the tool, taxpayers need to create a login at Revenue Online.

 

The Chief Executive Officer of Waterfall Community Health Center in North Bend has resigned. The former Gresham pastor is accused of sexually abusing teenagers.

According to a notice of proposed disciplinary action from the Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists, between roughly 1998 and 2001, Lance Nelson engaged in sexual misconduct with two minors. The board says Nelson remained in contact with the minors through his connections with Springwater Church of the Nazarene in Gresham. It also says he continued the sexual misconduct with the two minors while he pursued a counseling degree and offered the two individuals counseling services.

The board says it did not learn of the alleged conduct until 2023.

On Tuesday, the Waterfall Health Center announced in a Facebook post that Nelson had resigned effective immediately.

 

A Coos Bay man was arrested in connection to a robbery in Eugene last week. According to the Eugene Police Department (EPD), 61-year-old Andre Kevin Outland, robbed Richard’s Deli in Eugene on Thursday night.

Police say Outland robbed the deli of cash at gunpoint just before 10 p.m. and then took off. A detective then secured a search warrant for Outland which led officers to Coos Bay.

With the assistance of agencies on the Oregon Coast, EPD located a vehicle associated with Outland in Coos Bay. However, when Coos County Metro SWAT attempted to pull the vehicle over, Outland failed to stop and took off, initiating a police chase. He was later stopped and arrested.

EPD executed the search warrant at Outland’s Coos Bay residence and found several items connected to the robbery.

Outland faces multiple charges including first-degree robbery and felon in possession of a firearm.

 

Since the Oregon Legislature voted to ban single-use plastic grocery bags and limit plastic straws in 2019, most Oregonians have grown used to bringing their own bags to the store and asking for straws.

Now, lawmakers looking to stop plastic from piling up on the state’s beaches are turning their attention to other plastic utensils, condiment packaging and hotel-issued toiletries.

The Oregon Senate voted 22-8 on Tuesday to pass Senate Bill 551, which would expand the state’s plastic bag ban to cover takeout bags provided by restaurants and the thicker plastic bags some stores have offered since the original ban took effect in 2020.  The bill would also require customers to explicitly ask for plastic utensils, single-serving plastic packaging for condiments like ketchup, coffee creamer, jelly and soy sauce and plastic-packaged hospitality size shampoos, soaps and lotions, like they already must ask for straws.

Sen. Janeen Sollman, the Hillsboro Democrat behind the bill, said it will be good for the environment and for businesses that will save money by buying fewer plastic goods.  The proposal won support from all Democrats and four Republicans. Three of those Republicans — Sens. David Brock Smith of Port Orford, Dick Anderson of Lincoln City and Suzanne Weber of Tillamook — represent coastal districts, and Brock Smith said his experience on Oregon’s beaches contributed to his vote for the bill.

Sen. Todd Nash, R-Enterprise, lives far from the ocean but said he voted for the bill because of the timber industry. Other Republicans were less convinced. Sen. Kim Thatcher, a Keizer Republican who voted against the bill, said her dogs would look forward to it because they’d have easier access to saucy Chinese takeout that leaks out of folding boxes and can now be contained by a plastic bag.

And Sen. Noah Robinson, R-Cave Junction, said he opposes littering but loves plastic. Stores, restaurants and hotels should have the freedom to choose the products they think are best for their customers, he said.

 

A community effort to return Mount Bachelor back to local ownership has apparently fallen short.

Powder Corp last year announced it was putting the northwest’s largest ski resort up for sale. The price tag is an estimated $200 million. A group of avid skiers from central Oregon organized and began raising money to put in a bid.

But the group says it was ultimately unable to submit a bid due to timing constraints, citing larger competitors who had a five-month head start. They say they’re committed to working with Mount Bachelor’s eventual new owners to ensure the community has a voice in the resort’s future.

 

The Smith River National Recreation Area in northern California would be expanded into southern Oregon under a bill proposed by Oregon’s and California’s U.S. Senators.  

58-thousand acres would be added to the recreation area.  It was created in 1990 by Congress, but stopped at the Oregon border.  Republican state representatives from southern Oregon support the legislation. 

 

Oregon State Representative Pam Marsh introduced a bill Tuesday that would create a fund to help those who lose their property to utility-caused fires. 

HB3917 would allow utilities companies to create a fund of $800 million that would pay property damage claims arising from wildfires caused by their equipment.  The fund will be managed by the Public Utilities Commission.

Another bill introduced by Marsh addressing utility companies’ roles in fire is HB3666, which requires utility companies to apply for a wildfire safety certification, meeting a requirement that she said isn’t currently set. If they meet the standard, the PUC will award them a wildfire safety certificate.

HB3917 doesn’t stop the ability to pursue civil action against a utility commission, but it does entail a caveat, that if you gain funds from a claim with the fund, you will not be able to pursue action against the utility provider.

 

Paying for lower extremity injury prevention programs for athletes is worth the cost.

A study by Oregon State University finds every dollar spent on programs to prevent injuries, like an ACL tear, saves more than seven times the cost in treatment and rehabilitation.

They studied high school soccer players from 2018 and found that if all of the nation’s players that year used a lower extremity injury prevention plan it could have saved more than 60-million-dollars in medical expenses.

 

Ten men formerly incarcerated at Oregon’s MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn have filed a $51 million lawsuit against the state’s juvenile justice agency, the Oregon Health Authority (OYA), alleging that they were all sexually abused by a single OYA doctor, and that several of them were also sexually abused by various other OYA staff.

The lawsuit seeks $100,000 in economic damages and $5 million in noneconomic damages for each plaintiff. It follows a series of other youth sexual abuse lawsuits filed last year that have put intense scrutiny on OYA’s handling of youth sexual abuse cases.

The latest lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, accuses OYA of negligence, civil rights violations and sexual battery of a child. In addition to the agency and the State of Oregon, it lists 20 staff, five directors and five superintendents as defendants, alleging that they either committed sexual abuse or failed to report it.

The complaint states that the plaintiffs do not know the full identities of many of the defendants. The plaintiffs are all listed by initials; although they are all now in their 30s, the lawsuit states that they are seeking to use pseudonyms during the proceedings due to the sensitive nature of the allegations.

 

The Oregon Department of Human Services will make improvements to its oversight of long-term care and adult foster homes.

Last year, Governor Tina Kotek ordered an outside consultant to review the agency. They will make changes to respond faster to serious safety violations. Training will be added for managers and staff members. And, if approved by the Legislature, add 19 positions to help increase oversight of the facilities.

 

Oregon Parks and Rec Dept is asking beachgoers to remember this is Western Snowy Plover nesting season.

Sensitive nesting areas are identified on maps for the southern and northern Oregon coast. Signs are also posted on trailheads, where visitors might be asked to stay on the wet sand and keep dogs out of the area.

Snowy Plover nesting season runs through September 15th, to help reverse the decline of the threatened species.

 

Several Republican members of the Oregon House signed a letter to President Trump asking him to order voter identification and citizenship verification.

The request follows a mutiple clerical errors with Oregon’s Motor-Voter registration system that allowed at least 12-hundred people to be incorrectly registered to vote in the recent general election. Nine of those people voted.  Who knows how many others have voted in other elections and primaries over the past 10 tens years.

The DMV has made changes to correct the problem and the Secretary of State’s Office is slowly reviewing voter registrations from the DMV.

 

Sex assault survivors and advocates are blasting Oregon’s solution to address a backlog of thousands of unclassified sex offenders in the state, as the agency defended it as a data-driven approach to get a handle on a years-long problem. And where’s the legislature and Gov. Tina Kotek on this issue, say concerned Oregon residents and advocates.

There are currently about 12,500 sex offenders living, working, or going to school in Oregon who have not undergone a risk assessment by the Oregon Board of Parole or local corrections agencies – meaning the state has no idea how likely those people are to commit new sex crimes.

The agency is currently under a legislative deadline to clear that backlog by Dec. 1, 2026. However, its leaders want the legislature to remove the deadline and reduce the number of people it needs to do risk assessments on. 

Under the proposal, the Board of Parole would only need to do risk assessments on offenders who are younger than 35 years old next January and people with two or more sex crimes convictions. It would continue to do the assessments on people getting out of prison or moving into Oregon.

Last year, lawmakers failed to approve a request to give the parole board an additional $6 million – in part to address the backlog.

 

Daffodils are blooming, summer camps are already sold out … and spring, which officially begins on Thursday, March 20, is on the horizon.

But Oregonians who were hoping for an early season warm-up will probably be disappointed this year.

According to the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center, the first days of spring will likely be colder than normal and also wetter than normal for the north half of the state. The entire state is leaning below normal temperatures for the days right before spring and the first few days of the season, according the outlook.

 

Oregon State Parks will hire more than 200 seasonal Rangers and Ranger Assistants for positions across the state for the 2025 season.

Hiring starts as soon as this month and runs through about June with new positions listed on a rolling basis on the website. The positions last anywhere from four to nine months. Most seasonal staff work April through September, but some start as early as this month or work as late as December. Seasonal staff help visitors access world-class experiences and ensure clean and safe park areas for everyone to enjoy.

Duties include janitorial work, landscape maintenance, visitor education and visitor services. Salaries start at $19.78 per hour for seasonal assistants and $23.21 for seasonal rangers. Both positions include comprehensive medical, vision and dental plans for employees and qualified family members. The positions also include paid sick leave, vacation, personal leave and 11 paid holidays per year.

Student workers, ages 16 and older, start at $19.77 or more per hour depending on experience. Several of Oregon State Parks’ top leaders started their careers as seasonal employees including all three Region Directors. Seasonal staff gain valuable skills working with experienced Rangers at parks around the state.

The first wave of openings include positions along the coast from Washburne to Cape Lookout; the Willamette Valley including Silver Falls and Detroit Lake; the Columbia River Gorge and Eastern Oregon including Wallowa Lake and Lake Owyhee. For more information about current openings, visit stateparks.oregon.gov.

If you have any questions or need additional assistance in accessibility or alternative formats, please email Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Recruiting OPRD.Recruiting@oprd.oregon.gov. Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, committed to diversity and pay equity.

A bill to make Oregon one of a small number of states that have banned the sale of flavored tobacco drew passionate support but also very personal objections during a public hearing this week.

Proponents of the bill told a legislative committee that flavored tobacco “smells like candy” and addicts children as young as elementary school age while setting them on a path toward early death.

But opponents argued flavored tobacco, which often is ingested through vaping or packets that are sucked on, offers adults a less harmful alternative to smoking traditional cigarettes and the problem resides with stores that violate the law by selling it to Oregonians under age 21.

Chief among the bill’s opponents is Sen. David Brock Smith, a Port Orford Republican, who told the Senate Committee On Early Childhood and Behavioral Health that vaping flavored tobacco allowed him to kick a 30-year habit of smoking that was passed on to him from his dad.

Richard Burke, executive director of the 21+ Tobacco and Vapor Retail Association of Oregon, said banning flavored tobacco takes away “bodily autonomy” for adults and even the National Health Service in the United Kingdom has started a “Swap to Stop” program where it gives smokers vaping products in exchange for their traditional cigarettes. Burke also said a prohibition could create an underground trade.

Senate Bill 702 supporters who testified Tuesday were people of all ages, including parents, teens and doctors. They said not only do the fruity and sweet flavors hook youth under 21, the flavored tobacco impacts their ability to focus at school and be productive later in life.

Youth have little trouble getting around Oregon’s age restrictions on sales by getting the products from adults or buying the products at stores that are lackadaisical about enforcement, proponents of the bill said.

 

A pair of country stars is coming to one of Oregon’s biggest summer events, The Happy Canyon Kick-Off Concert, which is the opening to the Pendleton Round-Up.  The weeklong festival in northeast Oregon that’s anchored by one of the biggest and most popular rodeos in the country.

This year, the concert will be headlined by country singers Tracy Lawrence and Rodney Atkins, who will perform at the Happy Canyon Arena on Saturday, Sept. 6.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. March 14 at pendletonroundup.com.  Lawrence, who had more than a dozen chart-topping singles in the 1990s and 2000s, is coming off his “Ain’t My Last Rodeo Tour” and hosts a radio show, “Honky Tonkin’ with Tracy Lawrence.” Atkins, who has also had several No. 1 singles, has been trickling out new songs in recent months, his first new solo work since 2019.

The rodeo portion of the Pendleton Round-Up will take place Sept. 10-13 this year. Tickets are on sale now.

 

The long-delayed deadline for REAL ID is now just three months away. There’s a chance that full enforcement may get gradually rolled out, but May 7, 2025, is the changeover deadline.

Starting then, state-level ID cards, such as driver’s licenses, won’t be accepted for federal purposes, namely getting through airport security, unless it’s REAL ID-compliant. If you plan to catch a domestic flight on or after May 7, you will be required to use a REAL ID. A little gold or black star in the upper right-hand corner is one of the easiest ways to know you’re holding a REAL ID.

In Oregon, it’s a black star. A REAL ID is an identification card that serves all of the same purposes of a standard drivers’ license or state-issued identification card. A federally-mandated switch to REAL ID for federal purposes, such as flying domestically, was originally signed into law by Congress in 2005.

The purpose is to establish “minimum security standards for license issuance and production,” according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security website. The law, established four years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, came in response to federal calls for higher security standards in the U.S. Originally, the law mandated the switch to REAL ID by 2008, but it has been pushed back for various reasons due to logistical hurdles and later the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

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