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Friday, April 4, 2025

Klamath Basin Weather

 

Chi-Town Family Festival Returns June 27–28 — Sponsors Needed to Help Make the Magic Happen

The City of Chiloquin is gearing up for the 4th Annual Chi-Town Family Festival, scheduled to take place on Friday, June 27, from 2:00 to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday, June 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Chiloquin Rodeo and Events Park.

This free, family-friendly celebration brings together community, culture, music, food, and fun for all ages – and we’re calling on community-minded businesses and individuals to help make it possible.

The event will feature crowd favorites, including the annual bike rodeo provided by Ninja Mountain Bike Performance, live music, a local farmers and craft market, and numerous kids’ activities, such as bounce houses, obstacle courses, and water slides, provided by 541 Jump. This year, thanks to the generosity of the United Way of Klamath Basin, the event will feature a new activity: the mobile escape room Shaky Grounds Cafe.

While the festival is free to attend, it’s only possible thanks to the generosity of local sponsors. We are
currently seeking sponsorships at all levels, ranging from $150 for Bronze Sponsors to $1,500 for Platinum
Sponsors. Every dollar raised helps cover the cost of family activities, equipment rentals, and infrastructure
needed to keep the event safe and enjoyable.

“We’ve seen tremendous support already from sponsors like, Adkins Engineering, KLA-MO-YA Casino, Crossover Church, and Pacific Crest Federal Credit Union,” said Festival Chair Robert Cowie. “But we still need a few additional sponsors to ensure we can bring the full experience to life for our community.”
Businesses and organizations that sponsor the event will receive valuable recognition, including logos on eventbanners, shoutouts from the stage, and visibility on printed and online promotional materials. It’s a great opportunity to connect with hundreds of families and show support for Chiloquin’s growing community spirit.

In addition to sponsors, volunteers are also still needed to assist with event setup, kids’ activities, and
teardown. To become a sponsor or volunteer, contact Robert Cowie at (541) 783-2717 or email
familyfestival@cityofchiloquin.org. For more information, including sponsorship details, please visit www.chitownfamilyfestival.com.

 

Around the State of Oregon

Oregon voters would be asked to reconsider vote-by-mail under a bill in the Legislature. If voters approved it, voting would have to be in-person with state issued photo identification.

Voters could request a ballot in the mail 21 days in advance for each election, with photo identification. Postage would no longer be paid by the state. More than nine-thousand comments were received online. 81 percent of the comments opposed the bill and nine percent were in support.

 

Nearly 1.2 million Oregonians have already filed their state personal income tax returns this year.

But with just two weeks before taxes are due, April 15, more than 1 million Oregonians have yet to submit their tax year 2024 returns.  E-filing is the fastest way for taxpayers to get their tax refund.

On average, taxpayers who e-file their returns and request their refund via direct deposit receive their refund sooner than those who file paper returns and request paper refund checks. 

Taxpayers should file just once. Sending a paper return through the mail after e-filing will a delay a refund. Revenue provides several options for taxpayers to e-file their returns for free. Oregon Free Fillable Forms performs basic calculations and is ideal for taxpayers who don’t need help preparing their returns and want the convenience of filing electronically. 

The IRS offers a similar option for filing federal taxes electronically. New this year, taxpayers can file their federal return directly with the IRS using IRS Direct File and their Oregon return directly with the state through Direct File Oregon for free.

Videos are available to show how to use IRS Direct File and Direct File Oregon. Information about all available free tax preparation software options is available on the Revenue website, along with a list of organizations providing free assistance.

 

Klamath National Forest is planning prescribed fire operations to continue throughout the spring as weather conditions allow.

These prescribed fires help reduce overgrown vegetation and protect local communities, infrastructure and natural resources from wildfires. Prescribed fire areas may close to the public for several days for public safety. Watch for warning signs along roads near prescribed fire areas before and during burns. Residents may experience smoke during the prescribed burns.

Go to fire.airnow.gov for more about air quality. When driving, slow down and turn on headlights when you seeing smoke on the road.  Stay informed about the scheduled prescribed fires through the forest website, social media channels, and InciWeb, the interagency incident information system. 

 

Discrimination would be prohibited as a reason to ban a book from public schools in Oregon, under a bill passed by the State Senate.

Opponents say it would remove local control, but supporters say school district committees would decide whether books are banned for inappropriate content. The bill moves to the House for consideration. Stay tuned.

 

Hundreds of families remain displaced following severe flooding in southeast Oregon’s Harney County.

The sheriff’s office announced last night the floodwater blanketing the city of Burns has tested positive for multiple bacteria, including E. coli. Residents are urged to keep children and pets out of the water and use PPE when possible. Level 3 evacuation notices remain in effect for over 12-hundred people.

 

It’s molting season for elephant seals, and Oregon beachgoers are being urged to “share the shore.”

Signs have recently gone up in Seaside advising residents to remain at least 100 yards away from the seals after a young elephant seal was found sunbathing there yesterday. The molting process requires elephant seals to rest on land for multiple weeks while they shed their old coats and grow new ones. Elephant seals can be extra irritable during the molting process.

 

Oregon’s aging bridge infrastructure faces increasing strain, with a recent state report highlighting a growing number of structures in need of critical repair or replacement.

Oregon Department of Transportations (ODOT) recent report highlights the statewide issue of aging bridges and funding shortfalls for replacements, indicating that at the current pace, it would take 900 years to replace all state-owned bridges. This compounds concerns for the Medford Viaduct, which was built in 1962, and like many Oregon bridges, requires attention to ensure its resilience in the event of a major earthquake.

ODOT is actively working to maintain bridges, as Ray Bottenberg, state bridge engineer for ODOT, stated, to prevent them from slipping into “poor” condition. However, the age of the viaduct, and its importance as a key transportation link, necessitates a long-term strategy that includes seismic retrofitting. 

 

The Bureau of Land Management has closed BLM road 38-2-29.1 through April 30 for public safety.

The road provides access to the East Applegate Ridge Trailhead from Sterling Creek Road. A private landowner is exercising a right-of-way grant to haul timber across BLM Road 38-2-29.1. The timber is being removed from private lands in the area. These actions create significant safety risks to the public. The operator has blocked off the road, do not hike past the closure.

Members of the public have hiked through the timber operation, slowing down the project and requiring an extended closure. The western access to the East Applegate Ridge Trail on Highway 238 will remain open. Other trails in the area offer a great alternative, including the Jack-Ash Trail and the Sterling Mine Ditch Trail.

April is also a great time to explore some nearby hidden gems, like the Enchanted Forest Trail or the Tallowbox Trail.

 

Two bills are coming to the Oregon Legislature that can help protect residents before and after a wildfire happens.

Thats according to State Representative Pam Marsh who is one of the sponsors for House Bill 3666 and House Bill 3917. HB 3666 would institute a safety certification that the Public Utility Commission could grant to utilities, like Pacific Power, after reviewing the utility’s wildfire mitigation plan.

HB 3917 would set up a fund available for fire survivors, but how much coverage the fund would provide and who pays for the fund is still being discussed. Marsh says right now, utility’s wildfire mitigation plans are open-ended and after a wildfire happens, many people without insurance are left with little to no options. Some trial lawyers say these bills are a way to limit wildfire liability for utilities.

Marsh refutes this, saying neither bill is intended to provide any kind of immunity.

 

FBI launching ‘surge’ in Oregon, other states to investigate unsolved crimes in Native American communities

The FBI, now headed by Cash Patel says information they’ve gathered has seen a surge in unsolved crimes in Native American communities, including Oregon.

The FBI is sending extra agents, analysts and other personnel to field offices in Oregon and nine other states over the next six months to help investigate unsolved violent crimes in Indian Country, marking a continuation of efforts by the federal government to address high rates of violence affecting Native American communities.

The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday that the temporary duty assignments began immediately and will rotate every 90 days in field offices that include Portland, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Denver, Detroit, Minneapolis, Oklahoma City, and Jackson, Mississippi.

The FBI will be working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Missing and Murdered Unit, tribal authorities and federal prosecutors in each of the states.

In 2023, the Justice Department established its Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons outreach program, dispatching more attorneys and coordinators to certain regions to help with unsolved cases. In past years, the FBI’s Operation Not Forgotten had deployed about 50 people. This year, it’s 60. (SOURCE)

 

Jackson County is gearing up to welcome visitors to Emigrant Lake this summer, with the lake nearly replenished after several years of low water levels.

Steve Lambert, the Roads and Parks Director for Jackson County, shared exciting updates about the upcoming season, which promises a mix of outdoor recreation, new concessions, and renovated park facilities. The resurgence of the lake will also help the popular non-motorized watercraft rentals, including paddleboards and kayaks, which had struggled during the low-water years. 

The county is actively seeking new business partners to provide food, beverage, and non-motorized watercraft rentals, a service that was previously offered when the lake had better water levels. The last concessionaire at Emigrant Lake was successful in offering rentals and lessons for paddleboards, and Lambert is optimistic about finding a new partner to continue this tradition.

In preparation for the influx of visitors, Jackson County has also been working on improving park facilities. New infrastructure, including replacement sidewalks, staircases and a renovated Oak Slope Tent Campground.

 

Governor Tina Kotek has proclaimed April 2025 to be Oregon Arbor Month throughout the state.

This year’s proclamation recognizes the importance to neighborhoods of urban trees as cities add housing and rapidly densify. The proclamation states that “Trees play an integral role in fostering healthy communities,” adding that urban development and the preservation of trees demands a careful balance.   

Oregon Dept. of Forestry Urban and Community Forestry Program Manager Scott Altenhoff said “Replacing those trees will require us to pick up the pace not only of planting but also of ensuring nurseries have the capacity to grow the numbers and types of trees needed that are resilient to climate change and resistant to serious pests and diseases.” He added that it is equally important to grow and diversify the workforce in urban forestry.

Altenhoff said there is growing recognition, as cited in the proclamation, that the benefits of tree canopy have been unevenly distributed in the state. “Many low-income areas and those with large populations of people of color have fewer large shade trees than more affluent neighborhoods. Research has shown that having fewer large shade trees in those lower-canopy neighborhoods is strongly associated with increased deaths from heart disease and poor health outcomes.”

 

Oregon public schools would have to consider installing a panic alarm system under a bill that unanimously passed the state House.

Alyssa’s Law is named after Alyssa Alhadeff, a student who was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2017. Schools that have installed these systems find that about 80 percent of the alerts are for medical purposes.

In 2023, the Oregon Legislature approved two-and-a-half million dollars to help pay for the systems. The bill now moves to the Senate.

 

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s office has heard from thousands of Oregonians concerned with utility rate increases that have gone up for most by about 50% in the last five years.

Kotek detailed this and her own concerns in a March 20 letter to the three governor-appointed chairs and executive director of the Oregon Public Utility Commission, which is charged with regulating the rates of investor-owned, monopoly electric and gas utilities operating in the state.  She also laid out her expectations for the commission in the letter, including honoring the state’s climate commitments while considering requests for rate increases from utilities.

She asked that members provide information by Aug. 1 about their ability going forward to keep electricity and gas services affordable for Oregonians, handle the impacts of new heavy users such as data centers and ensure sound investments are being made in modernizing grid and distribution systems so Oregonians get reliable energy deliveries. 

Kotek acknowledged both electric and natural gas utilities have and continue to face increasing insurance costs from the threat of catastrophic wildfires, inflationary pressures and volatile fuel prices. Everyday customers face those challenges, too.  NW Natural, the state’s largest private gas utility, turned off gas to 376 Oregonians in 2024 – a 30% increase since 2023.

In the last five years, residential rates for customers of all three utilities have risen by about 50%, and the Oregon’s Public Utility Commission has approved rate hikes requested by the utilities nearly every year.

 

Big changes are coming to Mega Millions next month. Players will pay more for an increased ticket price but can also expect adjustments to prizes, higher starting jackpots and higher winning odds.

The new cost of a single-play Mega Millions ticket will rise from $2 per play to $5 per play, starting with the April 8 drawing.

Players who had won $2 in the old game will now take home $10, $15, $20, $25 or $50 under this game.  Those who had won $500 under the old rules will now take home $1,000; $1,500; $2,000; $2,500 or $5,000 in this new game. Non-jackpot prizes at every level are going up by 2X to 10X. 

These changes will take effect next week, according to a press release, after the last drawing on the current game April 4. The first drawings under the new system will begin April 8. It’s the second time in the game’s history that a price adjustment has been made, and the first since 2017.

Mega Millions is played in Oregon and 44 other states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 

Seems like every week there is new license plate design in the works. Last week, we told you about the new Dungeness Crab license plate option. The Oregon Dungeness crab commission currently selling vouchers in hopes of it becoming a reality.

Here is yet one more new license plate, this time aimed at sports fans. Now you can finally merge your passions for driving on the green and driving on the road. The Oregon Golf Association launching this new ‘Golf Oregon’ license plate effort.

The design features a golf ball texture background with a golf ball overlooking a sandy beach. The Association says the money raised from plate purchases will go directly toward youth golfing programs across the state. It also says Oregon is a golf paradise with over 200 courses covering more than 20,000 acres of the state.

 

The long-delayed deadline for REAL ID is weeks 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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