KWSO News 3/19/19

Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden today announced a major, $2.5 million grant for Oregon State University to develop monitoring systems for offshore wind turbines, advancing the renewable energy technology with cutting-edge research. The award is among the $6.2 million in grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy for early stage research and development projects that will reduce environmental compliance costs and environmental impacts of land-based and offshore wind energy. Technologies that reduce the impact to bats, birds and other wildlife can lead to less curtailment when wind turbines have to be shut down.  Oregon State University will design, build, and test an autonomous monitoring system to accurately detect bird and bat collisions with offshore wind turbines. The system will combine microphones and 360-degree cameras with analysis software to detect and verify impacts.

Democrats want to design their way out of Oregon’s housing crisis and are considering a proposal clearing the path for developers to build more apartments and townhouses. The move comes on the heels of a landmark rent control measure and is meant to be part of a multi-pronged approach to combat the state’s housing shortage.

County health officials say one more person has been diagnosed with measles linked to a Vancouver-area outbreak. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the total number of people diagnosed in Oregon and Washington due to the outbreak since Jan. 1 is now at 78.

Warm Springs Nation Little League baseball and softball tryouts are happening this week, however, due to the current condition of the ballfields, are taking place on the grass area in front of the Counseling building. Today from 5 to 6:30 are baseball try outs, Wednesday 5 to 6:30 softball tryouts and Thursday for both – baseball at 4:30 and softball at 5:15. The draft will follow tryouts on Thursday.

Baylor, Notre Dame, Mississippi State and Louisville are the top seeds in the women’s NCAA Tournament. The bracket was mistakenly put out early on ESPNU several hours before the network had its selection show on Monday night. Oregon is the No. 2 seed in the Portland Region and will open against No. 15 seed Portland State in the first round of the Tournament on Friday at 6 pm at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon State landed the no 4 seed in the Albany regional. They play Boise State Saturday at Gill Coliseum.