KWSO News 5/2/19

The US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held a legislative hearing on Wednesday to receive testimony on several bills including S. 832 – a bill to nullify the Supplemental Treaty Between the United States of America and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of Indians of Middle, Oregon, of 1865. The bill is in the first state of the legislative process and was introduced into Congress on in March. Senator Jeff Merkley is a co-sponsor of the bill…

Oregon Governor Kate Brown has said that it is the policy of the State of Oregon that the 1865 treaty is null and void. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has determined that the state cannot defend the 1865 treaty because U.S. vs. Oregon has already clearly established that the 1855 treaty governs the Warm Springs Tribes’ off-reservation rights. Warm Springs Tribal Council members Carina Miller and Ron Suppah were in attendance yesterday. Suppah provided testimony on behalf of the Tribes.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The National Interagency Fire Center is predicting a heavy wildfire season for areas along the West Coast of the United States this summer. The Boise, Idaho-based center said Wednesday that most of the country can expect a normal wildfire season in the period from May through August. But the states of California, Washington and Oregon are an exception. The agency says a heavy crop of grasses and fine fuels has developed across California and should elevate fire potential as it dries through the summer. Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest has entered a period of moderate drought. That might mean an early fire season in the Cascade Range and the Okanogan region.

Madras High School Assistant Principal Brian Crook will become the school’s principal in July, the Jefferson County School District 509-J announced Wednesday. Crook said he’s excited to take this next step as current co-principals Mark Neffendorf and HD Weddel retire. Crook joined the school district in 2016.

A meeting was held Wednesday in Warm Springs to provide updates about the Tribe’s hemp project. Cannabis Project Coordinator Laurie Danzuka says the meeting with Land Use Planning Committee is part of the process for moving forward with the project…

Danzuka says that conservative projections say the hemp project would begin turning a profit in year three.