KWSO News for 11/26/19

The National Weather Service is urging Oregonians in the southern part of the state to stay home on Tuesday and Wednesday as conditions develop for a major storm with high winds and white-out conditions. The agency said Monday that snow is also expected in central and eastern Oregon. KOIN-TV reports that an extremely low pressure system could hit Oregon’s southern coast on Tuesday with wind gusts of up to 80 mph. KOIN says the last storm of this intensity was in December 2002 and brought wind gusts of 90 mph in Gold Beach and Cape Blanco. The Interstate 5 corridor from the California border to north of Roseburg could get up to 15 inches of snow. Central and eastern Oregon could see between seven and 13 inches of snow.

The Trust for Public Lands has received more than $400,000 in grant money toward the purchase of Spence Mountain. The Herald and News reported Monday that the trust is trying to gather $6 million to purchase the 7,500-acre property from private landowners so it can be managed by Klamath County. Spence Mountain is the last block of privately owned land on the west side of Klamath Lake and holds six strategically important lands for fish and wildlife. There are also 35 miles of mountain bike trails, with plans to expand to 65 miles in the future. The recent grant was from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The project also has other grants in its sights, including one from the U.S. Forest Service Forest Legacy Program.

A trio of conservation groups are suing the U.S. government over its plan for the recovery of threatened bull trout. Save the Bull Trout, Friends of the Wild Swan and Alliance for the Wild Rockies filed the lawsuit against the heads of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Department of Interior in U.S. District Court in Missoula. The recovery plan for the fish, which is listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, was released in 2015. Among their arguments, the plaintiffs say the plan doesn’t have population targets, so there’s no objective criteria in it to measure the species’ recovery. Federal officials declined to comment. It’s the second lawsuit to attempt to force a rewrite of the plan. The first was dismissed by a judge in Oregon for a lack of jurisdiction.

In Sports: Monday Night Primetime NFL Action saw NFL MVP Front runner Lamar Jackson lead the Baltimore Ravens in to Los Angeles to take on the Rams. Jackson strengthened his case for MVP by throwing 5 TD’s and running for 95 yards against the Rams in the Ravens 45-6 victory. Up next for Jackson and the Ravens, they will host the 10-1 San Francisco 49ers who just recently beat up the Green Bay Packers 37-8. In NBA action: Carmelo Anthony had 25 points in just his fourth game of the season, CJ McCollum added 21, and the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Chicago Bulls 117-94. Damian Lillard had 13 points and 12 assists as Portland snapped a four-game losing streak. Anthony was 10 for 20 from the field, including 4 of 7 on 3-pointers. He now has 25,615 career points to move ahead of Alex English (26,613) into 18th place on the NBA’s career scoring list. In San Antonio, LaMarcus Aldridge had 30 points for the Spurs, but it was LeBron James 33 points and 14 assists that led to the LA Lakers victory 114-104. Anthony Davis added 19 points for the Lakers.