KWSO News for 12/4/19

The day is approaching that single use checkout bags will be no longer available at retail stores and restaurants. House Bill 2509 passed in the legislative session and places restrictions on other checkout bags they may provide. By encouraging the switch to reusable or recycled paper bags, Oregon can reduce the amounts of single-use bags that are used and thrown out, while addressing a significant problem for Oregon’s recycling programs. As a consumer, if you do not bring reusable bags you can expect to pay a small fee at the register, which helps businesses offset the cost for purchasing more sustainable bags. The minimum fee for reusable bags would start at 5 cents, but could be more depending on the business. After January 1^st, 2020, businesses can no longer provide single-use bags and must charge a fee for certain types of reusable bags. For More Information Click HERE

Health officials have confirmed three more Oregon cases of severe lung illness linked to vaping, bringing the statewide total to 20 cases with two resulting in death. KATU-TV reported Tuesday that some of those who were hospitalized vaped cannabis or nicotine only, while others used a combination of both. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced a preliminary finding that implicates a vitamin E additive as the potential cause of lung injury from THC vaping. Officials say vitamin E acetate has recently been used as a thickener in illicit vaping products that contain THC.

Tonight @ 7PM the Bend City Council is expected to vote on a climate action plan. If it passes, the plan to reduce fossil fuel use will be a first for Bend – and for central or eastern Oregon. Emily Cureton reports.
“Portland and other west-side cities already have climate action plans. But unlike those plans, none of Bend’s proposals are mandatory. Cassie Lacy is an analyst for the city, who says planners took a moderate approach in order to build consensus.  LACY: we still will need residents and businesses in the communities to kind of take advantage of the programs offered and actually pursue their own greenhouse gas reducing behaviors  Until recently the climate plan included one regulation—it would have required home inspections to rate energy efficiency. The idea was scrapped after an organized outcry. Tonight the city council will hear more public comments before it votes on a voluntary version of that program. And 41 other ways to address climate change locally.  Emily Cureton reporting.”

New earthquake research to be presented by Oregon-based geologists next week sounds like a B movie plot: A great earthquake along the Pacific NW offshore Cascadia fault triggers another great earthquake on the Northern San Andreas Fault! Bend Bulletin reports Attendees at a major earth science meeting in San Francisco will hear evidence that this cascade of disaster happened many time over the past couple of millennia. Chris Goldfinger, lead researcher of Oregon State University, reconstructs the history of great earthquakes along the West Coast by pulling sediment samples from lake bottoms and offshore underwater landslides caused by long ago earthquakes. Goldfinger said he found nine to 11 instances over roughly the last 3,000 years where a Cascadia earthquake seems to have triggered a San Andreas quake.

The snowpack level in Oregon is well below what it normally is in early December. According to the Snow Survey Program run by the US Department of Agriculture, parts of the state have less than 50 percent of the usual amount of snow on the ground for this time of year, including most of the Cascades. USDA hydrologist Scott Oviatt [OH-vee-it] says many Oregon locations experienced one of the driest Novembers on record.

Scott Oviatt: “We are guarded at this point, I think would be a good term, because we’re well behind normal. Obviously it’s not critical yet, no alarms going off, but we are keeping an eye on it.”

Oviatt says very few of the snow survey’s measuring sites under five-thousand feet in elevation are currently recording any snowpack at all. Statewide, the average snowpack is 59 percent of normal.

In Local Sports: Warm Springs K-8 Boys Basketball traveled to Sisters yesterday, 7^th Grade Boys fell 52-40, high scorers for the Eagles were James Napyer with 12 points, Andrew Perez with 8 points and Diego Arthur with 7. The 8^th Grade Eagles won their game 51-40, with Gunner Bailey and Seneca Ball leading the way with 16 points and Skytus Smith adding 10. Madras High School Basketball kicks off their season today. Buff Boys will be hosting Hidden Valley and the Lady Buffs are on the road to Hidden Valley as well.