KWSO News for 1/9/20

Warm Springs Tribal Council held a General Council Meeting at the Agency Longhouse yesterday. Glendon Smith, Agency District Representative, talks about the focus of the meeting –“Today was set aside for the tribal membership, it was a public forum for any kind of concerns or issues that they wanted to bring up. Tribal Council hasn’t really had this kind of meeting on the agenda. So we decided to have a General Council meeting opened to the public, so they can voice their concerns to the entire council.”– During the meeting, many issues and concerns were brought up, including water crisis damage and reimbursement possibilities relating to that as well as tribal member requests to open the Kah-Nee-Ta village and Tribal Member Preference concerns just to name a few.

The Annual Movin’ Mountains Challenge for Jefferson County is back for its 11^th year. According to the Madras Pioneer the initial weigh-ins are scheduled to take place starting on Thursday January 23^rd at the Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center and Madras weigh-ins will take place at the Jefferson County Public Health office on Friday January 24^th and Saturday January 25^th. The 16 week Annual Slimdown challenge wants you to have fun losing weight, whether it’s on a 2 person team or as an individual. There is an entry fee, which goes toward cash prizes for the different categories, based on teams and individuals. For more information you can contact Carolyn Harvey at 541-475-4456.

Environmental advocates are suing Oregon’s Secretary of State over her rejection of two clean-energy ballot initiatives, claiming the action was without legal reasoning and constituted an abuse of power. Renew Oregon was seeking to put two measures before voters that would require all retail electricity in Oregon to be from carbon free sources by 2045 and mandate the state invest in carbon reduction measures. The Statesman Journal reports in a filing to Marion County Circuit Court Wednesday, complainants asked for an expedited review to allow Initiative Petitions 48 and 49 to continue the process that would allow them to put the measures before voters in November. An email to Clarno and Vial requesting comment was not immediately returned.

Increasingly intense wildfires that have scorched forests from California to Australia are stoking worry about long-term health impacts from smoke exposure in affected cities and towns. In the Sierra Nevada foothills town of Paradise, California, where a fire last year killed 85 people and destroyed 14,000 homes, researchers are tracking respiratory problems suffered by survivors and people in downwind communities. The work has far-reaching implications as climate change turns some regions of the globe drier and more fire-prone. Smoke from major wildfires can travel thousands of miles and affect millions of people.

In Sports: In NBA Action, the Portland Trailblazers are in Minnesota this evening to take on the Timberwolves. Both teams are at the bottom of the Northwest division and are hoping to get a winning streak going. In College Basketball, No. 24 Arizona plays at No. 9 Oregon in the Pac-12’s marquee game of the week. The Wildcats crushed rival Arizona State in its conference opener. The Ducks lost to Colorado before beating Utah. The game will include a match-up between two of the conference’s best point guards, Oregon’s Payton Pritchard and Arizona’s Nico Mannion.