KWSO News for 1/30/20

Pregnant women with addiction problems aren’t alone when it comes to struggling with addiction. According to The Bulletin, Nikki Davis is with the Mom’s program, and can relate to each of the women she helps because she understands their guilt, their shame and their fear of being judged. She was one of them, once. Davis has been sober six years, but she had alcohol and opioid addiction through her three pregnancies, but now she connects with clients to ensure they have the resources necessary to help them through pregnancy and addiction. The Moms Program is a collaboration between BestCare Treatment Services and St. Charles Center for Women’s Health and serves women in Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson Counties. Last year, the Moms Program reached out to 79 moms and got 22 of them into treatment.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has filed a resolution for the legislative session that starts next week asking voters to amend the state constitution to allow for real estate transfer taxes, which are assessed when property changes ownership. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that the money raised would go to fund affordable housing. House Joint Resolution 203 would exempt the first $500,000 of a property’s value from taxation. The governor has not proposed a tax rate nor set a goal for how much revenue she’d like to raise.

Hundreds of documents compiled as part of a special investigation into Spokane Valley Republican Representative Matt Shea have been made available to the public. Steve Jackson has been looking through them. “The Washington State House commissioned the investigation. The 500 pages of documents include online chat information, emails, social media posts and other materials. Investigators concluded that Shea was involved in acts of “domestic terrorism” for roles he played in three events, including the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. In that case, the documents appear to show Shea in email conversations with “Patriot” movement collegues. Shea has said that he was not involved in the organization of the event. But the documents indicate just two days after the standoff began, Shea was sending emails saying he had intelligence that an FBI strike team was preparing to “drastically escalate”. He makes reference to evaluating the situation, and making a decision as to whether a “call up” should be made. In an email the following day, Shea talks about “teams that are organizing and ready to deploy”, although it is unclear who those teams might be. He also instructs team leaders to talk to other team leaders rather than a second in command. Shea has defined his role in the Malheur siege as that of a negotiator who days after the emails met with the occupiers to help defuse the situation. Malheur organizer Ammon Bundy has stated that Shea was not involved in organizing the event”

Democrats in the Oregon Statehouse seek to have voters change its quorum rules, so walkouts by lawmakers can no longer stymie legislation. The joint resolution, filed the week before the Legislature starts its short 2020 session next Monday, seeks to make a majority in the House and the Senate sufficient to constitute a quorum to do business.  In 2019, Republicans staged two walkouts to deny Democrats a quorum in order to tie up bills aiming to stem global warming and proposals on gun control and vaccines. Currently two-thirds of members of each chamber must be present.

In Local Sports: The Warm Springs K-8 girls basketball teams were on the road yesterday to Jefferson County Middle School. The 7^th Grade girls won 44-28, led by Rebecca Francis with 12 points and Chamille Smith with 10. The 8^th Grade girls won 70-13 with leading scorers Talise Wapsheli contributing 18 points, Katelyn Tanewasha adding 17. Next up, they travel to Crook county today with game at 3:45pm.