KWSO News for Wed., Aug. 26, 2020

Northwest Incident Management Team 7 is managing operations on the Lions Head and P-515 fires on the Warm Springs Reservation. Here is Jon Larson with the operation briefing this morning:

To the north of Warm Springs Northwest Incident Management Team 9 is working the White River Fire that is burning north of Bear Springs and Highway 213.  Firefighters Tuesday continued with firing operations along the east and west ends of the fire toward the White River.  Along the north side, they continue to remove unburned fuels between Forest Road 48 and the main fire.  In the areas of rugged terrain to the south, fire crews were on lookout for any spot fires.

Fire lines on the Green Ridge Fire at Camp Sherman held for a second day in a row and firefighters continued mop up work on the fire. It is currently 4,348 acres and 23 percent contained.

There are 3 additional cases of Covid-19 in Warm Springs. The Covid-19 Community Update report Tuesday includes all information available through Monday, August 24, 2020. The total number of positive is cases is now 299. There are 41 current active cases and 73 close contacts being monitored by public health. Since testing began, 2623 have be conducted at the Health & Wellness Center. 33 people have been hospitalized and 30 of them have been discharged. There have been 6 deaths due to Covid-19.

COVID-19 has claimed seven more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 427, the Oregon Health Authority reported Tuesday, and 247 new confirmed and presumptive cases bring the state total to 25,391.

The end of collecting Census data has been moved up to September 30, 2020.  We still need to collect close to 600 more households.  Make sure your household is counted and check with your family members make sure they have completed a Census for their family. Here are the Oregon Tribal Response Rates:

• Celilo Indian Village 65.0%
• Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians 62.5%,
• Coquille Indian Tribe 60.4%
• Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde 55.3%
• Confederated Tribes of Umatilla 54.3%
• Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians 53.2%
• Burns Paiute Tribe 42.9%
• Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs 39.5%
• Klamath Tribes 38.5%
• Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians 33.0%

U.S. Highway 26 MIA/POW sign placements will take place on September 18^th at multiple locations from the Oregon Coast to Idaho. Oregon will be the first state to have a have a POW/MIA Memorial Highway span the entire state. In Madras there will be a 10am presentation at the City Hall prior to the sign installation on the highway. Highway 26 is the longest highway in Oregon and stretches from the Oregon coast near Seaside to the Oregon/Idaho border at Nyssa. The purpose of the new memorial signs along the highway is to honor the 600 prisoners of war from Oregon that served in WWI and WWII, Korean and Vietnam wars, as well as the 1,000 Oregonians that were missing in action in those same wars.

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — Vancouver Public Schools in Washington appears ready to retire the chieftain mascot at a high school after hearing feedback that decried the Native American imagery as offensive and racist. The Columbian reports in a workshop Tuesday, the board of directors indicated their support for retiring the image of a Plains Indian chief as the Columbia River High School mascot. Members heard from leaders of local Native American tribes who urged the school district to eliminate it. School board president Wendy Smith says there’s “no cause to keep it in place.” The board could formally vote to OK its removal its next meeting.