KWSO News Fri., Dec. 18, 2020

There were 2 new cases of COVID-19 reported for Warm Springs in Thursday’s Community COVID-19 Update (12/17/20).  Those results were from 42 tests conducted on Wednesday (12/16/20). 74 active cases of COVID-19 on the Reservation and 158 close contacts are being monitored daily. As of yesterday’s report, 62 people have been hospitalized with 57 having been released. 14 Warm Springs people have died from COVID-19.

Oregon reported 1,339 new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases, and 21 new deaths on Thursday. The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 551 and there are 113 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds.

President-elect Joe Biden has picked New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as interior secretary. The historic pick Thursday would make Haaland the first Native American to lead the powerful federal agency, which has wielded influence over the nation’s tribes for generations. If confirmed by the Senate, the first-term congresswoman would also be the first Native American Cabinet secretary in U.S. history. Tribal leaders and activists around the country, along with many Democratic figures, have urged Biden for weeks to choose Haaland to lead the Department of Interior. Haaland promised Thursday to “be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.”

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — For the first time in more than a generation, chinook salmon have spawned in the upper Columbia River system. Colville Tribal biologists counted 36 nests along an 8-mile stretch of the Sanpoil River, a tributary of the Columbia, in September. Colville Tribal member Crystal Conant says at first she was shocked and then overcome with joy. The news is a step toward full reintroduction of the migratory fish and another watershed cultural moment for the region’s tribes. Since the Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams were built in the 1950s and 1930s, salmon have been blocked from returning to spawning beds in the upper Columbia River.

(KLCC) The Coquille Indian Tribe is opening an outpatient medical clinic in Eugene. The new clinic will incorporate culturally sensitive elements in both its design and application of health and medicine. The Coquille Tribe purchased the clinic’s building with help from a $900,000 Indian Community Development Block Grant from the federal Housing and Urban Development Department. https://www.klcc.org/post/coquille-tribe-opening-new-medical-clinic-eugene