KWSO News for Tue., Sep. 28, 2021

The number of COVID-19 cases in Warm Springs right now is as high as it had gotten following last Thanksgiving.  There have been so many people coming in for COVID-19 tests due to exposure or symptoms, that the Health & Wellness Center is running low on testing supplies.  There is testing priority being given to those who have been told to get tested by a contact tracer or nurse and for those with multiple symptoms.   Community Members are asked to please use all COVID-19 precautions: wearing a face mask and maintaining 6 feet distance from anyone you do not live with.  It is especially challenging to use those protocols when interacting with family and friends – when they are people you do not live with an who you have not been around.  Please rise to the challenge and help to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Health officials in Umatilla County, say they are starting to see COVID-19 cases linked to the Pendleton Round-Up. Umatilla County Public Health Director Joseph Fiumara told county commissioners Monday the county’s case count last week was 550 cases of COVID-19, and Fiumara said he had 151 pending cases from the weekend. So far, there are 44 cases of the illness tied to the Pendleton Round-Up, most from Umatilla County and some from Wallowa County. The Round-Up is a large, annual rodeo that concluded this year on Sept. 25. The rodeo and festival typically attract large crowds.

Despite a threat to block new political maps Republican state lawmakers returned to the Oregon Capitol  as the Legislature passed legislative and congressional boundaries that included a new, sixth U.S. House seat.   The congressional map, which House Republicans say is unfair and boycotted on Saturday by staging a walkout, passed Monday in the House and Senate on party-line votes . Democrats hold majorities in the Oregon Statehouse. Monday was the deadline for the Legislature to pass the new U.S. House districts or the task would’ve gone to a panel of retired judges. The new map includes four U.S. House seats that either are safe Democratic or lean in the party’s favor, one reliably red seat and one seat that could be a toss-up.  (https://www.opb.org/article/2021/09/27/oregon-resdistricting-vote-republicans-democrats-quorum-political-maps/)

Draft rules are out for a program designed to confront climate change in Oregon, but organizations say it doesn’t go far enough to curb emissions and protect front-line communities. Eric Tegethoff reports that Governor Kate Brown created the Climate Protection Program by executive order in 2020. Priya Judge with the group Power Past Fracked Gas says there are flaws in the program’s draft rules. She says the Department of Environmental Quality wouldn’t regulate the state’s biggest carbon emitters.  “That is basically happening under the umbrella of exemptions on the entire electric sector in Oregon, which includes the top six stationary polluters of fracked-gas power plants.”   She  says those plants are a major source of carbon emissions in the state. D-E-Q is holding its final public hearing on the draft rules online at 4 p-m Thursday. The agency is accepting public comment through next Monday (10-4).   The public can find information about the proposed program, to pre-register to provide comments, and for instructions to join the meetings, at: https://www.oregon.gov/deq/Regulations/rulemaking/Pages/rghgcr2021.aspx.   To submit written comments, email GHGCR2021@deq.state.or.us.

In prep sports Madras Girls Soccer Lost 8-0 to North Marion yesterday.  Boys soccer lost to North Marion 1-0.  Both teams play Corbett tomorrow with the Girls on the road and the Boys at home.  White Buffalo Volleyball hosts the Corbett Cardinals today.  And this Friday’s Madras Football game at Molalla has been cancelled.

At the Warm Springs K8 Academy 6^th grade Volleyball is hosting Cascades this afternoon.  GO Eagles!!