KWSO News for Tue., Oct 26, 2021

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The founder of a far-right anti-government group says a report estimating the organization’s fast growth over the past year undercounted by half. Ammon Bundy took issue with the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights report, saying the group People’s Rights is actually much larger and more of a network than an organization. The report, released last week, found that the organization has grown by roughly 53% in the past year to more than 33,000 members, rapidly expanding nationwide and making inroads into Canada. Bundy says the report is inaccurate and that People’s Rights now has more than 62,000 members. The organization has been largely focused on fighting public health restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

Thousands of people remained without power following a strong Pacific storm system that downed trees and power lines. Most of those still without electricity Monday were in the greater Seattle area, where utilities reported a drop Monday from about 60,000 to 23,000 customers still out. Utilities in the Portland, Oregon, area listed about 1,000 customers without power. Two people died Sunday after a tree collapsed onto their car near Issaquah, Washington. On Sunday wind gusts topping 60 mph downed trees on Interstate 90 and cut power to over 150,000 customers around Seattle and Puget Sound. In Oregon, about 25,000 customers lost power in Portland and the northwest part of the state.

A Grants Pass woman is accused of running an illicit massage business. The Mail Tribune reports the Josephine County District Attorney’s Office charged Wei Zhang with a one felony count of promoting prostitution. Documents filed Monday in Josephine County Circuit Court accuse her of operating and maintaining “a prostitution enterprise” at Silk Road Massage in Grants Pass for more than two and a half years. Zhang was arrested Thursday during a raid involving multiple police task forces. She was released Friday after posting $25,000 bail, jail and court records show. It wasn’t immediately known if she has a lawyer to comment on the case.

A Multnomah County Circuit Court judge has once again found the Oregon State Hospital in contempt of a court order. As Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Conrad Wilson reports, the hospital has again failed to admit two defendants found guilty except for insanity. “The two men have been waiting in the county’s jail for admission to the state’s psychiatric hospital for between seven and nine months. Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Nan Waller ordered the state to pay $2,500 per day, per person as long as the men wait in jail. Last month, Waller initially found the state in contempt of her ruling to transport the two men to the state hospital or pay $100 per day, per person. Waller required the fines be paid to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office to better train corrections staff on managing the behavioral health issues of people in custody. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office says no payments have been received. Statewide, 26 people found guilty except for insanity are waiting in jails for admission to the state hospital for treatment and to serve their sentence. I’m Conrad Wilson in Portland”

A Democratic lawmaker from Oregon is supporting a court challenge to new political maps passed by his party. State Representative Marty Wilde (WILL-dee) says those maps punish him for his political ambitions. Dirk VanderHart reports. “Wilde’s not actually a plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging new maps for the state’s 90 legislative districts. He’s more of the poster child. The suit, filed by two Lane County men, claims that leading Democrats acted improperly when they drew new district boundaries around Wilde’s home in southeast Eugene. In a map passed last month, Wilde is drawn into a largely rural district that favors Republicans. Wilde has claimed for weeks that the map amounted to political retribution. In a declaration in  support of the lawsuit, Wilde says he’d made clear he wanted to run for the state Senate. He believes he was drawn into the rural district to prevent him from posing a primary challenge to Democratic senator, Floyd Prozanski. Wilde joined one of two challenges just filed against the legislative maps. In the other, plaintiffs argue lawmakers are illegally favoring incumbents. I’m DV reporting”

In Major League Baseball: The Houston Astros host Atlanta this evening in Major League Baseball’s World Series. It is Houston’s 3^rd trip to the Show in 5 years and Atlanta’s 1^st trip in over 20 years. Houston is favored to win but Atlanta is looking to gain its first World Series title in more than 20 years.