KWSO News for Mon., Jan. 17, 2022

Last week Warm Springs Tribal Offices were closed to all but essential employees in an effort to slow the current spike in COVID-19 cases in our community and that closure was extended through today (1/17/22).    On Friday Tribal Council met with the local COVID-19 Response Team and voted to reopen Tribal Offices tomorrow, Tuesday, January 18^th.

Friday’s Warm Springs community COVID-19 Update reported 19 new cases of COVID-19 from 88 tests conducted on Thursday (1/13/22) at the Health and Wellness Center.  Friday morning there were 111 people with active COVID-19 and 54 close contacts receiving daily monitoring.

Coronavirus cases are rising sharply among children under age four and between the ages of 12 and 17. Oregon health officials say they are closely monitoring the trends in pediatric cases, which made up more than 20% of the state’s overall known caseload in the week that ended Jan. 8. The state says hospitalizations are also increasing in children. Overall, the Oregon Health Authority reported 8,672 new confirmed or presumptive cases Friday and 13 new deaths. Six percent of staffed adult intensive care unit beds are open statewide.

The U-S Army Corps is continuing its investigation into the deaths of steelhead trout near a dam in Idaho. Northwest News Network’s Correspondent Courtney Flatt reports that anglers first noticed dead and injured fish near the dam and alerted biologists with Idaho Fish and Game, who went to assess the situation at Dworshak Dam.  Idaho Fish and Game then alerted the Army Corps to the approximately 30 dead steelhead and other injured trout in the tailrace of the dam, which is the channel of water moving downstream of a dam.  Biologists with Idaho Fish and Game say the location of the dead fish likely means the dam caused the fish to die.  The Army Corps of Engineers says that’s possible. Corps officials say the fish also could have died of natural causes and were flushed to the surface as the turbine started up. The Army Corps says no major fish deaths have happened at the dam since it changed turbine start-up procedures in 2016.  To help reduce fish mortalities at the dam, Idaho Fish and Game wants the Army Corps to limit unnecessary turbine switches until it knows exactly why fish are injured and killed at the dam.

Last night in a private vote – Oregon House of Representatives Democrats nominated Dan Rayfield of Corvallis to be the next speaker of the house.   Speaker Tina Kotek of Portland, is the state’s longest serving speaker.  She is leaving her role as speaker – to focus on the upcoming Democratic primary for Governor in May.  The caucus met on Zoom and according to the Oregonian/Oregonlive – the actual tally of votes remains secret.   Rayfield, 42, is an attorney and the co-chair of the Joint Ways and Means Committee, which writes the state’s budget.  Three-term incumbent Representative Janelle Bynum of Happy Valley, had hoped to become the first Black speaker in Oregon history.  A floor vote in February is the next step for Rayfield in becoming the next Speaker of the Oregon House