Local News
KWSO News for Thu., Feb. 17, 2022
Feb
Warm Springs Telecom has reported that All voice services they oversee are down, as they continue to upgrade and update the Telephone company they are continually finding problems. For the past year they have been working on a plan to bypass old equipment and have it mostly installed but have a lot of programming to do to bring the new phone switch online. They had hoped the equipment would stay alive long enough for completion of the complex installation and migration process, but the equipment failed Monday morning. There are a couple of engineers helping short-cut to try to get services restored as soon as possible. Telecom GM Tim York says it’s difficult to provide an estimated time, however similar to the accident last week with the fiber cables, he estimates one week and will keep everyone updated on the progress. York also stated that regardless of this setback, they are making a lot of progress to upgrade as many customers as possible to 25-mbps internet speed in the next 30-90 days.
There have been updates from the COVID testing team in Warm Springs regarding their schedule and the changes that have been made will go as follows and will be effective the week of February 21st. There is no testing on Monday the 21st as it is a holiday and the clinic will be closed. Tuesday the 22nd, the COVID testing will be open from 9am-11am, Wednesday the 23rd the COVID testing will be open from 1pm-3pm, Thursday the 24th there will be no COVID testing and Friday the 25th the COVID testing will be open from 9am-11am. Beginning February 28th, until further notice the COVID testing will only be available on Mondays from 9am-11am, Wednesdays from 1pm-3pm and Fridays 9am-11am. Outside of those hours the community will be directed to Emergency Management for HOME test distribution during regular hours and Fire & Safety after hours and weekends. Distribution location for Simnasho will be at Fire & Safety.
With the 29th Tribal Council elections coming up on March 30th, the Agency District will be holding a Candidate forum today at 5pm as a zoom meeting. Each available candidate will introduce themselves and have 5 minutes to present their respective platform. Agency District Voters will get to ask questions and it is asked to keep the questions simple for time constraints. Candidates in the Agency District are, Rain Circle, Michael Clements, Reina Estimo, Eugene Greene Jr., Anita Jackson, Danni Katchia, Uren Leonard Jr., Jim Manion, Dan Martinez, Cyrille Mitchell, William Sam, Alvis Smith III, Glendon Smith, Jason Wesley Smith, Jonathan W. Smith, Ryan Smith Sr., Valerie Switzler and Dennis White III. If you’d like to watch and/or participate you can find the zoom link in today’s news on the KWSO Website. ZOOM Link Here are the meeting details as well:
Meeting ID: 883 6096 6827
Passcode: 709998
Supporters of a bill meant to address Oregon’s shortage of nurses say the measure would speed up the process for nursing students to be able to work on the front lines. The bill would also extend the length of time that non-residents could work as a nurse in Oregon without getting an Oregon nursing license. Democratic Representative Travis Nelson is also a registered nurse. He says the pandemic has taken a heavy toll on people in his profession. “We’ve rightfully been called heroes, fighting this COVID-19 pandemic on the front lines to save lives. But if we’re going to be called heroes, then we must be supported like heroes who have risked our lives during multiple waves of this pandemic.” The Oregon Employment Department says the state’s nursing shortage pre-dates the pandemic. The bill under consideration was approved by the House Health Care Committee but awaits further action in the legislature’s budget-writing committee.
In Local Sports: The MHS wrestling team placed 3rd at the 4A Special District 4 Wrestling Championships at Sisters High School on Saturday February 12th as reported by the Madras Pioneer. Nine Buff Wrestlers placed in the top four and a handful more taking fifth, the Buffs amassed 208.5 points to easily clear Ontario, Sisters, McLoughlin/Weston McEwen, Corbett and Gladstone in the team scoring. La Grande cruised to victory with 447.0 points while Baker/Powder Valley was a clear second place at 303.0 points. Buff brothers Reece and Cael White won district titles as the only White Buffalo wrestlers to make it to the championship round. Madras will be sending 9 wrestlers to the State tournament being held on February 26th. On that roster are Seniors Reece White, Malacai Alire and Alex Arreola, Juniors Cael White and Isaiah Martinez, Sophomores Jayvon Tovar and Demarcus Scott as well as Freshman Jake Lawrence and Mike Young. Not to be outdone the Buff Swim team is sending four athletes to the 4A/3A/2A/1A swimming state championships and will be competing in a total of five events. Leading those athletes are Junior Colby Anderson and Senior Julian Hollingshead who took home medals at last year’s state championships. They will be joined by Junior Conner Flu and Freshman Cameron Shank.
