Local News
KWSO News for Mon., Mar. 28, 2022
Mar
The Elections for the 29th Tribal council are coming up on Wednesday March 30th and will take place at the Warm Springs Community Center Social hall from 8am-8pm. Absentee Ballot boxes will be set up at the Simnasho longhouse, the Seekseequa Fire Hall and the Administration building. Those boxes will be closed at 8pm on election night and transported to the Warm Springs community center for official counting. Off reservation Tribal members can mail in their absentee ballot and it needs to be received by March 30th to be counted. All campaigning and BBQ meals will not be allowed in the parking lot for the Community Center on Election Day, they will only be allowed behind the fence in the Pi-Ume-Sha fields. COVID-19 protocols will be in place. Face masks are required for entry into the polls where temperature and COVID screening will be done as required and social distancing is a must for everyone’s safety. There will be a tribal elder drive up for elders only to vote from their vehicle, any other members in the car that are not an elder will be required to wait in line to vote inside. Elders can still vote inside if they’d like and will be given priority in the line to vote.
Work continues on campus to prepare the site for the Community Action Team’s Small Business Incubator Project. The old Commodities building – most recently used by Natural Resources, located behind the Warm Springs Post Office will be moved in April to the corner of Highway 26 and Paiute Street. Asbestos and Lead Paint removal was completed in the oldest standing building on the reservation. Renovations will be done to create space that will support local small business along with retail space and a food area. They have successfully lifted the building off of its current foundation in preparation of the transfer to the new site. You can learn a little more about the initial planning that went into this project by checking out KWSO’s YouTube Channel in a video titled WSCAT Commissary Project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHGbiY5j5z8
The 2022 NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS NOMINEES are still waiting for your vote for the awards. The awards cover all recordings released from 2019 through 2021. In the Best Debut Group or Duo category is Warm Springs’ own Blue Flamez and YL for “Warrior”. In the best R&B Recording Category – Blue Flamez Featuring Kaos is in the running for “Game Time” as is Bigg B for “Hometown.” Also Blue Flamez “Blessed” is listed in the Best Rap Hip Hop Recording category, Kalliah and Black Water are up for the Best Single Recording for their song “I Will Always Fight”. The voting is open until March 31st, a date and time for the announcement of the winners of the awards has not yet been set.
Oregonians [and Washingtonians] have until Thursday to have their studded tires removed. That’s the annual deadline to remove the tires, which some drivers use for extra grip on ice-covered roads. While the deadline is extended if late-season wintry weather is in the forecast, Oregon Department of Transportation spokesperson Kacey Davey says that won’t happen this year. “Every spring our folks in ODOT get together with meteorologists, and we also coordinate with the state of Washington as well, and we look at long-term forecasts and predictions, and it’s looking like a pretty nice spring. And so with that, we did not extend the deadline for studded tires to be removed this year.” While studded tires are legal during the winter months, ODOT says they cause millions of dollars of damage to Oregon highways each year.
Smoky skies can harm our lungs and the environment. But even when the smoke clears, researchers say it leaves behind chemicals that can impact the climate for several days. OPB’s April Ehrlich reports. “A new study looks at data from Mount Bachelor in 20-19 — a relatively smokeless summer. Even so, researchers found wildfire smoke particulates from as far away as Siberia. They were more than a week old. Qi Zhang [[[CHEE JUNG]]] — a professor with University of California, Davis — says even these leftover particulates could change the atmosphere. ZHANG: “The air in the remote region appears to be very, very clean with limited air pollutants, but in reality, there’s a wildfire influence there.” Pollutants from wildfires can change the temperature by scattering or absorbing solar radiation — or they can seed clouds to produce rain or snow. Zhang says this information is crucial in knowing more about the impacts of wildfire smoke — even when it’s old. I’m April Ehrlich.”
In Local Sports: Practice for Warm Springs Nation Little League teams from Minors up through Junior teams start today at the fields behind the community center. Minor boys will practice from 4-5:30pm, the Lil Bucks will practice at 5pm and the Juniors practice is set for 6pm-7:30pm. If you haven’t signed up yet, make sure to get an application from Edmund or Naomi, or you can do it online for the player’s and volunteers at WSNLL.org.
