KWSO News for Tue., Apr. 5, 2022

This past weekend Warm Springs Telecom began work on a major network update and was to continue around the clock throughout the weekend. Telecom General Manager Tim York said that they had planned to have things wrapped up yesterday morning and that customers might see a few brief interruptions. The update is to address the internet/broadband “dropping” issue that so many customers have reported and have found it difficult to stream movies and enjoy online gaming the past few months. This update also includes more bandwidth, which telecom has been limited due to the restrictions of the old equipment. Moving forward they will be moving as many customers as they can to 25 Mbps speed. It was reported yesterday afternoon that there was a piece of equipment that rebooted and might have caused issues. We’ll keep you updated as we are updated.

As reported by KTVZ, The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has decided there will be no spring Chinook season on the Deschutes River for 2022 due to expected poor returns, but has set the following regulations for a spring chinook fishery on the Hood River:

• Open for adult hatchery Chinook from April 15 through June 30 from the mouth to mainstem confluence with the East Fork, and the West Fork from the confluence with the mainstem upstream to the angling deadline 200 feet downstream of Punchbowl falls.
• The catch limit is one adult hatchery salmon per day, and five hatchery jack salmon per day.
• All wild Chinook salmon must be released unharmed.

Fishery Managers are predicting a good return of about 1200 adult hatchery fish for the Hood River, which is quite a bit higher than last year’s actual return. According to Jason Seals, ODFW Fish Biologist, the Hood River fishery is one of the few places a bank angler has a pretty good chance of catching a Columbia River spring Chinook. Seals said the run usually peaks in late May due to colder water temperatures in the Hood River.

Oregon is expanding access to unemployment benefits for people who face barriers to work. OPB’s Kate Davidson reports. “To get benefits … it used to be that job seekers had to be available to work any schedule an employer in their field would normally require. That meant people who had child care duties or classes might not get benefits, even if they wanted to work full time. The pandemic, of course, put a huge spotlight on barriers to work. And now the Employment Department has changed its rules on availability. Say you’re looking for a manufacturing job but can’t work the day shift because you don’t have child care. If you can work full time in another shift, you could still collect unemployment. You don’t have to be available for all shifts. The agency says a person’s availability will be determined on a case-by-case basis if they face barriers. I’m KD, reporting”

The largest habitat restoration project along the lower Columbia River is coming to a close this spring. The Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge, east of Washougal in Clark County, is slated to reopen May 1 after almost two years of being intermittently closed to the public. The roughly $31 million project is designed to decrease flooding and increase salmon and steelhead migration. Updates included removing a levee that separated the Columbia River from nearby Gibbons Creek, which officials say reopened a natural pathway for salmon and steelhead migration and will prevent the creek from flooding.

In Local Sports: The Madras High School Buff Boys Baseball is on the road today to Caldera High School in Bend, game time is 4:30pm. Lady Buffs Softball is hosting Caldera today, game time there is 4:30pm. Madras Boys Varsity Tennis is on the road to Philomath today, their matches start at 4pm. Lady Buffs Tennis will host Philomath this afternoon, matches starting at 4pm.