KWSO News for Fri., May 27, 2022

The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) will be holding its 53^rd Annual Convention and Trade Show in Oklahoma City, OK from October 5^th-8^th.  The Jefferson County 509J School District will be sponsoring up to four students to attend this year’s NIEA Conference and those students must be in grades 10, 11 or 12 during the 22-23 school year to apply. The theme of this year’s convention is “Education Sovereignty, Our Choice” and brings together partners, stakeholders, tribal leaders, educators, teachers, parents and community members to impact the future of Native education. They will be offering Advocacy/Empowerment, College & Career readiness, and Wellbeing/Mindfulness programming and access to colleges and universities at the Annual Trade show. Student’s applications are due Today Click this LINK to apply

Former Warm Springs resident and current Portland State University Student Amanda Squiemphen-Yazzie was recently inducted into The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the Nation’s oldest and most selective all-discipline collegiate honor society. Squiemphen-Yazzie is among approximately 25,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappy Phi each year. She is currently finishing her final term at Portland State University and will be graduating with a Master’s in Social work on June 12, 2022. Through this program she was part of the “Practice and Leadership with Communities and Organizations concentration” and has maintained a 4.0 GPA. She received an Associate’s of Applied Science in December 2016 from Portland Community College and Bachelor of Social work in June 2019 from Portland State. Some other notable members of Phi Kappa Phi include former President Jimmy Carter, NASA astronaut Wendy Lawrence, Novelist John Grisham and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley.

The man who was convicted of the attempted murder and assault of two year old Ezra Jerome Thomas is facing a new trial for sex abuse. Josue Mendoza-Melo now faces nine counts of first-degree sexual abuse and two counts of sodomy, which involve two girls between the ages of six and eight at the time of the abuse between 2010 and 2012. As reported by the Madras Pioneer, Mendoza-Melo was a close family friend of the alleged sex abuse victims, who considered him a cousin, he was between 14 to 16 at the time of the alleged abuse. Judge Wade Whiting is hearing the case, prosecuted by Brentley Foster of the Jefferson County District Attorney’s office, Mendoza-Melo is defended by Jennifer Kimble, a public defender. The trial began on Monday May 23^rd and was scheduled to conclude this week. Mendoza-Melo has entered a plea of not guilty.

Summer blockbuster season starts this weekend (May 27) with the release of a sequel to the 1980’s hit fighter pilot movie Top Gun. Northwest moviegoers may find some of the background scenery in the new flick to be familiar. Correspondent Tom Banse explains why. “Actor Tom Cruise again stars as an ace Navy fighter pilot in the sequel “Top Gun-Maverick.” Sound: [from movie trailer] Cruise reportedly insisted on filming the aerial action in real fighter jets(, not using computer generated imagery.) So, Paramount Pictures struck an agreement with the Navy. A copy, first obtained by the website The War Zone, shows Cruise and company set up shop at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in spring 2019. It was hush-hush at the time, but now the results are on-screen… Whidbey Island Navy Growler jets fly fast and low through the Cascade Mountains, swooping over reservoirs, snow-capped ridges and dodging peaks. [tease up classic “Danger Zone” (Kenny Loggins)] In the movie, this climactic footage is presented as a secret mission against an unnamed rogue state. But now you know, it’s really the scenic but noisy, low-level flight training routes long used by the military in the Northwest. I’m Tom Banse reporting.”