KWSO News 12/10/25

The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs reminds Tribal Members that a combined December check for: for Per Capita, Senior Pension, and the Tribal Council Approved $600 Distribution to Membership will be in local Warm Springs PO Boxes this Friday (Dec. 12, 2025).  Checks that have out-of-town addresses will be held at the Vital Statistics Department at the Tribal Administration Building on Friday until 3:45pm.  This will allow Tribal Members who live outside of Warm Springs the opportunity to come pick up your check versus waiting for it in the mail.  After 3:45pm on Friday – those checks will be taken to the post office.  Anyone from out-of-town who needs their check held past that 3:45 cut off time can contact Vital Stats to let them know what you would like done.  Their number is 541-553-3252 or email vitalstats@wstribes.org.

The Warm Springs Community Center’s gymnasium will be closed today through Friday and on Monday next week. There will not be Buffalo Skywalkers basketball on those days. The closures are for maintenance, set-up for this Saturday’s Christmas Bazaar and the Christmas Indian Night Out Powwow on Monday. The weight rooms at the Center will be open.

In Madras High School sports yesterday, White Buff Girls Varsity Basketball lost on the road 39-41 at Hood River Valley High School. There are boys’ basketball games on the schedule today – it’s Boys JV2 at Sisters at 4:00, followed by JV at 5:30 at Sisters High School.

Newborns in the St. Charles Neonatal Intensive Care Unit can now breathe easier, thanks to a new ventilator technology that helps makes breathing more comfortable for infants that need support. St. Charles is the first NICU in Oregon to use Neurally Adjusted Ventilatory Assist (NAVA), which has been used to assist more than a dozen babies at St. Charles in the past six months.  In a news release, Cammie Egan, an advanced practice provider in the St. Charles NICU said “NAVA is safer and more comfortable than traditional ventilation. This is especially important for babies in the NICU whose lungs may have not yet fully developed.” Using NAVA promotes sleep and development. Infants who are cared for with NAVA are able to transition to independent breathing more quickly.

The federal government has denied a petition to list two populations of Chinook salmon as endangered. A group of nonprofits sought the protections for salmon along the Oregon Coast down into Northern California. Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity says they only wanted protections for the spring-run salmon. But the National Marine Fisheries Service currently lumps these spring and fall-run salmon together. Miller says, “We really want the protections to apply to the fish that need them the most, which is the spring-run. We can’t do that the way the feds currently manage salmon populations. ” The fisheries service said that the spring-run salmon, which typically will travel further upstream to spawn, aren’t distinct enough from the fall-run salmon to be considered separately. Agency staff acknowledged an increased threat to spring-run salmon, because of rising stream temperatures and habitat loss. But the stronger fall-run population outweighed the need to protect the salmon overall.