Local News

KWSO News for Fri., Oct. 16, 2020

Posted on by Sue Matters
16
Oct

Warm Springs Tribal Council is coordinating with the Warm Springs Community Action Team to provide Covid-19 assistance to Tribal Member businesses.  Tribal Councilman Glendon Smith talks about the effort.

An informal small business is defined as businesses with no formal organization and which are owned and operated by a single enrolled Warm Springs Tribal Member.  Requirements for applying include a completed application, customer certification and a completed W-9 Form.  Formal small businesses are a state and or Tribally registered business.  In addition to completing and application, formal small businesses must show financial impact to your business due to COVID-19.

The application deadline is November 20th.  You can contact Dustin Seyler at the Community Action Team to get an application, which is also available on the WSCAT Facebook Page.  A link to the application with additional information is also available in this morning’s news posted on KWSO’s website.

INFO & APPLICATION FOR FORMAL SMALL BUSINESSES

INFO & APPLICATION FOR INFORMAL SMALL BUSINESSES

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Oregon’s annual school and district report cards came out yesterday.  Normally, schools would be measured on test scores, attendance, and class sizes. But none of that data was collected last spring, as schools shifted online during the coronavirus pandemic. Oregon education department director, Colt Gill, says he’s focusing on information that schools need – not on state accountability measures.   “The first thing I would do is focus us on what individual students need and what teachers need to support them – and I don’t think that this loss of data at the state level is impacting that.”  Gill says school data is likely to look different next year, too, depending on when and how in-person instruction resumes.

On KWSO’s community talk show today at noon join Dr Shilo Tippett as we talk about 509J – distance learning – with an update from superintendent Ken Parshall.  Also a focus on how students are coping with education at home and how they can reach out for assistance with WSK8 counselor Michael Brick.  And we will discuss how families are managing it all with tips from Kevin Shaw of Brightways Counseling.  That’s at noon today on KWSO’s community talk.

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This week, the Columbia River Gorge Commission approved the revised “Gorge 2020” Management Plan for the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area on October 13, 2020. This vote was the conclusion of four years of work on the Plan.  Adopted revisions are the most extensive policy changes since the original Management Plan was adopted in 1991. The revised plan now must be submitted to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for concurrence, a process that could take several more months.

The revised plan, adopted on a 9-2 vote, will:

  • Require development of a climate action plan,
  • Apply strong policies limiting urban expansion,
  • Prohibit the destruction of wetlands,
  • Double the size of protective stream buffers for critical salmon habitat,
  • Improve development standards to protect scenic views,
  • Limit new dwellings in Forest zones to reduce fire risks,
  • Improve standards protecting agricultural lands,
  • Expand mining restrictions, and
  • Require the development an equity lens to guide future decision-making.

You can learn more online at http://www.gorgecommission.org/

Sue Matters