KWSO News for Mon., Apr. 5, 2021

Early last Friday Morning (4/2/21) at approximately 3:30 Warm Springs Public Safety dispatch received a report of a structure fire at 1756 Bray.  This was a boarded up home with a fully engulfed car port, with half the structure burned.   The home was vacant.  Initial indicators are that the fire was human caused although the incident continues to be investigated.  Fire Chief Karla Bagley-Tias says incidents like this are costly in a number of ways.

If you have any information about the carport fire on Bray Avenue last week, please contact the Warm Springs Tribal Police 541-553-1171.

As vaccine administration continues to ramp up in Oregon, health officials say they  are concerned about the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the state and variants of the virus. During the past two weeks, Oregon’s COVID-19 case count rates have been rising. OHA reports that during the week of March 22 coronavirus cases increased by 28% from the previous week. Health officials say that if more contagious variants take hold in Oregon, the COVID-19 transmission rate in the state could increase by 20% during April.

Warm Springs vaccinations are available to folks who live or work in Warm Springs and for I.H.S. Eligible individuals.  To schedule a COVID-19 vaccination appointment call 541-553-2131

The Water Control Board and Branch of Natural Resources are in the process of drafting a new Clean Water Act – Section 401 Water Quality Certification for the continued operation of the Warm Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant.    They have a Certification DRAFT  ready for  public comment and have posted a PUBLIC NOTICE for this water quality certification.   You can contact Mike McKay, Warm Springs Hydrologist at 541-553-2020 for more information.

Last week, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service announced they are disbursing several million more payments in the third batch of Economic Impact Payments from the American Rescue Plan. This brings the total disbursed so far to more than 130 million payments worth approximately $335 billion.    As announced on March 12, Economic Impact Payments continue to roll out in batches to millions of Americans. The third batch of payments began processing on Friday, March 26, with an official payment date of March 31, with some people receiving direct payments in their accounts earlier as provisional or pending deposits. This batch of payments contains more than 2 million direct deposit payments (with a total value of more than $5 billion) and approximately 2 million paper check payments (with a total value of nearly $5 billion).  For the first two batches of payments (which began processing on March 12 and March 19), payments were primarily sent to eligible taxpayers who filed 2019 or 2020 returns. People who don’t typically file a return but who successfully used the Non-Filers tool on IRS.gov last year were also sent payments in these first two batches, either as a direct deposit or by paper check or an EIP Card, a prepaid debit card.

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden will be holding a live on-line virtual town hall for Jefferson County this morning at 10:30, hosted by People’s Town Hall.  Here is the link to watch the virtual town hall.