KWSO News for Wed., Nov. 23, 2022

The Native American Music Awards recently took place in Niagara Falls, New York. Originally scheduled to take place on Saturday November 19^th, the Awards show was postponed until Monday November 21^st due to a huge snow storm taking place in the region. Warm Springs Artist Blue Flamez was up for several nominations, but was not selected as a winner. Some of this year’s winners include Male Artist of the Year Sten Joddi, who many people might recognize from the show Reservation Dogs, who portrayed Bear’s father and had the song Greasy Frybread on the FX show during its first season. He won the Best Rap/Hip Hop recording for his song “It’s a Native Thang”. Ava Rose won the Award for the Female Artist of the Year. Lifetime Achievement Awards went to Rodney A. Grant, Paul LaRoche and Robert Tree Cody, with Oren Lyons receiving the Living Legend Award. Micki Free was inducted into the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame. You can check out the full list at the NAMA website.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has announced she is pardoning an estimated 45,000 people convicted of simple possession of marijuana, a month after President Joe Biden did the same under federal law. Biden has been calling on governors to issue pardons for those convicted of state marijuana offenses, which reflect the vast majority of marijuana possession cases. Biden’s pardon applied to those convicted under federal law and thousands convicted in the District of Columbia. Brown is also forgiving more than $14 million in unpaid fines and fees. Oregonians passed a ballot measure legalizing recreational use of marijuana in 2014.

In Major League Baseball news, the National Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot has been released and Central Oregon Native Jacoby Ellsbury has been added to the ballot. As reported by Central Oregon Daily News, Ellsbury and his family lived on the Warm Springs reservation before moving to Madras where he lettered in multiple sports in High school and moved on to college at Oregon State where he won All-American honors and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2005. Some of his Major League highlights include being the runner-up  for the American League Most Valuable Player in 2011, leading the AL in stolen bases three times as well as earning Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards playing for the Red Sox and Yankees in an 11 year Major League Career. The 2023 class will be announced on January 24^th with induction coming on July 23^rd, 2023.

KWSO Weather for Central Oregon:

• Mostly Sunny today with patchy fog this morning and a high near 52 degrees
• Tonight, Mostly Cloudy with a low around 28
• Mostly Sunny tomorrow with a high of 51 degrees