KWSO News for Mon., Apr. 21, 2025

Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF) Advisory Committee Meeting

The Central Oregon Intergovernmental Council (COIC) is hosting a Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF) Advisory Committee meeting for the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs today from 11am-1pm. The meeting will be held in person in the conference room at Indian Head Casino. Anyone attending the meeting in person will need to show a valid photo ID at the security podium to receive a visitor’s badge. A virtual option is also available for remote participation. Meeting packets with Zoom links can be accessed at https://www.coic.org/transportation/stif/.

Agenda topics include Public comment, CET Transit Director’s Update, Transit Ridership overview, Community engagement opportunities and Projects, grants, and legislative updates.

Volunteers needed for Earth Day community clean-up event in Warm Springs

Tomorrow is Earth Day. It is celebrated on April 22nd each year, promoting environmental protection and awareness since 1970. That means this year, Earth Day will celebrate its 55th anniversary.

Community clean-ups are common ways people can be involved. There is one locally organized event happening in Warm Springs tomorrow. Warm Springs Economic Development is leading an effort to pick up trash and debris tomorrow along community roads, with the primary focus on Hwy 3. Trash bags, gloves and a limited supply of tools to assist in picking up trash will be provided. Anyone who can bring their own tools is encouraged to do so. Any amount of time that folks can volunteer is appreciated. Check-in will begin at 8:30 at their office in the Industrial Park.

The Annual Earth Day Community Clean Up event organized by Papalaxsimisha and the Warm Springs Community Action Team originally scheduled to happen tomorrow has been postponed to a later date.

Central Oregon Dark Sky Week

Today kicks off a global celebration known as International Dark Sky Week. As Kathryn Styer Martínez reports, Central Oregon is joining in:

Today Madras White Buffalo sports schedule

In Madras High School sports today – Baseball teams travel to The Dalles for games this afternoon. JV will play at 3:00 and Varsity at 5:30 – both games will be played at the Quinton Street Ballpark in The Dalles. White Buff Softball JV & Varsity teams host The Dalles and both games start at 4:30.

Trump administration slashes funding for Native American boarding school research projects by $1.6 Million

(AP) At least $1.6 million in federal funds for projects meant to capture and digitize stories of the systemic abuse of generations of Indigenous children in boarding schools at the hands of the U.S. government have been slashed due to federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration. The cuts are just a fraction of the grants canceled by the National Endowment for the Humanities in recent weeks as part of the Republican administration’s deep cost-cutting effort across the federal government. But coming on the heels of a major federal boarding school investigation by the previous administration and an apology by then-President Joe Biden, they illustrate a seismic shift.

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition lost more than $282,000 as a result of the cuts, halting its work to digitize more than 100,000 pages of boarding school records for its database. Deborah Parker, the coalition’s CEO and a citizen of the Tulalip Tribes in Washington state, said Native Americans nationwide depend on the site to find loved ones who were taken or sent to these boarding schools.