KWSO News 3/12/19

Current eighth grade students will get an introduction to being a high schooler this Thursday. Brian Crook is the Asst. Principal at Madras High School…

Transportation is being provided from Warm Springs – a bus will depart the K-8 Academy at 5:00.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Pfizer has agreed to a $975,000 settlement with Oregon’s attorney general after an investigation found the pharmaceutical giant misled consumers with deceptive coupons. The company promised consumers would “pay no more” than a certain amount of money for a given drug. But customers who used the coupons found they were paying much more. The Oregon Department of Justice found that 371 people paid $40,000 more than the amount promised by the coupons. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said $620,000 of the settlement will go to two local nonprofits that help those without insurance afford health care. The rest will go to the Department of Justice and be used to refund consumers who used the misleading coupons.

The Warm Springs Area Chamber of Commerce is holding a first annual gathering to share the plans the current board of directors has to meet its goals and to open the enrollment for all businesses that want to be associates of the Chamber. The Chamber’s mission is to promote the progress, growth, well-being and improvement of the business, professional and civic community in Warm Springs. The Chamber hopes to accomplish this is by offering help with marketing, advertising, promoting healthy business regulations, other business services for current and potential business owners, and working with tribal, local, state and federal leaders to ensure success. The gathering is March 26^th, 6-9pm at the Community Center. Applications will be available for those who are interested in becoming members.

PORTLAND, Oregon – The shortest month of the year delivered record-breaking snowfall across the state, dramatically improving Oregon’s summer water supply outlook. The Natural Resources Conservation Service has released its March water supply outlook report, and the news for the snowpack and projected streamflow points to an adequate water supply for many areas of the state. The NRCS cautions that the next few weeks will ultimately determine the water supply picture for spring and summer. The report states that drought concerns were not entirely eliminated, however. Extreme drought status has dropped across the state, but over 60 percent of Oregon remains in a moderate to severe drought. Because of abundant mountain snowpack on March 1, the NRCS expects spring and summer streamflow to be near to well above normal in most parts of the state. The highest streamflow forecasts are in Eastern Oregon. There are a few areas where the streamflow forecasts remain below normal. They are in parts of the Deschutes River Basin and the Mount Hood Region, where they stood at a projected 80 to 95 percent of normal on March 1.

Washington State University is providing an opportunity for native youth to learn about college. The Native Youth Exploring Higher Education summer camp is held in July in Pullman, Washington. It is a summer camp for Native American high school students who will be in grades nine or ten in the fall. Participants stay in the residence halls at WSU, attend hands-on workshops on a variety of majors and hear from Native students and tribal professionals on the benefits and possibilities of pursuing higher education. It’s free and registrations are being accepted until June 15^th online at native.wsu.edu/nyehe.

The Four Columbia River Tribes have extended the Commercial Gillnet Fishery for the Bonneville Pool through 6pm on March 20^th. If you would like to get fisheries announcements via text message, send a text to the number 555-888 with “critfc” in the body of the text.