Oregon Legislature ended 2022 session with big spending, policy changes, little political rancor

March 7, 2022

Money will move to just about every part of life in Oregon to aid individuals, families and communities Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, presides over the House on Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) By JULIA SHUMWAY, LYNNE TERRY and ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — With a final flurry of votes and speeches, Oregon legislators ended their 2022

Siletz tribal members in southern Oregon are leading the effort to revive and spread word of the native Kalapuyan language

March 7, 2022

By MYERS REECE/Underscore.news On a drizzly January morning, Esther Stutzman’s dining room table is covered with sticky notes, worksheets, notepads and several bulky Kalapuya dictionaries. Seated next to Stutzman are her two daughters and granddaughter, all Kalapuyan descendants and enrolled members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Their jovial banter belies the gravity of their mission: to revive

Seal Rock Fire board wants to offer chief’s job to Ewing, loses two firefighters and board member and decides to keep negotiating with COCF&R

March 7, 2022

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com SEAL ROCK – The Seal Rock Fire District board wants to offer the part-time consultant who has been helping the district since October a two-year contract to be its fire chief. If Will Ewing accepts, his first job might may be trying to replace two of the district’s four firefighters who submitted resignations last week to

Still wrestling with staffing issues, new Yachats manager again asks for public’s patience with city hall closure

March 7, 2022

YACHATS – Yachats city manager Heide Lambert is again asking for patience from the public when it comes to dealing with city hall. Lambert, who started as city manager on Feb. 14, closed city hall at the end of February and plans to keep it closed for the month of March except for scheduled appointments or transactions via the

Samaritan medical group in Newport adds surgeon from Mayo Clinic

March 6, 2022

NEWPORT – Dr. Nathaniel Uecker, a general surgeon specializing in minimally invasive surgery has joined Samaritan Surgical Specialists in Newport. Uecker specializes in laparoscopic gallbladder, hernia and bowel surgery and endoscopic procedures with a particular interest is in skin cancer and wound closure techniques. Uecker’s medical degree is from Ross University School of Medicine in Miramar, Fla. He completed residency

OSU researcher will lead online webinar March 16 on coastal resilience

March 6, 2022

NEWPORT – How coast communities can increase their resilience to natural hazards from tsunamis to landslides is the subject of the next online “Hatfield Science on Tap” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 16. The online webinar will be led by Peter Ruggiero, director of The Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hazards Research Hub at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center. Ruggiero’s talk is entitled,

Another long discussion by Yachats council on repairs to Little Log Church ends with 3-2 vote to seek bids for plans — and more frustration

March 3, 2022

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com YACHATS – The Yachats City Council voted 3-2 Thursday to seek bids for a structural engineering report so it can get estimates for possible repairs to the city’s deteriorating Little Log Church Museum building. It was the essentially same decision the council made two months ago – except this time Councilor Anthony Muirhead joined Mayor Leslie

Oregon’s COVID-19 cases dropping even faster that forecast ahead of governor’s mask timeline next week

March 3, 2022

By GARY A. WARNER/Oregon Capital Bureau Oregon could fall below 400 patients with COVID-19 in state hospitals within days, but Gov. Kate Brown is not changing the March 12 date for lifting indoor mask requirements. The Oregon Health Authority reported Thursday that 404 people with COVID-19 were in hospitals in the state. Oregon Health and Science University forecast the number

From Division 1 basketball to top tier real estate to coaching in Waldport, teaching has always been job No. 1 for Yachats’ D.J. Novgrod

March 3, 2022

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews.com One winter day at Yachats’ social hub (the Post Office), a well-known local realtor ran into an acquaintance. “I’ve retired from real estate,” she announced “and gone back to basketball.” Huh? After all, D.J. (Debra Jane) Novgrod was a fixture in area real estate for years, well-connected in the Presbyterian church, and in civic affairs. But

Budget plan by key Oregon legislative committee includes projects for Lincoln County and helps Oregonians with housing, child care, job training

March 3, 2022

Democrats have advanced a $1.4 billion budget that includes affordable housing, education, health care and other priorities. (Ron Cooper/Oregon Capital Chronicle) By LYNNE TERRY, JULIA SHUMWAY and ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — New state spending designed to improve the lives of Oregonians by helping thousands of homeless residents obtain shelter, providing access to clean water in small, rural towns