Lincoln County commissioners ready to approve 300 percent increase in yearly vacation rental license fee

June 13, 2023

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews Lincoln County commissioners are considering a 300 percent increase in fees for property owners wanting to renew their vacation rental licenses to $500 a year. Commissioners last week said they were comfortable with the yearly renewal fee rising from the current $125 – and that maybe it should increase to $525 to fully cover costs of

54 years after Toledo police officer’s death, Oregon Senate standoff leaves family waiting longer for state honor

June 12, 2023

By JULIA SHUMWAY/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — Every day since May 4, the first bill on the agenda for the Oregon state Senate has been a resolution to honor a small-town reserve police officer shot and killed by a teenager during a car chase in 1969. Every day since May 4, the Senate has adjourned without a quorum, leaving

Broken insulator in Waldport led to widespread outage Friday, Central Lincoln says

June 12, 2023

More than 5,000 residents and businesses from Waldport to Yachats lost power Friday after a broken insulator caused lines to collapse. The power went out about 9 a.m. Friday and was not restored entirely until 3 p.m., although the majority of affected Central Lincoln Peoples Utility District customers had power restored by 10:15 a.m. “Basically, what caused the outage is

Democrats in Oregon Legislature consider watering down abortion, gun safety bills to get Senate Republicans to return

June 12, 2023

By DIRK VANDERHART/Oregon Public Broadcasting SALEM — Top lawmakers appeared to near a deal over the weekend to end a weeks-long standoff threatening to scuttle hundreds of bills remaining in Oregon’s legislative session While stressing that any agreement would still need to be approved by rank-and-file lawmakers — not a sure thing — three people briefed on the matter said

3,700 expected to participate in OSU’s graduation ceremony Saturday

June 12, 2023

Oregon State University will graduate 7,338 students during its university-wide commencement ceremony at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Reser Stadium on the Corvallis campus. More than 3,700 students are expected to participate in the ceremony that will honor the university’s 154th class. The event is free to attend, open to the public and held rain or shine. Gates will open at 9 a.m.

Federal agency schedules 8 Oregon open houses on sea otter reintroduction

June 12, 2023

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has scheduled eight open houses in Oregon this month to gather comments on the potential reintroduction of sea otters to the West Coast. The open houses are designed to provide residents and organizations an opportunity to ask questions, share perspectives and speak with agency staff about sea otters and next steps in recovery efforts

Negotiations under way to end Oregon Senate impasse as Democrats say they have a list of Republican conditions

June 11, 2023

By BEN BOTKIN/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — Oregon senators are engaged in intense negotiations to try to end the Republican-led walkout that started on May 3 and has prevented the Senate from voting on bills. In separate interviews with the Capital Chronicle, Democratic and Republican Senate leaders said they remain hopeful that the upper chamber will return to work. The

Week two of YachatsNews’ fundraising campaign: What does it cost to cover the news and why are we doing it?

June 9, 2023

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews This week I paid a bunch of bills for YachatsNews’ news gathering efforts in May. These included checks to our payroll service, our web guy, three freelancers and mileage reimbursement for reporter Garret Jaros. There was $100 to file our 2022 nonprofit report with the IRS and $33 for ink for the small office printer we bought

Waldport High School will celebrate 33 graduates Friday who persevered through pandemic, set leadership examples

June 8, 2023

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews WALDPORT — Waldport High School’s class of 2023 sets sail for the future Friday with a senior class that weathered a global pandemic while still managing to keep their collective compasses on course to graduate. Thirty-three graduates will leave Waldport High in their wake with more than 20 mapping out plans for college while the remainder

Homeless and Housing in Lincoln County: Can a $1 million effort to find solutions possibly work, or is it just another plan?

June 8, 2023

This is the second of a two-part series on homelessness in Lincoln County and a $1 million pilot program to help tackle the crisis. The first part ran June 2 and can be found here. By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews U.S. Navy veteran Tamera Speights was living in Stayton when the Beachie Creek fire bore down on her neighborhood