Gray whales that spend summer off the Oregon coast are smaller than Arctic counterparts, OSU researchers find

August 14, 2023

By MICHELLE KLAMPE/OSU News Service NEWPORT – Gray whales that spend their summers feeding off the coast of Oregon are shorter than their counterparts who travel north to the Arctic for food, new research from Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute shows. Both males and female gray whales in the subgroup known as the Pacific Coast Feeding Group are

Sheriff’s office schedules annual “shred day” for Saturday, Aug. 19

August 14, 2023

NEWPORT – The Lincoln County Sheriff’s office is hosting its annual “shred day” from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 19 in the the Lincoln County Courthouse parking lot, 225 W. Olive St. The event is an effort to combat identity theft and financial fraud and help Lincoln County residents protect their personal privacy. Shred Day is a free event open to

Lincoln County measure would have blocked proposed Beaver Creek spraying

August 13, 2023

To the editor: Glyphosate (sold commercially as RoundUp, an organophosphate pesticide) is part of a chemical cocktail a private forest owner is planning to aerial spray over 473 acres of Beaver Creek forested wetland north of Waldport in the near future. The landowner and the Oregon Department of Forestry, who issues the permit to spray, might consider the following: Beaver

Oregon employment officials prep for Monday’s launch of paid leave program, expect bumps along the way

August 13, 2023

By BEN BOTKIN/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — Oregon employment officials are preparing for a monumental undertaking: the launch of the state’s new paid leave program. The program, Paid Leave Oregon, covers family leave, medical leave and safe leave for Oregonians with jobs. Starting Monday, Oregon workers can apply for benefits through the state’s new paid leave program. The first day workers

Tidewater man jailed on seven charges, $500,000 bail after fight with neighbor

August 10, 2023

TIDEWATER – A 69-year-old Tidewater man is in the Lincoln County jail after his arrest Wednesday on seven charges including a bias crime after a fight stemming from a long-running property line dispute with a neighbor. Ronald E. Labrousse is being held on $500,000 bail on accusations of committing a bias crime, coercion, fourth-degree assault, strangulation, menacing, tempering with evidence,

After two years of toil, owners open Cafe Chill in downtown Waldport in vastly remodeled video store

August 10, 2023

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews WALDPORT – Diana Buckley finally has the coffee shop that she has been dreaming about. But it’s really more than that. Café Chill is open in the former — but now vastly remodeled — building that once housed Waldport Video and its beloved owner Chuck Hill. After three weeks of a slow rollout, Buckley is expanding

Support at public meeting on tourist trolley encourages Yachats chamber director to keep pursuing idea, grants

August 10, 2023

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews YACHATS – Maybe there is such a thing as a free ride. At least if the impromptu show of hands during a community meeting Wednesday evening in support of pursuing efforts to bring a tourist-style trolley to Yachats is any indication of broader sentiment. “I was quite surprised by it,” said Bobbi Price, executive director of

Armed with nets, Sharpies and glitter pens, silverspot researchers spend the summer tracking threatened butterfly

August 10, 2023

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews Izzy Bur kneels on the ground to avoid the brunt of a howling wind that rakes across the salt-spray meadow overlooking the ocean south of Rock Creek. With the fingers of one hand gently grasping the gossamer wings of a butterfly she uses the other to write a number across the tops of its wings, first

Proposal for Oregon’s first large-scale solar park and farm meets opposition from Willamette Valley farmers

August 10, 2023

In solar grazing farms, sheep and other livestock are able to eat weeds, grasses and plants on the same land that’s used to host solar panels for clean energy generation. By ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle A first-of-its kind proposal for a solar park and sheep ranch near Brownsville in the Willamette Valley is drawing both enthusiasm and ire from area

NOAA scientists tracking large marine heat wave that’s raised Oregon coastal temperatures by 7 degrees

August 10, 2023

By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews A large marine heat wave that has developed each of the past four years has scientists watching closely to see how long it lasts and to what extent it could affect the coastal ecosystem and marine life in the coming months. A recent lessening in ocean upwelling – when winds push surface water offshore and