First major sighting this spring of killer whales in Yaquina Bay thrills photographers, tourists and orca researcher

March 28, 2023

By DANA TIMS/YachatsNews Jaklyn Larsen wasn’t planning to go for a run Monday, but that’s just what happened when the Florence-based professional photographer got word that a family of five killer whales was heading up the Yaquina River. Larsen, a self-described killer whale enthusiast, dropped everything and made the drive to Newport, hoping she would make it in time

Lincoln County jobless rate stays flat — but at 5.8 percent — in February

March 28, 2023

Is this good news or bad news? Or just news? The Oregon Employment Department said Tuesday that the unemployment rate for Lincoln County remained flat at 5.8 percent in February – the same as it was in January. The county’s unemployment rate had been steadily rising each month since hitting a low of 4.7 percent last July. The unemployment rate

Oregon Coast CC announces business workshops for spring

March 27, 2023

The Small Business Development Center at Oregon Coast Community College has announced a series of workshops for business owners this spring. There will be two training workshops on how to use Excel. A basic workshop is Wednesday, April 5 and a “tips and tricks” workshop is Wednesday, April 19. Both are offered online via Zoom. The term will also offer

Samaritan offering six-week grief classes starting in April

March 27, 2023

NEWPORT — Samaritan Evergreen Hospice is hosting a free six-week group this spring for adults who could benefit from education and support while navigating through the death of a loved one. The loss does not have to be recent. The class will meet from 3:30-5 p.m. Wednesdays, April 19 through May 24 at Samaritan’s Center for Health Education in Newport.

ODFW’s marine reserve program to fish off Port Orford and Cape Falcon this year

March 27, 2023

NEWPORT — Oregon’s marine reserves program will return to the ports of Garibaldi and Port Orford this spring and fall in the latest installment of an unique way for coastal commercial and recreational fishers to help fuel scientific research in the state’s near-shore waters. The marine preserves program, administered by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, plans to target

Oregon Values and Beliefs survey: Homelessness and housing top the list of Oregon’s worries

March 27, 2023

By ZACK DEMARS/Oregon Capital Bureau Oregonians are worried — especially about the state’s homelessness and housing issues. Four in five residents in Oregon say they’re “moderately” or “very” worried about homelessness, and a similar share expressed worry about affordable housing as an issue in a recent survey from the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center. The worry about housing and homelessness

Oregon governor denies Lincoln County’s request for homeless emergency declaration, but different help on the way

March 27, 2023

By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has denied Lincoln County’s request to be included in her homelessness emergency declaration. Among Kotek’s first official acts in January was an emergency order declaring a state of emergency to respond to Oregon’s homelessness crisis. The executive order directed state agencies to spend tens of millions of dollars and removed bureaucratic hurdles

Oregon settles forest lawsuit by agreeing to logging changes in Tillamook and Clatsop state forests

March 26, 2023

By ALANNA MADDEN/Courthouse News After five years of litigation, conservation groups and the Oregon Department of Forestry reached an agreement last week to expand stream buffers within the Tillamook and Clatsop state forests to improve habitats for Oregon’s threatened coho salmon species. The Center for Biological Diversity announced the settlement agreement Thursday. It had filed the original lawsuit against department officials alongside

Judge in Labor Day 2020 wildfires rules that PacifiCorp can face punitive damages in class action lawsuit

March 25, 2023

By ZACH URNESS/Salem Statesman Journal Victims in four of Oregon’s Labor Day fires could get additional compensation from PacifiCorp following a ruling Thursday from Multnomah County judge Steffan Alexander. The circuit court judge ruled PacifiCorp can face punitive damages — in addition to compensatory damages — in a class action lawsuit that blames the utility for igniting wildfires that

Skeleton of massive blue whale hits the road to Canada for final restoration before going on display in Newport

March 23, 2023

By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews Newport will soon be the home of one of the largest animals to ever roam the Earth — a near-complete skeleton of a 70-foot long blue whale. Speaking to reporters Thursday in a South Beach marine storage facility holding the whale’s skeleton, dinosaur reconstruction expert Frank Hadfield said sauropod-type dinosaurs were longer than whales, but none