Central coast band seeks help buying instruments so it can expand its membership

April 2, 2024

By CHERYL ROMANO/YachatsNews The Pacific Coast Wind Ensemble has been blowing fine music up and down the central Oregon coast for 23 years. Now, the band is looking for donations to help buy some instruments it cannot afford to buy on its own. “Instruments like the tuba and timpani are often not owned by the amateur but capable musician,”

Oregon governor signs sweeping drug addiction proposal into law — but says careful coordination needed

April 2, 2024

By BEN BOTKIN/Oregon Capital Chronicle SALEM — Gov. Tina Kotek made it official Monday — signing into law the sweeping measure the Oregon Legislature passed to combat the state’s fentanyl drug addiction and overdose crisis. Kotek previously had said she would sign House Bill 4002, which was a centerpiece proposal of the short session. The law puts in place a new

State schedules Lincoln County forum on prescription drug prices

April 2, 2024

The Oregon Prescription Drug Affordability Board has scheduled community forums across the state in April and May to seek the public’s input about soaring costs of prescription drugs. One of those forums will be held in Lincoln County — from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, April 9 at the Lincoln City Cultural Center, 540 N.E. Highway 101. The board will use public

County’s closes doors on winter shelter program’s first season — now has to remodel two buildings and chase financial help

April 2, 2024

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews Chantelle Estess escorted the last of the winter shelter’s homeless guests out of the downtown Newport building at 7 a.m. Monday to spend another day on the street. By nightfall, for the first time since October, there was no place for them to get a hot meal, do their laundry and find a bed in a

Governor names Holland to the Oregon Arts Commission

April 1, 2024

Jason Holland of Newport, the executive director of the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts has been appointed to the Oregon Arts Commission by Gov. Tina Kotek. Holland’s four-year terms immediately. The nine-member Oregon Arts Commission provides leadership, funding and arts programs through its grants, services and special initiatives. Its commissioners determine arts needs and establish policies for public support of the arts.

Coalition of Oregon fishing groups, seafood industry asks Kotek to slow offshore wind energy development

April 1, 2024

By ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle A coalition of independent fishing boat operators, seafood companies and industry groups is calling on Gov. Tina Kotek to ask the federal government to stop a planned auction for floating wind energy projects off the Oregon Coast. In a letter to Kotek last week, the more than 100 signatories said she should stop the

Lincoln County hires new medical examiner and finds different model for death investigations

April 1, 2024

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews Lincoln County has found a new medical examiner and is changing the model it uses to document or investigate unattended or suspicious deaths. The change comes after Dr. Marilyn Fraser of Lincoln City, gave up the medical examiner duties last November after holding the county contract for 20 years. The new medical examiner is Dr. Peter