State agencies, Coast Guard still looking for source of beach tar balls

May 27, 2024

Officials in Oregon and Washington are still trying to determine the source of mysterious tar balls that have appeared on coastal beaches the past week. Samples of the sticky substance were seen as far north as Long Beach, Wash., all the way down to the north side of the Alsea Bay at Waldport. They were first reported on May 19,

Buying a mattress in Oregon? That could soon come with a fee to help recycle them

May 27, 2024

By APRIL EHRLICH/Oregon Public Broadcasting Anyone buying a mattress in Oregon may soon see an extra charge on their receipt: a fee to cover the state’s new mattress stewardship program, which could launch as soon as this summer. Once the plan is finished and approved, Oregon will be the fourth state in the country requiring consumers to pay into a

Yachats council praises city manager, gives her raise as well

May 26, 2024

YACHATS — Yachats city manager Bobbi Price received a $10,000 pay raise along with praise from the city council Thursday for her performance eight months into the job. Price, the former director of the Yachats Area Chamber of Commerce, had no previous city manager experience when she was chosen over two other candidates to lead the city in October 2023.

Group of Yachats residents still show up every Saturday four years after first protest of George Floyd’s killing

May 26, 2024

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews At 10 a.m. every Saturday for four years a collection of Yachats-area residents grab homemade signs and stand along U.S. Highway 101 in the center of town to ask people to become more racially aware. They wave to people who honk as they drive past, or smile at others who give them a different type of

State, federal biologists study bats in coastal forests to see the effect of opening more space for animals

May 23, 2024

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews SEAL ROCK – The first flicker comes as the sun dips below the horizon and light begins to fade from the sky. In a seemingly erratic flight that belies an aerodynamic ability beyond birds, every deviation from a straight line in a bat’s flight – whether a tight figure eight or a large lasso-like loop –

Lincoln County dispute over deputy contracts likely resolved for one year as sheriff agrees to absorb added costs

May 23, 2024

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews Lincoln County officials believe they have resolved – for one year at least — a dispute that broke into the public view last week over sheriff deputy contracts in Waldport and Yachats. The result – if county commissioners approve a proposal from Sheriff Curtis Landers next month – will have Waldport and Yachats splitting the cost

Revitalized Yachats emergency committee aims to help locals and visitors prepare for and survive disasters

May 23, 2024

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews YACHATS – Whether pandemic or prolonged power outage, forest inferno or earthquake with a tsunami chaser, preparing for possible emergencies on the Oregon coast is an essential that is best not postponed. Emergency planners across the nation map evacuation plans, prepare shelters and stock caches for a host of eventualities, and to varying degrees Oregon’s coastal

Wallace elected Lincoln County’s next district attorney, but learns three of six prosecutors departing soon

May 23, 2024

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews The biggest challenge for Lincoln County’s newly elected district attorney may not be prosecuting bad guys but finding and keeping attorneys on her staff. Jenna Wallace, the chief deputy district attorney who stepped in to run for district attorney at the last minute in March, won election this week to become Lincoln County’s third district attorney

Democrat, GOP legislators will square off in November for three statewide races

May 23, 2024

By BEN BOTKIN/Oregon Capital Chronicle Oregon voters decided to give a slate of state legislators a chance to prove themselves worthy of a promotion to statewide office in the November elections. Based on preliminary results in the primaries, Democratic voters want state Rep. Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis and the former House speaker, to run for attorney general. Democratic voters also favor

Pro-Palestinian protestors ending encampment at University of Oregon after reaching deal

May 23, 2024

By NATHAN WILK/KLCC News EUGENE — The Pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Oregon has agreed to disband after more than three weeks. Student protesters were taking down tents Thursday after reaching a deal with UO’s administration the night before. The university still hasn’t agreed to some of the protesters’ core demands, which include cutting financial and academic ties with Israel.