Kotek, task force recommend more cops, public drug use ban, business tax breaks to help downtown Portland

December 11, 2023

Gov. Tina Kotek speaks Monday with Derek Thompson, a staff writer for The Atlantic, about housing in Portland. BY JULIA SHUMWAY/Oregon Capital Chronicle PORTLAND – Gov. Tina Kotek and members of her Portland Central City Task Force say the city needs more police officers on the ground, tax breaks for businesses and a ban on public drug use. Kotek

Second round of seasonal “king tides” return this week

December 11, 2023

Higher-than-normal tides are hitting the coast this week as the second round of the winter’s king tides occur Wednesday through Friday. Following this week’s tides, subsequent king tides will take place Jan. 11-13; and, Feb. 8-10. The first king tides of the season occurred just after Thanksgiving. On Wednesday, a high tide of 8.73 feet occurs about noon, followed

Stranded turtle found north of Yachats now rehabbing in San Diego

December 11, 2023

An Olive ridley sea turtle found “cold shocked” and stranded north of Yachats last month is now in its second stage of rehabilitation at SeaWorld San Diego. The Oregon Coast Aquarium rescued the turtle Nov. 19 after receiving calls about a stranded turtle at Beachside State Park between Yachats and Waldport. Cold-stunning is when sea turtles become weak and inactive and

Heceta Head Lightstation puts on lighted Victorian open house again this weekend

December 11, 2023

By Oregon Coast TODAY Charles Dickens never wrote a novel set in a lighthouse but, if he had, that lighthouse probably would have looked a lot like the Heceta Head Lightstation just south of Yachats. And from 4-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 16-17, the coast’s most picturesque lighthouse will don its finest Dickensian festive finery when it hosts

Fiddler who headlined Yachats Celtic Festival recovers his equipment stolen in Portland

December 10, 2023

By AIMEE GREEN/The Oregonian/OregonLive World-renowned fiddler Alasdair Fraser’s massive social media campaign paid off – he’s gotten back his violin and bows after a thief stole them from his rental car in Portland last month after performing in the Yachats Celtic Music Festival. Last week, two people showed up with the stolen items at Southeast Portland’s David Kerr Violin

Yachats builders collaborating on four rentals along Highway 101

December 10, 2023

YACHATS — Two Yachats contractors are collaborating to build four long-term rentals on East Ninth Street in Yachats with the hope of possibly adding an additional four studios if and when the city passes an ordinance allowing additional dwelling units. Lippincott Construction and North Pacific Woodwork began work on the project about a month-and-a-half ago, said owners Stephen Lippincott

Physician assistant joins Samaritan’s Waldport clinic

December 9, 2023

WALDPORT – The Samaritan Health Services clinic in Waldport has added a new physician assistant to its staff. Joseph Handley most recently worked at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Decatur, Ga. In Waldport he will provide primary care to people of all ages, Samaritan said in a news release. He completed postgraduate degree at Joseph Maxwell Cleland Atlanta

Marine science center asking crab fleet to bring it an accidental octopus

December 9, 2023

NEWPORT — Oregon State University’s marine researchers want an octopus – and asking commercial crabbers to let them know if they happen to find one. The Hatfield Marine Science Center keeps an octopus for six to nine months before returning it to the wild. Jaimie Hart, the visitors center aquarist, said it’s not easy to go out in the ocean

Idea to stash planet-heating CO2 under national forests alarming some critics

December 9, 2023

By PAM RADTKE/Floodlight A proposal that would allow industries to permanently stash climate-polluting carbon dioxide beneath U.S. Forest Service land puts those habitats and the people in or near them at risk, according to opponents of the measure. Chief among opponents’ concerns is that carbon dioxide could leak from storage wells or pipelines and injure or kill people and animals,

Habitat plan for state forests in western Oregon could cost counties $18 million a year in timber revenue

December 9, 2023

By ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle To avoid major lawsuits under the federal Endangered Species Act, state and federal agencies have crafted a plan to reduce the amount of timber logged from Oregon’s western state-owned forests annually by up to 40%. Officials in some counties that have relied on those timber revenues for the past 80 years are angry and worried