After a week in the sand, 16-ton cabin cruiser removed Saturday from the beach south of Newport

July 22, 2023

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews The Empress is off the beach – and in Toledo for inspection and repairs. Crews from Coastal Towing & Salvage of Ilwaco, Wash. used an excavator, crane and special trailer Saturday to get the 41-foot, 16-ton cabin cruiser off the beach at Lost Creek state recreation site seven miles south of Newport. Getting plucked from the

After completing two housing studies, Yachats seeks third grant to help find short- and long-term solutions

July 20, 2023

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews YACHATS – The data has been collected, potential solutions sorted, and now the recommendations – short and long-term — have been made on how to possibly help Yachats correct some affordable housing issues. The recommendations will need more community conversations and even the simplest will not be easy to implement, so the Planning Commission wants the

ODFW lowers fall Chinook salmon limits on mid-coast streams starting Aug. 1, but coho catches likely OK again

July 20, 2023

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews After two years of higher catch limits, Oregon’s fishery managers are cutting back on Chinook salmon harvests in bays and rivers along the central coast starting next month because of deteriorating ocean conditions. The only bright spot for central coast streams is that coho salmon – which are listed as endangered by the federal government –

With a coin flip to break a 2-2 tie, winner Barry Collins is sworn in as Yachats’ newest city council member

July 20, 2023

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews YACHATS – Choosing a new city council member came down to a coin toss at Yachats’ city council meeting Wednesday after four current members were split on which of two applicants was the best fit. The mayor and three councilors wrote their votes on pieces of paper and passed them to deputy city recorder Kimmie Jackson,

Lincoln County emergency, fire officials release new safety announcements

July 20, 2023

Lincoln County Emergency Management and Lincoln County Fire Defense Board are excited to announce the release of our new Wildfire Public Service Announcements (PSAs) in both English and Spanish. These were created through a collaborative effort between emergency management and local fire agencies after the Echo Mountain Complex Fire. Funding for the PSAs was awarded through two Oregon State

Beaverton man dies Tuesday in Highway 18 crash

July 20, 2023

OTIS – A 21-year-old Beaverton man was killed Tuesday morning when the car in which he was riding left Oregon Highway 18 east of Otis, struck a tree and rolled over. Oregon State Police say Jose Contreras-Gonzalez of Beaverton killed about 10:50 a.m. Tuesday when the westbound car driven by Gustavo Contreras-Gonzalez, 20, of Beaverton failed to negotiate a curve

Yachats council meeting has an unwanted, unpleasant interruption Wednesday

July 20, 2023

YACHATS — The Yachats City Council barely missed a beat Wednesday when their conversation about hedge heights and nuisance complaints was suddenly disrupted by loud wailing and the appearance of a naked man masturbating on the meeting’s online Zoom link. “The reasonable repair is in the nuisance category, and it’s trying to bring in the issue of … ”

Lincoln County voters will decide in November whether to raise lodging tax by 20 percent to support park operations, maintenance

July 19, 2023

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews Lincoln County commissioners voted unanimously Wednesday to ask voters to increase lodging taxes in unincorporated parts of the county by 20 percent to provide additional money for park operations and improvements. If approved by all county voters Nov. 7, the room tax rate for motels and vacation rentals would be 12 percent, an increase of two

Federal audit finds financial mismanagement at Oregon boarding school for Native Americans

July 19, 2023

Chemawa Indian School in Salem is the oldest continuously running off-reservation Indian boarding school. By ROB MANNING and TONY SCHICK/Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon’s only federally-run boarding school for Native American students failed to properly spend or account for millions of taxpayer dollars as well as hundreds of thousands contributed to student accounts by Indigenous families, according to an audit by the

Nonprofit awards $5 million to widen abortion access in Oregon

July 19, 2023

By LYNNE TERRY/Oregon Capital Chronicle Oregon is one of the few states nationwide with few restrictions on abortion access. But that doesn’t mean that abortions are widely available. Three-quarters of Oregon’s 36 counties have no abortion providers, according to a news release from Seeding Justice, a Portland-based nonprofit that helps underserved communities. More than 20% of Oregon women live in