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Storage unit business expansion calls Urban Renewal Plan into question
In a recent Brookings City Council meeting the main topic of discussion was the City of Brookings Urban Renewal Plan. The master plan was intended to identify areas of blight and present a unified idea of what downtown should look like. Bruce Nishioka, a local attorney, presented a PowerPoint to the council to ask one major question: “What good is a plan if we don’t follow it?” asked Nishioka. ...
Former Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt has died
Former Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, one of the state’s most powerful figures before revelations that he had sexually abused a teenager, died Wednesday, two days before he would have turned 84. As the young mayor of Portland in the 1970s, Goldschmidt was an electrifying figure. While many American cities were falling apart, he presided over a flurry of innovation in the City of Roses. He helped kill a freeway and launch a light rail. Under his watch, inner-city neighborhoods were lavished with money and attention....
Oregon overdose rate highest per capita in the nation
Representative Court Boice (R-Gold Beach) released the following statement regarding the recent news from the U.S. Center for Disease Control showing Oregon has seen the highest rate of increase of overdose deaths, 41.5%, of all states in the last 12-month period. Visuals of overdosed victims literally dying on the streets of Portland no longer shock. Boice stands firm in his strong support for Oregon’s Law Enforcement and Public Safety Professionals stating, “Those heroes are still recovering from the last three years. We must always be...
Police Blotter
The police blotter is an excerpt of a public record of incidents as reported by law-enforcement agencies. All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are innocent until proven guilty. The information printed is preliminary and subject to change. For a list of missing items found in the Brookings area, you can visit the police services page of the city of Brookings website at www.brookings.or.us/134/police-services and follow the link near the bottom of the page. ...
Congressional delegation presses for fishing industry support
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, alongside U.S. Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), Val Hoyle (OR-04), and Andrea Salinas (OR-06) have sent a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Administrator Bruce Summers, who oversees the agency’s Agricultural Marketing Service, calling on the USDA to deliver critical federal support to West Coast fishermen and seafood harvesters, processors, and distributors. “Commercial fishing and seafood processing on the West Coast are significant contributors to the nation’s seafood production and agricultural economy,” the lawmakers wrote. “The industry...
Brookings begins local council elections
The City of Brookings released its list of openings and requirements for its City Council elections being held on November 5, 2024. There are three volunteer positions opening as terms expire. The open Council positions are for seats 1 and 2, currently occupied by Clayton Malmberg and Phoebe Pereda respectively. Both Pereda and Malmberg were appointed to these positions rather than elected, following a recall election in late 2023. A...
Brookings begins local council elections
The City of Brookings released its list of openings and requirements for its City Council elections being held on November 5, 2024. There are three volunteer positions opening as terms expire. The open Council positions are for seats 1 and 2, currently occupied by Clayton Malmberg and Phoebe Pereda respectively. Both Pereda and Malmberg were appointed to these positions rather than elected, following a recall election in late 2023. A...
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announce recreation options
Clammers check for closures Several parts of the Oregon coast have been closed to mussel and clam harvest (including bay clams) due to an outbreak of biotoxins. Be sure to call the ODA shellfish safety hotline at 1-800-448-2474 or visit the ODA shellfish closures website before harvesting for the most current information about shellfish safety closures. Proposed fall coastal salmon seasons ...
Sharp rise in pertussis cases prompts public health warning
Oregon health officials are concerned about a sharp increase in cases of pertussis — known as whooping cough — across nine counties and are encouraging people to get vaccinated against the disease. As of May 29, 178 pertussis cases had been reported to Oregon Health Authority’s Public Health Division. That’s a 770 percent increase from the 20 cases reported by that date in 2023. However, the 2024 numbers are roughly in line with those seen during similar time frames in the immediate pre-pandemic years, including...
FBI issues scam alert
The FBI Portland Division has seen an increase in reports of scammers falsely representing themselves as FBI agents, or a representative of another government agency, and sending couriers to pick up cash or gold payments. The FBI states in a release to be advised, federal agencies do not call or email individuals threatening arrest or demanding money. Scammers often spoof caller ID information, and these phone calls are fraudulent even...
New food benefits program
Oregon Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (Summer EBT) is a new food benefits program to help shrink the hunger gap when children are on summer break and don’t have easy access to healthy meals at school. Summer EBT starts in late June and will provide $120 per eligible child in Cottage Grove and across the state to buy food. “Summer break is days away for families with school-age children. During the...
Consumer inattention can lead to risky purchases, new OSU research finds
Researchers have developed a new theory of how changing market conditions can lead large numbers of otherwise cautious consumers to buy risky products such as subprime mortgages, cryptocurrency or even cosmetic surgery procedures. These changes can occur in categories of products that are generally low risk when they enter the market. As demand increases, more companies may enter the market and try to attract consumers with lower priced versions of the product that carry more risk. ...
Farms, food, and fiber: Merkley and Wyden announce big investments for Oregon agriculture
Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden recently announced major investments in Oregon agriculture, rural housing, food assistance, and rural business priorities—along with nearly $12.7 million in funding for 14 Oregon community-initiated projects—have passed through the fiscal year 2024 (FY24) minibus funding pack-age. This six-bill package cleared both chambers of Congress last week and was quickly signed into law by President Biden. Successfully pushing back against the most extreme funding cuts and policy provisions pro-posed by House Republicans, Merkley and Wyden secured investments in...
Judith Ann Mogan Foundation welcomes Payton Smith as newest board member
The Judith Ann Mogan Foundation (JAMF) is happy to announce the addition of Payton Smith as the newest member of the JAMF board. “On behalf of the Judith Ann Mogan Foundation,” board president Joe McKeown shared, “I am delighted to welcome Payton Smith to the board of directors of the Foundation. With her education, deep ties to the community, and her business experience, Payton will be an important and valuable addition to the board.” Born and raised in Coos Bay by a family steeped in...
Oregon is facing largest energy development threat in generations
Oregon is facing its largest energy development project in generations: more than 1,800 square miles of offshore wind turbines proposed for the central and southern Oregon coast. That’s an area 6 times the size of Crater Lake National Park. According to a 2022 paper in the journal Ocean Sustainability, “offshore wind may lead to significant environmental impacts.” That’s not a surprise when you consider what’s involved: hundreds of steel turbines,...
Brown Pelicans arriving injured and malnourished
Brown Pelicans have been making the news following concerns from experts over an influx of birds that are showing signs of emaciation and injury. Normally migrating North this time of year from their Winter homes in Southern California and Mexico, the Brown Pelicans should be making their way to their yearly breeding grounds. Instead, researchers on the coast of Northern California and Southern Oregon have found hundreds of birds emaciated from hunger or stranded from injury. At current, experts have two prevalent theories for why...
Letter: VA needs to deliver on transparency policies
Roseburg VA Director Patrick Hull has promised transparency. Just one of the problems I addressed in one of my emails to Mr. Hull last week was not posting or providing the Roseburg VA's "Patients Rights and Responsibilities" to Veterans to address grievances with their health care. I addressed this with Information Officer Richard Weber and Veterans Experience Officer Sarah Cranston a few years ago and was promised it would be posted. It was not. ...
Oregon’s investment in ocean conservation celebrated
New efforts to increase the state’s investment in the Oregon Marine Reserves Program follow the signing ceremony for House Bill 4132, a bi-partisan bill sponsored by Oregon’s Coastal and Environmental Caucuses. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek and Rep. David Gomberg (D-Dist. 10) hosted the ceremony at the state capital building in Salem on May 30. The Oregon Ocean Alliance celebrated this renewed commitment to ocean conservation established more than a decade...
Wyden Visits South Coast counties
Oregon's US Senator Ron Wyden (D) conducted his 1,083rd Town Hall, fulling his commitment to hold on-site public engagements in all 36 counties, annually. Last Tuesday’s Town Hall at the Gold Beach High Gymnasium was part of the senator’s southwest swing from Josephine, Curry, Coos and Douglas counties. The audience of about 40 was offered numbered tickets and when called upon, spoke with Wyden on a cross section of various...
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