The Seaside City Council is looking to fill two vacant seats sooner rather than later, setting the stage for an interesting situation in the November general election. Officials hope to fill the vacancies on the City Council before July 25, hitting a deadline that would then put those seats on the November 2026 ballot so…
Katie Frankowicz
The Seaside City Council is down two councilors after one was recalled and another resigned. At a council meeting on March 23, City Councilor Heidi Hoffman announced she was resigning effective April 15 because she is moving to Astoria. “No, I am not resigning in protest of the recall vote,” she said, referring to the…
Amid an ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown and heightened tensions over immigration enforcement, newly confirmed U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin stopped in Astoria Wednesday and toured Coast Guard facilities at the mouth of the Columbia River. Mullin visited U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Astoria in Oregon and the Cape Disappointment Motor Lifeboat…
4/13/26: This story has been updated to clarify the relationship between the Astoria Housing Alliance and the Astoria Housing Initiative. A group looking to address housing shortages in Astoria hopes to get a measure on the November ballot that would tax vacant houses. The group behind the Astoria Housing Initiative announced this week that it…
A retired corrections officer who previously ran for state office is vying for a seat on the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners. Glenn Gaither is the second candidate to file for the District 5 seat held by Lianne Thompson. Thompson is not running for re-election, but Gaither will face an opponent in the May 19…
Clatsop Community College leadership laid off five full-time positions in March, moved other positions to part-time and has proposed suspending three programs going into the next academic year, citing low enrollment and a $700,000 budget deficit due to rising costs. The programs facing suspension include the automotive technology program, computer aided design and drafting, and…
While recent efforts by President Donald Trump to limit voting ahead of the midterm elections likely won’t impact Oregon’s primary next month, election officials on the coast say they are seeing confusion among voters. Recently, Clatsop County Clerk Tracie Krevanko fielded calls from people who seem unsure about what efforts by the Trump administration have…
Hundred of people gathered on streets and sidewalks across Oregon’s North Coast and in Southwest Washington to protest the Trump administration Saturday, joining a nationwide turnout that organizers estimate was larger than previous “No Kings” protests. More than 900 people participated across two protests in Astoria Saturday. A protest in Seaside drew hundreds, according to…
Federal funding for a major hospital expansion project in Astoria was in jeopardy last year after the Trump administration abruptly announced it was shutting down the grant program that had awarded the money. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the decision to halt the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant program, or BRIC, was part…
A nonprofit that serves the North Coast’s Latinx community has landed major funding, bringing it closer to its goal of establishing a cultural center in the region. The Oregon Legislature approved $1.9 million in lottery revenue bonds for Consejo Hispano’s headquarters, Casa Mariposa, based out of a former Lutheran church in downtown Astoria. That translates…
(Click here for PART ONE) State support Connect Oregon grant funds are intended for non-highway transportation projects: rail, aviation and marine capital infrastructure. In April 2022, a final review committee looked at 49 applications for $46 million in available funding. Among the applications was Hyak’s boat lift. All of the projects had already gone through…
ASTORIA, Ore. — When the tug and barge building company, Hyak Tongue Point, proposed an ambitious plan to develop a shipyard at long under-utilized industrial land east of Astoria, the North Coast was sold on the idea. With the closures of other small and medium-sized boatyards in the region, Hyak’s shipyard at North Tongue Point…
A new candidate in the race for a seat on the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners says she is running because she doesn’t believe her opponent is qualified for the job. Mitra Vazeen, a retired educator and former Job Corps center director, told KMUN she wants to continue giving back to Clatsop County. She was…
In Clatsop County, some emergency responders rely on their cellphones to communicate during an emergency — not their radios. Local officials say this is just one example of how responders have found ways to work around a fractured emergency communications system spread across two separate dispatch centers and in need of upgrades. Now city and…
The Clatsop County Board of Commissioners could see several new faces depending on the results of two upcoming elections. Three candidates are vying for separate seats on the five-member board in the May primary. Only one of them — current Board Chair Mark Kujala, trying for a third term — is an incumbent. Current District…
Three seats will be up for election on the Astoria City Council in November, including the position of mayor. Filing has yet to open, but one Astoria man has already decided he wants to run for that particular post. Sean Davis is a combat veteran and the co-founder and host of Rogue Cell, a program…
The Seaside City Council has filled the empty Ward 4 seat after a tumultuous two weeks of community debate, online and offline, about one of the candidates. The Ward 4 seat has been vacant since the end of December after former City Councilor David Posalski moved away from the area. He championed regional hotel manager…
A debate about a candidate for an open seat on the Seaside City Council has continued to rage online after leaders were split on who to appoint last week. Brandon Kraft, a regional manager for a hotel management company, is one of two candidates vying for a temporary appointment to the Ward 4 seat. That…
UPDATED 1/17/26: Since publication of this story, R.J. Marx has provided KMUN with a transcript of his interview with Brandon Kraft. Aspects of the Q&A-style interview Marx published on Substack were altered for publication — Marx appears to have consolidated some back and forth leading up to a question about a statement of support by…
A declaration of a local state of emergency in Manzanita will continue through early February because of a slope on city-owned property that was destabilized by erosion and wet conditions in mid-December. The Manzanita City Council has opted to continue the declaration through Feb.4 out of an abundance of caution. Mitigation work has been done…
At the end of a vigil in Astoria on Saturday held in part to remember people who died while being detained by federal immigration officers or while in their custody, someone accidentally knocked over a glass candle holder that had been placed at the center of the event space. It shattered loudly. “That actually feels…
Police have arrested a man in connection with an explosive device discovered at a public restroom on Oregon’s North Coast last September. Oregon State Police arrested James Mason Liggett, 52, of St. Helens in Grants Pass on Sunday. Liggett was wanted on charges of attempted murder, attempted assault in the first and second degree, first…
Two candidates are vying for an open seat on the Seaside City Council. City Councilor David Posalski resigned in November because he was moving outside of city limits and would no longer be eligible to serve on the council representing Ward 4. His resignation was effective Dec.20. At a candidates forum Wednesday night, Padraic Ansbro…
Crews are working to restore power across Oregon’s North Coast and Southwest Washington following a windstorm late Tuesday night and early Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for the coast on Tuesday. That warning expired earlier Tuesday morning. In Clatsop County, Ore., power has been restored in parts of Astoria…
Federal immigration officers detained at least one person in Seaside and two people in downtown Astoria Friday morning. In Astoria, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers chased one man down 15th Street. Employees at Blue Scorcher Bakery on the corner of 15th and Duane Street witnessed his arrest. Videos and photos of the incident show officers…
Not too long ago, Mac McGoldrick, the director of Tongue Point Job Corps Center in Astoria, was figuring out where around 20 students and more than a dozen staff were going to live if the center closed. The center faced the threat of an immediate shutdown in May after the Trump administration abruptly announced it…
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ICE detains a person at Home Depot
At least one person was detained by federal immigration officers in Warrenton Wednesday morning. No information has been released about the person or why they were detained. Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested the person at the Home Depot in Warrenton. This comes after two other people in Clatsop County were detained on…
After six people were detained by federal immigration officers in Seaside on Oregon’s North Coast in early November, some city officials jumped to respond, looking to craft resolutions decrying what they saw as secretive and aggressive tactics. Others held back. A number of resolutions and statements ended up being released, finalized or passed just ahead…
Federal immigration officers detained two people outside of Walmart in Warrenton late Monday morning. The arrests come just weeks after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained at least six people in the Seaside area. Norma Hernandez with Consejo Hispano, an Astoria-based nonprofit that provides a variety of resources to the Latine community, said the people…
The eastern side of Astoria has a new representative. On Monday, the Astoria City Council unanimously appointed Joshua Conklin to take over the Ward 4 seat, which became vacant on Nov.1 following the resignation of former City Councilor Vance Lump. Lump announced in early October that he was resigning because he had to move from…