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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
A low-barrier shelter in downtown Astoria is pushing back at how Clatsop County distributed state money meant to fund beds for unhoused people. LiFEBoat operates the lowest barrier shelter in Clatsop County. Guests can’t use drugs or alcohol while inside the 22-bed shelter, but LiFEBoat does not require them to commit to sobriety and does…
Law enforcement agencies on Oregon’s North Coast are changing their approach after federal immigration enforcement officers detained at least 6 people in Seaside earlier this month. Before, Astoria Police Chief Stacy Kelly said the stance adopted by police departments and the sheriff’s office in Clatsop County was that if officers saw ICE, they should go…
Oregon brewery Rogue Ales and Spirits abruptly ceased operations at all of its facilities Friday morning. Employees learned about the closure that same morning. The company operates pubs in Astoria, Newport, Portland and Salem. In Newport, Rogue maintained a large production brewery on land it leased from the Port of Newport. The Lincoln Chronicle reported…
At least six people were detained by federal immigration enforcement officers in Clatsop County over the weekend. One of those people has since been allowed to return home, but community members say they do not know the whereabouts of the other five people. It is the first major raid on Oregon’s North Coast since the…
At least five people have been detained by federal immigration enforcement officers in Seaside as of early Saturday afternoon. According to people familiar with the situation, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were reportedly running people’s license plates then pulling them over and taking them into custody. The stops started around 8 a.m. Saturday…
Judy Mattson was late because of peanut butter. In her defense, it was on sale at Fred Meyer and she was able to layer her senior discount on top of the sale price. Then there was cereal on a top shelf in the clearance aisle that she had to grab. “Everything I want is either…
Two people have officially applied to represent the eastern side of Astoria on the Astoria City Council. Joshua Conklin, who ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2020, and retired Costco executive Mike Brosius are both looking to land the Ward 4 seat previously occupied by Vance Lump. Lump was elected in 2024. He campaigned on…
Incumbents faltered in key elections in Pacific County, Wash., Tuesday night. Preliminary unofficial results for the mayoral race in the small city of Ilwaco show 24-year-old challenger Eddie Hillard with more than 70 percent of the vote, well ahead of incumbent Mike Cassinelli, who was seeking a fourth term. Hillard is the owner and operator…
Thousands of people on Oregon’s North Coast are poised to lose access to food stamps beginning Nov.1 and local food banks say they won’t be able to fill the gap. The Trump administration has refused to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, during the ongoing government shutdown. If nothing changes, the program will…