OHA to host town hall Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen, Clatsop County officials and Pacific Seafood Co. officials invite the public to a community town hall at 5 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 2, to discuss the recent COVID-19 outbreak at Pacific Foods. The question-and-answer town hall also will be broadcast simultaneously in Spanish and…
Local News
Travelers who use State Route 4 near Cathlamet may experience delays as crews begin phase two of long-term slope stabilization work on KM Mountain in Wahkiakum County. On Wednesday, Sept. 30, Washington State Department of Transportation’s contractor Granite Construction Company will resume work to remove debris and stabilize the hillside adjacent to the highway, where a landslide occurred in…
Oregon Health Authority (OHA) issued a public health advisory today for higher-than-normal levels of bacteria in ocean waters at Seaside Beach in Clatsop County. People should avoid direct contact with the water in this area until the advisory is lifted. Higher-than-normal levels of fecal bacteria can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps, skin rashes, upper respiratory infections…
On Sunday, September 27, 2020 at approximately 1:48 P.M., Oregon State Police Troopers and emergency personnel responded to a person who fell from a cliff, into the ocean, at Devil’s Cauldron trail in Oswald West State Park. Preliminary investigation revealed two people walked down the Devil’s Cauldron trail to take a photograph at a cliff side viewpoint. Steven Gastelum (43)…
A regular Seaside City Council meeting will be held Monday, Sept 28, beginning at 7 p.m. at Seaside City Hall. The public can attend in person or online. Up to 25 total people will be allowed into City Hall for the meeting. For those wishing to speak, a microphone will be set up with social distancing…
LOCAL NEWS: Pacific Seafood and Warrenton Hammond Schools close in response to workplace outbreak. by Joanne Rideout Pacific Seafood in Warrenton is closed today, after 77 employees there were diagnosed with COVID-19. Warrenton Hammond Schools have also shut down in response to the workplace outbreak. Pacific Seafood General Manager John King said in a statement…
Today Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced a new program to provide masks and gloves to small business in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Governor, in partnership with the Oregon Legislature’s Emergency Board, allocated $10 million from the federal CARES Act funding for the purchase of protective supplies. The state of Oregon is fulfilling…
Oregon DEQ has lifted the air quality advisory for the Oregon Coast. The coast should stay clear through the weekend. Health officials encourage people to open up windows and begin clearing out their indoor air once smoke levels have dropped into moderate (yellow) and good (green) categories. Updated air advisories cover: • Western Oregon, Southwest Oregon…
All Oregon Department of Forestry-managed forests are closed to public use through at least Wed, Sept. 16. Fire danger remains extreme, air quality is bad to hazardous, & last week’s wind storms caused downed trees on roads & other safety problems that need to be cleared. This covers the Tillamook, Clatsop, Gilchrist, Sun Pass &…
A Marion county judge has decided the Oregon Republican Party should be permitted to place its November election statement in the state voting guide although the secretary of state’s office says the party missed the deadline by seconds. Judge Channing Bennett on Monday ruled that Republican chairman Bill Currier completed his portion of the transaction…
On September 13, 2020 at 2:13am Clatsop County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Knappa Dock RD in rural Clatsop County for a reported shooting. When deputies arrived on scene they safely took the suspect into custody without incident. The victim, 34-year-old Jeremy Puerta, was transported to Columbia Memorial Hospital for treatment of his injuries. The…
The Clatsop County Sheriff’s office has learned that an especially potent supply of heroin has been distributed in the North Coast area of Oregon. The Sheriff’s Office is aware of multiple overdoses associated to this supply. The Sheriff wants to remind local residents that our office recognizes the importance of medical intervention in these cases….
Tillamook, OR –Monday, September 14. The Oregon Department of Forestry updated the Pike Road fire status with the Tillamook Department of Emergency Management. There was one garage lost during the fire and one minor injury related to a tree falling on a fire engine. ODF reports they will drop Level 1 areas and place Level…
ODOT has postponed the I-5 Interstate Bridge Trunnion Replacement Project to keep the highway system as clear as possible for wildfire evacuees. The project is now scheduled to begin September 19th. The project will close the northbound span of the Interstate Bridge for nine days. The project will replace parts in the lift mechanism in…
A massive combined smoke plume from wildfires burning in California and Oregon is moving northward. Vancouver, Washington’s air quality began being affected Thursday afternoon. The National Weather Service in Seattle said the cloud of smoke and ash has been too high in the atmosphere to cause serious health effects, but predicted a mix downward will…
From Tillamook Emergency Management: Mandatory evacuation ordered due to Fire in Idaville Area. Tillamook County Incident Command has ordered a mandatory evacuation for Evacuation Level 3 – Leave Immediately Waltz Hill Rd to Baseline Rd Baseline Rd to Bewley Rd Bewley Rd to Vaughn Rd Vaughn Rd to Alderbrook Rd This incudes Willowbrook Dr, Timberline…
CANNON BEACH BUILDING REGULATIONS ON COUNCIL AGENDA Cannon Beach’s building regulations will come under scrutiny beginning Tuesday night when the City Council meets in a work session beginning at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is available via Zoom. The link is below and available on the city’s website. The meeting agenda and information packet also are…
Clatsop County’s economy continued to recover last month, according to a new report from the state employment department. However the unemployment rate is still far above what it was before the pandemic. KMUN’s Jacob Lewin reports: The latest jobless numbers show Clatsop County added more than 500 private sector jobs in July, building on advances…
Continuing our series on rural internet in Clatsop County, we take a look at federal money allocated for improving rural broadband. Joanne Rideout reports. Early in the pandemic in Oregon, I spoke with US Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici about the need for better rural internet access. Bonamici represents Oregon’s First District, which includes Clatsop County. Suzanne…
Most rural Clatsop County customers don’t know it, but there’s a huge fiberoptic internet highway running through their region. They wouldn’t think so, because their own internet service is probably slow, expensive and limited. They often can’t tap into this pipeline, because companies that own it, like Centurylink, don’t think it’s worth the money to…
This past spring, the lower Columbia Pacific region became part of the wider pandemic story happening across the nation and the world. As adults and school kids retreated to their homes to avoid the COVID-19 virus, overnight the demand for internet access skyrocketed. While people in urban areas likely didn’t feel the strain, rural customers…
The Clatsop County Public Health Department on Friday reported one new local COVID-19 case. The individual is a female north-county resident age 50-59. She is recovering at home. The county has recorded a total of 93 cases since March 23. Eighty-eight of those individuals have recovered; the others are convalescing at home. The county is…
Oregon Governor Kate Brown and other state officials held a press conference Friday to bring people up to date on where Oregon stands on COVD-19. Joanne Rideout reports. State epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidlinger said that while infection rates are dropping overall, the statewide infection rate is still too high to allow schools to open. Statistically,…
Washington State Senate candidates to debate in online forum The Washington State Primary election will be held August 4th. Southwest Washington candidates and voters are connecting online. More from Kathleen Morgain: (:10) Note: information on how to join this forum online or by phone is at the end of the script. Script below, Scroll down…
LOCAL NEWS: Clatsop County Commission votes for mask requirement Script follows, Scroll Down to Listen [2:04] Wednesday night, the Clatsop County Commission voted unanimously during their online meeting to send a request to Governor Kate Brown asking that Clatsop be added to the list of counties statewide where face masks are required. Clatsop will become…
LOCAL NEWS: Wahkiakum Commssioners Candidates Forum – Republican and Democratic candidates make their case to voters online During a pandemic, elections go on. Wahkiakum Republicans and Democrats took the county’s first local candidates forum of the season online via Zoom. KMUN’s Kathleen Morgain has more. Script follows, Scroll Down to Listen [2:35] Link to live…
LOCAL NEWS: Astoria City Council votes to support county-wide mask requirement Script follows; Scroll Down to Listen [3:40] In their online public meeting Monday, the Astoria City Council addressed the idea of requiring masks. The council has received quite a bit of public comment recently on the topic. Mayor Bruce Jones said that while information…
LOCAL NEWS: Washington students to return to campuses this fall K through 12 students in Washington State will likely return to in-school, in-person learning this fall. KMUN’s Kathleen Morgain has more. Script follows, Scroll down to Listen [1:15] State Superintendent of Schools Chris Reykdal has released a 55 page document of guidance for the re-opening…
LOCAL NEWS: Brown declares “yellow light” statewide in reopening, after high Oregon COVID case counts Script follows, scroll down to Listen…[2:41] by Joanne Rideout Responding to high COVID-19 case counts in the state this week. Oregon governor Kate Brown said her administration has put the brakes on further reopening temporarily, while experts assess what’s…
LOCAL NEWS: Clatsop County jobless rate soars New figures from the state employment department show the jobless rate in Clatsop County soared last month surging to 24.4 percent, the second worst rate in Oregon. The drop in tourism-related jobs was the biggest factor, but not the only one. Coast Community Radio’s Jacob Lewin reports: …