The latest news stories across the state of Oregon from the digital home of the Oregon coastal cities, OregonBeachMagazine.com
Friday, May 6, 2022
Oregon Beach Weather
New Orca Calf Sited of Coast of Pacific City
A new Southern Resident killer whale calf may have been born into the K pod for the first time in 11 years, according to the Center for Whale Research.
A video posted to YouTube on The Guide’s Forecast shows what appears to be a “very young calf” near K20, otherwise known as Spock, off the coast of Pacific City, Ore. The calf would be the first viable baby born into the K pod since 2011 when K44 was born.
Researchers plan to document the calf during a photographic survey so they can assess its health, confirm the identity of its mother and assign it an alphanumeric designation, according to the Center for Whale Research.
“The mortality rate for young calves is very high, but we are pulling for this little whale and hope to see it soon,” the organization wrote on Facebook.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) welcomed the sighting of a potential new calf and underscored the importance of advancing protections for Southern Resident killer whales, which have been listed as endangered since 2005.
Declining prey populations, contaminants in the ocean and disturbances from noise and vessel traffic all contribute to the decline of the Southern Resident killer whale population, according to the WDFW. Boaters are advised to stay out of the path of orcas, at least 400 yards in front of or behind them and 300 yards on either side.
The K pod is the smallest of the three Southern Resident killer whale pods with only 17 members. The L pod has 33 members and the J pod has 24. There are estimated to be 74 whales in the entire Southern Resident orca population.
The J pod was spotted with a new calf in early March, which was the first new addition to that pod since September of 2020.
Coast Guard Crew Rescues Man off Astoria Coast
The captain of a small sailboat was saved from the waves near Astoria on Wednesday after he was forced to abandon ship. He was rescued by crews from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG).
Just a day prior, Coast Guard crews from Tillamook Bay worked with a good Samaritan to save two people whose 14-foot boat was taking on water near the bar entrance. One of them was in the water, while the other was still in the flooded boat. USCG said that both were rescued and taken to emergency services.
According to USCG, the man’s 26-foot sailboat was disabled off the coast of Fort Stevens, not far from Astoria. Video of the ordeal shows the boat repeatedly hit broadside by surging whitecaps.
While the boat does not capsize, one of its sails can be seen fluttering limply into the water below. The captain appears unable to keep his bow toward the waves in order to head away from shore and reduce the impact of incoming swells.
After enduring repeated hits from the waves, the man jumped overboard and paddled away from his sailboat. USCG said that he was rescued by a boat crew stationed at Cape Disappointment and taken to emergency services for evaluation.
A subsequent photo posted by USCG showed the sailboat washed ashore at Fort Stevens State Park.
We want to keep you informed about COVID-19 in Oregon. Data are provisional and change frequently. For more information, including COVID-19 data by county, visit our dashboard: http://ow.ly/yACL50J0K0N
Oregon DMV Offices Short Staffed
Oregon’s DMV has been hard hit by a lack of workers, leading to long lines in urban offices and closures in some smaller towns, including Lakeview. Madras and Prineville have also had closures during business days.
ODOT’s David House says the DMV is recovered from pandemic slow-downs but now faces another setback in its effort to return to normal operations House says 20% of the positions at DMV field offices remain unfilled, statewide.
Lakeview reported their DMW offices closed three days last week. Prineville’s DMV was closed Tuesday and Madras shut down for the day on Wednesday. Coquille’s DMV, on the southern Oregon coast, has been closed the last
two days, and House says the situation is most dire in Medford – a larger office that has less than 50% of its needed staffing. House says many transactions can be completed on the DMV2U website. He suggests checking there to see if your request can be completed without waiting in long lines at an office.
Road Work Continues On Hwy 138e
Crews with the Oregon Department of Transportation will continue safety and maintenance work on Highway 138E through September, in the wake of the 2020 Archie Creek Fire.
Matt Noble of ODOT said travelers on the road between Glide and Steamboat should expect daytime single lane closures, flagging and delays of up to twenty minutes, on weekdays. Noble said work will pause overnight and on weekends.
Rock scaling, where crews remove rocks, dirt and vegetation before it tumbles on the road, is at the top of the to-do list. Scaling work began last week and will continue through July at over a dozen locations.
Other work will include:
*Remove hazard trees near the road
*Remove wood, rock and dirt debris from the side of the road
*Repave some road sections and repair potholes
*Replace faded lane and shoulder stripes
*Repair guardrails
ODOT interim district manager Glen Pederson says the goal is to restore Highway 138E to the way it was before the Archie Creek Fire.
Drivers are asked to slow down in work zones, and give workers and equipment the space needed to work safely. To learn more about ODOT’s continued wildfire recovery work, go to: https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Pages/Wildfire.aspx
Homeless Count in Portland
The Point-in-Time Homeless Count for the Portland area found more than 6600 people were homeless on one night in January. That included 36-hundred unsheltered people, more than two-thousand people in shelters and 800 people in transitional housing.
It’s always considered an undercount because it’s done by interviewing people. Portland City Commissioner Dan Ryan says Multnomah County adds interviews to the process, which makes it more complex and less accurate.
He wants a real-time list of homeless people by name. He’s calling on the Joint Office of Homeless Services to change the process.
Oregon is seeing dangerous increases in fentanyl use as counterfeit pills containing the dangerous opioid proliferate the region.
A new analysis medical testing and laboratory firm Millennium Health shows a 58% increase in fentanyl positivity in Oregon drug tests during the first quarter of 2022 compared to last year.
Fentanyl can be 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. It is frequently used in counterfeit oxycodone pills or is mixed with other hard drugs. Fentanyl is linked is the vast majority of deadly drug overdoses in Oregon and nationally. The report also found fentanyl’s positivity rates in Oregon drug tests has increased 163% since 2020.
The dangerous opioid is showing up more in with users of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. The San Diego-based company said positivity rates for fentanyl were up 197% in Jackson County, 88% in Umatilla County and nearly 60% in Lane and Multnomah counties from March 2021 to March 2022.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control projects a 36.2 % increase in fatal drug overdoses in Oregon between November 2020 and November 2021 (791 versus 1,077).
Klamath County Sheriff’s Office Asks for Public’s Help in Search For Trucker Suspect
The first real clue to come in on all the missing person cases in the area. Help Klamath Falls Oregon Sheriff Office ID this trucker. He was the last to see this woman alive and could be the key to not only solving this woman’s disappearance but a number of the hundred other women missing in PNW. IF you have any information, please call (541) 883-5130
https://www.facebook.com/pg/Have-You-Seen-Me-Southern-Oregons-Missing-People-161249961222839/posts/