The latest news stories and stories of interest in the Willamette Valley from the digital home of Southern Oregon, from Wynne Broadcasting’s WillametteValleyMagazine.com
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Willamette Valley Weather
Today– Rain before noon, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after noon. Some storms could be severe, with hail and damaging winds. High near 54. Windy, with a southeast wind 13 to 22 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Thursday– A chance of showers, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after noon. Snow level 3100 feet rising to 4000 feet in the afternoon. Partly sunny, with a high near 59. South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Friday– A 30 percent chance of showers after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 59. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Saturday– Mostly sunny, with a high near 62.
Sunday– Partly sunny, with a high near 65.
Springfield Delays Public Hearing For Main Street Safety Project
Springfield’s Main Street Safety Project public hearing scheduled for May 2, 2022 will be postponed until February 2023 to allow more time for the City Council to review, comment and examine the plan.
Springfield Mayor Sean VanGordon directed the City Council to extend the timeline for the planning phase of the plan, designed to increase safety on Main Street, after considering the amount of public comment and the “sheer size” of the Draft Main Street Facility Plan, the city said in a statement.
“I want to give Council members and community members enough time to vet the Draft Main Street Facility Plan as part of the planning phase for the Main Street Safety Project,” said Mayor Sean VanGordon. “Council needs more time to read and consume the material including the recommendations before making a decision, which is a significant one for our community.”
The Council will hold a series of work sessions in June to study and consider the project.
Agendas for the upcoming work sessions will be posted at springfield-or.gov/city/city-council-meetings/ the Thursday prior to each work session.
No public comment will be accepted during work sessions, but community members can submit feedback through info@ourmainstreetspringfield.org and it will be provided to the City Council as part of the public hearing process.
To view the Draft Facility Plan and Project Fact Sheets visit mainstreetsafety.org.
Nine Candidates Trying To Fill The Seat Left Open By Congressman Peter Defazio’s Retirement
Nine candidates are trying to fill the seat left open by Congressman Peter DeFazio’s retirement have collectively raised more than $3 million in the race so far.
When DeFazio, a Springfield Democrat, announced in December that he wouldn’t seek a 19th term in office, it created an opening in Oregon’s 4th District for the first time since the mid 1980’s.
Eight Democrats and one Republican have filed for the seat. That lone Republican, Alek Skarlatos, led all candidates in the first quarter with nearly $600,000 raised. He spent about $378,000 in the first quarter, despite not having any opponents on the May primary ballot.
On the Democratic side, Oregon Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle has taken in almost as much money so far as all of her opponents combined, with a total of $626,000 in this election cycle, of which $409,000 came in the first three months of this year. Hoyle has snagged endorsements from DeFazio and several other prominent Democrats.
Of the other candidates, political strategist and environmental attorney Doyle Canning led in fundraising in the first quarter, bringing in $189,000.
John Selker, a professor in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences, brought in $153,000 in the first three months of the year, but by the end of March, had spent very little of it. That put him second among Democrats, behind only Hoyle, in terms of cash on hand at the end of the reporting period.
Airbnb executive Andrew Kalloch brought in $115,000 in the first quarter, and Corvallis School Board member Sami Al-Abdrabbuh had brought in $35,100.
The three other Democrats on the primary ballot do not have fundraising committees, according to the Federal Elections Commission website.
Ballots go out in the mail next week for the primary, which is May 17.
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/RnS950IN04k
Cases of COVID-19 are once again on the rise in Oregon
As people move away from pandemic restrictions this spring, COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Oregon. This leaves many with questions about where we are in the pandemic and just how to behave.
BA.2 is a sub-variant of Omicron. Cases in Oregon have increased by 63% in the last two weeks. And that’s just based on what is reported.
Katie Sharff, Chief of Infectious Disease for Kaiser Permanente Northwest said, “Most individuals who are contracting COVID are now using the rapid tests at home. And those cases are not required to be reported to Public Health.”
The good news, however, is that hospitalization rates are not rising – something that did happen in prior waves of the pandemic. In addition to vaccines and boosters, access to treatment for high-risk people has lowered hospitalizations.
Officials with the Oregon Health Authority are expected to speak today on the latest on the coronavirus pandemic. We’ll update that information as it’s received.
Oregon Woman Identified As Victim Of ‘Happy Face Killer’ Decades After Her Death
An Oregon mother was identified Tuesday as a victim of “the Happy Face Killer” nearly four decades after her body was found on the side of a California road, authorities said.
Patricia Skiple, believed to be 45, had long been known to detectives only as “Blue Pacheco” after the color of the clothing she was found in, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office said.
She was identified last week using genetic genealogy, the department said in a statement.
The case is one of many decades-old unsolved crimes that law enforcement agencies are clearing using a technique that combines DNA analysis, genealogical detective work and ancestry databases.
Keith Jesperson confessed to Skiple’s murder in July 2006 and pleaded guilty a year later to felony homicide, the department said.
Dubbed the “Happy Face Killer” for drawings he left on anonymous letters, Jesperson, a long-haul trucker, targeted women, torturing and killing them in the cab of his truck, according to an account from journalist Jack Olsen.
Jesperson admitted to killing seven other women over five years in six states in the 1990s and is serving four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole in Oregon.
According to the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit investigative genetic genealogy group that helped detectives solve the case, Skiple was one of three of Jesperson’s victims who had not been identified.
A trucker found Skiple’s body June 3, 1994, on the side of California State Route 152 near Gilroy, south of San Francisco, the group said on its website. She had been strangled.
In 2019, detectives with the sheriff’s office asked the group for help identifying her body, the department said.
On April 13, Skiple — known as Patsy — was identified as a mother from Colton, Oregon, a rural community southeast of Portland, the sheriff’s office said.
“Although this criminal case was adjudicated, detectives never gave up as they worked diligently throughout this investigation to provide closure for the family of Patricia Skiple,” the department said.
Oregon’s Employment Department (OED) Says That In March Unemployment Rates Declined
Oregon’s Employment Department (OED) says that in March unemployment rates declined in 35 of Oregon’s 36 counties, including Klamath County which also has Oregon’s highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March at 5.3%.
OED says 15 counties had unemployment rates at or below the statewide rate of 3.8% in
March, while two Southern Oregon counties have the State’s highest unemployment rates from March: Klamath County’s 5.3% and Curry County’s 5.1%. Wheeler County is Oregon’s lone county with flat unemployment, holding steady at 3.0% in March.
OED says Benton County registered the State’s lowest unemployment rate in March at 2.9%. OED reports that employment grew at a relatively fast pace in Central Oregon (3.8%) and the Willamette Valley (3.7%) and a slower pace in Eastern Oregon (1.8%), Southern Oregon (1.1%) and along the Coast (0.4%). It says the five Portland metro
counties had combined job growth of 4.2% from March 2021 to March 2022 for the fastest rate of any region.
In Jackson County it says total payroll employment rose by 380 jobs in March, led by leisure/hospitality and construction, up by 320 and 150 jobs respectively, while retail employment dropped by 250 during the month. OED says during the past year payroll employment in Jackson County rose by 1,440 jobs for a gain of 1.7%.
Jackson County has 1,480 jobs less than the March 2020 pre-pandemic total. OED says Josephine County’s total payroll employment grew by 230 jobs in March, also led by leisure/hospitality (110 jobs) and construction (40). Retail trade added 20 jobs in Josephine County in March. OED says during the past year Josephine County’s workforce increased by 690 jobs for a 2.6% gain, or 130 jobs below the March 2020 pre-pandemic total.
Legal Marijuana Generated $177.8 Million in Tax Revenue for Oregon
Legalized marijuana generated $3.7 billion in tax revenue in 2021 in U.S. states where recreational use of cannabis is allowed. State governments’ tax revenue haul from legal pot is up 34% from 2020, according to the Marijuana Policy Project which favors legalization.
In Oregon, legal pot sales generated $177.8 million in tax revenue in 2021, according to MPP. That is up from $158.3 million in tax money from marijuana sales in 2020 and $115.9 million in 2019 before the coronavirus pandemic.
Oregon legalized recreational pot in 2016. Cannabis is taxed at 20% rate in Oregon with a 17% state levy and 3% local tax. That is compared to a 37% marijuana tax in Washington state along with a 6.5% sales levy. California has a 15% state marijuana excise taxes along with additional levies on plants, leaves, flowers and cultivation, according to the Tax Foundation.
State and local recreational marijuana levies in California can total as much as 45%. High state tax rates and regulations continue to help sustain black market and illegal marijuana sales and illegal grows which continue to dot the landscape in southern Oregon and northern California.
Former Coos Bay Police Officer Sentenced To 63 Years In Prison For Child Sex Abuse
A former Coos Bay police officer was sentenced to more than 63 years in prison after being convicted of multiple charges related to sexually abusing a child.
Terry Scott Rogers, 52, of Coos Bay, was sentenced to prison on Monday after a jury convicted him April 8, of 18 felonies and two misdemeanors.
He is not eligible for early release from prison. Rogers was a police officer for the Coos Bay Police Department for 22 years prior to being indicted and placed on administrative leave. During Monday’s sentencing he was also ordered to pay a fine of $40,000, which will go to the victim in the case.
The charges against him included first-degree unlawful sexual penetration, first-degree sex abuse, luring a minor, second-degree unlawful penetration and third-degree sex abuse. Rogers was sentenced in Coos County Circuit Court to a total of 63 years and six months in prison.
U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) Is Renewing A Push To Increase Taxes On The Richest Americans
On Tax Day, Monday, the Oregon Democrat joined the advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness to promote his proposed “Billionaires Income Tax.” Wyden says, “The tax code is unfairly tilted to benefit billionaires. And, as Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, I’m pushing throughout the year to balance the tax system so it’s fair to everybody.”
According to Americans for Tax Fairness 740 billionaires got 70% richer during the two-year pandemic and much of that isn’t taxed due to loopholes in the current system. Wyden says his plan would tax the wealth earned from
investments, like stocks and loans, not just salary – a loophole he calls “Buy, Borrow and Die.”
The Senator says, “If they just paid a Capital Gains rate – because this is about evading Capital Gains Taxes – the country would raise more than $550 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. That’ll do a lot to help schools and infrastructure.”
Wyden went on to say he wants people to be successful but wants to stop the current practice allowing the richest Americans to make even more money without paying what he calls “their fair share.”
AAA Says Gas Prices Steady As Marketplace Demand Rises
Oregon’s American Automobile Association (AAA) says gasoline prices are generally steady, though consumer demand and crude oil prices are rising. It says a lowering of gas prices has slowed as crude oil prices moved above $100 per barrel while U.S. demand for gasoline increases.
AAA says Russia’s war in Ukraine and concerns for less Russian oil on the global market are putting upward pressure on gas prices, and “For the week, the national average for regular holds steady at $4.10 a gallon. The Oregon average ticks up a penny to $4.68.”
AAA notes the national and Oregon averages are both lower than their record high gasoline-per-gallon prices set last month when the national average peaked at $4.331 and Oregon’s average peaked at $4.739 on March 11.
AAA says Oregon is one of 25 states and the District of Columbia with higher gasoline prices now than a week ago, and California’s $5.70/gallon makes it the most expensive gas state in the nation as one of three states with an average more than $5 a gallon.
AAA shows that the cheapest gas in the nation is in Georgia ($3.71) and Arkansas ($3.72). AAA notes that while Oregon’s gasoline price is more than a week ago, Oregon is one of 42 states and the District of Columbia with lower prices now than a month ago. It says the national average is 16 cents less and the Oregon average is four cents less than a month ago.
Grants Pass Missing Person
The Grants Pass Police Department is seeking assistance from the public in locating 30 year old Noah Baker. Baker was despondent after an argument and left his residence in Grants Pass driving a silver Ford Fiesta with Oregon Plate 671MUR.
Baker is described as a white male adult, 5’09”, 170 lbs, brown hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing black sweats, black shirt, black shoes and a black hat.
If anyone knows of his whereabouts or sees Baker, please call your local law enforcement agency or the Grants Pass Police at 541-450-6260. Reference case #2022-14203 Grants Pass Police Department
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/