Thursday, February 05, 2015
Oregonian calls for Kitzhaber’s resignation
(watch the video at Coast Radio’s facebook page)
The editorial board of Oregon’s largest newspaper is calling on Governor John Kitzhaber to resign following ethical questions about his fiancée.
The Oregonian wrote Wednesday that “Kitzhaber has broken faith with Oregonians” and can no longer effectively lead the state.
In a statement responding to the editorial, Kitzhaber said he was elected to serve the citizens of Oregon and he intends to continue to do so.
The Democratic governor is under fire over paid consulting work done by his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes, on behalf of organizations seeking to influence state policy. He’s deflected questions, saying a state ethics commission is investigating.
In a news conference last week, Kitzhaber also refused to answer questions about whether or not Hayes failed to report income on her taxes.
Under the state constitution, if the governor were to step aside, Kate Brown, the Democratic Secretary of State, would be next in line to take the office.
Be aware of ID theft during tax season
It’s tax season and unfortunately that means con artists are stealing social security numbers to file for fraudulent tax refunds.
Deborah Banda leads the AARP’s educational and outreach efforts. She says a recent study shows that every two seconds in America, someone’s identity is stolen.
This time of year, many of those stolen IDs are used to file phony returns, in order to claim fraudulent refunds. So far, the IRS, she says, has identified around 15-million such returns.
She says the best way to avoid ID theft is to protect your information. Don’t ever give your social security number to phone callers; shred important papers; monitor your credit reports and don’t send the information by fax. Banda also says you should monitor your credit reports… for free… at annual-credit-report-dot-com.
If you fall victim, she says contact the IRS and State Revenue Department immediately. Contact your bank and file an ID theft report with the Federal Trade Commission.
Sign up now for Great Oregon Spring Beach Cleanup
Thousands of Oregonians will mobilize up and down the Oregon Coast on Saturday, March 28th, to scour beaches for trash and debris left by visitors or washed up by winter storms.
Joy Irby is the SOLVE Program Coordinator, she says last year about 48-hundred volunteers removed nearly 50-thousand pounds of debris from the beach. That brought the estimated total collected since the first beach cleanup in 1984 to about 3.2-million pounds.
Irby said volunteers can begin signing up for this year’s cleanup at the SOLVE website.
SOLVE is the statewide nonprofit aimed at improving the environment. The group works with Oregon State Parks and coastal waste haulers to conduct the annual spring and fall beach cleanup
Turning trash into science
The Science Lady is using household items that would normally go in the trash to help demonstrate physical sciences to elementary students.
Laura Smith is in classrooms at Siuslaw Elementary today. She has boxes filled with empty ketchup and syrup bottles, soup cans, flattened cereal boxes, empty spools that used to contain rolls of thread and the lids from butter tubs.
Smith is pairing them up with rubber bands, paper clips, balloons, food coloring and balloons.
Smith hasn’t said just exactly what she’s having students build this week, but it will graphically show how the forces of gravity and wind resistance can be illustrated easily.
Smith says you can help out by donating supplies and or cash to the “Science Lab” at Siuslaw Elementary.
New Carissa anniversary
Today marked the 16th anniversary of the New Carissa shipwreck on Coos Bay’s North Spit. Nobody was injured when the wood-chip freighter went ashore during a winter storm, but the environmental impact was deep and recovery took several years.
The 600-foot long vessel broke into two pieces with the 400-foot bow section refloating and coming ashore just south of Waldport. It was eventually towed out to sea and sunk.
The stern section however, resisted efforts to remove it in one piece. It was eventually removed in pieces in 2008 following a lengthy court battle between the State of Oregon and the ship’s owner.
Sandpines management changes
A company that manages 56 golf courses across the country will be adding number 57 to the mix February 15th.
That’s when OB Sports will take over golf, as well as food and beverage operations at Sandpines Golf in Florence.
Michael Pearson, who along with his wife Nancy, owned Sandpines for the past six years, sold the course to a Portland based investment company last year. Michael Pearson remained with the company to manage Sandpines during the transition.
He says he and Nancy see the move as a “true blessing” that will provide them time for other “pursuits and passions”.
