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Saturday, May 6, 2023
SATURDAY FIRST LOOK
Good morning, Northwest. A ceremonial run along the Klamath River is pure celebration this year, as this will be the last year all four dams will be standing. Here's your First Look at Saturday's news.
This year’s Salmon Run is a celebration along the Klamath River
In 2002, Dr. Kayla Begay, then a high school freshman, joined forces with three fellow students and founded a ceremonial run to call attention to the effort to remove four dams on the Klamath River. In the early years, the run was a short community event. Now, it has grown to encompass the entire river, spanning about 350 miles. In May, the Klamath, Karuk, Hoopa Valley and Yurok tribes will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Salmon Run. But this year, things will be different. This year will be the last official year that all four of the dams will still be standing. The $450 million dam removal project was approved in November 2022. After the first dam is removed in September, the other three will come down by the end of 2024. (Jerrette Werk)
In an already tumultuous year, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is losing its artistic director
Oregon Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Nataki Garrett resigned from the organization yesterday. Festival staff said OSF board member Octavio Solis will step in to help support the artistic leadership team and will help find a replacement artistic director during the transition. Solis is a playwright and director based in Medford. Garrett’s resignation comes amidst a fundraising campaign to save the current theater season and the organization itself as it struggles through a financial crisis. (Roman Battaglia)
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Prescribed fire training unfolds in Central Oregon
Human-controlled prescribed fires help reduce fuel load, improve forest health and protect communities from wildfires, which have grown more intense in Oregon. In a training that concluded yesterday in the Deschutes National Forest, a team of 40 people burned 1,000 acres. The work was arduous, with 16-hour days of carrying heavy backpacks and equipment through stands of ponderosa pines and bitterbrush, but the attempts seek to prevent wildfires near the communities of Sisters and La Pine. (Sheraz Sadiq)
Oregon has issued its first license for psychedelic mushroom providers
The first psilocybin service provider has been greenlit by the Oregon Healthy Authority following years of back and forth on rulemaking, making Oreong the first state in the nation with a functioning, legal system to obtain and use psilocybin. OHA made the announcement yesterday that it had licensed EPIC Healing, completing the last point in a chain from growing psychedelic mushrooms to a person actually taking them. Pictured: Cathy Jonas, who told OPB that she received news of the approval earlier this week. (Ryan Haas)
Portland costume designer turns colorful dreams into wearable art
As a child, Fuchsia Lin devoured mystery and fantasy books that fueled her imagination. Now she's turned that imaginative spark into a career designing costumes for the stage, for films, and as art. Audiences will have a chance to see this innovator’s provocative wearable works in her short film, “Future Cosmos Flow.” Pictured: A scene from "Future Cosmos Flow," a mythical drama. (Geneva Chin)
Camas flowers are in bloom in Oregon
The saying goes "April showers bring May flowers." In Oregon, May flowers include the annual camas bloom. Common camas flowers are native to North America and found throughout Oregon in moisture-rich areas. Thanks to those April showers, this year’s blossoms have started to color regional landscapes with shades of purple and violet. (Kristyna Wentz-Graff and Brandon Swanson)
Here's how one Portland comics writer is celebrating Free Comic Book Day
Many comic book artists and authors call Portland home. That includes author Casey Gilly, who launches her latest book, "Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Lost Summer," this week. It's a standalone comic set in the same world as the cult classic TV show. Gilly, who will be celebrating the release at Floating World Comics today, talks about her latest work, and her plans for Free Comic Book Day. (Donald Orr)
As federal assistance funds dry up, Portland mayor’s budget limits new spending
Portland is in need of a new budget starting July 1. In the past two budget cycles, the spending plan was bolstered with one-time funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act and unexpectedly high tax revenue from businesses that thrived during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those federal revenue streams have ended. Here's a look at what Mayor Ted Wheeler's $7.1 billion proposed budget contains, including funds to assist meeting his 2022 goal of hiring 300 new police officers by 2025. (Alex Zielinski)
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