KWSO News 8/2/19

Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday signed a bill that represents the first major legislative restriction to Oregon’s death penalty since 1984, when voters amended the constitution to include capital punishment. Brown signed Senate Bill 1013 at her ceremonial office at the Oregon State Capitol, where according to her remarks, she called the state’s death penalty dysfunctional, costly and immoral. It’s been 22 years since Oregon executed anyone. Currently 31 people are sentenced to death in Oregon, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections.

Major renovations are being considered for Les Schwab Amphitheater, including making the entire concert venue accessible to people with disabilities, adding box suites and replacing the stage roof in the hope of attracting more acts, the Bend Bulletin reports.Venue General Manager Marney Smith told the Bulletin that the hope is that work can start in fall 2020 and be complete in time for the May start of the 2021 season.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A new Netflix docuseries “Basketball or Nothing” examines the hoop dreams of a reservation team from a rural, Arizona town in the heart of the Navajo Nation. The series, set to debut today on the streaming service, follows the Chinle High School boys’ basketball team as its seeks to capture the community’s first state title. But to get there, the players must battle normal teen pressures and the realities that surround them in the nation’s largest reservation.

Warm Springs Sanitation is asking residents and employees to not place any yard debris, weeds or bulky items in the garbage totes or dumpsters. They note that grass and weeds especially pose a fire hazard.

One of the most popular treks to Mount Jefferson has reopened more than two years after a wildfire closed it to public access. The U.S. Forest Service announced Wednesday night that the Whitewater Trail in central Oregon had officially reopened. The trail was heavily damaged by a 2017 wildfire that started from a lightning strike. The Whitewater trail is one of the most popular ways to access Jefferson Park at the base of Mount Jefferson.