A2 The BulleTin • Thursday, January 6, 2022
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COVID-19 data for Wednesday, Jan. 5
Deschutes County cases: 27,945 (716 new cases)
Deschutes County deaths: 215 (zero new deaths)
Crook County cases: 3,767 (37 new cases)
Crook County deaths: 60 (zero new deaths)
Jefferson County cases: 4,601 (77 new cases)
Jefferson County deaths: 69 (zero new deaths)
Oregon cases: 441,648 (6,203 new cases)
Oregon deaths: 5,719 (9 new deaths)
COVID-19 patients hospitalized at
St. Charles Bend on Wednesday: 29 (3 in iCu).
The Bulletin had been tracking the seven-day average case
count based on state data since local cases were first reported,
until the state stopped providing county-level data for
weekends or holidays. When data is available, The Bulletin will
continue to publish information about the pandemic.
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B
Senate President Courtney is retiring
the House, longtime
Speaker Tina Kotek,
D-Portland, is serving
of the majority party
her final term in the
— likely to remain
role as she mounts a
the Democrats — will
run for governor. Two
meet to discuss their
House Democrats also
Courtney
pick.
said Wednesday that
By turns taciturn
House Democratic
and animated, Courtney has
Leader Barbara Smith-Warner,
long been one of the more cap- another Portland lawmaker,
tivating and mercurial figures
had informed them she would
in Oregon politics.
be stepping down from that
He runs his chamber with a
position.
mixture of browbeating insults
Currently in his 38th year as
and heartfelt concern for the
a lawmaker, Courtney served
institution.
in the Oregon House for a de-
Courtney’s departure is
cade before jumping to the
not the only leadership vac-
Senate. He won election as
uum coming to Salem. In
Senate president in 2003, and
Oregon’s longest-serving lawmaker will hold seat until election
BY DIRK VANDERHART
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Senate President Peter
Courtney, the longest-serving
lawmaker in Oregon history, is
retiring.
After months of specula-
tion that leadership of the Sen-
ate may come up for grabs in
2023, Courtney informed col-
leagues shortly after 2 p.m. on
Wednesday he would not seek
reelection this year. His office
confirmed his decision.
“I am not going to be run-
ning again for the Legislature,”
Courtney, D-Salem, said in a
text message to fellow senators.
“I will serve out the remain-
der of my term. It has been an
honor and a privilege to have
been allowed to serve locally
on the Salem City Council and
for all these years in the Ore-
gon State Legislature. I hope
I’ve helped.”
Courtney’s departure cre-
ates questions about who best
can follow in his footsteps after
two decades wielding the Sen-
ate gavel.
That matter will likely wait
until soon after the Novem-
ber elections, when members
Democrats tap 3 nominees for gubernatorial candidate Betsy Johnson’s vacant Senate seat
seaside — The democratic Party of Oregon has selected
three nominees to fill the state senate district 16 vacancy
left by Betsy Johnson in her independent run for governor.
democrats met Monday night at the seaside Civic and Con-
vention Center to make selections from a list of eight candi-
dates. County commissioners within the district — Clatsop,
Tillamook, Columbia, Washington and Multnomah — will
interview the nominees and vote on who will fill the seat in
a joint session on Jan. 14.
Melissa Busch, a home health nurse from Warren, was the
first selected nominee, receiving 73% of the weighted vote
in the first round of balloting.
maintained control ever since,
often winning praise from mi-
nority Republicans who see
him as an evenhanded leader.
More recently, he’s also seen
rising angst from an increas-
ingly liberal caucus that some-
times chafed at his consen-
sus-driven style.
Among those processing the
news on Wednesday was state
Sen. Elizabeth Steiner Hay-
ward, D-Portland, a longtime
ally.
“I am incredibly grateful to
him for his decades of service
to the state,” Steiner Hayward
said.
“He’s made invaluable con-
tributions to the Legislature.”
rachel armitage, also from Warren, was selected as the sec-
ond nominee, receiving 64% of the weighted vote in the
second round of balloting.
nadia Gardner, the chairwoman of the Clatsop County
Planning Commission, was selected as the third nominee,
receiving 74% of the weighted vote in the third round of
balloting.
— The Astorian
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OdOT
Trucks block the east travel lanes on Interstate 84 Wednesday.
Santiam Pass reopens;
I-84 closed to the east
Bulletin staff and wire reports
Crashes, spinouts and winter
weather closed U.S. Highway
20 across the Santiam Pass at
6:30 a.m. Wednesday, but the
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation reopened the pass by
11:30 a.m.
Interstate 84 shut down
Wednesday east of Pendleton.
Major highways around Cra-
ter Lake National Park also
remained closed. Multiple
disabled vehicles closed U.S.
Highway 395 near La Grande
late Wednesday morning, and
Hoodoo Ski Area said it is also
closed Wednesday. On Mount
Hood, both Timberline and
Mt. Hood Meadows opened
Wednesday after being closed
the previous two days.
The closures were the latest
in a week where that saw nu-
merous roads closed due to
winter conditions. Previous clo-
sures affected I-84 through the
Columbia River Gorge, and U.S.
Highway 26 over Mount Hood.
The westbound lanes of
Highway U.S. 20 were closed
early in the morning because
of crashes on the uphill climb
near Suttle Lake, just east of the
pass. Eventually, the Oregon
Department of Transportation
closed all east- and westbound
lanes at the intersection of
state Highway 22, just west of
the pass, because of continued
blowing snow and crashes.
There was no word on an es-
timated reopening time. Check
TripCheck.com for the latest
in road closures and chain or
traction device requirements.
A Redmond man is fac-
ing attempted murder,
rape and other charges af-
ter a woman said she was
held for weeks against her
will.
Around 9 a.m. Mon-
day, Redmond Police re-
sponded to a report of a
domestic violence assault
in a home in the 2800
block of SW Peridot Ave-
nue in Redmond. A per-
son told police that Ber-
nardino Martinez Jr. had
been holding a woman
against her will for several
weeks and that he’d threat-
ened to kill her if she tried
to leave.
Redmond officers con-
tacted the alleged victim
via phone and told her to
leave if she could and they
would pick her up, accord-
ing to Deschutes County
District Attorney John
Hummel.
“Redmond PD then saw
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the victim run from the res-
idence, and they picked her
up,” Hummel told The Bul-
letin. “The victim had visible
injuries.”
Martinez Jr. was arrested
Tuesday night when a vehicle
he was riding in was stopped
by police. Assisting in the ar-
rest was the regional SWAT
team, the Central Oregon
Emergency Response Team,
according to a statement by
Redmond Police.
Martinez Jr. was arraigned
Wednesday afternoon on 18
criminal counts, including
first-degree rape, first-degree
kidnapping, coercion and at-
tempted murder.
His indictment states he al-
legedly threatened his victim
with a handgun and struck
her knowing she was preg-
nant.
Martinez Jr.’s next court
date is Wednesday.
— Bulletin staff report