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TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2026 |

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King Tide Event leads to flooding throughout the watershed The King Tides and storms during the first week of the year led to flooding throughout Coos County. Thanks to these images from Mike Greybill and Jan Hodder, community members with great knowledge and concern for the local watershed, we can see the levee overflowing at Coalbank Slough, Isthmus Slough creating a new lake out in Eastside, and East Bay Drive and Coos River Highway underwater.

See WIDESPREAD FLOODING Continued on Page 16

Senator Merkley holds local Town Hall in timely moment

BY NATE SCHWARTZ Editor

On Saturday, January 10, Senator Jeff Merkley (D) held his 16th town hall meeting in Coos County at the North Bend Community Center. The Oregon native maintains the impressive streak of local appearances which, alongside Senator Ron Wyden (D), makes the delegation the only in the legislature to hold yearly meetings in each of their constituent counties. This year’s iteration could not have come at a more apt time, given the context of current events in the country. The town hall fell on the weekend following the well-documented killing of Renne Good by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ofﬁcer in broad daylight. The same week as two were shot in Portland by ICE, before the federal agents ﬂed the scene. This was also less than two weeks removed from American military action in Venezuela, with much discourse being held around further potential action in Greenland. In a pivotal moment for the country, these concerns were top of mind among locals, as proven by protest signs that could be seen at the event. Upon entering, locals were given a survey on their preferred solutions for preventing social security from reaching insolvency. The national trust, intended to secure quality of life for our older-folk, is projected to run dry by 2033 if a solution cannot be found. Another hand-out at the door outlined the 10-step playbook that characterized the rise of an authoritariFIND US ONLINE: TheWorldLink.com

an regime. The steps listed can be laid next to actions taken by the Trump administration in clear ways, like centralizing executive power and gutting social services nationwide. The final step, cancelling or rigging the next election, turned out to be prescient, as this week President Trump has twice floated the idea of cancelling the midterm elections in interviews. Before taking questions, Senator Merkley took a moment to honor the work being done by the local Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Coos and Curry County. CASA volunteers act as advocates and support staff for over 75 of the local children in foster care. Representatives from CASA were gifted a flag that had flown over the Capitol. The senator was asked about ICE action and how to prevent raids and presence here on the coast: “We had, in 2024, a [border control reform] proposal that was worked out between Democrats and Republicans in the senate. You might recall that one of the candidates, who is now the president of the United States, said ‘don’t pass that reform bill, because I want to keep immigration as a campaign issue’,” answered Merkley. “So, here we are now, not just with a campaign issue, but something that’s tearing America apart. There are a series of things that I’ve been pursuing. “One of the first is sensitive areas. Legislating that sensitive areas will not be transgressed by ICE. That’s schools, churches, courthouses, so on and so forth. Second is that, the folks who work for ICE, they have to display what agency they are with and an individual

identifier, and they can’t wear ski masks over their face. Having no identity encourages agents to act in outrageous ways because we can’t hold them accountable. This is very akin to fascist tactics in other countries, and I don’t want those tactics in the United States of America.” He went on to outline further fights for immigration reform, and an attempt to bolster due process for those being detained, held, and often deported without ever seeing a courtroom, speaking to a lawyer, or even informing their families. The senator spoke on questions of recent foreign military intervention as well. Congress retaining their constitutional power was huge point, as the founding document states that it is the legislature which must approve military action, not the executive. Merkley had this to say on Venezuela: “I would characterize what happened in Venezuela like this: We did not remove a dictatorship; we instead installed a more compliant dictator. And the major goal of having that compliant dictator, was to have her insist that the U.S. oil companies get to control the oil of Venezuela. That it essentially becomes a U.S. property. This is the gunboat diplomacy of the 1950’s… “Where we basically said, ‘we have the power to force you to give us a sweet deal’. It inculcated a huge amount of resentment of our country. It undermines our international standing, our international cooperation. It is both a constitutional issue, and also deeply damaging to our overall efforts in the world.” Questions of the aforementioned election security were raised during a question concerning the recourse for citizens who want to fight for our rights. Voting, protest, and seeking community were his answers. The Senator spoke on the importance of retaining fair and free elections, first mentioning his efforts on ending jerrymandering through his introduction of Senate Bill 1. He also went on to mention the danger of states handing over their voter rolls to the administration, which puts voters in danger of having their privacy violated or registration revoked along partisan lines. Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Reed has refused to hand over the voter information of Oregonians. Mail-in voting, which has been a huge factor in fighting voter suppression, has been under attack as well. The senator had this to say about vote-by-mail in particular: “Election day can be manipulated pretty easily. You move the precincts, you put them where there’s no parking, you put out false information about their location, you put in machines that don’t work, you put in staff members that don’t work, you make a long line, you can send intimidators. That’s why vote-by-mail stops all of those shenanigans. We need vote-by-mail to be offered everywhere.” In terms of local issues, top of mind for those asking questions was the Pacific Coast Intermodal Port project. The senator has been supportive of the efforts to build major shipping infrastructure on the North Spit. He continued that support, stating that he views it as a major driver for good paying jobs in the area, but referenced needing to see the results of further feasibility studies, the next of which is expected sometime in February.

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