Tonight on KGW News,
It was enormous plume of smoke. Two large
fires in two days.
It's in your mouth.
You taste it, you breathe it.
We check up on air quality tonit
with some spots still smolderin.
Plus it took months of research
hearings and a public vote.
We voters approved something.
You don't eight months later,
turn it around because you
don't like the outcome.
So why are some city
leaders saying the plan for Portland's
future has big problems and latr
one mother struggle to get her n
the mental health treatment he needs?
You know, I I'm just scared that
he's going to do something dangerous.
Tonight in a KGW series called Uncommitted,
a new point of view on trying
to break a vicious cycle.
Good evening, everyone,
and we begin with the links betn
four women found dead around the
Portland area and a man who's reportedly
tied to each of them in some wa.
Thanks for joining us.
I'm David Mulko.
Tonight, for the first time,
we are seeing the moment
Jesse Calhoun was arrested.
And while we should be clear hes
now been named a suspect or charged in
connection with any of these de,
Calhoun's girlfriend is
also raising questions.
Mike Benner with our update
video obtained by KGW shows deps
surrounding a vehicle with Jesse
Calhoun inside The Willamette Wk
newspaper is identifying the 38r
old Calhoun as a person of intet
and the deaths of four women whe
bodies were discovered across te
region in recent months. Crazins
in the world. You hope it
didn't happen too often.
It it was pretty nuts to see
it happen in my backyard.
This guy did not want to show
his face or share his name,
but he witnessed Calhoun's arre.
In fact, he's the one who
shot the cell phone video.
It all went down back on June 6h
as Calhoun and his girlfriend
were fueling up at a gas station
along SE McLaughlin in Milwauke.
Calhoun did not give up easily.
I don't know how he made it
through the ten officers,
but made it through cross traff.
All the way down the river hopped in quite
the effort to elude law enforce,
but it was unsuccessful.
Deputies eventually arrested Calhoun,
seen here in the patriotic tank top. I
was like, I wonder what this guy did.
It seems whatever he did was ve,
very important or that required
that much law enforcement effor.
I should say what
Calhoun did is a mystery.
All authorities are saying is tt
he has ties to four women who he
turned up dead since mid Februa.
The first was Kristen Smith.
Whose body was found near southt
Deardorf and Flavel in Southeast Portland.
Charity Perry's body was
located in Ainsworth State Park.
Then there's Bridget Webster,
whose body was found in rural Polk County
and Ashley Reels in rural Clackamas County.
Calhoun has not been charged wih
any crime related to the deaths,
but is being held on unrelated crimes.
Calhoun's girlfriend, Krista Heinz Seiner,
told A You Tuber in a recent interview
that Calhoun knew two of the victims.
He and Ashley Rehl have been dag
off and on for about a year.
Heinz Seiner also said Calhoun would give
Bridget Webster drugs in exchange for sex,
but she did not know how Calhous
connected to Charity Perry or Kristen Smith.
When asked if her boyfriend
might be a serial killer,
Heinz Seiner told the YouTuber.
My first thought is that maybe a
fentanyl overdose and he freaked out.
Heinz Seiner said while her boyfriend
may be addicted to sex and dealing drugs,
he's a Family Guy.
He seems like a Family Guy.
He's really close with his family and
he would do anything for them and stuff.
But like, my kids,
he loves my kids and my kids love him.
A man who's been sitting behind
bars ever since his very public
arrest more than a month ago.
What's the golden rule or whate?
You know, I for and I,
you know, stuff like that.
I don't have any political stance on it,
but definitely don't want to see
him come out from bars ever aga.
I'm Mike Benner for KGW News.
This evening we are continuing
to keep a very close eye on an
industrial fire in Longview.
This was breaking news last nig.
At 11, the fire is now containe.
The crews are staying on
the site through the night.
They're working to pull apart ae
of wood chips to make sure all e
burning embers are extinguished.
And as they do that,
they say the smoke is increasing again.
Firefighters say the blaze
started in that wood chip pile
at the Nippon Dyno Wave Factory.
On property it shares with
the Weyerhaeuser paper mill.
At one point today,
Clark and Callas counties were
under an air pollution advisory
because of all that smoke.
I mean, you can taste it right .
It's like we're it's like we're
in the middle of a campfire,
you know, and you,
the smoke he's falling around
you get in your mouth.
Well,
the smoke also prompted Multnomh
County to issue a ban on all wod
burning until further notice.
Another big fire today got at a former
Kmart store in Northeast Portla.
Tonight we learned the company
who wants to build a freight
warehouse here is going to move
forward with the plans of the fe
is a bit of a setback for them.
This place sent a huge plume
of black smoke into the sky
that could be seen for miles.
Crew say there were limited
fire hydrants there and they
faced challenges with fences and
barriers meant to keep people o,
which slowed their response
as the embers fell and smoke.
Filled the neighborhood.
Firefighters were able to get it under
control after a couple of hours.
Nobody was hurt and no word yet on the cause.
Let's bring in chief Meteorologt
Matt Sofino.
Now,
Matt,
a lot of people notice the haze
and upper level smoke today as .
Where did all that come from?
Yeah, you know what?
There's so many sources of smoke right now,
David. It's amazing.
Our air quality is as good as i.
Now here's the upper level smoke looking
W from our camera, the Dallas and that.
And there's the Crescent moon
by the way, too kind of cool.
And then also Mars on out to
the West of that.
That's the story for.
Another night,
the smoke that we're seeing in e
upper levels coming from the flt
fire down in Curry County east of Gold
Beach that's been getting pushen
up to the north by suddenly winn
the mid levels about 10,000 feet or so.
You can see that.
But look at the change over tim.
By tomorrow and Friday,
it's more of a southwesterly fl.
So that smoke supply into Northn
Oregon should get cut off as it
moves on over into Central Oregn
and eventually Northeast Oregon.
So again, that's where the smoke came
from that moved up over us toda.
But look,
the air quality in the Portland area is
all back in the good category right now.
So our air quality has improvedd
in fact it's good air quality be
reported everywhere in Oregon right now.
So that is certainly good news.
The other thing,
the other big story today was the heat.
It was hot today,
but look at the cooling We're beginning
to get southwest winds at Mcminnville,
a good tell at 14,
strong winds in Corvallis and Eugene.
Salem is a southwest wind,
all leading to much
cooler temperatures there.
We're at 77 in Portland,
but look,
it's only 62 in Mcminnville.
So a 15 degree difference betwen
Portland and Mcminnville.
Also only 60 in Corvallis.
So the cooling has begun.
We'll have cooler weather tomor.
Still a little bit hazy,
but that haze the rest of it
should clear out tomorrow night.
David, Thanks so much, Matt.
We'll see you in a few.
Let's get you caught up on
tonight's other headlines.
Now, Portland police just relead
the results of a sex trafficking
sting in Northeast Portland.
They say neighbors have been complaining
about an increase in criminal
activity along 82nd Officers wet
out last Thursday and arrested twelve
people for trying to solicit se.
They also found seven potential victims
of trafficking whom they connec.
With advocates,
a Portland man has been indicted
on 13 charges related to rock
throwing last month in Fairview.
You may remember we told you abt
how someone was chucking large s
and cinder blocks off overpassed
onto I-84 along with a surface .
damaging about 8 cars.
Phillip and Drushin,
who was 19 at the time,
and two other teenage suspects were arrested.
Those two cases are being handld
by the juvenile system.
And a heads up if you were
looking for a place to cool off
this weekend in Vancouver,
Lake Health officials have deted
high levels of harmful algae
that can be especially dangerous
for kids and small animals.
Warning signs are going up tellg
people not to swim or allow
pets to drink from the lake.
Lackamas Lake also has an advisy
after officials detected toxic
algae there a couple weeks back.
The algae can cause wheezing,
coughing,
chest tightness and shortness of breath.
Tonight,
the plan to overhaul how the Roe
City governs itself is well underway.
A bigger City Council ranked
choice voting and a city manager
head of a CEO of sorts to run
operations alongside the mayor.
If this all sounds like old new,
that is because voters
approved it last November.
But now a couple of city
commissioners say hold on.
We need to fix a few things.
All Mccarty's in The Newsroom.
Alma lay it all out for us.
Well, David, one of the changes includes
giving the mayor veto power over council.
We'll get into the details in just a second,
but remember, these referrals
would need 3 commissioners to sy
yes to get them onto the ballot,
and right now it's not clear
if they have the votes.
Outside City Hall,
more than 100 people gathered
Tuesday morning to defend voter
approved changes to Portland's
city charter. This came
from the voters and to start saying you
didn't know what you were talking about.
One of the most insulting things that I
think Portlanders have heard in a long time,
and we've been insulted a lot lately.
The new structure approved backn
November will centralize administrative
power under a city administrato,
overseen by the mayor.
A City Council of 12 will be in
charge of policy, and those 12?
Will come from 4 districts,
3 from each elected through
ranked choice voting.
That overhaul set for 2025. The
train is on its way to the 2025 charter.
It is, it is left the station,
and so we're not here to disrup.
We're here to at least question
should we make refinements?
Commissioner Renee Gonzalez,
along with Commissioner Dan Rya,
held a work session to discuss referrals they
think the city should send back to voters.
First, veto power for the mayor.
Second, reducing City
Council from 12:00 to 8:00.
And 3rd, adjusting the ranked choice voting.
Want to be crystal clear at the kickoff.
This is not to undo 26228.
All of this is to focus on what tweaks we
might make to assure better implementation
in a more effective government.
At the meeting,
that goal wasn't exactly well received.
Even Mayor Ted Wheeler virtually weighed in.
This is not the opportunity for elected
officials to tell the gut the public.
How we think they should be governed.
This is their opportunity to she
their government in the way they want.
For better or for worse,
they like to use the word tweak.
It was not a tweak,
It was a fundamental altering of
what the voters had supported,
Melanie Billings Yun, a former
Charter review commissioner, sa.
Even considering these referrals felt like
a slap in the face of all Portlanders. We
didn't build this from our
own sitting around in a room
deciding this is what we want.
We held hundreds of public
meetings listening to people,
and it genuinely was from.
And the feedback that we got
from Portlanders across the cit,
that we came up with the
proposals that we did.
And so yes,
I felt it was a terrible slap
in the face and more than that,
I felt like it was breaking a promise.
We reached out to both Commissir
Gonzalez and Commissioner Ryan to get
their thoughts after this meeti.
It is statement Wednesday.
Commissioner Ryan says he wants
to bring the Mayor veto proposal
to the Council this fall,
stating in part this critical edition is
paramount in creating essential checks
and balances between the Execute
and Legislative branches in ourw
form of government and I am stil
steadfast in bringing the Mayoro
slash council override to the voters.
However, he's not.
Supporting Commissioner
Gonzalez's other proposals.
We have not heard back from
Commissioner Gonzalez yet.
Yeah, it sounds like a lot of ts
is still unresolved. Thanks all.
I appreciate that update.