The latest news stories across the state of Oregon from the digital home of the Oregon coastal cities, OregonBeachMagazine.com
Friday, November 11, 2022
Oregon Beach Weather
Active Weather Alerts Along The Coast
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY ISSUED: 2:04 AM NOV. 11, 2022 – NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM THIS MORNING TO 10 AM PST SATURDAY... * WHAT...South winds 15 to 25 kt with gusts up to 35 kt and wind driven seas of 6 to 9 feet Friday morning and afternoon, becoming swell dominated Friday evening through Saturday morning with steep seas of 9 to 11 ft at 11 seconds expected. Also, winds will transition to west to southwest 15 to 20 kt Friday evening, then south to southeast 15 to 25 kt Friday night into Saturday morning. * WHERE...All areas, except for lighter winds and seas within 5 nm of shore south of Brookings. * WHEN...From 7 AM Friday to 10 AM PST Saturday. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds or steep seas could capsize or damage smaller vessels. * View the hazard area in detail at https://go.usa.gov/x6hks PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Inexperienced mariners and those operating smaller vessels should remain in port and avoid the area of hazardous conditions.
* WHAT…Moderate risk of sneaker waves expected. These are waves that have an unusually higher run up on beaches when compared to other observed waves.
* WHERE…Beaches along the Southern Oregon Coast, including the beaches of Douglas, Coos, and Curry counties.
* WHEN…From Sunday morning through Sunday evening.
* IMPACTS…Even during calm conditions, sneaker waves can sweep up the beach without warning and knock unsuspecting people over and pull them out to sea. Shock and hypothermia can occur quickly in cold Pacific waters. In addition, logs and other debris can be lifted and carried by the waves, crushing or entrapping unsuspecting victims underneath.
* View the hazard area in detail at https://www.wrh.noaa.gov/map/?wfo=mfr
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
Avoid climbing on rocks and jetties. Stay away from the ocean and remain out of the water to avoid hazardous conditions.
Coos Bay Man Sentenced In Dog Attack That Killed Woman
The Coos County District Attorney says a Coos Bay man will serve more than two years in prison after being found guilty of criminally negligent homicide for a 2021 incident.
Paul Frasier, the Coos County DA, said that on September 24, 2021, a pit bull and American bulldog mix in the care of Jeremy Robertson, then 41, attacked Amber LaBelle, then 42. Officials say Robertson left the dog alone in a room, and the dog attacked LaBelle when she opened the door to the room.
The dog was reportedly shot and killed by a responding police officer. LaBelle was taken to the hospital but later died of her injuries.
The Coos County DA says that Robertson was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide on October 27, 2022 for the attack. The DA also said that on November 10, Robertson was sentenced to two years and two months in prison, to be followed by three years of probation upon his release. Robertson was also ordered to pay nearly $1,750 to pay for the cost of LaBelle’s funeral.
Cannon Beach May Expand Food Tax
The Cannon Beach City Council may consider expanding the tax to include nonalcoholic beverages after revenue from the prepared food tax came in lower than expected.
The 5% tax on prepared food at restaurants and other businesses was narrowly approved by voters in November 2021 and collection began in July.
The tax was estimated to generate $1.7 million annually, which would be split evenly between the city and the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District.
During a work session on Tuesday, City Manager Bruce St. Denis said the first quarter of collection came in at $683,000, about $21,000 short of what was expected. He said the city receives about 40% of its lodging taxes from the first quarter starting in July, which the city has used as a yardstick for the prepared food tax collection.
After revenue from the prepared food tax came in lower than expected, the City Council may consider expanding the tax to include nonalcoholic beverages.
The 5% tax on prepared food at restaurants and other businesses was narrowly approved by voters in November 2021 and collection began in July.
The tax was estimated to generate $1.7 million annually, which would be split evenly between the city and the Cannon Beach Rural Fire Protection District.
During a work session on Tuesday, City Manager Bruce St. Denis said the first quarter of collection came in at $683,000, about $21,000 short of what was expected. He said the city receives about 40% of its lodging taxes from the first quarter starting in July, which the city has used as a yardstick for the prepared food tax collection.
Prior to putting the tax measure on the ballot, St. Denis said the city was advised that revenue would be 12% to 15% higher if nonalcoholic beverages were included. He said the city decided against it as it was trying to avoid potential legal challenges.
“I just wanted to show that without making a change as far as saying we’re going to go to a higher percentage on the (prepared food tax), it is possible to generate additional revenue if we include the things that we took out only to address the initial vote,” St. Denis told the City Council.
“I’m not saying we have to do these things, but even with the collections, where we’re at now, even if we make a minor adjustment it makes a really big difference in what we would be able to pay in debt service and also it makes a big difference in what the fire district will be able to do.”
The city plans to use its portion of the tax revenue to cover the annual debt service for a new City Hall and police station. Any additional revenue would go toward infrastructure projects. The fire district, which relies on property tax dollars and grants, plans to use its share to help fund operations.
With the way construction costs and interest rates have increased, St. Denis said the current rate of collections would not completely cover the debt service for City Hall and police station project.
142nd Wing to conduct Veterans Day flyovers
The 142nd Wing out of the Portland Air National Guard Base, Portland, Oregon will conduct
Veterans Day flyovers for ceremonies and parades at locations throughout the state.
142nd Wing Commander, Colonel Todd Hofford, said the wing is proud to conduct the flyovers.
“We appreciate the opportunity to honor those that have served before us. The demonstration of
air superiority on this day is a great reminder to us all how fortunate we are to be citizens of this
country. These patriotic flyovers are courtesy of your Hometown Air Force.”
The F-15 Eagle fighter jets are scheduled to conduct flyovers at the following community
locations at, or around the designated times on Friday, 11 November:
10:45 a.m. Tillamook Air Museum, Tillamook, Ore.
10:57 a.m. Albany Veterans Day Parade, Albany, Ore.
11:11 a.m. University of Portland, Portland, Ore.
11:32 a.m. The Dalles Area Chamber, The Dalles, Ore.
12:07 p.m. Veterans Memorial Park, Klamath Falls, Ore.
12:22 p.m. Douglas County Veterans Day Parade, Roseburg, Ore.
All passes will be approximately 1,000 feet above ground level and about 400 mph airspeed.
Flights could be canceled or times changed due to inclement weather or operational
contingencies. There will also be a funeral flyover at 11:20 a.m. in Mollala, Ore.
Previous in-flight flyover gopro footage can be downloaded at: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/752272/142nd-wing-f-15-flight-gopro-footage
About the 142nd Wing: The Portland Air National Guard Base employs 1,500 Airmen who provide an economic impact of nearly $500 million to the region. The 142nd Wing defends our homeland with F-15 Eagle fighter jets, guarding the Pacific Northwest skies from northern California to the Canadian border through their Aerospace Control Alert mission as part of Air Combat Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Their mission is to provide unequalled, mission-ready units to sustain combat aerospace superiority and peacetime tasking any time, any place in service to our nation, state and community.
For more information, contact 142nd Wing Public Affairs at 142.wg.pa@us.af.mil
Tina Kotek Wins Oregon Governor’s Race
Tina Kotek has been elected Oregon’s next governor, extending longtime Democratic control of the state and dashing Republican hopes for a rare win in a top race on the West Coast of the United States. Just before 6:30 p.m. Thursday, the Associated Press projected Tina Kotek as Oregon’s next governor with 47% of the vote while challenger Christine Drazan had 43% with 85% of votes counted.
“It is an absolute honor,” Kotek said. “I can tell you that being who I am is important to Oregonians across the state. Lots of young people have come up to me and said thank you for running and thank you for being who you are.”
The former longtime speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives had faced a stiff challenge from Republican Christine Drazan, who is also an ex-legislator.
Kotek stood in front of a fountain in Portland Thursday morning a few steps from the Willamette River and told an invitation-only crowd of reporters and supporters displaying her campaign signs that she was ready to get to work.
She said she plans to travel around Oregon starting in January to talk to community leaders about issues facing the state, particularly the shortage of affordable housing and addiction. She said her priorities are addressing homelessness, expanding access to mental health and addiction treatment and working to bridge the divisions in the state.
Kotek told reporters she has spoken with Drazan and Johnson, a former state senator who ran as an unaffiliated candidate and who conceded Tuesday night.
The Drazan campaign had said it hoped as more ballots were counted the results would cut into Kotek’s lead.
Tuesday is the last day for election officials to receive valid postmarked ballots by mail. There could be tens of thousands of uncounted ballots still in the mail in a state with 3 million registered voters. In Oregon, mail-in ballots will still be counted even if they arrive to an elections office up to seven days post-election, as long as the ballot was postmarked by midnight on Election Day
Oregon was the first state to institute vote-by-mail but the 2022 election is different because a 2021 law passed by the Legislature allows ballots to be counted if they were postmarked by 8 p.m. on election day. Previously, votes needed to be received by election day.
Like other GOP lawmakers, Drazan was opposed to the 2021 postmark bill when it went through the Legislature.
“Deadlines are deadlines,” she said in a House committee back then. “I think that it is going to create some challenges, and I think it’s going to create some legal complexity when it comes to some of these elections with close turnout.”
Johnson’s wild-card presence in the race had buoyed GOP hopes they could win an Oregon governor’s race for the first time in 40 years and break Democrats’ dominance of statewide races in Oregon, California and Washington state.
Kotek was the longest serving Oregon House speaker. Drazan is a former leader of the Republican minority in the House. Democrats were so worried that they could lose the governorship that President Joe Biden came to Portland to boost Kotek’s chances.
Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said verifying the results takes time, with every signature on every ballot envelope needing to be is verified.
Oregon Attorney General Files Motion In Albertson’s-Kroger Merger Case
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum’s antitrust unit has filed a motion in support of the state of Washington’s lawsuit to stop the Albertson Companies Inc. from giving their shareholders a $4 billion dividend before a proposed merger with Kroger Co. can be reviewed by state and federal antitrust enforcers.
A release from the Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General said Oregon’s proposed amicus brief states in part: “The proposed acquisition of Albertsons has the potential to harm competition and consumers. And these potential harms are of critical interest to Oregon, which depends on economic dynamism that competition promotes, and for which the Oregon Attorney General is tasked with protecting. The proposed merger of these major retailers presents a substantial matter of public interest”.
Last week, Oregon also sent Albertsons attorneys a letter informing them that the Oregon Department of Justice will “fully investigate all the conduct of individuals and entities involved in negotiating and determining the ‘special dividend’ in conjunction with a thorough review of the parties’ proposed transaction”.
The amicus brief and the letter to Albertsons are linked:
https://www.doj.state.or.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/2022.11.09-Full-Filing-Document-Amicus.pdf
https://www.doj.state.or.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Signed-Letter.pdf
Oregon has a total of 176 stores impacted by this merger; 121 Albertsons and Safeway stores, 51 Fred Meyer stores and 4 QFC stores.
Tesla Shrinks its Solar Business and Cancels Projects
Tesla is reportedly winding up its solar business in some major U.S. markets and is also laying off employees in the division.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has recently called off many solar projects across some U.S. markets in a sudden move that left several customers hanging, Electrek reported, citing the electric vehicle (EV) pioneer’s email to customers.
Tesla is supposedly winding up solar operations in certain markets, including the greater Los Angeles area, Northern California, Oregon, and Florida regions. Also, the company is lowering the headcount in its solar scheduling, planning, and design department.
The move comes as a surprise to many as in its recent quarterly report, Tesla stated that it deployed 4.08 GWh of energy storage products and 248 megawatts of solar energy systems this year through September-end.
Further, the company disclosed plans to boost the production of energy storage products, enhance its Solar Roof installation capability and efficiency, and increase the market share of its retrofit and new build solar energy systems.
Oregon health officials reported 24% more new coronavirus infections this week compared to the previous week, with about 445 known infections reported per day.
A wave of infections is expected to arrive this fall, though an Oregon Health & Science University forecast predicts that wave won’t lead to a major surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The case growth health officials reported this week coincided with an 8% increase in all COVID-19 tests reported to the state. It is virtually certain that far more people have been infected than is reflected in the numbers published by the Oregon Health Authority, given at-home tests don’t need to be reported.
In its monthly update of vaccination rates, the health authority reported more than twice as many people getting a dose of the bivalent booster as of Monday compared to a month earlier. At around 550,000 people, fewer than one in five Oregonians eligible to get the booster have done so, according to state data.
The number of households with bank and credit union accounts continues to rise in Oregon
SALEM – The number of unbanked households in Oregon dropped from 3.8 percent in 2019 to just 1.8 percent in 2021, according to a study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This is significant for many Oregonians because it means they can avoid paying for expensive alternative financial services such as money orders, check cashing, and pre-paid cards.
Those costs can add up to thousands of dollars over a consumer’s lifetime.
Nationally, over 95 percent of U.S. households had some sort of banking account in 2021. If a household is banked it means at least one member has a savings or checking account at a bank or credit union.
“One of the challenges facing the unbanked is all of the fees you have to pay to access your money,” said TK Keen, administrator of the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation at the Department of Business and Consumer Services. “While the individual cost may seem minor, having to buy several different financial products to pay rent, utilities, and other monthly expenses starts to add up and eats into your monthly budget. I am pleased to see that our financial institutions continue to help us make headway in getting consumers accounts, and in turn, reducing fees that consumers pay in their daily lives.”
Despite this improvement, Black, Indigenous, and Latino communities, as well as people experiencing a disability, are much more likely to be unbanked. Only 2.1 percent of White households are unbanked in the U.S. In contrast, 9.3 percent of Latino households and 11.3 percent of Black households are unbanked. The Bank On movement is working to address this disparity.
“It is important to get as many people as possible banked,” Keen said. “Relationships with our financial institutions come in handy for other financial services people need, such as a loan to buy a car, a mortgage to buy a home, and emergency loans for unexpected expenses that come up.”
The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation is a member of the Bank On Oregon Coalition, a group of financial institutions, community organizations, and government agencies committed to carrying out the Bank On nationwide mission to reduce barriers to banking access by coordinating with financial institutions to make safe, low-cost bank accounts more readily available to consumers. Currently, 15 different institutions, including many state-chartered institutions, offer Bank On certified accounts in Oregon.
### About Oregon DFR: The Division of Financial Regulation is part of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, Oregon’s largest business regulatory and consumer protection agency. Visit www.dcbs.oregon.gov and dfr.oregon.gov.
All Forest Lands Open to Free Day Use November 11th
The USDA Forest Service will recognize the service of America’s veterans by waiving standard amenity fees for all visitors to national forest and grassland day-use areas on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
“Many veterans spend time with their families and connect with nature while hiking, hunting, boating, and exploring the range of outdoor recreation opportunities national forests and grasslands have to offer,” said Tracy Calizon, regional assistant director of recreation for the U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest.
Making Veterans Day a fee-free day gives everyone an opportunity to reflect on the service of the nation’s veterans while spending time on America’s public lands, she said.
The Forest Service offers fee-free access a few times each year to encourage everyone to explore educational and recreation opportunities available on national forests and grasslands.
On fee-free days, standard amenity fees normally charged for day use sites, such as picnic areas, developed trailheads, and destination visitor centers, are waived. The waiver does not apply to special recreation permits, cabin rentals, or campground reservations, nor does it include expanded amenity fees charged for certain highly-developed sites, service charges, or fees assessed by independent concessionaires operating on National Forest land.
Approximately 98 percent of national forest land can be enjoyed fee-free, year-round. Where fees are assessed, more than 80 percent of these funds are reinvested at the site where they’re collected, where they provide for necessary maintenance and services or are saved to pay for future improvements.
Fee-free public lands access, including access to National Forests and Grasslands, is available year-round to U.S. military service members and their families, veterans, and Gold Star family members.
The Interagency Military Pass is available at no cost to all active-duty military personnel and their families. This pass is honored nationwide at all Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and US Fish & Wildlife Service sites charging standard amenity or entrance fees.
Veterans may present an approved ID at any Forest Service location selling interagency annual passes to receive an an interagency military pass. Beginning Nov. 11, 2022, Veterans will receive the new Lifetime Military pass, which will not need to be renewed annually. Forms of accepted ID include a valid Department of Defense Identification Card (CAC Card), Veteran Health Identification Card (VHIC), Veterans Affairs ID Card, or a Veteran designation on a state-issued U.S. driver’s license or identification card. (Veterans presenting proof of disability may also be eligible for a no-cost Interagency Access Pass, which has no expiration date.)
Veterans Day: Nov. 11 — The fee waiver applies to most Forest Service day-use recreation sites in Oregon and Washington, including many picnic areas, boat launches, trailheads, and visitor centers.
Fees for camping, cabin rentals, or other permits still apply. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r6/passes-permits/recreation/?cid=stelprdb5350931
Fees are waived at Forest Service-managed day use sites on the following days:
- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day – January 17, 2022
- President’s Day – February 21, 2022
- National Get Outdoors Day – June 11, 2022
- National Public Lands Day – September 24, 2022
- Veterans Day – November 11, 2022
Gold Star family members who meet the criteria identified in sections 3.2 and 3.3 of Department of Defense Instruction 1348.36 may self-certify their eligibility by printing a voucher at this link <https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/veterans-and-gold-star-families-free-access.htm>. The voucher is valid for waiver of entrance fees or standard amenity fees when presented it in person or displayed on their vehicle dashboard when visiting sites where entrance or day-use fees are normally charged. Beginning Nov. 11, Gold Star families may choose to exchange their signed voucher for a Lifetime Military Pass at all Forest Service Locations where interagency passes are sold; paper-based vouchers will also be honored interchangeably with the new Lifetime Military Pass.
For more information about interagency passes valid on National Forests and Grasslands, visit: Passes and Permits | US Forest Service (usda.gov) <https://www.fs.usda.gov/visit/passes-permits>.
For information about the Northwest Forest Pass, accepted at all Forest Service -managed locations in Oregon and Washington, and about specific local passes honored at some Forest Service locations, visit Region 6 – Recreation Passes & Permits (usda.gov) <https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/r6/passes-permits/recreation>.
