The latest news stories across the state of Oregon from the digital home of the Oregon coastal cities, OregonBeachMagazine.com
A major storm carrying high winds, drenching rain and heavy snow is headed for the Pacific Northwest, according to weather experts.
The storm due to arrive at the end of the week will be the strongest seen in months, meteorologists with AccuWeather said Wednesday. Snow falling in the mountains in Washington state caused spin outs on highways and forced the closure of Snoqualmie Pass on Tuesday night for the first time this season.
The pass was open by Wednesday morning with compact snow and ice in places. Rain will fall along the coast and in Seattle and Portland late Thursday morning or early Thursday afternoon, the weather service said. Some snow may fall in the Cascades, they said. It will be very windy along the coastline.
Today’s Headlines
COVID-19 has claimed five more lives in Oregon, raising the state’s death toll to 742, the Oregon Health Authority reported on Wednesday, Nov. 11th. Oregon Health Authority reported 876 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19, bringing the state total to 52,770.
The new cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (8), Benton (11), Clackamas (67), Clatsop (2), Columbia (7), Coos (10), Crook (1), Curry (3), Deschutes (19), Douglas (32), Grant (5), Harney (1), Hood River (2), Jackson (50), Jefferson (14), Josephine (3), Klamath (2), Lake (5), Lane (51), Linn (10), Malheur (8), Marion (83), Morrow (2), Multnomah (298), Polk (11), Tillamook (2), Umatilla (32), Union (1), Wallowa (2), Wasco (1), Washington (102), Yamhill (31).
Coronavirus cases have only been rising since Governor Kate Brown announced a two week pause for Jackson County, which is on now.
As a result of increasing COVID-19 cases, hospital bed availabilty across the state is decreasing. Brown says Oregon is heading in the wrong direction, but it’s not too late to turn it around if people follow her guidelines for the state as we near the holidays.
The governor was joined by doctor Dana Harganani from the OHA. The health official reported 3 new deaths statewide today alone. Now, 285 Oregonians sick from the coronavirus occupy hospital beds in the state. Currently, 146 beds are open for people needing intensive care. Another 130 beds are open for pediatric intensive care. According to the Lund report, hospitals can now follow coronavirus cases as they happen.
A local volunteer group helping families following wildfires in southern Oregon made a remarkable discovery last week while sifting through ashes.
Kathy Dunn lost nearly everything in the Almeda Fire – her home, her belongings and countless family heirlooms passed on from generation to generation. Dunn says she got some small but very important pieces back – her father’s World War II medals. Her home in Talent was one of many destroyed by the Almeda Fire.
Dunn says she had moments notice to grab what she could before getting to safety.
Oregon residents and businesses continue to struggle with the Covid-19 issues, and the Oregon Legislative Emergency Board announced today it has approved more than $128 million to help Oregonians impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
This includes funding for childcare providers, Oregonians in need of shelter, small businesses, long-term care providers and victims of domestic and sexual violence. The Emergency Board approved $35 million from the state’s Emergency Fund to support the Project Turnkey Statewide Pandemic and Homelessness Response.
The Oregon Community Foundation will use funding to support the acquisition, retrofitting and potential operation of hotel and motel properties to be used as emergency shelter.
This funding is in addition to $30 million the Emergency Board approved on October 23 to begin Project Turnkey in wildfire-affected areas.
Oregon’s elections director was abruptly fired in a text message by the secretary of state after he pointed out serious issues with the state’s aging and vulnerable technology for running elections.
Elections Director Stephen Trout learned in a text message Thursday night, as his department and county elections officials were still counting votes from the Nov. 3 election, that he was out. On Friday, Secretary of State Bev Clarno, a Republican appointed to the position by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, announced to elections officials in Oregon’s 36 counties that “today is also Steve Trout’s last day with the Agency.”
Clarno’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, Oregon Secretary of State-elect Shemia Fagan, a Democrat, said she will examine the “critical warnings” that the state’s former elections director voiced before he was fired last week by the incumbent secretary of state.
In a blunt memo to Fagan and her Republican challenger on the eve of the 2020 election, Oregon Elections Director Stephen Trout said some of the state’s election systems are running on an operating system that Microsoft stopped supporting last January, pointed out an absence of multifactor authentication to access those election systems and raised other issues.
Restrictions on restaurants, bars, and lodging are now in effect in Siskiyou County CA, as COVID-19 case levels rise, and the first death attributed to the disease was reported by the county Tuesday.
The death is being linked to a “community acquired infection,” according to a Siskiyou County Public Health news release, which means there is no specific place where the origin of spread can be identified. The county also moved to California’s tier three, otherwise known as level orange, on Tuesday. Under tier 3 requirements, some businesses will have to reduce the number of indoor customers. Angelica Cook, public information officer and educator for Siskiyou County Public Health, said bars would most likely be impacted the most by the tier change. Restrictions will also impact other establishments.