The latest news stories across the state of Oregon from the digital home of the Oregon coastal cities, OregonBeachMagazine.com
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Oregon Beach Weather
Lincoln City Adds Beach Wheelchairs And Mobi-Mats To Make Beach Access More Inclusive
Lincoln City’s Parks and Recreation Department, Explore Lincoln City and Public Works have teamed together and brought in two beach wheelchairs for public use along with three portable Mobi-Mats that allow better access.
Next Tuesday, May 31, the three agencies will get together for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m., to commemorate the new installations. It happens at SW 51 St. at the beach access at the bottom of the road, in what is the Taft neighborhood.
The mobility mats will be installed at three different locations from Memorial Day through Labor Day: SW 51st St. in the historic Taft District, the D River Wayside in the Delake District and the SW 33rd St. in the Nelscott District.
They are ADA compliant, portable, non-slip and roll-up, which create temporary pathways that make beach access better. They are 100 percent recycled polyester and are salt-water resistant. The ocean blue mobility mats are 450 feet long and six-and-a-half feet wide.
The central Oregon coast town also acquired two beach wheelchairs, with a third one on the way. These will be available year-round for free.
“Accessibility has long been a priority in Lincoln City,” said Jeanne Sprague, Lincoln City Parks and Recreation director. “The addition of the Mobi-Mats and beach friendly wheelchairs extends an invitation to our beaches to everyone.”
These beach wheelchairs are specifically designed to make traveling across sand and other soft surfaces possible. They feature large, balloon-type tires that allow for added stability and ease of rolling. Beach wheelchairs allow people with limited mobility to travel over sand, shells and rocks to visit Lincoln City’s beautiful Taft Beach and Siletz Bay. Daily rentals are available at SW 51st St. in the historic Taft District. Funding for one of the wheelchairs was granted from the Oregon Coast Visitors Association.
Lincoln City joins the ranks of other Oregon coast towns that lend these out, including Seaside, Cannon Beach, Manzanita and Pacific City.
“We strive to surprise and delight all of our guests,” said Ed Dreistadt, director of Explore Lincoln City. “We’re proud to improve the accessibility of our seven miles of beach to more guests through continued investment in mobility options.”
Kevin Mattias, ADA coordinator for Lincoln City, said the Mobi-mats were originally created to provide access to people using devices such as wheelchairs and walkers. “People of all abilities will benefit, making Lincoln City’s beaches more inclusive,” he said.
FOR MORE INFO: Lincoln City parks website. — https://www.mobi-mat-chair-beach-access-dms.com/
City Of Yachats to Host Community Prepare and Beat the Wave Fair
Coastal residents and visitors will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of hands-on workshops and demos as part of a free Community Prepare Fair being planned by the City of Yachats’ Emergency Preparedness Committee.
This event will take place on Sunday, June 5th and will have kickoff presentations, workshops, and demonstrations at the Yachats Commons from 9 AM to 2 PM in the buildings and fields adjacent to the Farmer’s Market and will end with a with a Beat the Wave 5K Run that will start at 2PM. https://runsignup.com/Race/OR/Yachats/BeattheWave
This free one-day event is intended to help educate and prepare the public for natural disasters, including earthquakes and tsunamis, wildfires, winter storms, and other emergencies. Planned demonstrations, workshops and presentations include:
Preparing your home for earthquakes, fire, tsunami, & winter storms
First aid for people and pets
Emergency kit essentials: creating go bags and home caches
Foraging for edible plants
Creating a communication plan
Fire extinguisher use
Fire-safe landscaping
Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
Participants will also have the opportunity to participate in an Emergency Preparedness Town Hall with Senator Dick Anderson and Representative David Gomberg, and a reading and book signing of Crossing Cascadia by local author Brad Reed. Attendees can also peruse resource tables and interact with emergency response experts, purchase emergency supplies from vendors, explore community caches, and enter raffles to win emergency supplies.
Who:
The event is free and open to the public.
When
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, June 5, 2022
Where
Yachats Commons, 441 Hwy 101 N, Yachats, OR 97498
Why:
Yachats is at risk of many natural disasters—such as earthquakes, fires, tsunamis and outbreaks of disease. Preparing for a major disaster increases your chance of survival and minimizes the impact to your health. For more information about emergency preparedness in Yachats contact: info@yachatsoregon.org
This event is sponsored by Oregon Sea Grant and the City of Yachats with additional support provided by Lincoln County Emergency Management, Oregon State University, Yachats Rural Fire Protection District, Oregon Office of State Fire Marshall, the US Forest Service and Cascadia Quake Kits. FOR MORE INFO: https://yachatsoregon.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=227#:~:text=This%20free%20one%2Dday%20event,winter%20storms%2C%20and%20other%20emergencies.
We want to keep you informed about COVID-19 in Oregon. Data are provisional and change frequently. For more information, including COVID-19 data by county, visit our dashboard: http://ow.ly/wRSu50Ji7lS
Pacific Power Plans To Raise Electricity Rates 14%
Customers of Pacific Power would see their power bills increase 14% if a plan proposed by the company is approved. In the plan filed with the state, the utility is asking for an $84 million yearly increase in rates for customers in Oregon, a 6.8% increase. But that increase would impact different types of customers in different ways.
The average residential bill is $91.89 for customers in single-family homes using 900 kilowatt hours per month. The company’s request would increase that to $104.90 per month. That would be a 14.2% increase.
Also, multi-family homes that use an average of 600 kilowatts per month would see their bills increase $6.97 per month, an 11% increase, under the proposal.
“Pacific Power’s big bill increase could break customer’s budgets,” Knowledge Murphy, sustainability coordinator for Multnomah County, testified at a public comment hearing held by the state Tuesday.
Commercial and industrial customers would have smaller percentage increases, though the company didn’t indicate what that would be in publicly available information.
Pacific Power serves about 600,000 Oregon customers in cities such as Albany, Bend, Dallas, Grants Pass, Hermiston, Independence, Lebanon, Lincoln City, Medford, parts of Portland, Roseburg and Stayton.
As an investor-owned utility, Pacific Power’s rates are determined by the state. The company files to the state for rate increases. They are approved or denied by the state’s commission.
Everyone who testified at Tuesday’s hearing was against the increase.
“This rate increase puts thousands of Oregonians at risk,” said Alessandra de la Torre of Phoenix, who works with RealClimate.
Some customers of Pacific Power would see their power bills increase 14% if a plan proposed by the company is approved.
In the plan filed with the state, the utility is asking for an $84 million yearly increase in rates for customers in Oregon, a 6.8% increase. But that increase would impact different types of customers in different ways.
The average residential bill is $91.89 for customers in single-family homes using 900 kilowatt hours per month. The company’s request would increase that to $104.90 per month. That would be a 14.2% increase.
Also, multi-family homes that use an average of 600 kilowatts per month would see their bills increase $6.97 per month, an 11% increase, under the proposal.
“Pacific Power’s big bill increase could break customer’s budgets,” Knowledge Murphy, sustainability coordinator for Multnomah County, testified at a public comment hearing held by the state Tuesday.
Commercial and industrial customers would have smaller percentage increases, though the company didn’t indicate what that would be in publicly available information.
Pacific Power serves about 600,000 Oregon customers in cities such as Albany, Bend, Dallas, Grants Pass, Hermiston, Independence, Lebanon, Lincoln City, Medford, parts of Portland, Roseburg and Stayton.
As an investor-owned utility, Pacific Power’s rates are determined by the state. The company files to the state for rate increases. They are approved or denied by the state’s commission.
Everyone who testified at Tuesday’s hearing was against the increase.
“This rate increase puts thousands of Oregonians at risk,” said Alessandra de la Torre of Phoenix, who works with RealClimate.
Of the requested $84.4 million increase, Pacific Power is proposing to spend $41.4 million on wildfire vegetation management, $17.1 million on capital structure improvements, $14.8 million for a wind farm project in Wyoming, $9 million in insurance and $8.4 million for operations and maintenance.
Pacific Power said the rate increase is needed as power costs are increasing for the first time in five years. But it says the increase would be below the national average of 27% over the past year.
The company said in its filing it has provided customers in the state with $102 million in savings through the use of zero-carbon energy through the end of 2021.
“We are in a period of significant change. We are investing in the safety, adaptability and resilience of our energy grid and building to a net zero emissions energy future,” Matt McVee, vice president of regulatory policy and operations for Pacific Power, said in a statement. “While we do this, we remain steadfast in our commitment to our customers and our communities and will continue to seek new ways to reduce impacts to customer bills along the way.”
Pacific Power lowered electric rates by 5.2% in 2021.
Ryan Kliewer, an organic farmer and vice president of the Klamath Water Users Association, said between water needs and high utility rates, many farmers are on the brink of financial solvency. He said an increase like the one proposed by Pacific Power would put some farmers out of business. “We have an extreme drought situation and so water efficiency is very, very critical to our operations,” Kliewer said. “Water efficiency is pretty much afforded by electric power.”
The increase, if approved, would be about $200 per year for a residential customer.
De la Torre said the rate increase would unfairly impact those who live in Southern and Eastern Oregon who are served by the company.
“I work with these families just like many others and they do consistently ask what they could do to reduce their utility bills,” de la Torre said.
Pacific Power is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Energy, the company largely owned and operated by Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest people in the world.
Murphy said Berkshire Hathaway is worth $713 billion, has spent $52 billion buying back its own shares in the past year and has $144 billion in cash and equivalents that will go towards buying back more shares.
He points out Buffet gained $34.4 billion in wealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It seems the desire for more profit is not matching up with the need for more profit,” Murphy said.
People questioned the lack of detail in the part of the proposal that was given to the public. They questioned how much profits would be increased from the rate increase and how much more executives would be paid.
Robin Vora, a Bend resident, said the 14% increase is above the current rate of inflation. “I saw the list of the six, seven categories,” Vora said. “There’s not enough detail in there to be able to say you need that.”
According to Pacific Power, more than 30,000 of its customers in the state received $13.8 million in assistance in paying power bills in 2020.
“And the timing, again, could not be in my opinion any worse to ask for an increase for the utilities,” said Jo Rae Perkins, who is running for U.S. Senate. “Families, quite honestly, cannot afford it.”
The commission can approve the rate case increase, approve part of it or deny it. They can adopt a settlement on it.
Katie Mapes, the administrative law judge in the case, said the commission typically adopts a lower increase than what is requested. “They cannot raise the rates above what the utility has asked for,” Mapes said.
The Public Utility Commission will take comments on Pacific Power’s proposal through June 22.
People can call 800-522-2404, email pucpubliccomments@puc.oregon.gov or write to Attn: AHD-UE 3099, Oregon Public Utility Commission, PO Box 1088 Salem OR, 97308-1088 with comments.
A hearing on the increase has been scheduled for Aug. 2 and oral arguments on Aug. 25. The commission is on track to make its decision in December; any rate increase takes effect Jan. 1, 2023.
Athletes Already Arriving for World Athletic Championships
It’s almost time for athletes from all over the world to arrive in Oregon for the World Athletics Championships in Eugene. Many are arriving early next month to training camps, which are spread throughout the state. The camps are usually just weeks prior to the big event. They’re designed to get athletes geared up and give them time to acclimate to Oregon. There are about 15 to 20 training camps so far and some are even located outside of Oregon.
Oregon Zoo Welcomes New Chimps
The Oregon Zoo is welcoming five new chimpanzees to its recently opened Primate Forest habitat. They join three chimps already at the zoo. The new group includes four females and one male.
They came to the zoo on a recommendation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums which works to find locations where endangered chimps can be cared for.
The zoo’s new Primate Forest habitat expands on improvements first helped along by Dr. Jane Goodall. Officiasl said 40 years ago, the zoo’s pioneering work with chimpanzees drew the attention of the famed conservationist, and she visited regularly, getting to know Chloe, Delilah and the other zoo chimps.
According to the Oregon Zoo, the habitat features climbing structures, complex spaces for family groups and enhanced opportunities for enrichment and keeper interaction.
Oregon warns recipients of food boxes about recall of Jif peanut butter
PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is warning the people of Oregon to be on the lookout for Jif brand peanut butter that may be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria.
J.M. Smucker Co., the parent company for the peanut butter brand, issued a voluntary recall on Friday. The Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local partners are investigating this outbreak.
The recalled peanut butter was distributed in retail stores and other outlets throughout the country. It includes creamy, crunchy and natural varieties.
Jif peanut butter was included in food boxes distributed through OHA’s food box program. OHA has investigated further and determined that the recall lot does include the Jif peanut butter that was distributed in the food boxes. This only impacts the peanut butter product inside the food box which can be exchanged for a replacement or refunded.
Starting today, staff with the Oregon Health Authority is visiting all OHA food hubs and inspecting respective food boxes in order to substitute any recall product for new. This work will require the remainder of this week to accomplish and all food hubs are being notified this evening. All warehoused Jif products that are waiting to be distributed have been thoroughly inspected and replaced.
To see if your jar of Jif peanut butter is being recalled, check the lot number that is printed below the “Best if Used by” date on the label.
Products with lot codes 1274425 – 2140425, with the digits 425 in the 5th-7th position, are being recalled. This information is printed on the back label of the jar.
A list of recalled products and their numbers can also be seen on the FDA’s website. If you happen to have a jar included in the recall, you should throw it away immediately. After throwing the peanut butter out, OHA recommends washing and sanitizing any surfaces or containers that might have come into contact with the peanut butter.
For many infected people, symptoms appear 12 to 72 hours after contact and often include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps. Most people who are infected recover within four to seven days and do not need any treatment. More serious and severe cases can occur, though, so OHA recommends contacting your health care provider if you believe you have been infected.
Currently, there are 14 cases across 12 states, two hospitalizations, no deaths and no cases in Oregon.
OHA recommends that all peanut butter distributed from April 15 through May 23 be immediately thrown away or exchanged at a retail store.
Product can also be reimbursed directly by Jif by following their instructions at: https://jms-s3-mkt-consumer-p-pmc6.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/recall.html.
Consumers who have questions or would like to report adverse reactions should visit www.jif.com/contact-us or call 800-828-9980 Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM ET.
Please share this information with your community members and partners who may have received a food box.
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