Tag Archives: Oregon

Portland lawmakers push to decriminalize homeless camps; Residents tired of tents on their lawns, drug deals on every corner

Portland Homeless

Mathew 24:12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

Important Takeaways:

  • Broken Portland: New images of city’s homeless show encampments taking over – as fed-up residents wake up to tents on their lawns, drug dealers on every corner – and woke lawmakers pushing to DECRIMINALIZE the camps
  • Shocking new images show Portland’s mounting homeless crisis as encampments take over streets and sidewalks – and fed-up residents want the city to take action.
  • Local authorities in Oregon are also considering calling in the National Guard to help with Portland’s homeless issue – while residents reveal they now no longer walk in certain areas because of the drug and encampment problem.
  • This follows news that Democrat lawmakers in Oregon want to decriminalize homeless camps with a law that would allow the people who live in them to sue for $1,000 if they’re harassed or told to leave.
  • Portland also made headlines recently after numbers that showed in 2022 there were more than 5,000 homeless people throughout the city.
  • Residents of one Portland neighborhood say they are fed up with the growing homeless crisis after their area was cleared just to see encampments pop back up hours later.

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Oregon Democrats pushing to Decriminalize homeless encampments; Residents tired of lawlessness

Mathew 24:12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

Important Takeaways:

  • Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse… Now Oregon looks to DECRIMINALIZE encampments and let homeless SUE for $1,000 if they’re harassed or told to leave: Furious Portland residents say they’re being terrorized in their own neighborhoods
  • Democrat lawmakers in Oregon want to decriminalize homeless camps with a law that would allow the people who live in them to sue for $1,000 if they’re harassed or told to leave.
  • The hugely-controversial bill claims ‘decriminalization of rest’ would allow city leaders to ‘redirect’ cash from law enforcement into measures that ‘address the root causes of homelessness and poverty’.
  • But the proposal has been met with thousands of complaints – and comes as some in the embattled city of Portland plan to move because of the number of homeless camps.
  • The bill, HB 3501, was sponsored by Democrat representative Farrah Chaichi and her colleague, representative Khanh Pham. It will be discussed at a hearing of the state’s House Committee On Housing and Homelessness on May 4.
  • …essentially stating they can reside in parks and on other public land indefinitely without
  • In March, DailyMail.com reported how some Portland residents think the city has become lawless and ‘post-apocalyptic’ because of rising rates of homelessness and drug abuse.
  • Earlier this month, Walmart announced that they were leaving the city.

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Reports of power stations attacked in Oregon and Washington

Important Takeaways:

  • Memo: Oregon, Washington substations intentionally attacked
  • Aim is ‘violent anti-government activity’
  • “Power companies in Oregon and Washington have reported physical attacks on substations using handtools, arson, firearms and metal chains possibly in response to an online call for attacks on critical infrastructure,” the memo states.
  • “In recent attacks criminal actors bypassed security fences by cutting the fence links, lighting nearby fires, shooting equipment from a distance or throwing objects over the fence and onto equipment,” the memo continued.
  • The vastness of American electricity infrastructure makes it difficult to defend

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Flour Mill in Oregon burns to the ground

Revelations 18:23 ‘For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’

Important Takeaways:

  • Eastern Oregon historic flour mill destroyed in fire
  • The Pendleton Fire Department responded to a report of visible black smoke and quickly extinguished a small fire.
  • Officials say the fire reignited around 4 a.m. Wednesday and the building was soon fully engulfed, because of the amount of dry grain in the mill.
  • Grain Craft officials said no injuries have been reported.
  • Pendleton Fire and eight other agencies responded to the fire. Officials say the building is a total loss.

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Portland News reports of several earthquakes off the coast of Oregon

Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven

Important Takeaways:

  • Multiple earthquakes rumble off Oregon Coast
  • More than a handful of earthquakes were reported off the Oregon Coast early Wednesday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
  • A 3.8-magnitude quake was recorded at 2:54 a.m. It was about 274 miles west of Newport.
  • Over the next four hours, seven more quakes were recorded in similar areas.
  • The USGS said the greatest quake recorded Wednesday was 5.6 magnitude.
  • There is no tsunami threat reported at this time.

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Shearer’s Foods processing plant explosion injures 7

Revelation 8:7 “ The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”

Important Takeaways:

  • 7 Injured in Explosion as Fire Engulfs Food Plant; Smoke Visible for Miles
  • Multiple workers are hospitalized following an explosion at a food processing facility that has nearby residents on alert for possible evacuation.
  • The explosion occurred Tuesday evening at Shearer’s Foods in Hermiston, a city in agriculturally rich eastern Oregon. No deaths have been reported from the blast, but the extent of the damage to the plant and its future were not clear. City officials are concerned what the fire could mean for the community and local economy.
  • The public has been asked to avoid the area as authorities respond to the ongoing incident.

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Scientist says: Oregon’s Three Sister Volcanos are rising most likely due to magma 4 miles underground

Important Takeaways:

  • Land around Oregon’s Three Sisters volcanoes is rising faster than usual, scientists say
  • An uplift of about an inch in the ground was detected roughly 3 miles west of South Sister, according to researchers from the Cascades Volcano Observatory
  • According to the USGS, Oregon and Washington, with more than 25 active volcanoes, comprise one of the most volcanically active regions in the country.
  • The uplift in the Three Sisters area is most likely caused by magma 4 miles underground. Bursts of small earthquakes are common in the area and throughout the Cascade range, which is essentially a chain of active volcanoes
  • The region has experienced an uplift of about 12 inches over the past 25 years.

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Central Oregon Volcanos elevated ground deformation

Psalms 97:5 “The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth.

Important Takeaways:

  • Three Sisters volcano (Central Oregon, USA): elevated ground deformation
  • Satellite radar images show the ground has been uplifted by 2.2 cm between June 2020 and August 2021 and continues to inflate to the present.
  • Phases of elevated uplifts have been observed in this volcanic area before and this is likely reflecting magma intrusion and migration under the surface, supported also by continued deformation of the surface.
  • The alert level for the volcanoes remains at Level 1, which is no sign of an impending eruption

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COVID-19 outbreak at Oregon’s Bootleg blaze sidelines 9 firefighters

By Barbara Goldberg

(Reuters) – The first COVID-19 outbreak among firefighters battling the enormous Bootleg fire in Oregon has put nine of them in quarantine as weather forecasters on Friday warned that relentlessly dry weather will persist over the weekend.

With the 400,389-acre blaze 40% contained, nine firefighters out of a 2,389-person force tested positive for coronavirus and were placed in quarantine with mild symptoms, said Stefan Myers, fire information spokesman for the Bootleg fire.

“We expect them all to make a full recovery,” Myers told Reuters.

Safety measures to stop virus spread, including social distancing at all four fire camps, appeared to be working for the most part.

“We are really heartened by the fact that there weren’t more firefighters exposed. They have to perform on a daily basis and that does lead to the possibility for exposure,” Myers said.

Citing privacy laws, he declined to comment on the age, gender and vaccination status of the nine people who are “quarantining away from the main body of the fire camp as to make sure they are isolated but also recovering.”

The so-called Bootleg fire, which was first reported July 6 in the Fremont-Winema National Forest some 250 miles south of Portland, was ignited by lightning but smoldered for days before it was detected.

Air quality amid the smoky blaze on Friday appeared to improve over all but two of 11 fire stations, authorities said. However, dry weather was expected to persist through the weekend, ramping up risk.

“There is really no relief in sight,” said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland. “The fire weather will continue.”

On Friday, the fire remained most active on the northern and eastern portions, authorities said.

“The fire continues to throw challenges at us, and we are going to continue to stay vigilant, work hard and adapt,” Joe Hessel, incident commander for the Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team said in a statement.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Mark Potter)

‘Dial back’ or ’emergency brake?’ New lockdowns and the U.S. economy

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The surge in new COVID-19 infections is driving a fresh wave of restrictions in cities and counties across the United States.

California’s “emergency brake,” Oregon’s “freeze,” Philadelphia’s “safer at home” and Minnesota’s “dial back” are among a new patchwork of rules adopted by states, cities and counties that are much less strict and far more narrow than measures imposed to stop the spread of the virus in the spring.

The overall economic bite will be smaller, too, compared to the downdraft that started earlier this year and which led to roughly 22 million people losing their jobs, a collapse in retail spending and a recession.

“I don’t see where you get a 30% hit to GDP,” said Tim Duy, an economics professor at the University of Oregon. “There’s not as much to take off the table … I’m having a hard time seeing where you are going to derail the recovery.”

Businesses that were fully shut in March, like medical offices, shops, factories, and even hair salons, will remain open in many areas this time around.

That’s in part because many Americans have changed their behavior, businesses from manufacturers to retail stores have added routine temperature checks, and face masks are more common and in many states mandated. Meanwhile, consumers have embraced online shopping and curbside delivery to keep spending.

High-frequency data backs that up: even after the latest explosion in case numbers, economic activity has not collapsed.

SURGICAL STRIKE

Many of the latest restrictions target activities where science shows the spread of the virus is the most pernicious – indoor pursuits, in close quarters, for extended periods of time, or with heavy or unmasked breathing.

That means they will hurt some already hard-hit sectors of the economy, including hospitality and entertainment. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday issued a strong recommendation against travel over the Thanksgiving holiday this month, though it did not ban it outright.

Many of the more than two dozen states that have issued new restrictions this week have closed or restricted indoor dining and gyms. California, the biggest state by economic output, is among that group.

At the same time, businesses shut during California’s lockdowns in the spring, including shopping malls, body waxing venues, and barber shops, can continue to operate, albeit with some limits to contain the spread of the virus.

Philadelphia’s ban on indoor dining goes into effect on Friday.

Stock Fishtown and Stock Rittenhouse, which are owned by Philadelphia-based restaurateur Tyler Akin, will shift to carry-out and delivery mode. On Monday new rules in Delaware will force him to reduce capacity at his Le Cavalier restaurant in Wilmington to 30%, down from the current 50%. Though better than being entirely closed down, as was the case in March, Akin may need to adjust staffing to fit revenue.

“We have some really hard conversations ahead of us,” he said.

Efforts to adapt business to the realities of the pandemic may allow some restaurants and bars to weather the worst effects of the restrictions. In Oakland, California, as in many cities around the country, restaurants and bars have built platforms decked out with tables, chairs and propane heaters to make customers more comfortable outside in chillier weather.

It’s “a way to keep our businesses afloat,” said Ari Takata-Vasquez, who leads a small-business alliance in Oakland that has raised money to build the outdoor dining areas for cash-strapped eateries.

She’s working on, or completed, five of them – and has 30 eateries and gyms on the waiting list.

In Minnesota, movie theaters and yoga studios will shut at midnight on Friday, along with indoor and outdoor service at eateries, pubs and gyms. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, like many of his counterparts across the country, is also telling families not to have household gatherings, and he acknowledged the new rules will be felt especially hard by small businesses.

“By closing your doors and putting your financial well-being at risk, you are protecting the lives of your neighbors,” he said this week.

LIGHTER LOCKDOWNS, LESS RELIEF

Many of the newly implemented restrictions are expected, at least for now, to last two to four weeks. But even though lockdowns will be more moderate – and in many places are simply sector-specific curfews rather than sweeping closures – business owners and employees, especially in the restaurant industry, are worried their own financial pain will be sharper.

That’s because Congress has shown little sign of delivering another round of fiscal relief, let alone the massive pandemic packages totaling some $3 trillion passed earlier this year.

The last of the extra government aid for the unemployed is due to run out at the end of this year. A bill with bipartisan support to rescue the restaurant industry is caught in limbo in Congress, as the outgoing Trump administration focuses on challenging the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election.

While households overall still have excess savings, built in part from prior government aid, for many families that money is likely to run out before a vaccine comes into widespread use.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir and Jonnelle Marte and Howard Schneider; Editing by Paul Simao)