The latest news stories and stories of interest in the Willamette Valley from the digital home of Southern Oregon, from Wynne Broadcasting’s WillametteValleyMagazine.com
Friday, November 4, 2022
Willamette Valley Weather
Lane County Elections Introduces Live Streaming for Ballot Processing
In an effort to increase transparency and educate voters on the mail-in ballot process, Lane County Elections is introducing a livestream YouTube channel where residents can watch ballots being processed: www.youtube.com/@Lane_County_OR_Elections.
“We’ve created an 8-step ballot processing guide, which includes a description of each step, as well as a tentative schedule of events,” said Lane County Clerk Dena Dawson. “Voters can look at the tentative schedule of events, review the descriptions, click the link to our YouTube, and observe the entire process.”
The mail-in ballot processing tentative schedule and 8-step ballot processing guide is available at www.LaneCountyOR.gov/Elections. Click the “Livestream of Election Activities” link on that webpage.
In-person observation is also available. Observers must be authorized by their political party, a non-partisan candidate, or the County Clerk. Anyone interested in observing in-person should contact their party or the Elections Office at 541-682-4234 for more information.
Lane County Senior Meals Program Needs Volunteers
The Senior Meals Program, a program offered by Senior & Disability Services, a division of the Lane Council of Governments (LCOG), is in dire need of volunteers at all of its locations. Volunteers have an everlasting impact on the seniors they serve and help maintain access to nutritious foods.
The Senior Meals Program helps people aged 60 and older maintain their independence by providing food, friendship, and safety checks. It does so by operating eleven (11) Café 60 dining rooms around Lane County and Meals on Wheels (MOW) to deliver lunches and safety checks for home-bound older neighbors.
Senior Meals could use volunteers in the following ways:
- Portioning meals
- Packing meals
- Delivering meals to participants
Interested community members can contact Melisa Andrion, Community Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator, mandrion@lcog.org or 541-682-1366.
About Senior & Disability Services
Senior & Disability Services, a division of Lane Council of Governments, provides services, information, and assistance to Lane County’s older adult population, adults with physical disabilities, and their caregivers. In Fiscal Year 2022, its Senior Meals Program served more than 199,000 meals to more than 1,900 participants. Learn more at https://www.lcog.org/sdslane.
Lane County’s Transfer Station at Glenwood Needs to Be Rebuilt
People who use the Glenwood Transfer Station could be taking trash and recyclables elsewhere within a few years. And if the current transfer station does stay where it is now on 17th Avenue off Glenwood Boulevard right by Interstate 5, it could look very different.
The transfer station — one of 15 operated by Lane County and open to the public for self-hauling — needs rebuilding, regardless of whether it’s on the current site or somewhere else, said Jeff Orlandini, the county’s waste management division manager.
“We really are at the point where we need to build a new, state-of-the-art facility that can serve this community for 30-plus years,” he said. County staff have been “dumping money in to put Band-Aids on” until they have a clear direction for what will happen to the site, Orlandini said. In the 18 years that Dan Hurley, the county’s public works director, has been with the county, staff have been in limbo because they don’t know whether they’ll stay at Glenwood or leave.
Public works would prefer to relocate the transfer station to another site, Orlandini said, with staying at Glenwood being staff’s second choice. Creating two new locations or moving the transfer station to Short Mountain Landfill also are options, he said, but they’re lower on the list of preferences.
Highway 99W Crash near Eureka Rd
CORVALLIS, Ore. – On Tuesday, November 2, 2022, at 12:54 p.m., the Benton County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) was dispatched to a motor vehicle crash with injuries on HWY 99W near Eureka Rd.
The investigation revealed the crash involved a 1999 tan GMC Sierra pickup and a 1997 black Subaru Legacy.
For reasons not yet known, the driver of the pickup was traveling north when he crossed the center line and crashed head-on with the Subaru, heading south.
The driver of the Subaru, a seventy-six-year-old female from Corvallis, was transported to Good Samaritan Regional Center in Corvallis. The driver of the GMC, a seventy-five-year-old male from McMinnville, was also transported to Good Samaritan Regional Center.
Neither alcohol nor drugs appear to be a factor in the crash at this time.
Highway 99W was down to one lane of travel for approximately four hours with assistance from ODOT, Monroe Fire Department, and the Corvallis Fire Department. If anyone has information regarding the crash, please contact BCSO Sergeant Iverson at 541-766-0139 or by email at david.iverson@co.benton.or.us.
BCSO would like to remind drivers to always wear their seatbelts, mind their speed, drive defensively, and don’t drive impaired, which includes driving fatigued.
Strong Winds Knock Out Power For Thousands In NW Oregon
High wind across the Pacific Northwest is causing power outages in some communities, according to local utility companies. Portland General Electric was reporting just under 3,300 customers without service at about 6:45 a.m., with a majority being in the Lake Oswego area.
Pacific Power said it had 100 customers without power at roughly the same time, while Clark Public Utilities did not have any listed outages.
The outages prompted two schools in the West Linn-Wilsonville School District to close Friday; Stafford Primary and Three River Charter School will not hold classes. The National Weather Service of Portland issued a High Wind Warning for a large portion of Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington, while a Wind Advisory was issued for the Willamette Valley.
Forecasters warned that strong wind gusts could bring down trees and debris, which in turn could knock down power lines.
Get the latest on outages and how to report them on your local utility’s website.
MORE TIPS FROM UTILITIES:
- You should turn off electrical equipment when the power goes out. This will help prevent a possible power surge, should your system get overloaded when the electricity is turned back on.
- Surge protectors can help prevent power from damaging voltage-sensitive equipment.
- Keep all refrigerator and freezer doors closed. Food can stay cold in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours if the doors are kept closed after an outage.
- You should turn on a light both inside and outside of the house so crews can tell when the power is turned back on.
A strong atmospheric river is taking aim at the Pacific Northwest, bringing steady rain on Friday, gusty winds and the potential for high water spots and minor flooding.
Today is going to be a pretty rough day weather-wise as an atmospheric river & strong cold front push through. Rain will gradually ramp up throughout the day as the axis of moisture slowly sags southward over western Washington, and eventually northwest Oregon.
Be prepared for pooling and ponding on areas roads. The rain will be coming in sideways due to increasing southerly winds. The National Weather Service has adjusted the wind advisory to go into effect at 8:00 A.M. for our western valleys (since the wind is arriving a bit earlier than expected). They also issued high wind warnings for portions of the Cascade Foothills and the Coast Range, where winds will be even stronger. Expect sustained winds of 20-30 mph in our interior valleys, with gusts up to 40 mph. The coast will endure slightly stronger winds, with gusts between 40-50+ mph. The higher elevations will experience the strongest wind and heaviest rain, with gusts of 55-65+ mph. Keep your devices charged up today, because spotty power outages are likely to occur.
The rain is the primary concern over the next 24 hours. We’re going to see quite a bit of rain in a short period of time, which could lead to minor river flooding in the Coast Range & Cascades. As mentioned above, pooling and ponding will occur on a lot of our area roads, especially this afternoon, evening and overnight. Between today and Saturday morning, our western valleys will end up with about 1-3 inches of rain, with the greatest totals to the north.
The coast should end up with a bit more rainfall, somewhere between 1.50-3+ inches (more to the north than south). Snow levels will rise to about 8,000-9,000 feet, so the higher elevations will have tons of rain coming in. Portions of the Coast Range and Cascades could end up with 4-6 inches of rain. Isolated totals of 6-8 inches will be possible along western-facing mountain slopes.
Steady rain and gusty wind will let up overnight and early Saturday as a cold front surges through the region. Behind the cold front, cooler air will settle in. This will cause snow levels to drop to about 3,000 feet Saturday, leading to about 3-6 inches of new snow in the Cascades. The lower elevations west of the Cascades can expect on & off showers. Showers will transition back to a steady rain overnight Saturday and into early Sunday as another weather system pushes in. This system could bring significant snow to the Cascades on Sunday, perhaps somewhere between 6-12 inches. It will also turn even cooler across the region, with highs only reaching the low to mid 40s.
Showers will gradually wind down on Monday, leading to a dry and chilly stretch Tuesday through Thursday. It looks like we have our first few nights of sub-freezing temperatures coming, with highs only reaching the low to mid 40s.
Oregon Attorney General Scrutinizes Special Dividend Payout Planned Ahead Of the Kroger Albertsons Merger
A plan by Albertsons to pay investors a $4 billion dividend ahead of the grocery chain’s sale to Kroger is drawing scrutiny from state officials.
A special counsel for Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum sent a letter Thursday to Albertsons, asking its board of directors to “reconsider its decision and to rescind the ‘special dividend.’”
In the letter, Oregon Department of Justice antitrust attorney Tim D. Nord said the state “intends to 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 same day, a Washington judge approved state Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s motion for a temporary restraining order to block the dividend payment. Ferguson had sued to block the payment.
He was also among a bipartisan group of six attorneys general that sent a letter to Albertsons last week urging the company to delay the payment to its shareholders.
The attorneys general argue that the dividend — which equals nearly a third of Albertsons’ $11 billion market value — would deprive Albertsons of cash it needs to compete during the lengthy time period government regulators will be scrutinizing the merger and could result in more store closures.
Attorneys general for California, Illinois and Washington, D.C., have also sued to prevent Albertsons from going forward with the payment.
Albertsons said the dividend payment is unrelated to the merger plans but “part of Albertsons’ long-term strategy for growth,” which was “determined well before Albertsons’ discussions with Kroger began.”
In response to Washington’s ruling Thursday, Albertsons issued a statement saying that the company “intends to seek to overturn the restraint as quickly as possible” because the temporary order was based on incorrect assumptions regarding its proposed merger with Kroger.
Kroger announced plans last month to buy Albertsons for nearly $25 billion. Together, the two chains have revenue of more than $209 billion.
In Oregon, Albertsons owns Safeway, while Kroger owns Fred Meyer and QFC. The two supermarket giants account for nearly 200 grocery stores across the state.
The sale is sure to raise anti-competitive concerns, but it remains unclear what steps Oregon’s top lawyer might take in a region where the two chains overlap heavily.
In response to questions, Rosenblum’s office said the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons “has the potential for a significant impact on Oregon consumers and must be thoroughly reviewed by state and federal antitrust enforcers.
“Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum strongly supports the efforts of the Washington Attorney General to protect customers in the Northwest and is considering her legal options with respect to the excessive shareholder dividend Albertson’s plans to distribute next week,” Rosenblum’s office said.
William Gary, a Eugene lawyer who served as deputy attorney general in the 1980s, said one possible reason why Oregon had stayed relatively quiet compared to Washington and California is because of the state’s limited resources, particularly in antitrust matters.
“It’s all a matter of marshaling resources,” Gary said. “In the past, the Department of Justice always had a modest general fund appropriation to fund antitrust enforcement activities, and it’s a very limited budget.”
Gov. Kate Brown’s office did not respond to questions about the merger, nor did two of the three candidates to replace her.
The third, Democratic nominee Tina Kotek, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the “lack of competition will only make things worse.”
“Plus, this merger will likely increase food deserts in low income and rural communities,” Kotek said. “This is a big reason why I have concerns about this merger — we need to make sure that Oregonians are at the center of this conversation, not the financial interests of big corporate executives.”
On Monday, House Speaker Dan Rayfield, D-Corvallis, on Monday said on Twitter that he had “a lot of concerns about this potential merger and its impact on low-income Oregonians,” adding that the merger could create more food deserts at the hands of company executives.
Sen. Ron Wyden said he’s pressing Albertsons’ largest shareholder, the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, to delay the dividend payment, saying Cerberus was attempting to “loot” the company before its sale closes.
“I’ll keep watchdogging this merger proposal by ensuring all parties answer questions about how this deal could reduce options for consumers especially in rural Oregon, undercut grocery-store workers and raise prices at the checkout stand for food shoppers across our state,” Wyden said.
$1 Million Powerball(R) Ticket Sold in Oregon, as Jackpot Climbs to Estimated $1.5 Billion
Powerball jackpot dreams are still alive – and the road to a big win includes a player in Oregon with a $1 million dollar winning ticket. That ticket was sold in Portland on Wednesday. Two $50,000 tickets, also sold on Wednesday, were purchased in Portland and Troutdale.
The Powerball jackpot for Saturday’s drawing is now estimated at $1.5 billion should the winner choose the annuity option or $745.9 million cash. It’s the second largest Powerball jackpot in history. The largest prize won in Oregon was a $340 million jackpot in 2005.
Since Monday, when the Powerball jackpot reached $1 billion, the Oregon Lottery has sold over $6.77 million in tickets. Approximately a third of those sales will be returned to state beneficiaries to support economic development, education, veteran services and more.
The retailers who sell lottery tickets will also see added commissions from the boost in ticket sales. Additionally, if an Oregon retailer were to sell the winning jackpot ticket, they earn a $100,000 bonus.
Powerball is a multi-state jackpot operated by 44 states, plus the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The Oregon Lottery recommends that you always sign the back of your ticket to ensure you can claim any prize. In the event of winning a jackpot, players should consult with a trusted financial planner or similar professional to develop a plan for their winnings. Players also have a year to claim their prize.
Since the Oregon Lottery began selling tickets on April 25, 1985, it has earned nearly $15 billion for economic development, public education, outdoor school, state parks, veteran services, and watershed enhancements. For more information on the Oregon Lottery visit www.oregonlottery.org.
Oregon Voter Registration Program Hit Minor Software Glitch
Oregon’s pioneering motor voter program, in which residents who interact with the motor vehicle division are automatically registered to vote, hit a minor software speed bump, but the secretary of state said Monday it’s being resolved.
Secretary of State Shemia Fagan said the Oregon Elections Division on Friday discovered the software error, which for the past six years has failed to pre-register some 16- and 17-year-olds to vote.
“As a result, 7,767 eligible voters in Oregon … were not given the opportunity to become automatically registered voters for the 2022 election. The issue has impacted voters during the last three election cycles,” Fagan’s office said in a statement.
Fagan will direct Oregon’s 36 county clerks to issue ballots to affected voters — those who will be 18 or older on Nov. 8.
“Eligible voters not receiving their ballots in Oregon is unacceptable,” Fagan said. “As long as I am Oregon’s Secretary of State, I will do everything in my power to ensure that no eligible voters are disenfranchised.”
The Oregon Elections Division was alerted to the issue by a voter who didn’t receive a ballot. Fagan said her technical staff worked through the weekend to resolve the software error.
On Monday morning, there were almost 3 million registered voters in Oregon. A total of 414,000 ballots have already been returned, the secretary of state’s website said. Voters in Oregon receive ballots in the mail and can either mail them back or leave them in official drop boxes.
Make Your Vote Count
Election Day is fast approaching and sadly so is all of the misinformation. The county clerks throughout Oregon are seeing many forms of media that is incorrect and misleading voters regarding Oregon elections. This includes but is not limited to texts, emails, calls and social media posts. Some are even made to look like they are from a trusted source.
Be cautious, know your trusted source. If you hear or see anything from a source other than the County Clerk’s Office or the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office, please verify the information with your County Clerk’s Office. Do not be misled.
Turnout this year could be crucial to the results. Voters have key races to decide and several are highly competitive, including the three-way gubernatorial contest between Democrat Tina Kotek, Republican Christine Drazan and unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson. Three congressional races also could be tight, including for the 4th, 5th and 6th districts. Those results could influence the balance of power in the U.S. House.
Oregon voters are also deciding the makeup of the state’s next Legislature, which Democrats have dominated for years. “There are a lot of close races, and they could be won very narrowly,” said John Horvick, senior vice president and an elections expert at Portland-based DHM Research. “Every vote matters. And though that’s a cliche, it really is true.”
All Oregon Voters Should Have Their Ballots by Now – Warned of Disinformation and Lies about Voting
Now that November election ballots are blanketing the state, Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan is sending out the message that voting here continues to be fair and secure. She says that Oregon has a robust system for ensuring the integrity of elections, including regularly updating voter rolls and checking voter signatures to validate the vote.
“Every single signature is checked. Every one. Not just a sample, not just a statistical amount. Every single signature is checked to make sure that’s the person who actually did vote.”
Former president Donald Trump and his supporters are continuing to repeat lies and disinformation about widespread fraud in U.S. elections and specifically about the security of mail-in voting, which Fagan says is affecting the job of county-level election officials here in Oregon.
“Sadly it’s a conspiracy that’s believed by about one in five Oregon voters and that’s a significant amount of our population,” she said. “We know it’s safe and secure here in Oregon. But yes, those conspiracy theories definitely are wearing on our county elections officials.”
Earlier this week, the Siuslaw News reported on a conservative group called the “Florence Liberty Alliance, which put up a post on its Facebook page asking for volunteers for a “Ballot Box Watch Team.” Fagan’s office is encouraging Oregon voters to “know their rights” and urging anyone who feels someone is trying to intimidate them at the ballot box or elsewhere to report it to her office online, by calling 503-986-1518 or emailing elections.sos@sos.oregon.gov.
“Intimidation can include aggressive or harassing questions about whether someone is qualified to vote that are intended to interfere with the right to vote … questions about citizenship status, criminal record, residency or other personal information or questions about how you intend to vote.”
Fagan says she hopes that their education campaign “Voting in Oregon Feels Good,” will resonate with Oregonians and encourage voter turnout. Ballots in the November election must be turned in or postmarked by Nov. 8.
All registered voters in Oregon should have received their ballots in the mail by now. Those who have their ballots must be sure to get them turned in or postmarked by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8, in order to have their votes counted. Ballots put into any official ballot drop box by 8 p.m. that night will be counted.
Anyone who did not get a ballot or received a damaged ballot should contact their county’s elections office to get a new one right away. Find your county elections office
According to the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, if someone requests a new ballot, their old ballot will be canceled, to prevent any attempts at voting more than once.
Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan assures Oregonians our upcoming election next week will be safe and fair. She outlined the process they are going through to assure election credibility. It starts with accurate voter registration records.
Oregon works with Federal, State and county elections officials to keep the list up to date and accurate. With accurate voter registration records we know only eligible voters are sent a ballot. Next, they take steps to prevent fraudulent voting. Every ballot envelope gets a unique barcode matched to a voter, and every signature on every returned ballot is verified.
These and other measures ensure that voter fraud in Oregon is exceedingly rare. When it happens, we catch it and the votes don’t count. Finally, they conduct post-election audits to verify the accuracy of the results. That’s how we know the results of the election match the will of the voters.
You can find this information in an infographic on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and I encourage you to share it. Knowing these basic facts helps prevent people from falling for false information they may encounter online. Learn more at http://Oregonvotes.gov/Integrity
Voting in Oregon feels GOOD
It’s time to get #VoteReady: Just grab your ballot and a blue or black pen!
You don’t even need a stamp It’s not a test: you can vote on every candidate and measure, or leave some blank How you vote is private. Make a plan to vote! http://OregonVotes.gov#TrustedInfo2022
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