Oregon Gov. Kate Brown will waive the one-week waiting period before newly laid off workers are eligible for jobless benefits. That’s a reversal of the state’s usual policy. The shift is expected to pump more than $100 million dollars in additional benefits to Oregonians who have lost their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic. The governor’s office said the change will apply retroactively to workers who have already filed for benefits.
The Oregon Health Authority has announced six more deaths from COVID-19, raising the state’s death toll to 64. The agency said Thursday that the number of cases increased by 73. That means currently there are more than 1,730 cases statewide.
The Oregonian reports today that workers at a Portland nursing home that reported 14 coronavirus deaths failed to wash their hands, did not use protective masks properly and were not trained on how to control the spread of infection. State health officials now say Healthcare at Foster Creek has the largest known cluster of coronavirus cases and deaths in Oregon, with 50 confirmed cases among residents and staff.
Oregon officials expect to receive $2.45 billion dollars from the federal CARES Act. More than half of the money will be split between the state, the city of Portland and Multnomah and Washington counties to pay for unbudgeted coronavirus response expenses through the rest of the year. The money is expected to arrive next week.
Portland police are investigating what led to the death of a 27-year-old man whose body was found in a tent along the east side of the Willamette River Kyle Brecheen was found Monday in a spot across the river from downtown Portland. Police say someone called 911 to report finding him. The state medical examiner is investigating.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has fined an Albany manufacturer of parts for the aerospace industry more than $70,000 dollars for citations related to its mishandling of hazardous waste materials. The Selmet company did not return an email seeking comment, according to The Albany Democrat-Herald. A state DEQ letter says Selmet was penalized for failing twice to determine if wastes generated at the titanium parts manufacturing facility were hazardous. Selmet was also cited but not fined for 12 violations of hazardous waste, used oil and universal waste management regulations.
The Trump administration on Thursday gutted an Obama-era rule that compelled coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury and other human health hazards. Administration officials say the move is intended to limit future regulation of air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants. The Associated Press reports US Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler says the rollback is reversing what he depicted as regulatory overreach by the Obama administration. QUOTE “We have put in place an honest accounting method that balances” the cost to utilities with public safety, he said. Wheeler is a former coal lobbyist whose previous clients have gotten many of the regulatory rollbacks they sought from the Trump administration.
And here in Portland, local residents are taping paper hearts to their mailboxes in support of postal workers after the Trump Administration announced this week the federal government would not bail out the postal service. US Portal officials have said the agency is in danger of going bankrupt because its most profitable mail services have been decimated due to the general business downturn caused by the coronavirus. That’s why letter fans are cutting homemade hearts out of scrap paper and taping them up to show support for the service.
- KBOO