The latest news stories of interest in the Rogue Valley and around the state of Oregon from the digital home of Southern Oregon, Wynne Broadcasting’s RogueValleyMagazine.com
Monday, December 12, 2022
Rogue Valley Weather
Mt. Ashland Ski Area Is Officially Open
Mt. Ashland Ski Area is finally open for the season of snowboarding and skiing after experiencing a slight weather delay. And they’ve added a new attraction for people who want to learn how to ski or snowboard.
The new addition is called the magic carpet and can be located at the learning center. The brand-new magic carpet is used to teach people how to ski and snowboard. The learning center is open every day the resort is open.
There are also new rentals and a new general manager that will be leading the staff on the mountain soon.
“We got a new manager that will be joining us on the 21st of December, his name is Andrew Gast, we’re really excited to get him on the mountain to start this next chapter,” said Curt Burrill, the President of the Board of Directors for the nonprofit. “We got new snowboarding equipment in our rental fleet this year, and we got new kid skies.”
Shop Fire Destroys Everything Including Motorhome In Josephine County
Firefighters from multiple agencies responded to a motorhome fire early Friday morning on Applegate Road.
According to Rural Metro Fire, the motorhome was inside a newly constructed shop, and the fire had already spread to other vehicles.
Firefighters worked to contain the fire from damaging nearby structures. The items inside the shop were completely destroyed. Several trees nearby were also burned.
There were no reported injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
12.09.2022 Illinois Valley Fire District – Structure Fire
12/09/2022 Call time 1635 hours IVFD, AMR, and Rural Metro responded to the report of a fully involved garage in the 54XX block of Caves Hwy.
Arriving crews got a fast knockdown, and the fire was contained to the single building. There was extensive mop up and the scene will be monitored throughout the night. The fire is under investigation.
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office Toy Drive for Foster Kids
For the last three years, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) has partnered with “Foster The Love” to provide Christmas presents to children in foster care here in Jackson County. The toy drive collects and distributes hundreds of toys each year to the nearly 400 kids in care.
This year, there is a collection tree at the JCSO main office front lobby where you can donate gifts. Either take a tag from the tree, or simply drop off a gift at 5179 Crater Lake Highway and we’ll match it to a tag!
We hope you join us in our effort to collect hundreds of presents and put a smile on the face of a child in foster care this Christmas. Please do not wrap the gifts, but gift bags are greatly appreciated. The deadline to drop off gifts is Monday, December 19th.
Oregon Will Shift How It Measures Student Poverty Levels As Universal Free Lunch Takes Hold In Schools
The growing movement to provide free school lunches for all students — a concept that gained momentum during the pandemic — has left Oregon policymakers with a conundrum.
On the one hand, the idea has staying power, and support from powerful allies who say it can make a meaningful dent in food insecurity rates. In 2018-2019, about 25% of Oregon schools gave free meals to all students, regardless of their ability to pay. In the current school year, that’s jumped to more than 50%. More Oregon school districts have moved to make school lunch free for everyone, which has made it trickier to identify students living in poverty for data purposes.
But that change has also made it increasingly difficult both to pinpoint what percentage of students in a given district are living at the poverty level, and to precisely target the money and services intended to help them. That group of students typically has lower test scores than their peers, misses more school days and is less likely to graduate from high school.
“Universal access makes it so we have no picture of poverty,” said Scott Nine, an assistant superintendent in the Oregon Department of Education’s Office of Education Innovation and Improvement. “Every state in the country is grappling with this same issue.”
In the pre-pandemic era, eligibility for free and reduced lunch was the metric used to designate which students should be considered economically disadvantaged. The metric was already imperfect because not everyone who is eligible for free lunch signs up for it, especially at the high school level, when it can carry a social stigma. But if everyone is eligible for free school lunch, the imperfect metric becomes unusable.
On Thursday, the seven members of the state Board of Education voted to adopt a new definition, which will take effect in the 2023-2024 school year. From then on, students who are considered “economically disadvantaged” by the state will be those whose families received food stamps or other federal assistance during the school year, are in the foster care system, are houseless and/or are migrants.
4.0 Earthquake Shook Off the Coast of Oregon Sunday Morning
It was reported by the United States Geological Survey that at around 9:19 a.m. the earthquake shook along the Juan De Fuca plate.
A similar 4.5 earthquake was felt on Nov. 18 , off the coast of Coos Bay.
This tremor shook at a depth of 10 kilometers. No tsunami warnings have been issued. https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us6000j8mi/executive
Oregon Part Of $10-Billion Opioid Financial Settlements With CVS And Walgreens
Oregon Attorney General Rosenblum, along with other AG colleagues across the country, announced a national agreement totaling $10.7 billion with CVS and Walgreens for the pharmacies’ conduct in fueling the opioid epidemic.
Walgreens operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States, behind CVS. Under the agreements, CVS will pay $5 billion and Walgreens will pay $5.7 billion, totaling $10.7 billion. A certain number of states will need to sign onto the agreements for the full amount to be distributed.
“Pharmacies were a key link in the supply chain that contributed to the greatest drug-induced public health crisis in modern America. This may seem like a lot of money-and it is- but compared to the harm caused by America’s largest pharmacy chains, it barely scratches the surface,” said Rosenblum.
This now makes three settlements with a national pharmacy chain in the last month; A $3 billion settlement with Walmart was announced in November. In the Walmart settlement, all states have until the end of 2022 to join, which Oregon has recently done.
In addition, each of these agreements will need sign-on by Oregon’s counties and cities to maximize the amount of money the state will receive. Oregon stands to receive up to $173,150,000 over time as a result of the settlements with CVS ($65,430,000) Walgreens ($70,860,000) and Walmart ($36,860,000).
“Too many have died and too many families are broken by virtue of – plain and simple – corporate greed, and that includes pharmacies. Americans place their trust in their pharmacy, and certainly do not expect it to cause them harm,” added AG Rosenblum. “I appreciate that 100 percent of Oregon’s counties and cities signed onto our previous settlements with Johnson & Johnson and the three major opioid distributors. I hope they will sign onto these settlements, as well, in order to maximize how much Oregon can receive.”
In addition to the financial settlement, CVS and Walgreens have agreed to court-ordered injunctive relief that requires the pharmacies to monitor, report, and share data about suspicious activity related to opioid prescriptions. This court-ordered injunctive relief will help ensure a crisis like this does not happen again.
The terms of these agreements will now go to the states for their review. Each state will have until the end of 2022 to join, after which the Walmart, Walgreens, and CVS agreements will go to local governments around the country for sign-on during the first quarter of 2023. A sufficient percentage of states and local governments must join the settlements for them to go into effect.
Most of Walmart’s amount will be paid during the first year; CVS’s payments will be spread over 10 years; Walgreens’ payments will be spread over 15 years. If there is sufficient sign-on, payments will begin during the second half of 2023.
Additional information on the previous settlement with Johnson & Johnson and the three largest distributors of opioids is online at https://www.doj.state.or.us/oregon-department-of-justice/office-of-the-attorney-general/spotlight-opioid-abuse/.
Medical Examiner Says Body Of Woman Found In Portland Remains Unidentified
The Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office is asking for the public’s help identifying the body of a woman who died Nov. 28 in Portland.
The Medical Examiner describes the woman as white, between the ages of 20 and 40 years old. They say she also was about 5′4″ tall, weighing 139 pounds. She had medium to long brown hair with brown eyes.
The woman also had pierced ears, with scars on both forearms and the following tattoos:
- Right wrist: Faith Hope Love
- Left wrist: Amirah
- Right Shoulder: Black and red butterfly
Anyone with information about the woman is asked to call the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office at (503) 988-0055 and reference case number #MU-221128-812.
Recreational Ocean and Bay Crabbing Reopens From Cape Blanco to California Border
The Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has reopened all recreational crabbing from Cape Blanco to the California border.
A release said two consecutive tests show domoic acid levels are under the closure threshold.
However, all recreational crabbing from Cap Blanco to eight miles north of Winchester Bay remains closed with elevated domoic acid levels.
ODFW said recreational bay clam and mussel harvesting also remain open along the entire Oregon coast. Razor clamming is still closed coastwide.
ODA tests for shellfish toxins twice per month, as tides and weather permit. Reopening an area closed for biotoxins requires two consecutive tests with results below the closure limit.
The release said it is recommended that recreational crab harvesters always eviscerate crab before cooking. This includes removing and discarding the viscera, internal organs and gills.
For more information, call ODA’s shellfish biotoxin safety hotline at 800-448-2474. Contact ODFW for recreational license requirements, permits, rules and limits: https://www.dfw.state.or.us/
