Tag: Oregon

BUYING A HOUSE

Oregon wants to buy motels to house the homeless, including people displaced by wildfires, but applications slow to arrive

2 months ago
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Oregon lawmakers allocated $30 million this fall to turn hotels and motels in eight wildfire-impacted counties into unconventional apartment complexes for people whose homes were destroyed.



a person sitting on top of a dirt field: Seventeen families called the San Rogue Trailer Park in Medford home, before it burned in a wildfire this fall. Oregon lawmakers voted in October to allocate $30 million to the Oregon Community Foundation to distribute to nonprofits and local governments so they can purchase motels and hotels to serve as shelters for people displaced by wildfires. Beth Nakamura/Staff.

© Beth Nakamura | The Oregonian/OregonLive/oregonlive.com/TNS
Seventeen families called the San Rogue Trailer Park in Medford home, before it burned in a wildfire this fall. Oregon lawmakers voted in October to allocate $30 million to the Oregon Community Foundation to distribute to nonprofits and local governments so they can purchase motels and hotels to serve as shelters for people displaced by wildfires. Beth Nakamura/Staff.

But only 10 non-profits or government agencies applied for the money by the late November deadline. As a result, the foundation charged with distributing the money will continue to accept bids, its leaders decided.

State and foundation officials had anticipated that as many as 100 entities might request a grant, estimated to be, on average, roughly $3 million per

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HOMES

Oregon Tesla crash sends battery cells flying into homes

2 months ago
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A Tesla Model 3 crash on Tuesday night sent battery cells flying into nearby homes, which started at least one fire, Corvallis, Ore., police reported.

Corvallis Police Department

Corvallis Police Department

Dylan Milota, 21, was driving the car through a residential neighborhood at approximately 100 mph when it struck and knocked down a power pole and two trees, according to police.

Corvallis Police Department

Corvallis Police Department

The impact was so severe that the electric car’s battery pack ripped open and hundreds of the cylindrical cells inside escaped. The Tesla’s pack is comprised of about 3,000 to 4,400 of the cells, depending on the model.

(Corvallis Police Department)

Police said some of the cells landed in someone’s lap while they were in bed and ignited the bedding.

NHTSA EXPANDS INVESTIGATION INTO THIS TESLA SAFETY FEATURE’S FAILURE

Milota fled the scene with minor injuries, but was captured nearby and charged with driving under the influence of marijuana,

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HOMES

$1.7 Million Homes in Illinois, Massachusetts and Oregon

2 months ago
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Designed for a family named Carr, and later seamlessly expanded by a second owner (there have only been two), this house is in an area with three-acre zoning and backs onto a Glenview Park District nature preserve called the Grove. Still, it is only 15 minutes north of O’Hare International Airport. The drive southeast to the Chicago Loop is less than 40 minutes.

An example of Wright’s Usonian style — typically, single-level, L-shaped houses with modest footprints — the John O. Carr House was bought by Edward and Carol Busche in 1965. In the early 1980s, Mr. Busche, an architect, expanded the dining room and added a family room, master suite and basement area, matching the brick, mahogany, flagstone and distinctively perforated

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HOMES

COVID-19 surges in nursing homes in hard-hit states; Oregon

3 months ago
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WASHINGTON — Coronavirus cases are surging within nursing homes in states hard hit by the latest onslaught of COVID-19.

An analysis of federal data from 20 states for The Associated Press finds that new weekly cases among residents rose nearly four-fold from the end of May to late October, from 1,083 to 4,274. Resident deaths more than doubled, from 318 a week to 699, according to the study by University of Chicago health researchers Rebecca Gorges and Tamara Konetzka.

Equally concerning, weekly cases among nursing home staff in surge states more than quadrupled, from 855 the week ending May 31, to 4,050 the week ending Oct. 25. That rings alarms because infected staffers not yet showing symptoms are seen as the most likely way the virus gets into facilities. When those unwitting staffers test positive, they are sidelined from caring for residents, raising pressures on remaining staff.

The administration has

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HOMES

Oregon wildfires destroyed more than 4,000 homes. Here’s where.

3 months ago
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Here’s the tally of homes and other buildings destroyed by Oregon’s devastating September wildfires that killed nine people and burned more than 1 million acres.



Shimon Peres et al. standing on a rug in front of a building: French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on March 10, 2008. Shimon Peres arrived for a four-day state visit in France. Photo by Mousse/ABACAPRESS.COM

© Mousse/ABACA PRESS/MCT
French President Nicolas Sarkozy welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on March 10, 2008. Shimon Peres arrived for a four-day state visit in France. Photo by Mousse/ABACAPRESS.COM

An Oregon Office of Emergency Management dashboard shows that at least 4,009 homes were destroyed in eight counties, from 2,364 in Jackson County to 11 in Klamath County.



a person in a suit standing in front of a building: French President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) welcomes his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on March 10, 2008, on the first day of Peres's four-day state visit to France. Photo by Mousse/ABACAUSA.COM

© Mousse/ABACA PRESS/MCT
French President Nicolas Sarkozy (L) welcomes his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on March 10, 2008, on the first day of Peres’s four-day state visit to France. Photo by Mousse/ABACAUSA.COM

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state have awarded millions of dollars in aid and other initiatives to help fire victims.

Most of

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CONTRACTOR

Oregon Contractor Fined for Multiple Job Safety Violations

3 months ago
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Oregon OSHA has fined a general contractor in Roseburg more than $38,000 for multiple serious job safety violations, including repeatedly failing to follow the minimum requirements to protect workers from fall hazards that could reportedly kill them.

The division cited Mid Oregon Builders LLC following an inspection prompted by a confidential complaint. The inspection included an examination of work activity at residential construction sites in Sutherlin, Winston, and Roseburg; interviews of employees and a supervisor; and a review of the company’s recordkeeping practices.

In one alleged violation, the company failed to follow requirements to implement adequate fall protection systems where workers are exposed to falling six feet or more to a lower level. One example involved roofing work at a jobsite in Sutherlin, where the company reported left employees in danger of potentially falling at least 13 feet.

The failure to comply with Oregon OSHA’s six-foot trigger-height requirements was a

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HOMES

Coronavirus continues to pummel Oregon senior care homes as state mulls allowing more visitors

3 months ago
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The package Judy Cornell mailed to The Dalles contained gloves, two masks and a letter exhorting her 95-year-old mother to protect herself.

The coronavirus had started to spread in Flagstone Senior Living, and Cornell feared that her mother, who had dementia and lived in the memory care home, was in danger.

“Be careful,” Cornell wrote in the Sept. 29 letter. “Even if it means staying in your room for as long as it takes for you to stay safe.”

Rosalie Colbert never got to read it. She died Oct. 5 from COVID-19.

The outbreak that swept through Flagstone, infecting all 30 residents while killing Colbert and 11 others, shows just how susceptible care facilities remain to the coronavirus some eight months into the pandemic and even after scores of safeguards have been mandated by state regulators to protect residents.

A resurgence of cases in Oregon this fall, coupled with

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HOME VALUES

Here’s where Oregon home values are rising the fastest

3 months ago
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To ascertain its ratings, SmartAsset used three factors: Property tax rates, school ratings and average home value growth.

PORTLAND, Ore — With no sales tax, Oregon relies heavily on property taxes to fill its general fund coffers. Yet that rate, according to a national researcher, still sits below the national average.

So reports a new study from SmartAsset, a financial technology company that also provides research on an array of topics. The company revealed the good news for Oregon in an accompanying rankings of state counties by home values.

Overall, Oregon’s effective property tax rate in Oregon is 1.04 percent, below the U.S. average currently of 1.08 percent.

VIEW SLIDESHOW: The 10 Oregon counties where home values are rising the fastest

To ascertain its ratings of which counties where home values have risen the most, SmartAsset used three factors: Property tax rates, school ratings and average home value growth. It

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