Officials declare a tree quarantine to prevent the spread of Emerald Ash Borers
Oregon officials are trying to slow the spread of a destructive tree beetle by quarantining certain types of trees in Washington County. The Capital Press reports that the temporary quarantine prohibits people from moving ash, olive and white fringe trees and tree material like firewood, mulch, and branches. That’s to prevent the spread of the emerald ash borer, a destructive insect native to Asia that burrows into tree bark, and ultimately causes the tree to die. The beetles were found in Forest Grove in June, where they burrowed into ash trees in a middle school parking lot. The discovery marked the first sighting on the West Coast. (George Plaven/Capital Press)
Portland to move forward with O’Bryant Square demolition
Portland is moving forward with the demolition — and ultimate revitalization — of downtown’s O’Bryant Square, including the park and the parking structure beneath it.
City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty recently signed off on an emergency procurement letter to move forward with demolition. Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesperson Hannah Schafer said the city closed the parking garage in 2018 because of structural issues.
“Once we closed down the parking garage became clear that we needed to do something with this block of space,” Schafer said. “It’s a really important block. You know, every block downtown is a value and we wanted to bring something back that would be useful to Portlanders and revitalize downtown.”
Demolition is expected to cost $4.5 million and to begin in early 2023. City leaders hope to complete the work by summer. Then the city will begin designing a new park for the property. (OPB Staff)
Former CEO of Vancouver-based CytoDyn indicted
A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted the former executives of the Vancouver-based biotech company CytoDyn, including the company’s former chief executive officer and the head of its regulatory agent.
The Columbian reports that the jury charged the two for alleged schemes to defraud investors. The indictment says they lied to investors about CytoDyn’s regulatory submissions to the FDA as a way to artificially inflate and maintain the price of the company’s stock. The company’s former CEO, Nader Pourhassan of Lake Oswego, was ousted in January after making misleading claims about an experimental drug treatment for COVID-19. In a statement, a CytoDyn spokesperson says the company no longer has ties to Pourhassan. (Sarah Wolf/The Columbian)
Pendleton hospital flooded with patients as respiratory illnesses surge
Like many hospitals across Oregon, St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton is short-handed with a surge of patients suffering respiratory infections.
“The emergency room is seeing double the usual amount of patients every day,” said Rhonda Kenny, a nurse at St. Anthony and the local labor representative for the Oregon Nursing Association.
St. Anthony was able to acquire funds from Oregon after declaring an internal disaster to bring on travel nurses to offset staffing shortages, but Kenny said she thinks it may be too late. “The problem is they’re already two weeks into this surge, and it is hard to find travel nurses right now,” she said. “The hospital is caught short. Our system is broken, not just St. Anthony Hospital. The system as a whole is broken.” (Dakota Castets-Didier/East Oregonian)
Oregon needs a lot more rain to emerge from a deep drought
While recent cold weather has helped build Oregon’s snowpack to well above normal, experts say much of the state’s deepening drought may continue unless the state starts seeing a lot more precipitation.
“Much of Oregon’s reservoir system has relatively little to no carryover going into this water year,” said Larry O’Neill, Oregon’s state climatologist.
About 60% of the state is in some form of drought, he said. If conditions remain dry, it could lead to water restrictions, especially for irrigation on farms in central Oregon. O’Neill said it’s still early in the rainy season, with time to make up the deficit, or trend drier. (Karen Richards/KLCC)
