Agriculture
*USDA deregulates second-generation Simplot Innate potato
*USDA considers rule that could boost onions
*Funding awarded for milkvetch research
*Inside Boise’s battle with the Japanese beetle
*UI to test new water filtration system on dairies
Business
*Companies reimagine the performance review
*More multilingual workers are needed
*Smart card transition catches businesses by surprise
*Oregon loses bid to attract Nike supplier that’s opening its 1st U.S. factory – Blog
*Daimler to pour $18M into pumped-up Madras facility
Economy
*Economic activity keeps grant dollars flowing to Hermiston airport
*A path to create good jobs again – Guest Opinion
*Economy turns out to be tough
*Leader of the pack: US economy powers to 3.7 percent growth rate in the second quarter
*US consumer spending post moderate rise in July; wages and salaries make big jump
*US factory orders edge up 0.4 percent in July as business investment shows strength
*Survey: US businesses hired at steady pace last month; solid gains in construction, factories
*US productivity advances at 3.3 percent rate in spring, best showing since late 2013
*Survey: Growth in US manufacturing slows again in August, slips to lowest level since May 2013
*US construction spending rises 0.7 percent in July; led by houses, factories and power plants
Education
*Tiny Oregon school reopening with five students after 10 years
*The loan boon for grad schools
*Why Students With Smallest Debts Have the Larger Problem
*Time to Fix the Fafsa – Opinion
*School Lunches Becoming Healthier, Statistics Indicate
*Schools and parents need to help kids sleep more, says the CDC. Here’s how
*Is more homework putting stress on families?
*Educators share lesson plans on making college free
Energy
*Multnomah ready to add $3M energy efficiency program, with much bigger things to come – Blog
*Renewable energy requirement creates jobs, Berkeley study says
*Era of super batteries will bring new problems
Environment
*Wetlands coming to Prineville
*Mount Hood’s shrinking Eliot Glacier shows obvious signs of changing climate
*Scientists, tribe study shrinking Washington state glacier
*NASA says dramatic sea-level rise is ‘locked in,’ West Coast could take hit in next 20 years
*The most wasteful thing to drink?
*23 wolves killed in Idaho’s latest wolf control action
*WDFW hires wolf consultant, who closes another meeting
*Fight To Save Sage Grouse Is A Fight To Save The West
Fire
*‘One Big Blur’
*Between day and night: The fire never stops
*Volunteers take stand between Canyon Creek wildfire and rural homes
*Incident meteorologist: Portland forecaster brings predicting skills to Canyon Creek fire
*Mapmakers: Unsung heroes in the battle against wildfires
*Drone tracks fire hot spots in successful Olympic forest test
*How We Fight Wildfires
Government
*Portland must set spending priorities – Opinion
*The question for public art: Is it essential? – Opinion
*Past time to deal with derelict houses – Opinion
*Airbnb should be encouraged, and regulated – Opinion
*What Americans need: An ‘idiot-proof’ retirement system – Guest Opinion
*Providing insights into overcoming disaster
*Companies are on the hook for contractors’ labor policies, NLRB says
*California equal pay bill may be toughest in nation
*Some States Take Aim at ‘Discriminatory’ Auto Insurance Pricing
Health
*Umatilla County considers incentives for failing health inspections
*States Pressed to Increase Efforts to Reduce Drownings
*How clean are your greens? Not very
*Gun Suicides Plummet in State After New Licensing Law, Skyrocket After Law Repealed in Other State
*Summer Is High Time for College Kids Trying Illegal Substances
*Why college students are now smoking more pot than cigarettes
*Study: Americans living longer, but also sicker
*Your heart is probably much older than you think, the CDC warns
*Concussions Can Occur in All Youth Sports – Blog
*When should you talk to your kids about alcohol? Before they turn 10, doctors say
*What about that second glass of wine? It may catch up with you as you age.
*How America’s love affair with caffeine has sparked a crisis of overdoses — and what the FDA is trying to do about it
*Generosity leads to healthier lives
*No vacation for half of Americans in past year
*The doctor is online: Remote video medical exams gain popularity
*Amputees decry Medicare payment overhaul for artificial feet
*California lawmakers act to raise smoking age to 21, restrict e-cigarettes
*How our healthcare system can be deadly to the elderly – Guest Opinion
Marijuana
*Could medical marijuana alleviate the state’s drug epidemic?
*California takes new approach to regulate pot farms water use
Oregon Culture
*Ashland gives PCT hikers a much-needed break
*In natural gifts, area looks good – Opinion
*Clackamas County’s Mt. Hood Territory wins two tourism awards
*Modest Northeast Portland home wins historic designation for civil rights role
*Rebranding Eastern Oregon
*Archeologists Return To Lake County’s Ancient Cave
*In Harney County, A Unique Oral History Collection Survives
Public Safety
*Jackson County Sheriff’s Office adopts sexual assault reporting program
*Less lethal weapons get renewed interest
*Rescue radio covers the coast
*Congress tries to get Smart on crime – Guest Opinion
*Gun Control Advocates Make Slow Progress—Just Not in Washington
*Why Utah Is The Only State Trying To Track And Limit SWAT-Style Tactics
*California Prisons Agree to Limit Solitary Confinement
*Fatal police shootings decline: 24 this year
*Many scientific studies can’t be replicated. That’s a problem.
*Why we fall for bogus psychological research – Guest Opinion
*Wikipedia sting snares hundreds of accounts used for paid editing
Transportation
*Portland drivers among the most collision-prone, report says
*States’ rules step into the back seat
*Google’s Driverless Cars Run Into Problem: Cars With Drivers
*America’s once magical – now mundane – love affair with cars
Veterans
*Record numbers of veterans are getting jobs in the government — but a lot of them quit – Blog
*Medical errors are up at VA hospitals, but they’re actually doing less to figure out why – Blog
Water
*City water holds up
*Unintended consequences of conserving water: leaky pipes, less revenue, bad odors
USDA deregulates second-generation Simplot Innate potato (Capital Press)
-USDA has deregulated a Russet Burbank potato from J.R. Simplot’s second-generation Innate line, which utilizes biotechnology.-
The first generation of Innate potatoes received USDA approval on Nov. 10, with initial sales planned for the chip and fresh-cut potato markets.
USDA considers rule that could boost onions (Ontario Argus Observer)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service is now taking comments on a rule that will reduce the market order assessments on onion handlers by half.
Funding awarded for milkvetch research (Klamath Herald & News)
Grant funding for research of Applegate’s milkvetch, a native endangered plant species, was recently awarded to an Oregon Institute of Technology researcher through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), according to a news release.
Inside Boise’s battle with the Japanese beetle (Capital Press)
-The state set traps and found more than 3,000 beetles in one summer.-
Paul Castrovillo first started chasing the Japanese beetle in third or fourth grade in the mid-1960s, catching and collecting them on rose bushes in his New Jersey backyard along with butterflies and whatever other bugs were around.
UI to test new water filtration system on dairies (Capital Press)
A University of Idaho professor who developed technology that removes pollutants from water and saves the nutrients for fertilizer will soon start testing on dairy lagoons.
Companies reimagine the performance review (Bend Bulletin)
It wasn’t quite the storming of the Bastille, but a fledgling revolution was unfolding this past spring inside the conference rooms of the palm-studded, fairway-lined Trump National Doral Miami.
More multilingual workers are needed (Bend Bulletin)
When Dawn Taylor, 37, a doctoral candidate at Pennsylvania State University, started her part-time translation business in February 2013, she earned $15,000 that year.
This year, because business is good, she expects to make $45,000 — for part-time work.
Taylor’s job helps prove what the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted in 2012 — jobs for translators will grow by 2022.
Smart card transition catches businesses by surprise (Bend Bulletin)
Liz Moore has lots to worry about as she juggles the many duties necessary to keep her popular downtown lunch counter, Bluebird Kitchen, running at a perfect simmer.
This fall, Moore has one more thing to add to her worry list: a looming deadline for accepting chip-enabled smart cards that has caught her and many other small-business owners unaware and unprepared.
Oregon loses bid to attract Nike supplier that’s opening its 1st U.S. factory – Blog (Portland Business Journal)
A fast-growing specialty textile company based in China plans to open its first U.S. manufacturing operation in the Cincinnati region.
The decision marks a loss for Oregon and California, which had also sought to attract the Legend Athletic Wear LLC factory.
Daimler to pour $18M into pumped-up Madras facility (Portland Business Journal)
Daimler Trucks North America will spend $18 million to upgrade its research and development facility in Madras.
The moves will bring 30-plus new jobs to the area, the company said.
Economic activity keeps grant dollars flowing to Hermiston airport (East Oregonian)
-The Hermiston Municipal Airport plays a valuable role in economic development.-
Commercial flights don’t grace the runway of the Hermiston Municipal Airport, but the hub provides a connection for many of the city’s big customers.
A path to create good jobs again – Guest Opinion (Portland Oregonian)
Academic economists don’t spend a lot of time thinking about how to restructure society in order to provide a good life for the majority of people. They usually restrict themselves to quantifiable data, mostly ignoring non-monetary payoffs such as self-respect, freedom and community.
Economy turns out to be tough (Bend Bulletin)
Not long ago, the United States was considered the tortoise of the world economy. Lately, however, slow but steady seems to be winning the race. The U.S. economy continues to chug along, while the one-time hares in Asia, South America and elsewhere are flagging.
Leader of the pack: US economy powers to 3.7 percent growth rate in the second quarter (Eugene Register-Guard)
The U.S. economy staged a far bigger rebound last quarter than first thought, outpacing the rest of the developed world and bolstering confidence that it will remain sturdy in coming months despite global headwinds.
US consumer spending post moderate rise in July; wages and salaries make big jump (Eugene Register-Guard)
U.S. consumers increased their spending moderately in July, as wages and salaries made their biggest jump in eight months.
Spending rose 0.3 percent in July, helped by purchases of big-ticket items such as cars, the Commerce Department reported Friday. June’s result was revised up to a matching 0.3 percent gain.
US factory orders edge up 0.4 percent in July as business investment shows strength (Eugene Register-Guard)
Orders to U.S. factories posted a modest gain in July, helped by the biggest rise in motor vehicles orders in a year and a solid gain in a category that tracks business investment plans.
Factory orders rose 0.4 percent in July, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. Orders had increased a much larger 2.2 percent in June.
Survey: US businesses hired at steady pace last month; solid gains in construction, factories. (Eugene Register-Guard)
U.S. businesses added jobs at a steady pace last month, with construction and manufacturing showing solid gains, a private survey found.
Payroll processor ADP said Wednesday that businesses added 190,000 jobs last month, up from 177,000 in July, but below a six-month high in June of 231,000.
US productivity advances at 3.3 percent rate in spring, best showing since late 2013 (Eugene Register-Guard)
U.S. productivity in the spring rose at the fastest pace since late 2013, while labor costs declined.
Worker productivity increased at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in the April-June quarter, the Labor Department reported Wednesday. That was a rebound from the first quarter when productivity had fallen at a 1.1 percent rate and a sizeable upward revision from the government’s first estimate of a 1.3 percent growth rate.
Survey: Growth in US manufacturing slows again in August, slips to lowest level since May 2013 (Eugene Register-Guard)
A strong dollar and China’s economic slowdown dragged growth at U.S. factories to the lowest level since May 2013.
The Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday that its manufacturing index slid to 51.1 last month from 52.7 in July. It was the second straight drop; economists had been expecting the index to rebound modestly in August. Anything above 50 signals growth.
US construction spending rises 0.7 percent in July; led by houses, factories and power plants (Eugene Register-Guard)
U.S. construction spending in July climbed to its highest level in more than seven years, boosted by an increase in the building of houses, factories and power plants.
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that construction spending rose 0.7 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.08 trillion, the highest level since May 2008. The report also revised up the June increase in construction spending to 0.7 percent from 0.1 percent previously.
Tiny Oregon school reopening with five students after 10 years (Eugene Register-Guard)
-The community of Brothers in Deschutes County welcomes the move-
From behind the counter at Brothers Stage Shop, Jerrie Hanna has watched crews come and go this summer preparing Brothers School to reopen in September after sitting empty for a decade. Hanna looks forward to kids coming to her store for snacks after school, to having some life across the street again in this town so tiny you can drive through it without realizing.
The loan boon for grad schools (Bend Bulletin)
Income inequality bedevils the United States, as does debt, of the public and private varieties. Under the circ*mstances, you’d think the federal government’s priorities would not include channeling billions of dollars in cheap credit for the benefit of highly paid lawyers who train more lawyers.
Yet that is essentially what happens each year through the student loan program known as Grad PLUS.
Why Students With Smallest Debts Have the Larger Problem (New York Times)
Politicians who complain about college costs frequently cite two numbers: one trillion and seven million. Student borrowers owe more than $1 trillion, and seven million borrowers are in default, according to the latest Department of Education data.
It’s natural for people listening to the politicians to connect the two facts with a causal arrow: More debt leads to more default. But the reality is surprising: Borrowers who owe the most are least likely to default.
Time to Fix the Fafsa – Opinion (New York Times)
Is Congress finally ready to pass legislation that would make it easier for harried parents and students to apply for federal financial aid?
Legislators and the Department of Education have been trying for years to radically simplify the standard form, known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or Fafsa. But every time they cut a few questions, they add a few more.
School Lunches Becoming Healthier, Statistics Indicate (New York Times)
The humble school lunch, that staple of most every American child’s diet, has become healthier.
That was the conclusion of a federal report released Thursday that showed that the nutritional profile of school meals in the United States had improved substantially since higher government standards went into effect in 2012.
Schools and parents need to help kids sleep more, says the CDC. Here’s how. (Washington Post)
The end of summer always brings a bit of melancholy to our house—all of us reluctant to give up sleeping late, days with relatively little structure, evening swims and lazy, late-night barbeques with family and friends.
But as fall approaches this year, there is one thing my 17-year-old and I are both looking forward to. For the first time in its nearly 70-year history, his Los Angeles school will begin at 8:30 a.m., a half hour later than it has in the past.
Is more homework putting stress on families? (Boston Globe)
For some families, the start of a new school year means a return to squabbles over homework. A recent study examining the link between homework and family stress suggests some possible reasons for the tension, and argues that the youngest kids are simply getting too much.
Educators share lesson plans on making college free (Seattle Times)
-A California nonprofit that is promoting the idea of making public colleges tuition-free brought its campaign to Seattle last week, showcasing several programs that offer students a chance to go to college for little or no money.-
President Obama wants to make community college tuition-free. The state of Tennessee has eliminated tuition at its community colleges for most Tennessee high-school graduates. And last month, the legislature in neighboring Oregon made community-college tuition low cost or free for its recent high-school graduates.
Multnomah ready to add $3M energy efficiency program, with much bigger things to come – Blog (Portland Business Journal)
Multnomah County’s commissioners are poring over a proposal that would help Portland-area building owners add more energy efficiency components.
The Commission will learn more about the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program at its Thursday meeting. The state-authorized program would help commercial property owners finance energy improvements through a $3 million pool generated by tax-increment financing.
Renewable energy requirement creates jobs, Berkeley study says (Los Angeles Times)
As lawmakers consider new measures to combat climate change, researchers at UC Berkeley released a study saying stronger renewable energy requirements would lead to new jobs..
California law requires the state to get 33% of its electricity from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, by 2020.
Era of super batteries will bring new problems (Christian Science Monitor)
The battery revolution will spur fundamental changes in society – and bring new problems.
Analysts expect that the traditional electric grid will continue to play a crucial role for decades to come. But in parts of Europe, decentralized power production is already undermining centralized generation, and the same could happen in the United States
Wetlands coming to Prineville (Bend Bulletin)
-Project will help treat wastewater, create trails, improve river-
In one fell swoop, the city of Prineville expects to expand its wastewater capacity, stabilize sewage rates, create a new public hiking trail system and improve the overall health of the Crooked River.
Mount Hood’s shrinking Eliot Glacier shows obvious signs of changing climate (Portland Oregonian)
Oregon’s largest glacier continues its recession, as evidenced by contrasting photos sent by Darryl Lloyd.
The Eliot Glacier on Mount Hood is about the same size as the Whitewater Glacier on Mount Jefferson and the Collier Glacier on the Middle Sister and North Sister, covering about 400 acres over a length of 1.5 mile
Scientists, tribe study shrinking Washington state glacier (Bend Bulletin)
Mauri Pelto digs his crampons into the steep icy slope on Mount Baker in Washington state and watches as streams of water cascade off the thick mass of bare, bluish ice. Every 20 yards, the water carves vertical channels in the face of the glacier as it rushes downstream.
What little snow from last winter is already gone, so ice is melting off the glacier at a rate of nearly three inches a day this summer, he said.
NASA says dramatic sea-level rise is ‘locked in,’ West Coast could take hit in next 20 years (Portland Oregonian)
The allure of beachfront property isn’t what it used to be, at least for NASA scientists.
Sea levels have been rising for decades, but new analysis of satellite data has concluded that the rise is accelerating much faster than researchers had previously estimated.
The most wasteful thing to drink? (Bend Bulletin)
Once an occasional indulgence, bottled water is quickly becoming America’s drink of choice.
The average person in the United States now consumes more than 35 gallons of bottled water per year, according to data from market research firm Beverage Marketing Corp. That’s about 270 bottles, and more than twice as many as people drank 15 years ago. And that number is only going to go up: By 2017, the average American is expected to drink almost 300 bottles annually.
23 wolves killed in Idaho’s latest wolf control action (La Grande Observer)
Idaho Fish and Game, in cooperation with the USDA Wildlife Services, has completed another wolf control action in northern Idaho’s Lolo elk zone near the Idaho/Montana border to improve poor elk survival in the area.
In February, Wildlife Services agents killed 23 wolves from a helicopter. The action is consistent with Idaho’s predation management plan for the Lolo elk zone, where predation is the major reason elk population numbers are considerably below management objectives.
WDFW hires wolf consultant, who closes another meeting (Capital Press)
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has hired a consultant to bring peace between parties at odds over how the state should manage wolves.
Fight To Save Sage Grouse Is A Fight To Save The West (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
The greater sage grouse is a peculiar and distinctly Western bird. It’s about the size of a chicken and about as adaptable as the dodo bird, which is to say it’s not very adaptable at all — at least not in a human-driven time scale.
In biological terms, the greater sage grouse is perfectly adapted for its habitat: the rolling hills of knee-high silver scrub that’s sometimes called the sagebrush sea.
‘One Big Blur’ (Baker City Herald)
-Stices Gulch Resident Recalls Evacuation Day-
As the Cornet fire advanced toward her Stices Gulch home on Aug. 12, Julie Jayo had no sense of how fast she was moving.
Between day and night: The fire never stops (Blue Mountain Eagle)
Shift change is a critical time for firefighters combating the Canyon Creek Complex fire.
It’s when vital information on fire behavior, trouble spots and weather conditions is transferred between day and night shifts.
Volunteers take stand between Canyon Creek wildfire and rural homes (Portland Oregonian)
When the fire siren sounded about dinnertime last week, 16-year-old Wyatt Williams was on the field at high school football practice.
He dashed to the fire hall and changed into firefighting gear. He was needed to help check the advance of the Canyon Creek fire.
Incident meteorologist: Portland forecaster brings predicting skills to Canyon Creek fire (Portland Oregonian)
When it comes to fighting wildfires, there are plenty of fire bosses, crew chiefs and supervisors. But everybody knows the weather is what’s really in charge.
Predicting weather conditions within the lines is one of the most vital tasks, fire officials say
Mapmakers: Unsung heroes in the battle against wildfires (Seattle Times)
-Mapmakers are often the first out of bed at a fire camp, gathering the information that will help set a day’s firefighting priorities.-
They are among the first to rise at fire camp, up before 5 a.m. And working in shifts, they continue past midnight, perhaps until 2 a.m.
Without them, crews battling expansive wildfires would be lost — literally.
Drone tracks fire hot spots in successful Olympic forest test Source
-Showing how unmanned vehicles can help fight wildfires, a drone built by Boeing subsidiary InSitu this past week provided real-time overhead video to officials battling the Paradise fire in Olympic National Park.-
Officials fighting a forest fire in Olympic National Park say they successfully used a drone last week to get overhead, infrared video to steer water-dropping helicopters to their target.
“They were watching a live feed and were able to direct helicopter bucket drops to heat,” said Brentwood Reid, fire-information officer for the Paradise fire.
How We Fight Wildfires (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
A wildfire can burn more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, that’s more than twice as hot as the surface of Venus. Its flames can reach more than 50 meters high.
Wildfires can get so big that they create their own weather systems, with hurricane force winds. On the ground, the average wildfire moves twice as fast as the average person can run.
Portland must set spending priorities – Opinion (Portland Oregonian)
Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who has his succinct moments, outdid himself on Tuesday during a Council work session. Brad Schmidt of The Oregonian/OregonLive reported that he told his colleagues: “We’re not very good at saying, ‘No.'”
The question for public art: Is it essential? – Opinion (Albany Democrat Herald)
The Albany City Council is considering whether it wants to scale back the portion of the city’s municipal code that requires 1 percent of construction costs for some public buildings to be spent on art.
Past time to deal with derelict houses – Opinion (Medford Mail Tribune)
Cities across the country are faced with difficult situations in dealing with vacant, derelict homes. While the obvious answer would seem to be to penalize the owner, it’s often not that simple. But there are actions officials can take to protect residents and neighborhoods from the very real threat posed by these homes
Airbnb should be encouraged, and regulated – Opinion (Boston Globe)
Airbnb is an example of the sharing economy at its most dynamic. In the seven years since it was founded in San Francisco, the online company has smartly connected two underserved audiences — travelers looking for cheaper alternatives to hotel rooms, and homeowners seeking to earn extra income by renting out space to visitors for short-term stays.
What Americans need: An ‘idiot-proof’ retirement system – Guest Opinion (Los Angeles Times)
Volatility in the stock market over the last couple of weeks has caused enormous unease among investors big and small. Tens of millions of people with much of their retirement money in the market are worried about seeing a sudden plunge in prices.
Providing insights into overcoming disaster (Boston Globe)
In late July 2005, Daniel Aldrich and his wife, Yael, moved to New Orleans with their two young sons so that Aldrich, a newly minted PhD in political science from Harvard, could take a job as an assistant professor at Tulane University. The couple rented a home, bought a car and furniture, and put an inflatable pool for the kids out back.
Companies are on the hook for contractors’ labor policies, NLRB says (Los Angeles Times)
A labor dispute at a Silicon Valley recycling center could dramatically change who corporate America counts as an employee.
The National Labor Relations Board ruled Thursday that companies using workers hired by another business — such as staffing agencies, contractors or even fast-food franchises — are still on the hook for labor violations and could be required to bargain with unions representing those employees.
California equal pay bill may be toughest in nation (Los Angeles Times)
California’s new Fair Pay Act, which awaits Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature, may be the nation’s most aggressive attempt yet to close the salary gap between men and women..
Supporters said the legislation, passed unanimously by the California Senate on Monday, closes loopholes that prevented enforcement of existing anti-discrimination law.
Some States Take Aim at ‘Discriminatory’ Auto Insurance Pricing (Stateline)
Be a safe driver. Don’t buy a flashy sports car. Pay the insurance premium on time.
These are maxims many drivers follow to keep their auto insurance costs in check. But they may not be enough for many low-income drivers, who consumer advocates say are routinely priced out of insurance coverage because they are judged not just by their driving records, but by their credit scores, occupation, education level or other factors.
Umatilla County considers incentives for failing health inspections (East Oregonian)
Restaurants, food carts and others on the verge of endangering the public in Umatilla and Morrow counties could end up paying more for health inspections.
States Pressed to Increase Efforts to Reduce Drownings (Stateline)
Accidental drowning is the second leading cause of death for U.S. children under age 5, after birth defects. For youngsters under 15, only traffic accidents are responsible for more deaths by injury. And while drowning rates have declined slightly since the turn of the century, African Americans continue to die from drowning at considerably higher rates than whites.
How clean are your greens? Not very (Boston Globe)
Sharon Walker remembers her grandmother standing at the sink and demonstrating how to rub one’s thumbs along the stems and leaves of spinach to cast off any dirt or germs.
Today, there’s a booming business in spinach that is pre-washed or even “triple-washed,” according to the packaging. But how clean does that actually make it?
Gun Suicides Plummet in State After New Licensing Law, Skyrocket After Law Repealed in Other State (Slate.com)
More stringent gun laws can save lives, while less stringent ones can lead to more deaths. That is the implication of a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins, who found that gun suicides plummeted after a law in Connecticut requiring background checks for handgun purchases was passed. Gun suicides in Missouri, meanwhile, spiked after a similar law was repealed there.
Summer Is High Time for College Kids Trying Illegal Substances (US News & World Report)
Many American college students start experimenting with booze or drugs over the summer, but winter is the peak time for them to begin illegal use of prescription medicines, according to a U.S. government study.
Why college students are now smoking more pot than cigarettes(Washington Post)
Daily marijuana use among U.S. college students is rising, and, for the first time since data has been collected, their use of pot has surpassed cigarette smoking, according to a new national survey.
In 2014, 5.9 percent of of college students were smoking marijuana daily or near-daily. That compares with 3.5 percent in 2007.
Study: Americans living longer, but also sicker (Salem Statesman Journal)
The U.S. has made headway in delaying death, but it’s falling behind in preventing ailments, a recent study has found.
Americans’ life expectancy, as with other people around the world, is rising, but people are living more years with illness and disability, according to a study from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Your heart is probably much older than you think, the CDC warns (Los Angeles Times)
You may feel young at heart, but with apologies to Frank Sinatra, that’s probably a fairy tale. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the average American man has a heart that’s 7.8 years “older” than his chronological age; for women, the comparable “heart age” is 5.4 years higher than her calendar age.
Concussions Can Occur in All Youth Sports – Blog (New York Times)
Recent attention to long-term brain damage linked to multiple concussions among professional football players has prompted a much closer look at how children and adolescents who participate in sports can be protected from similar consequences.
When should you talk to your kids about alcohol? Before they turn 10, doctors say (Washington Post)
Having the “booze talk” with kids before they take their first sip of alcohol is crucial, according to a report released Monday by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
That moment comes earlier than adults might expect, the group said, meaning pediatricians and parents alike should warn children by age 9 about the dangers associated with drinking.
What about that second glass of wine? It may catch up with you as you age. (Washington Post)
I typically have a second glass of wine when I’m out to dinner, either at a friend’s house or a restaurant. But as I get older, I may need to reconsider that practice.
That’s because as we age, our bodies react to alcohol differently. As a result, guidelines from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism are more restrictive for older people than those for younger adults.
*How America’s love affair with caffeine has sparked a crisis of overdoses — and what the FDA is trying to do about it (Washington Post)
There was a time when getting your daily dose of caffeine meant a simple cup of coffee or tea.
Poured into a ceramic mug, the steaming liquid tended to be enough to give most people that extra burst of energy to get out the door. Back then, you’d have to drink a heck of a lot — 81 cups of brewed coffee, or 317 cups of black tea, for the average 195-pound U.S. male — to reach a lethal dose.
Generosity leads to healthier lives (Bend Bulletin)
If there’s a magic pill for happiness and longevity, we may have found it.
Countless studies have found that generosity, both volunteering and charitable donations, benefits young and old physically and psychologically.
No vacation for half of Americans in past year (Seattle Times)
-Survey finds 56 percent of Americans haven’t taken a vacation in the last 12 months.-
If you haven’t taken a vacation in a year, you aren’t alone.
More than 135 million Americans, or 56 percent, say they haven’t taken a vacation in the last 12 months, compared to 126 million Americans, or 52 percent, who reported going without a vacation for a year in 2014, according to a telephone survey of 1,000 Americans.
The doctor is online: Remote video medical exams gain popularity (Los Angeles Times)
When Tom Essenpreis first signed up for his company’s Anthem Blue Cross health plan, he checked out its website and came across a service that enables him to visit with a doctor online 24 hours a day.
He downloaded it right away.
Amputees decry Medicare payment overhaul for artificial feet (Coos Bay world)
Famous people don’t often get involved with Medicare payment policy, but a Boston Marathon bombing survivor and a former U.S. senator who lost a leg in wartime service have joined an industry campaign to block new requirements for artificial legs and feet.
Medicare’s mounting cost for those items in the last 10 years — even as the number of amputees was declining — has prompted scrutiny from government investigators.
California lawmakers act to raise smoking age to 21, restrict e-cigarettes (Los Angeles Times)
The state Senate on Thursday approved six anti-tobacco bills, including measures that would raise the smoking age in California from 18 to 21 and bar electronic cigarettes from restaurants, movie theaters and other public places where smoking is banned.
How our healthcare system can be deadly to the elderly – Guest Opinion (Los Angeles Times)
The nation’s healthcare system is endangering the elderly. But few outside the geriatric medical community seem to notice.
Could medical marijuana alleviate the state’s drug epidemic? (Boston Globe)
Consider this counterintuitive fact: One reason overdose deaths in Massachusetts have shot up 50 percent in the past few years is that the crackdown on prescription opioids has worked extremely well.
It has become a lot harder for users to get those drugs but that doesn’t mean they all sought treatment or were suddenly freed of their addiction. Rather, the evidence suggests that many turned to heroin, which is even deadlier.
Here’s one approach that’s rarely discussed but seems to curb abuse of prescription opioids — without the risk of driving users to heroin: Increase access to medical marijuana.
California takes new approach to regulate pot farms water use (Capital Press)
-The new compliance efforts are an ambitious experiment in a state with an estimated 50,000 marijuana gardens spanning Central Valley foothills, the Sierra Nevada and the North Coast.-
Fish and Wildlife officers have recently joined local narcotics teams in inspecting pot farms that are allegedly draining a half million gallons of water a day from Northern California’s Eel River as part of a unique state effort to identify growers willing to work with authorities to monitor water use and environmental effects from marijuana cultivation.
Ashland gives PCT hikers a much-needed break (Ashland Daily Tidings)
-Number of resupply packages has doubled this year, postmaster says-
It’s not just the moviemakers of “Wild” but pretty much all Pacific Crest Trail hikers feel Ashland is the coolest place to chill, regenerate and get the best beer, coffee and chow.
In natural gifts, area looks good – Opinion (Klamath Herald & News)
Perhaps the reason we bring up tourism so often is because we believe we have a lot to work with in the local area and it’s fun to talk about.
Of course, there’s Crater Lake National Park as the capstone in Klamath County and just over the California line is the Lava Beds National Monument. There’s water to fish and swim in — even if it’s not nearly as much as we need — and some high mountain peaks, though we would sure like to see more snow on them.
Clackamas County’s Mt. Hood Territory wins two tourism awards (Portland Oregonian)
Clackamas County Tourism has won two awards for successful marketing and advertising initiatives: the county’s travel planner and a billboard campaign in Austin, Texas.
Modest Northeast Portland home wins historic designation for civil rights role (Portland Oregonian)
The dining room doubled as a bank. The basem*nt held assembly lines of activists and a mimeograph machine used to hand-crank thousands of letters.
There, letter by letter and meeting by meeting, Verdell and Otto Rutherford worked to end state-sanctioned discrimination against African Americans.
Rebranding Eastern Oregon (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
In Eastern Oregon, marketing facelifts seem to be all the rage.
Pendleton recently procured $10,000 to promote themselves as a haven for hipsters. Thirty miles away, Hermiston sidelined watermelon for a brand new logo — only to face swift community backlash.
Archeologists Return To Lake County’s Ancient Cave (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Archaeologists from the University of Oregon return this week to a cave where the oldest known footwear in the world was found.
The 10,000-year-old, bark-woven, sagebrush sandal was found at Fort Rock Cave in Lake County, Oregon. Luther Cressman, who’s known as the “Father of Oregon Archaeology,” found it back in 1938.
In Harney County, A Unique Oral History Collection Survives (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
Forty years ago, the Harney County Library began an ambitious project to record local stories. More than 500 cassette tape interviews chronicle the memories of local people. The recordings are an unusual resource for a small community in the desert. They came to be through a generous benefactress.
Jackson County Sheriff’s Office adopts sexual assault reporting program (Medford Mail Tribune)
-You Have Options aims to increase reporting by sexual assault victims-
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office is adopting a pioneering program that encourages victims to report sexual assault.
Sheriff Corey Falls, who took office in January, is instituting the program countywide. He previously worked as deputy chief for the Ashland Police Department, which developed the You Have Options program.
Less lethal weapons get renewed interest (Bend Bulletin)
Police in more than 20 North American cities are testing the latest in less-lethal alternatives to bullets — “blunt impact projectiles” that cause suspects excruciating pain but stop short of killing them. Or at least that’s the goal.
Police have long had what they considered “nonlethal” weapons at their disposal, including pepper spray, stun guns and beanbag projectiles. But even those weapons have caused deaths, leading to a search for “less lethal” alternatives.
Rescue radio covers the coast (Daily Astorian)
-The U.S. Coast Guard covers the coastline with its emergency radio system.-
On Dec. 29, 1997, 13-year-old Daniel Cornett radioed a mayday to the U.S. Coast Guard after the sailing vessel he was on with father Michael, older brother Michael Paul and cousin Bobby Lee Hurd struck a jetty near the entrance to the Charleston harbor and started breaking up.
Congress tries to get Smart on crime – Guest Opinion (Ashland Daily Tidings)
Congress is taking on criminal justice reform with zeal. There are approximately 94 bills pending in the House and Senate that deal specifically with sentencing reform. The newly reform-minded Congress is no surprise.
Gun Control Advocates Make Slow Progress—Just Not in Washington (New Republic)
The response to the fatal shootings of two journalists in Virginia feels depressingly familiar: the same calls from Democrats to ramp up gun control; the same calls from Republicans to blame mental illness; the same Onion article popping up on friends’ Facebook feeds: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.”
Why Utah Is The Only State Trying To Track And Limit SWAT-Style Tactics (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
The phrase police militarization conjures up an image of cops wrapped in Kevlar, barging into homes with semi-automatic weapons. But familiar as that image is, we don’t know how common it is. There are simply no good statistics on police tactical operations in America. The federal government doesn’t keep track, and neither do the states – with one exception: Utah.
California Prisons Agree to Limit Solitary Confinement (New York Times)
California has agreed to an overhaul of its use of solitary confinement in its prisons, including strict limits on the prolonged isolation of inmates, as part of a landmark legal settlement filed in federal court on Tuesday.
Fatal police shootings decline: 24 this year (KOIN)
-Criminologist says better police relations in community will decrease number of killings-
Two dozen police officers and sheriff’s deputies in the U.S. have been killed on the job as a result of gunfire this year.
Many scientific studies can’t be replicated. That’s a problem. (Washington Post)
Maverick researchers have long argued that much of what gets published in elite scientific journals is fundamentally squishy — that the results tell a great story but can’t be reproduced when the experiments are run a second time.
Why we fall for bogus psychological research – Guest Opinion (Bend Bulletin)
Almost three years ago, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman penned an open letter to researchers working on “social priming,” the study of how thoughts and environmental cues can change later, mostly unrelated behaviors.
Wikipedia sting snares hundreds of accounts used for paid editing (Washington Post)
One need not be a techie to understand how to use a sock puppet. Direction No. 1: Open sock. Direction No. 2: Insert hand. And that’s it — you have control.
But on Wikipedia, sock puppets have a very different — and very negative — connotation.
Portland drivers among the most collision-prone, report says (Portland Oregon)
Portlanders who have gone seven years between auto collisions: congratulations on beating the odds.
A new analysis from the insurance giant Allstate of claims filed with the company found Portlanders are involved in a collision on average every 6.9 years — about 45 percent more often than the national average of 10 years.
States’ rules step into the back seat (Bend Bulletin)
When self-driving cars begin zipping through Virginia this year, they won’t need any special registration, and the testers sitting behind the wheel won’t need a special license. In the eyes of the law, they’ll be regular cars.
Virginia is one of a handful of states seeking to attract the potentially lucrative business of developing self-driving cars.
Google’s Driverless Cars Run Into Problem: Cars With Drivers (New York Times)
Google, a leader in efforts to create driverless cars, has run into an odd safety conundrum: humans.
Last month, as one of Google’s self-driving cars approached a crosswalk, it did what it was supposed to do when it slowed to allow a pedestrian to cross, prompting its “safety driver” to apply the brakes. The pedestrian was fine, but not so much Google’s car, which was hit from behind by a human-driven sedan.
America’s once magical – now mundane – love affair with cars (Washington Post)
-Cruising Towards Oblivian-
Chuck Mecca plops his lawn chair down in the parking lot of the Chick-fil-A at the Dulles Town Crossing shopping center, smack behind his lipstick-red 1956 Ford F-100 pickup, primped and polished for its turn under the Friday night lights.
Record numbers of veterans are getting jobs in the government — but a lot of them quit – Blog (Washington Post)
The share of federal jobs going to veterans is at its highest level in five years, new data shows, with former service members comprising almost half of full-time hires in the last fiscal year.
One in three people in government is now a veteran, proof that the White House’s six-year push to give those who served in the military a leg up in the long hiring queue for federal jobs is working.
Medical errors are up at VA hospitals, but they’re actually doing less to figure out why – Blog (Washington Post)
A report out late Friday from the Government Accountability Office found that the number of investigations of adverse events — the formal term for medical errors —plunged 18 percent from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2014. The examinations shrank just as medical errors grew 7 percent over these years, a jump that roughly coincided with 14 percent growth in the number of veterans getting medical
care through VA’s system.
City water holds up (Baker City Herald)
The flow from Baker City’s watershed is holding up, and city residents are holding down their consumption.
After the watershed’s production plummeted during July from 4.5 million gallons per day (MGD) to 2.5 million, the volume has remained relatively steady at the lower level.
Unintended consequences of conserving water: leaky pipes, less revenue, bad odors (Los Angeles Times)
Under orders to slash water use amid a historic drought, cities and towns across the state saved about 75 billion gallons in July, eclipsing Gov. Jerry Brown’s once-daunting order for a 25% reduction..
But, in a paradox of conservation, water agencies say the unprecedented savings — 31% in July over July 2013 — are causing or compounding a slew of problems.
