Murmurs: Journalists Will Be Allowed to Enter Wildfire Zones

JOURNALISTS WILL BE ALLOWED TO ENTER WILDFIRE ZONES: Oregon is bracing for another historic wildfire season, with 95% of the state abnormally dry and half of it in extreme drought, according to federal reports. Similar conditions left the state a tinderbox the past two summers. But one aspect of the state’s climate catastrophe will be different this year: You’ll be able to see images of it. On March 23, Gov. Kate Brown signed into law House Bill 4087, which requires officials to “grant credentialed or documented representatives of news media organizations access to scenes of wildfires or natural disasters on public lands that are otherwise closed to the public.” Previously, reporters and photographers were only allowed to visit the scenes of blazes under the escort of firefighters or other first responders. The bill, which had bipartisan sponsorship, was championed by the Oregon chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Rachel Alexander, chair of the chapter’s public records committee, says the new law will help journalists “provide some of those striking images that show people that fires are serious and underscore the need for evacuations.”

WYDEN DECLARES WAR ON CRYPTO BROS: U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has long had it out for Opportunity Zones—low-income areas that offer heaping tax cuts to wealthy investors if they put money in things that might bring economic activity to struggling communities. Ever since the zones were created in 2017, Wyden has questioned whether such zones help anyone but the rich. Wyden recently wrote letters to two cryptocurrency mining firms, asking for information about their operations to help him determine whether they are bringing anything to the zones beyond a lot of computer hardware and electrical wire. “I am…concerned by recent reports that companies involved in cryptocurrency mining may be seeking to avoid taxes without meaningfully benefitting distressed communities,” Wyden wrote to Redivider Blockchain Opportunity Zone Fund LLC, based in Dover, Del. The senator’s inquiry arrives as Carrick Flynn, a candidate for Oregon’s new congressional seat, is being bankrolled by a cryptocurrency billionaire.

JESSICA GOMEZ BETS ON HERSELF: Republican gubernatorial candidate Jessica Gomez, a Medford businesswoman, has loaned her campaign $300,000. That means she has more than $455,000 on hand for outreach and advertising in the weeks leading up to the May 17 primary. That’s more than at least two of her higher-profile opponents. Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam has raised more than $1 million but has only $279,000 on hand. Salem oncologist Dr. Bud Pierce has just over $100,000, but is expected to self-fund his campaign as he has in the past. Gomez did not respond to a request for comment.

OREGON FACES PUBLIC HEALTH NURSE SHORTAGE: Over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role public health officials play in Oregon. But a new report released this week says the state’s 32 county-based health agencies are facing a staffing crisis. The study found Oregon’s licensing system makes it difficult for nurses from other states to come here to work. An even bigger problem: Public agencies have to compete directly with private health care providers who can pay their employees much more. Starting pay for nurses, for example, is less than $30 an hour at public health agencies, a fraction of what they can make at hospitals. “Nurses can go to the hospital ICU and can make $100 per hour,” Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, Douglas County health officer, said in a statement. “When a public health department offers $27.30 an hour, they think we must have missed a digit.”

CITY REMOVES 50 CAMPS ALONG HIGHWAYS: Since Feb. 5, when Mayor Ted Wheeler enacted an emergency ban on camping along highways and the city’s most dangerous streets, city workers have swept 50 homeless camps. The mayor’s office provided a list of swept locations to WW on March 29. Many of the camps were along Interstates 5, 205 and 405, including on- and off-ramps, and most were located in North and Northeast Portland. A number of camps along Southeast Powell Boulevard were also swept (see the full list at wweek.com). Wheeler says the highway camping ban is intended to reduce the number of unhoused people being hit by cars. This past Sunday, a drunken driver on Highway 99E in Salem crashed into a homeless encampment on an adjacent grassy bank, killing four people.