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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 20, 2018)
A10 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2018 Smokey Bear may be coming soon to Oregon license plate Rare Washington state tornado strongest since 1986 Associated Press EUGENE — Smokey Bear might be coming to an Oregon license plate. The Register-Guard reported the Keep Ore- gon Green Association is selling vouchers for Ore- gonians who would like Smokey to be a fi xture on their vehicle. The Salem-based non- profi t organization, which is focused on education to reduce the number of human-caused wildfi res, must sell 3,000 vouchers By LISA BAUMANN Associated Press SEATTLE — An extremely rare tornado that touched down west of Seat- tle was the strongest to hit Washington state since 1986, the National Weather Service said Wednesday. A weather service storm team surveyed the damage just south of Port Orchard, Washington, and rated the twister an Ef2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale with top wind speeds of up to 130 mph. The scale rates an Ef2 as “signifi cant.” In fi ve minutes Tues- day afternoon, the twister’s 1.4 mile-path tore roofs off homes, shattered windows and toppled large fi r trees, but no injuries have been reported. John Mueller’s home was among those most severely damaged. He told KOMO-TV that he was at work at a shipyard when he recognized his home in a video of the tornado on social media. “If I could describe the house, it would be roofl ess,” Mueller said. “The entire AP Photo/Ted S. Warren A worker clears debris at Salmonberry Dry Storage on Wednesday in Port Orchard, Wash., where a tornado touched down Tuesday. upstairs is gone. There’s 2x4 and 4x4s sticking out of the walls. Glass shattered every- where. The downstairs is just full of water and broken glass ... I think (the tornado) landed on top of the house.” Washington state aver- ages 2.5 tornadoes a year, but December tornadoes average a minute fraction, the National Weather Ser- vice said. Most tornadoes in Washington are rated EF-0s that cause minor damage, weather service hydrologist Brent Bower said. The Kitsap County Sher- iff’s offi ce called the dam- age “catastrophic.” Dozens of structures were affected. Fire offi cials were trying to com- plete an initial damage assess- ment by Wednesday night. Deputy Scott Wilson said the twister caused “a lot of chaos.” “It’s traumatic, especially as we approach the Christmas season,” Wilson said. Kitsap County Search and Rescue workers with trained dogs checked for people who may have been injured or stranded but found none. Other emergency crews still inspecting homes were fi nding gas leaks in damaged structures, the sheriff’s offi ce said Wednesday. Power had been restored by Wednesday to much of the affected area with the excep- tion of the most severely damaged homes, the sher- iff’s offi ce said. Some roads remained closed. Port Orchard is about 15 miles west of Seattle, across Puget Sound on the Kitsap Peninsula. Oregon Health Plan to end ration of costly hepatitis C cure Associated Press MEDFORD — The Ore- gon Health Authority is expecting to lift require- ments that led to rationing the use of a $1,000-per-pill drug that can cure hepatitis C. Most patients covered by the Oregon Health Plan had to have liver damage in order to qualify for the hepa- titis C cure, the Mail Tribune reported Wednesday. The state plans to lift that stipulation in March, allow- ing the treatment before before Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services will sell the plates. Cost for a voucher is $40. So far, Keep Oregon Green has sold more than 1,000 vouchers. Sales began earlier this week. Keep Oregon Green partnered with the U.S. Forest Service and the Ore- gon Department of For- estry to create the license plate, which features an image of Smokey’s head on the left side and deep green trees covering the rest. people sustain liver damage from the disease. About a quarter of the state’s population is covered by the Oregon Health Plan. The state authority has esti- mated that 95,000 Oregon residents have hepatitis C but about half don’t know it. New drugs released in 2013 and 2014 can cure most cases of the disease previously thought incur- able, but the price tag caused problems. Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences charged $84,000 for a 12-week treatment of Sovaldi, and it priced Harvoni at $94,500. Providing the drug to everyone with hepatitis C would have likely bank- rupted the Oregon Health Plan and led to unafford- able premiums, health offi - cials said. “It was a complete bank- breaker. There was no way individual insurance plans or governments could afford the pill where it was priced,” said Jennifer Lind, CEO of Jackson Care Connect, a provider of Oregon Health Plan coverage. The prices of the treat- ment are falling as more hepatitis C drugs and gener- ics hit the market. Gilead Sciences announced in Sep- tember that it will release a generic version of Har- voni in January, pricing it at $24,000. “As those prices have gone down, you’ve seen people getting more and more access to the drug,” said Josh Balloch, vice pres- ident of government affairs for AllCare Health, another provider of Oregon Health Plan coverage. Google, Facebook to pay $450K for Washington state violation Associated Press SEATTLE — Goo- gle and Facebook have agreed to pay $455,000 to settle allegations that they failed to keep proper records about who was paying for campaign ads on their sites, Washing- ton state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said. Google will pay $217,000 and Facebook will pay $238,000 in response to two lawsuits fi led in June that accused the tech fi rms of not obey- ing the state law on polit- ical-ad transparency, Fer- guson said. Facebook spokes- woman Beth Gautier said the company was pleased to resolve the matter. “We’re working hard to protect election integ- rity and prevent foreign interference. We believe all ads should be trans- parent on Facebook and aren’t waiting for legis- lation to authorize politi- cal advertisers and house these ads in a public archive,” Gautier said. Google said in a state- ment that the company complied with Washing- ton laws until June, when the state introduced new disclosure requirements. Google said it then paused accepting election adver- tising in the state because it was unable to follow the new rules. “We’ve rolled out sev- eral features this year to ensure transparency in U.S. federal elections and we are looking at ways to bring these tools to the state level as well,” the company said. As part of the set- tlements Google and Facebook denied liabil- ity and said they continue to deny they broke the law. The lawsuits came after the state’s Pub- lic Disclosure Commis- sion issued regulations related to a new law and passed an emergency rule that clarifi ed that digital ad companies like Goo- gle and Facebook are sub- ject to state law requiring them to maintain publicly available information about political ads, just like television stations and other media. Haystack Holidays CANNON BEACH Holiday Foods Around The World Celebration… Coming to you on: Wed, Dec. 26 th thru Sat Dec. 29 th , 2018 International Festival of foods from 6 different countries! Special menus for each night, you will want to dine out all week for this extravaganza! Wednesday, December 26 th Newman’s at 988 – France 988 S Hemlock St, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-1151 Thursday, December 27 th Happy Holidays from the Astoria Parks, Recreation and Community Foundation Locals get $10 off! Use your Zip code for the Discount code SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2019 Newman’s at 988 – France 988 S Hemlock St, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-1151 The Bistro – Spain 263 N Hemlock St, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-2661 Public Coast Brewing– Polynesian 264 E 3rd St, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-0285 Friday, December 28 th Public Coast Brewing– Polynesian 264 E 3rd St, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-0285 Seasons Cafè – Thailand 255 N Hemlock St, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-1159 The Wayfarer Restaurant – Thailand 1190 Pacific Drive, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-1108 Saturday, December 29 th Public Coast Brewing– Polynesian 264 E 3rd St, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-0285 Sweet Basil’s Cafè – Korean 271 N Hemlock St, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-1539 EVOO Cooking School – Mediterranean 188 S Hemlock St, Cannon Beach • Call (503) 436-8555 Call the restaurants or go to Cannon Beach Chamber website for menu details at www.cannonbeach.org/events/Main-Events/Holiday-Foods-Around-the-World-Haystack-Holidays The Bands FINAL Holiday Concert THE Trail Band December 26 th at the Coaster Theatre Doors open 6:30 pm Show at 7 pm #runontheriver Registration and prices at astoriaparksfoundation.com Tickets $39 Purchase online at: cannonbeach.org
