NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Friday, September 21, 2018 Report: I-5 corridor best in U.S. for self-driving trucks SEATTLE (AP) — The most productive free- way corridor for self-driv- ing trucks in the United States appears to be Inter- state 5 through Washington and Oregon, according to a report released this week by the Kirkland-based INRIX data company. The Seattle Times reports that the runners-up are I-95 from Jacksonville to Miami, Florida; I-75 from Valdo- sta, Georgia, to Miami; I-70 from Utah to Kansas, and I-85 from northeast Geor- gia to Greensboro, North Carolina, where companies could reduce the cost to move freight once self-driv- ing vehicle technologies are ready. INRIX looked at four criteria to make the a time. Finally, high incident rates throughout I-5 can cause sudden slowdowns. Autonomous trucks may be more valuable in avoiding secondary crashes if they can “see farther ahead” and reduce speed sooner than human drivers, said INRIX spokesman Mark Burfeind. INRIX chose its crite- ria based on a future busi- ness model where an auton- omous truck powered by electric batteries or die- sel-hybrid motors would cross long highway miles and then be taken over by people who would pilot the rigs through crowded cit- ies to the final loading dock or port, said Avery Ash, INRIX’s autonomous vehi- cle director. rankings. First, I-5 carries a lot of freight. State counts show nearly 21,000 daily truck trips through Tacoma and 12,000 at Longview. Second, the highway is less congested than sev- eral other U.S. freeways on a 24-hour basis to operate trucks — despite INRIX’s own assertion this spring that Everett experiences the nation’s worst peak- time highway delays. Con- gestion eases throughout southern Washington and southern Oregon for inter- state trips. Third, the corridor is long — some 637 miles between Vancouver, B.C., and Yreka, Califor- nia, where a self-guided truck could roll for hours at Facebook growing its Prineville data center PRINEVILLE (AP) — Facebook announced it will build two more buildings at its data center outside the Central Oregon town of Prineville, growing it to the size of 66 football fields. The California social media company said Thurs- day it expects the expansion to come online in 2020. In a statement, Face- book said this new con- struction will bring its total Prineville footprint to more than 3.2 million square feet, representing an additional investment of $750 million. Prineville, whose cool high-desert evenings cool the servers, was the site of Facebook’s first data center, which opened in 2011. The expansion will make the Prineville data center the biggest, a spokeswoman said. The company also has them in Forest City, North Carolina; Lulea, Sweden; and Altoona, Iowa. Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY Partly sunny and pleasant Not as warm with a shower or two Sunny to partly cloudy Pleasant with plenty of sunshine Partly sunny and pleasant 81° 56° 71° 49° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 66° 43° 70° 42° 77° 51° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 76° 50° 82° 58° 71° 42° 74° 41° OREGON FORECAST 80° 47° ALMANAC Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Seattle Olympia 67/59 74/49 77/48 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 81/59 Lewiston 72/56 82/60 Astoria 68/54 Pullman Yakima 76/52 72/53 82/56 Portland Hermiston 77/58 The Dalles 82/58 Salem Corvallis 72/55 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 81/49 Eugene Bend 77/55 81/47 Ontario 82/49 Caldwell Burns 0.00" Trace 0.26" 5.15" 7.01" 6.38" WINDS (in mph) 82/48 81/35 Oregon Democrats blast Kavanaugh at rally By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press PORTLAND — Gov. Kate Brown joined Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and some Demo- cratic members of Oregon’s congressional delegation on Thursday to condemn U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and call for an independent investi- gation into decades-old alle- gations of sexual assault against him. At a rally and news con- ference at a Planned Par- enthood office in Portland, speakers — including U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici and Earl Blumenauer — told attendees that Kavanaugh’s successful nomination could also threaten a woman’s right to an abortion even in a liberal state like Oregon. Kavanaugh has been accused by Christine Bla- sey Ford, a California col- lege professor, of sexually assaulting Ford at a party in the 1980s in a Maryland suburb of Washington. Today Medford Sat. SW 4-8 NW 4-8 Boardman Pendleton 86/52 81/40 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018 WSW 7-14 W 6-12 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today 6:41 a.m. 6:55 p.m. 5:44 p.m. 2:59 a.m. Full Last New First Sep 24 Oct 2 Oct 8 Oct 16 NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 102° in Jasper, Ala. Low 16° in Bodie State Park, Calif. NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE Capital Bureau SALEM — The Sec- retary of State’s Office is requesting $779,797 in the next two-year budget for three auditors who will focus on Medicaid programs, state records show. The next two-year budget begins in mid-2019. The request comes after auditors initially raised questions in May 2017 about whether everyone enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan, the state’s Medicaid pro- gram, were eligible for the benefit. About 1 million Orego- nians are covered by OHP, which is jointly funded by the state and federal gov- ernments and covers low-in- come Oregonians and other qualifying groups. Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. -0s 0s showers t-storms 10s rain 20s flurries 30s snow 40s ice 50s 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group 60s cold front — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — Kavanaugh has denied the allegations. The press conference came at the same time that a Ford attorney told the Judi- ciary Committee that her cli- ent would testify next week to the Senate about her accu- sation against Kavanaugh if agreement can be reached to “terms that are fair and Secretary of State requesting money for Medicaid audit team SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls -10s AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus People hold signs of U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh at a ral- ly and news conference Thursday at a Planned Par- enthood office in Portland. which ensure her safety.” The message resurrected the possibility that the panel would hold a dramatic hear- ing at which both Ford and Kavanaugh could give their versions of what happened at the party when they were both high schoolers. The allegation has shaken Kavanaugh’s prospects for winning Senate confirma- tion to be a justice, which until Ford’s emergence last week had seemed all but certain. Wyden said the hearing was not enough and called for a formal investigation into Ford’s allegations. “There are credible and serious allegations against Brett Kavanaugh and there needs to be a credible and serious process, rather than something where you just ram this thing through and then say, ‘Gee, I guess we’re too busy, for example, to even listen to witnesses!’” he said. Both senators said they would not vote for Kavanaugh. PRECIPITATION John Day 83/47 73° 51° 77° 47° 93° (1967) 30° (1983) 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date Albany 76/56 0.00" 0.00" 0.32" 6.52" 12.28" 8.70" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. Pendleton 78/46 75/56 24 hours ending 3 p.m. Month to date Normal month to date Year to date Last year to date Normal year to date HERMISTON Enterprise 81/56 80/57 71° 50° 76° 48° 92° (1917) 31° (1912) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 73/55 Aberdeen 72/52 74/55 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 72/58 AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., speaks at a rally and news conference Thursday at a Planned Parenthood office in Portland urging voters to insist on an investigation into decades-old allegations of sexual assault against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh before moving forward. Backing Merkley are fellow Oregon Dem- ocrats, from right, Gov. Kate Brown, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, Rep. Earl Blumenauer and Sen. Ron Wyden. 70s 80s 90s 100s warm front stationary front 110s high lated issues. The proposed Medic- aid unit at the Secretary of State’s Office would audit eligibility determinations and “appropriateness of payments made on behalf of Medicaid clients,” said Deb Royal, Secretary of State Dennis Richardson’s chief of staff, in an email. The team would include an audit manager, lead audi- tor and a staff auditor that would complete one to two audits per year, depending on their scope, according to the budget request. “Because the program is both high risk and costly, we believe it warrants a dedi- cated audit team,” Royal wrote. Louisiana, New York and Massachusetts have full- time auditors dedicated to Medicaid, Royal said. Corrections The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818. low Subscriber services: For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings off cover price EZPay $14.50 41 percent 52 weeks $173.67 41 percent 26 weeks $91.86 38 percent 13 weeks $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday Circulation Manager: 541-966-0828 The Oregon Health Plan costs about $9 billion annually. In November, auditors from the Secretary of State’s Office found that the Ore- gon Health Authority could strengthen its efforts to find and prevent improper pay- ments. Auditors said they found about 31,000 ques- tionable payments and fail- ure to do annual eligibility determinations in a timely fashion could have cost the state millions of dollars. OHA has some internal monitoring processes, such as the Office of Program Integrity, which oversees detection, prevention and recovery of improper Med- icaid payments. The agency also sends the Governor’s Office monthly updates on its prog- ress resolving Medicaid-re- ADVERTISING Regional Publisher and Revenue Director: Christopher Rush 541-278-2669 • crush@eomediagroup.com Advertising Services: Grace Bubar 541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Kimberly Macias 541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Angela Treadwell 541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Classified & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com Business Office Manager: Janna Heimgartner 541-966-0822 • jheimgartner@eastoregonian.com COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com