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
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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
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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-
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