May 22, 2020
T he C olumbia P ress
8
Pandemic: Help with food, rent
Continued from Page 4
rent payments will be made
directly to the landlord on
behalf of the tenant.
h elp With food
Oregonians receiving food
benefits will get additional
assistance in June as a way to
help with continued impacts
from the pandemic.
Oregon Department of Hu-
man Services began issuing
additional Supplemental Nu-
trition Assistance Program
benefits in April and May.
Individuals and families re-
ceive allotments based on
the number of eligible mem-
bers per household. The extra
money comes from U.S. Food
and Nutrition Services, which
provided an additional $30
million to help children and
adults in Oregon buy food.
A family of four typically re-
ceives a $346 monthly SNAP
allotment; the new assistance
provides a supplement of
$300.
Supplemental payments for
June will be issued on June
11 for current recipients and
June 30 for new recipients.
In addition, families with
students in the free meal pro-
gram at Oregon schools will
get some supplemental food
money.
Households will receive
food benefits equivalent to
the cost of one lunch and one
breakfast for each eligible
student – $5.70 per normal
school day for the months of
March, April, May and June.
The additional benefits will
be deposited automatically
A clown in the 2018 parade.
into their existing electron-
ic benefit transfer (EBT) ac-
counts for SNAP households
on their regular issuance date
beginning in June. Students
who get free meals but don’t
receive SNAP benefits will
automatically receive an Ore-
gon Trail Card in the mail in
the months of June and July.
t he econoMy
Public health measures
implemented in March to
combat the rapid spread of
COVID-19 are having an un-
precedented economic im-
pact on Oregon and the Unit-
ed States.
April provides the first full
month of data measuring the
initial impact on businesses
and the unemployed.
The unemployment rate
was at 14.2 percent with
266,600 jobs lost in the first
two months of the pandemic,
according to state Employ-
ment Department records
released this week. One out
of every eight jobs in Oregon
was lost or deferred.
“While these numbers
make for shocking historical
records, they cannot totally
capture the economic trauma
so many Oregonians are ex-
periencing,” said Anna John-
son, a state senior economic
analyst.
The state had been at a
near-record low of 3.5 per-
cent unemployed workers.
Election: County
Commission gets
two new members
Continued from Page 1
People want representa-
tives who are an extension of
themselves, she said.
“I really appreciate Kath-
leen and her service,” she
added. “As I’ve gone through
this process, I’ve come to re-
alize how much heart and
mind and time is dedicated to
the community through these
volunteer positions. I really
feel like we should honor and
respect that. She’s definite-
ly service-oriented and I’m
grateful for her service.”
Sullivan, who will serve
along with Nebeker until
January, congratulated her
opponent and vowed to help
with the transition “every
way I am able.”
She is the commission’s
chair and serves on the NW
Senior and Disability Ser-
vices board. She also was on
the committee that helped
get a 17-mile stretch of the
Nehalem River declared a
scenic waterway.
“I am honored to have
been given the opportunity
to serve,” Sullivan wrote in a
statement. “After my term as
county commissioner ends,
I will stay involved with the
many important issues chal-
lenging all of us. I love this
special part of the world. It is
my home.”
The Clatsop County Clerk
and Elections Department
had counted all ballots
from the May 19 election by
Wednesday morning.
More than 14,200 votes
were cast countywide – a 48
percent voter turnout – in-
cluding 13,108 votes cast in
the county fair tax levy, 2,974
votes in the District 2 race
and 2,716 in the District 4
race.
The only ballots not includ-
ed in the totals are 384 ballots
that have been challenged or
dropped off in other counties.