Connect with us

Oregon

High wind watch issued for Oregon for Friday

Published

on

High wind watch issued for Oregon for Friday


On Thursday at 3:35 a.m. a high wind watch was issued by the National Weather Service valid for Friday between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. for Clatsop County Coast, Tillamook County Coast and Central Coast of Oregon.

The weather service describes, “South winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 60 mph possible for beaches and headlands.”

“Damaging winds could blow down trees and power lines. Travel could be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles,” explains the weather service.

Advertisement

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.



Source link

Oregon

Oregon among states suing Trump admin over changes to childhood vaccine recommendations

Published

on

Oregon among states suing Trump admin over changes to childhood vaccine recommendations


More than a dozen states, including Oregon, sued the Trump administration Tuesday over its rollback of vaccine recommendations for children, calling the move an illegal threat to public health.

The states argue that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put children’s lives at risk when it announced last month that it would stop recommending all children get immunized against the flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. Under the new guidance, which was met with criticism from medical experts, protections against those diseases are recommended only for certain groups deemed high risk or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.”

The new vaccine recommendations ignore long-standing medical guidance and will make states have to spend more to protect against outbreaks, the states, including Arizona and California, said.

“In Oregon, we’re already seeing the consequences of the federal government’s reckless actions and vaccine narrative,” said Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield in a news release. “Just last week, our state health officials declared a measles outbreak – with most confirmed cases linked to unvaccinated individuals. Preventable diseases are returning when we undermine public confidence in proven vaccines. We must trust science, trust doctors, and protect our children.”

Advertisement

Emily G. Hilliard, press secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services, blasted the complaint as a “publicity stunt dressed up as a lawsuit.”

The lawsuit escalates an ongoing battle between Democratic-led states and Republican President Donald Trump’s administration over the federal government’s changes to public health policy under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Trump administration has laid off thousands of workers at federal public health agencies, cut funding for scientific research and altered government guidance on fluoride and other topics.

Kennedy last year ousted every member of a vaccine advisory committee and replaced them with his own picks, which Tuesday’s complaint alleges was unlawful.

The lawsuit comes months after the Democratic governors of California, Washington state and Oregon launched an alliance to establish their own vaccine recommendations. The governors said the Trump administration was risking people’s health by politicizing the CDC.

States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren, though the CDC’s requirements typically influence state regulations.

Advertisement

KATU contributed Rayfield quote to this story.



Source link

Continue Reading

Oregon

2027 4-star CB Danny Lang schedules official visit to Oregon in June

Published

on

2027 4-star CB Danny Lang schedules official visit to Oregon in June


Cornerback was one one of the Oregon Ducks’ strongest positions during the 2025 season, with much of the standouts being true or redshirt freshman such as Brandon Finney Jr. and Na’eem Offord, among others. Two talented players as part of the 2026 class, four-stars Davon Benjamin and Azel Banag, will hope to keep the trend going this coming fall.

Currently, the Ducks don’t have a commit at the cornerback position in the 2027 class, with four-star edge Cameron Pritchett and three-star linebacker Sam Ngata representing the only two commits on the defensive side of the ball.

However, Dan Lanning and his staff are working hard to change that, as four-star cornerback Danny Lang has scheduled an official visit to Oregon on June 19.

Lang is the No. 12 cornerback and No. 100 player nationally, per 247 Sports Composite. He competes for Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, CA, where he’s the 11th-ranked player in the state. He also has official visits with Auburn (June 5), and USC (June 12), proceeding his visit to the Ducks.

Advertisement

Per 247 Sports, Rashad Wadood and Chris Hampton have been the main recruiters of Lang, who totaled 33 tackles, two interceptions and three forced fumbles in 11 games as a sophomore. Considering the all-around talent at Mater Dei, Lang contributing as an underclassmen shouldn’t be understated.

What also can’t be understated is the importance that Oregon reels in several talented cornerbacks as part of the 2027 class and continues their run of talented youngsters at the position.

Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Oregon

New Guardrails for AI Companions Could be Coming to Oregon

Published

on

New Guardrails for AI Companions Could be Coming to Oregon


Operators of artificial intelligence chatbots would have to refer suicidal users to a crisis hotline, and clearly tell users that they are talking to software—not a human—under a bill that has been moving through Salem in recent weeks.

“One of the most important features of this bill is, it tries to take a moment of crisis and turn it into a moment of intervention, of hope,” says Dwight Holton, the CEO of Lines for Life, a major operator of crisis hotlines in Oregon.

The proposal is part of a broader AI regulatory bill that looks to establish safety guardrails on an emerging technology. It comes as experts sound louder alarms about the way sycophantic chatbots and other AI companions manipulate users. Experts say the systems are, in many cases, designed to hook users and extract their monetizable personal data.

Under the bill, AI companions would face additional regulations when they interact with minors in particular. Research presented to lawmakers suggests that most adolescents use AI regularly, and experts say the technology’s risks go well beyond the now-familiar addictive perils of social media.

Advertisement

“Over the past decade, we learned how social media captured human attention,” the researcher Dr. Mandy McLean told lawmakers. “AI systems do something more fundamental. They engage the human attachment system.”

With little action at the federal level, Oregon is joining a coterie of states mulling guardrails for AI companions, Jai Jaisimha of the Transparency Coalition tells WW.

The Oregon bill has passed the Senate and now awaits a vote in the House. No testimony has been formally filed thus far against the legislation.

The bill—Senate Bill 1546—would, at its core, establish a set of new regulations for operators of AI companions.

In addition to requiring AI companions to identify themselves as such, it would require the technology to include an evidence-based protocol for detecting inputs indicating thoughts of self harm or suicide—and to direct applicable users to the national 988 suicide hotline or a youth line.

Advertisement

And where AI companion systems detect they are dealing with youth, they would be forbidden from generating statements that would lead a reasonable person to believe they are interacting with another person.

The bill has carveouts, including for software intended for customer support. But the “artificial intelligence companion” platforms it would regulate range from chatbots to certain hardware with an AI software component.

”Imagine for a moment if your five-year-old’s favorite character or teddy bear talked to them, knew their name and told them what to do,” Dr. Mitch Prinstein, the senior science advisor for the American Psychological Association, told an Oregon senate committee early this month.

After this presentation, Sen. Lisa Reynolds (D-Portland), who is sponsoring the bill, said, “Well, I think we’re all pretty much horrified here.”

Reynolds, a pediatrician, has also said that she sees the potential of AI—in the health care space, for example, but is seeking to manage the risks. Holton, who helped bring the issue to her attention, sees risks and rewards too.

Advertisement

Early this month, he told lawmakers, for example, that Lines for Life runs has been using AI in quality assurance and training, He said AI listens to calls and gives real time feedback. The technology can also roleplay for training purposes.

“I’ve done it, the conversations can go on for 10 minutes or 45 minutes or an hour, and you wouldn’t know you’re not talking to a real person,” Holton told lawmakers.

In fact, he said, youth in many cases assume when they contact Lines for Life that they are interacting with AI—even when they’re not.

“Regularly, every day, our youth line volunteers have to convince a person in crisis who has reached out to them that they are not AI,” he told lawmakers. “The majority of our contacts are electronic; they’re by text. And so the first thing that the youth who’s reaching out to us in crisis will ask is ‘How do I know you’re not AI?’ That’s not an easy question to answer, as it turns out.”

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office.

Advertisement

Support WW





Source link

Continue Reading

Trending