Oregon

No. 3 Washington rallies to beat No. 5 Oregon 34-31 and secure playoff spot

Published

1 year ago

December 2, 2023

No. 3 Washington rallies to beat No. 5 Oregon 34-31 and secure playoff spot

Las Vegas — Michael Penix Jr. passed for 319 yards and a touchdown, Dillon Johnson ran for 152 yards and two TDs and No. 3 Washington wrapped up a spot in the College Football Playoff, beating No. 5 Oregon 34-31 on Friday night in the Pac-12 Championship.

The game was likely the final Pac-12 Championship given 10 of the 12 teams will be playing in different conferences next season. Only Oregon State and Washington State will remain as they try to find a way to keep the tradition-rich conference together in some form.

Washington (13-0) was the last Pac-12 team to make the CFP — in the 2016 season.

The Huskies, who were 9 1/2-point underdogs, scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to take a 34-24 lead. Oregon (11-2) scored a late touchdown for the final score, but failed to recover the onside kick, ending the Ducks’ six-game winning streak.

Two Washington receivers had more than 100 yards — Jalen McMillan (nine receptions for 131 yards) and Biletnikoff finalist Rome Odunze (eight for 102) who was returning to his hometown.

Oregon’s Bo Nix, the favorite entering the game to win the Heisman Trophy according to FanDuel Sportsbook, passed for 239 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 69 yards.

If it was indeed the final title game for the conference, it was quite a way to go as Oregon and Washington again played a high-scoring game with big plays throughout. The Huskies won their regular-season meeting 36-33 in Seattle.

Washington took a 20-3 lead before the Ducks scored a touchdown with nine seconds left to get to within 10 points.

That score got Oregon going, converting two fourth downs on the opening drive of the second, including a 2-yard touchdown from Nix to tight end Terrance Ferguson to get within three points. The Ducks took the lead at 24-20 with 1:51 left in the third quarter on Jordan James’ 6-yard TD run.

The lead didn’t last long as Washington scored on its next drive to take the lead for good.

This is the second time both teams have been ranked in the top 10 when they have played each other. The other time was the first meeting this season.

Washington improved to 3-0 in the Pac-12 Championship; Oregon is 4-2.

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Oregon

No utility rate increases until wildfire lawsuits resolved, Oregon lawmakers propose

Published

8 minutes ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

No utility rate increases until wildfire lawsuits resolved, Oregon lawmakers propose

Three Oregon lawmakers say they plan to introduce a bill that would bar utilities from raising rates if they have unresolved wildfire lawsuits for three or more years, describing it as an effort to hold PacifiCorp accountable as the utility faces a series of lawsuits stemming from the deadly 2020 wildfires that ravaged the state.

Republican state Reps. Jami Cate, Virgle Osborne and Ed Diehl announced their proposal in a statement Monday, on the heels of an approved rate increase for PacifiCorp customers and a federal lawsuit against the electric power company.

The federal government sued PacifiCorp last week over the Archie Creek Fire, which ignited in Oregon’s Douglas County in September 2020 and burned more than 200 square miles, about half of which was federal land. The complaint accuses the company of negligence for failing to maintain its power lines to prevent wildfires. In its filing, the government says it brought the suit to recover “substantial costs and damages.”

A PacifiCorp spokesperson said in an emailed statement Monday that the company was working with the U.S. government to resolve the claims.

“It is unfortunate the U.S. government decided to file a lawsuit in federal district court, however PacifiCorp will continue to work with the U.S. government to find reasonable resolution of this matter,” the statement said.

The federal lawsuit was filed on the same day the Oregon Public Utility Commission approved a 9.8% rate increase for PacifiCorp’s residential customers next year. In its rate case filings, the company said its request to increase rates was partly due to higher costs stemming from wildfire risk and activity.

When the new rate takes effect in January, PacifiCorp rates will have increased nearly 50% since 2021, according to the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, which advocates on behalf of utility customers.

The three lawmakers said they will introduce their bill in the upcoming legislative session, which starts in January.

“The federal government is doing the right thing by filing this lawsuit, and we stand firmly behind it,” Osborne, who is set to be the future bill’s co-chief sponsor, said in a statement. “PacifiCorp needs to pay up and take responsibility for the destruction they’ve caused, and putting a stop to rate hikes is the best way to achieve it.”

PacifiCorp is poised to be on the hook for billions in damages in the series of lawsuits over Oregon’s 2020 fires.

The company has already reached two settlement agreements over the Archie Creek Fire, including one for $299 million with 463 plaintiffs impacted by the blaze and another for $250 million with 10 companies with commercial timber interests, according to its website.

In other litigation, an Oregon jury in June 2023 found it liable for negligently failing to cut power to its 600,000 customers despite warnings from top fire officials and determined it should have to pay punitive and other damages — a decision that applied to a class including the owners of up to 2,500 properties. Since then, other Oregon juries have ordered the company to pay tens of millions to other wildfire victims.

The wildfires that erupted across Oregon over Labor Day weekend in 2020 were among the worst natural disasters in state history, killing nine people and destroying thousands of homes.

— The Associated Press

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Oregon

North Central Oregon and Central Oregon under a wind advisory until Thursday morning

Published

9 hours ago

December 25, 2024

Press Room

North Central Oregon and Central Oregon under a wind advisory until Thursday morning

On Wednesday at 2:18 a.m. the National Weather Service issued a wind advisory valid from 10 p.m. until Thursday 10 a.m. for North Central Oregon and Central Oregon.

The weather service states, “South winds 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 45 mph expected.”

“Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result,” adds the weather service. “Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution.”

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.

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