Today's News from Oregon Watchdog.com

To save money on health care, Oregon Health Plan looks to trim hospital, emergency room visits

February 5 − A barefoot Joyce Jones, 30, creeps like an old woman into the living room of her grandmother's apartment, settles into an easy chair and talks to the person trying to keep her out of the hospital. "I was in the ER last night," Jones says weakly. "Had nausea. Abdominal pain." That's not what Becky Wilkinson wants to hear, but Jones is making progress. Since Wilkinson stepped in two months ago, Jones has been admitted to the hospital once and in the emergency room five times. Last year, Jones dragged into the ER 95 times and had 16 hospital stays. Total cost: Just under $250,000. Because Jones is on the Oregon Health Plan, federal and state government pays through Medicaid, a program for those with little or no income. Wilkinson works for CareOregon, a Portland managed care organization for Oregon Health Plan patients. She's among four outreach workers on its Community Care Team, a pilot project launched five months ago. The team focuses on the 25 percent of CareOregon adult patients who account for 83 percent of the spending last year -- $311 million.  Read more...

Five small South Willamette Valley wineries that are among region's best kept secrets

February 5 − From the largest mass-producing winery in Oregon to some of the smallest boutique, single-batch vineyards, the southern Willamette Valley around Eugene features a pouring of amazing, award-winning wines seeped in variety. Yet even with dozens of unique wineries to sample, it’s easy to get into a habit sticking with familiar favorites. Here are five local wineries that are among the Eugene area’s best kept secrets. Perhaps it’s time to liven up your sipping palate and venture into new wine territory!  Read more...

Laptops and Hip-Hop hang out with a violin

February 5 − You don’t usually hear much banjo during a club set of electronic dance music. And a producer-composer performing with his laptop usually isn’t flanked by a classical violinist playing sweet, long-lined melodies. But when Emancipator appeared on Thursday night at the Highline Ballroom, he shared the stage with the violinist Ilya Goldberg, as well as with laptops and other electronics. And two songs into his set, there was a banjo plinking away in an Appalachian-flavored tune, “Old Devil,” from Emancipator’s 2010 album, “Safe in the Steep Cliffs” (1320 Records). Emancipator (a k a Doug Appling), who is from Portland, Ore., wields the tools of hip-hop and electronica for music that turns inward. He has studied classical music, and in the home studio where he produces his tracks he plays many instruments himself (including banjo). While many attempts to merge classical melodicism with dance music sound awkward and gimmicky — slumming with last year’s beat or just trying to make something the kids will buy — Emancipator has found a balance. He knows when to luxuriate in a melody and when to move along. No part of his fusion is forced.  Read more...

Oregon beefing up bike tourism

February 5 − The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department and the Oregon Tourism Commission's Travel Oregon announced last week two new designated scenic bikeways, part of a push to fuse Oregon's biking culture with a green approach to tourism. The two new trails bring Oregon's total designed scenic bikeways to eight. They are: The Covered Bridges Scenic Bikeway in Cottage Grove, a 36-mile route taking in six covered bridges. The Twin Bridges Loop Scenic Bikeway in Bend's Drake Park, 36 miles of high-desert scenery. "We have really started to push bicycling more, even though it's always been possible," said Linea Gagliano, spokeswoman for Travel Oregon. "For us it's about being a good steward of the land which is one of our pillars."  Read more...

Vancouver's Mountain View High School beats 64 teams in nation's largest regional Science Bowl

February 5 − During the silent pauses between student answers and the moderator's reply at Saturday's Science Bowl, both teams leaned slightly forward, anticipating another point that could inch them toward the championship. Questions can be amazingly difficult, yet high school students seek out the challenge in numbers -- the western Oregon and Washington regional competition, sponsored by Bonneville Power Administration, is the largest in the country. BPA organizers turn teams away from the bowl, now in its 21st year, because it's held in limited space on the University of Portland campus. Sixty-four teams filled the hallways and green spaces around the college's main building on Saturday, but only 16 made it to the final round. First-place winner Mountain View High School, from Vancouver, treated the competition like atoms in a particle accelerator, smashing their way to a trip to nationals in Washington, D.C. Interlake High School, Bellevue, Wash., won second place and the Salmon Creek team, a group of home-schooled high schoolers from Vancouver and Woodland, Wash., won third place.  Read more...

Federal money allocated for eastern Oregon forest projects, to create more than 200 jobs

February 4 − Malheur Lumber Co. in John Day has come close to going under. Despite being perched on the edge of the Malheur National Forest, timber sale reductions have made it hard for the mill to operate on a steady basis. "We've had some close calls the last few years," timber manager Mike Billman says. "It's been tough." That's why announcement Thursday of a $48.4 million allocation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture was particularly welcome in the eastern Oregon community. "Awesome," as Billman describes it. The department, which includes the Forest Service, will provide money to two projects on the Malheur and Fremont-Winema national forests. The funding will help restore more than 422,000 acres of "dry side" forests and will retain or create more than 242 over 10 years.  Read more...

TriMet:  Transit patrols work

February 4 − Despite a recent rash of high-profile assaults involving MAX riders, bus drivers and passengers, crime reported on TriMet’s MAX lines is down dramatically – even with a growing transit system – according to statistics provided by the region’s mass transit agency. Back in 2005, 780 crimes were reported along the MAX system, dropping to a low of 413 crime reports in 2009. And that’s the same year the system grew with the additions of WES commuter rail and the Green Line, bringing the number of MAX and rail stations from 64 to 89, said Mary Fetsch, TriMet spokeswoman. Crime reports did increase to 471 the next year in 2010. But that 14 percent increase is much lower than the 39 percent increase in the number of MAX and rail stations added to the system. Residents along the MAX Blue Line, which runs from Hillsboro through Gresham, have historically blamed local crime on the light-rail line. They say the trains give criminals a quick means of escape and an easy way to swoop into other cities, commit crimes and make a clean get-away.  Read more...