October 5th, 2021

What A Week   (9/27- 10/3)

Intro: (Cue intro music) 

Hey everyone, welcome back to What a week!, I’m your host, Olivia Lee, here to deliver your weekly dose of the news. Let’s get started!

In Local News: 

https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2021/09/downtown-portland-clean-safe-contract-renewed-for-5-years.htmlPortland city commissioners voted this past Wednesday to allow the Downtown and Old Town enhanced service district to continue to exist with a new five-year, $25 million Clean & Safe contract to provide extra security and trash removal within the district. The deal means the city will collect fees from downtown property owners to pay for armed and unarmed security guards, additional Portland Police Bureau officers, sidewalk cleaning, holiday lights, a staff position at the district attorney’s office, economic development, lobbying, and administration costs. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a statement that he believes the new contract is a step in the right direction, paving the way for continued conversation. Some changes made from the previous contract include new uniforms for security guards that will make them distinguishable from police officers, a 25% limit on the number of guards who can be armed, and a three-person mental health team that will join the guards. Additional transparency measures will also be required including increased reporting of Clean & Safe activities and spending to the city.

In-state news:

https://katu.com/news/local/decrease-in-oregon-covid-hospitalizations-promising-news-gov-brown-saysIt looks like COVID-19 hospitalizations are declining across Oregon, a trend Governor Kate Brown called "promising news" during a press conference discussing the virus this past Tuesday. As of this past Tuesday, there were 822 Oregonians in the hospital with COVID-19, which is 44 less than there were on Monday. That number is also down from a total of 944 one week ago (Sept. 21), and more than 1,100 were hospitalized a month ago. Health officials say there are 237 COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit, and there’s an 8% availability of open ICU beds statewide. The Oregon Health Authority reported 1,658 new confirmed and presumptive cases of the virus this past Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 326,191 since the pandemic began. As of Tuesday, 2,731,271 people have at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 2,501,554 have completed a vaccine series.

 

In National News:

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/03/1042846846/a-massive-oil-spill-in-the-pacific-ocean-has-reached-the-southern-california-coaMore than 120,000 gallons of oil that spilled into the Pacific Ocean has reached the Southern California coastline, closing parts of the beach as officials warn residents to stay away from the slick. Federal, state, and local agencies are still racing to determine the cause of the spill, which is at least 13 square miles in size. They are also working on developing ways to mitigate the spill’s ecological impact.  Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said in a statement on Saturday quote,  "The ramifications will extend further than the visible oil and odor that our residents are dealing with at the moment. The impact to the environment is irreversible. We must identify the cause of the spill, and for the greater good of our cities, beaches, and coastal ecological habitat we need to understand how to prevent these incidences moving forward” end quote. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, as of this past Saturday, the cause of the spill remains under investigation. 

In International News: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-58729781Australia's Daintree - the world's oldest tropical rainforest - has been returned to its Aboriginal owners in a historic deal. The Eastern Kuku Yalanji people will now manage the national park with Queensland's state government. The Daintree borders the Great Barrier Reef and is one of Australia's top tourism drawcards. It is famed for its ancient ecosystem and rugged, natural beauty which includes forest vistas, wild rivers, waterfalls, gorges, and white sandy beaches. The deal also includes other Queensland national parks including Cedar Bay (Ngalba Bulal), Black Mountain (Kalkajaka), and Hope Islands, a combined area of over 160,000 hectares.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58780258Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday night, that it reported a record number of incursions by Chinese warplanes into its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) for the second day in a row. The US Federal Aviation Administration defines an ADIZ as "a designated area of airspace over land or water within which a country requires the immediate and positive identification, location and air traffic control of aircraft in the interest of the country's national security." 

 The self-governing island said a total of 39 Chinese military aircraft entered the ADIZ on Saturday, one more than the 38 planes it spotted this past Friday. The 38 and 39 planes respectively are the highest number of incursions Taiwan has reported in a day since it began publicly reporting such activities last year. The incursions do not violate Taiwan's airspace, which extends 12 nautical miles from its coast but does pose a concern for the future of the already unstable diplomatic relations between China and Taiwan. 

The US state department responded to this in a statement saying quote, "The United States is very concerned by... China's provocative military activity near Taiwan, which is destabilizing, risks miscalculations and undermines regional peace and stability," end quote. 

 

Lastly let’s take a look into the world of sports:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/national-women-s-soccer-league-calls-upcoming-weekend-games-amid-n1280590This past Friday, the  National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) postponed all of its upcoming weekend matches and its commissioner resigned, following allegations of sexual misconduct against a former coach. North Carolina Courage Coach Paul Riley was fired Thursday after a report in The Athletic publication detailed allegations made by players on teams that Riley has coached since 2010. The news also comes after the players’ union