Articles by Andrew Selsky and Gene Johnson

PacifiCorp Could Owe Billions After Jury Verdict in Devastating Oregon Wildfires

A jury in Oregon this week found the electric utility PacifiCorp responsible for causing devastating fires during Labor Day weekend in 2020, ordering the company to pay tens of millions of dollars to 17 homeowners who sued and finding it …

Arkansas Tornado Survivors Recount Flying Debris, Destroyed Buildings

WYNNE, Ark. (AP) – With tornadoes hitting the Midwest and the South this weekend, some survivors said they emerged from their homes to find buildings ripped apart, vehicles tossed around like toys, shattered glass and felled trees. J.W. Spencer, 88, …

Oregon Closer to Magic Mushroom Medical Therapy

Oregon was taking a major step Friday in its pioneering of legalized psilocybin therapy with the graduation of the first students trained in accompanying patients tripping on psychedelic mushrooms, although a company’s bankruptcy has left another group on the same …

Pandemic Brought Surge in Illegal Street Racing Across U.S.

Jaye Sanford, a 52-year-old mother of two, was driving home in suburban Atlanta on Nov. 21 when a man in a Dodge Challenger muscle car who was allegedly street racing crashed into her head-on, killing her. She is one of …

Pandemic Brought Surge in Illegal Street Racing Across U.S.

Jaye Sanford, a 52-year-old mother of two, was driving home in suburban Atlanta on Nov. 21 when a man in a Dodge Challenger muscle car who was allegedly street racing crashed into her head-on, killing her. She is one of …

Big Tech Data Centers Generate Concern Over Scarce Western Water

Conflicts over water are as old as history itself, but the massive Google data centers on the edge of this Oregon town on the Columbia River represent an emerging 21st century concern. Now a critical part of modern computing, data …

Big Tech Data Centers Generate Concern Over Scarce Western Water

Conflicts over water are as old as history itself, but the massive Google data centers on the edge of this Oregon town on the Columbia River represent an emerging 21st century concern. Now a critical part of modern computing, data …

U.S. Western States Preparing for Summer Wildfire Season

Wearing soot-smudged, fire-resistant clothing and helmets, several wildland firefighters armed with hoes moved through a stand of ponderosa pines as flames tore through the underbrush. The firefighters weren’t there to extinguish the fire. They had started it. The prescribed burn, …

Officials Say Oregon Dam Could Fail in Large Earthquake

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined that a large earthquake, which is expected to occur again in the Pacific Northwest sooner or later, could cause the spillway gates of a dam in Oregon to buckle, resulting “in a …

Earthquake Early Warning System Launches in Oregon

People in Oregon will be better prepared for earthquakes – particularly important in the Pacific Northwest because experts say “the big one” is coming – as an early warning system launched Thursday, the 10th anniversary of a devastating quake and …