OPB’s First Look: Damaging winds could cause trouble Christmas Eve

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Good morning, Northwest.

A possible windstorm on Christmas Eve could continue the trend of extreme weather in Oregon and Southwest Washington.

OPB news editor Amanda Linares starts off today’s newsletter with the latest forecast.

In other news, Oregon’s first-in-the-nation retirement program OregonSaves is showing early signs of success. And Portland records its lowest number of traffic fatalities in years.

Here’s your First Look at Tuesday’s news.

—Bradley W. Parks

Oregon, Southwest Washington brace for a possible windstorm on Christmas Eve

A windstorm packing gusts of up to 70 mph could hit western Oregon and Southwest Washington on Christmas Eve, triggering power outages and downing trees, forecasters and electric utilities warned yesterday.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service are closely monitoring the windstorm as it moves up the coast, but say it’s still too early to predict exactly how strong those winds will be tomorrow.

People are urged to secure outdoor items like garbage bins or holiday decorations, and to prepare for power outages. High winds could also make driving dangerous. (Amanda Linares)

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3 things to know this morning

• Eight years after it began, Oregon’s retirement savings program has grown a lot and is showing signs of success. But many of the people using the program are taking money out long before retirement. (Kristian Foden-Vencil)
• Vancouver this weekend held its annual homeless persons memorial, honoring the 42 people who died while living outside in the city this year. (Erik Neumann)
• Oregon’s largest juvenile justice center is plagued with “cascading failures,” according to a Marion County grand jury report. It describes issues with contraband, high staff turnover, burnout, growing gang activity and more intense mental health needs of the youth in custody. (Lauren Dake)

Headlines from around the Northwest

• Central Oregon man to return to Deschutes County jail after court of appeals signs conviction reversal (Kathryn Styer Martinez)
• Portland traffic deaths on track to drop to lowest level in years, city says (Bryce Dole)
• Water service returns to federal prison in Sheridan (Troy Brynelson)
• Portland city council staff unionize (Alex Zielinski)
• Racial disparities persist with Washington state patrol traffic stops (Jake Goldstein-Street)
• No more federal income tax relief for wildfire survivors after Congress fails to extend exemption (Alex Baumhardt)
• Passersby, police rescue wayward sea lion pup Saturday from Highway 101 near Newport (Quinton Smith)
• Rick Steves steps in to save Seattle-area hygiene center serving homeless residents (Rebecca Rosman)
• Trail Blazers rally from 21-point deficit to take lead, but fall to Pistons 110-102 (Associated Press)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• Owyhee Canyonlands protection effort remains in limbo

OPB’s sixth year of holiday music cheer

The holidays are often a time of reflection, and this year we wanted to take you back to March 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic had only just begun, and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown issued a stay-at-home order requiring people to “remain in their places of residence to the maximum extent possible.”

At the time, no one knew how long it was going to last, and to fill what we thought could be a few weeks of downtime at home, OPB “All Things Considered” host Crystal Ligori started a short series that explored different genres of music from country to classical, local bands and more.

As the weeks turned into months, we found ourselves in December and figured we should wrap up the year with an exploration of Christmas music. And though a lot has changed since then, that tradition has not.

JT Griffith is creative director and founder of LIMINAL Music and the longtime Christmas music curator for OPB, KMHD and the Oregon Zoo’s Zoo Lights.

He joined Ligori for a sixth installment of holiday cheer. (Crystal Ligori)

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