Cheers: To fighting opioid overdoses. A bill signed Wednesday by President Trump will help provide needed resources to combat the opioid epidemic. Last year, officials say, 39 people in Clark County died from opioid overdose, part of more than 700 deaths statewide. The new law reauthorizes funding for the Cures Act, brings back funding for drug courts and includes a provision to hold drug manufacturers accountable for misleading or negligent practices.
The opioid crisis has received much attention because it touches every community in the country, and Trump last year declared a state of emergency regarding the situation. The legislation will provide funding for local organizations that offer assistance on the front lines of the battle, but critics say more needs to be done. It will cost a lot of money, but the opioid epidemic is a public-health issue; trying to address it now is more cost-effective than doing nothing and paying for the consequences.
Jeers: To risks at Hanford. Workers at Hanford Nuclear Reservation were ordered to go inside and stay there Friday when steam escaped from a radioactive tunnel being filled with cement. Thus far, there is no indication that the steam presents a danger, but it adds to a string of snafus at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear waste site.
The 1,700-foot-long tunnel includes 28 rail cars carrying nuclear waste and is being filled with cement as a safety precaution. A similar tunnel collapsed last year. The fact that rail cars containing radioactive waste have been allowed to sit there for years demonstrates the federal government’s lack of attention to Hanford, which is near the Columbia River. A spate of minor accidents has taken place in recent years, and we hope the federal government gets its act together before a disaster occurs.
Cheers: To a booming Clark County. Unemployment in the region was at 4.1 percent in September, a drop from 4.7 percent the previous year, according to the Washington Employment Security Department.
The construction industry has led the way in the strong employment numbers, and state regional economist Scott Bailey said the industry has little room for more growth — because of a lack of workers, not a lack of projects. As problems go, that is a good one to have.
Jeers: To threatening volcanoes. Well, we shouldn’t really jeer the volcanoes; they’re just doing what volcanoes do. But officials must take note of a new U.S. Geological Survey that lists Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier among the top three U.S. volcanoes in terms of threat. In fact, among 18 volcanoes listed as “very high threat,” 11 of them are in Washington, Oregon or California.
The 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption demonstrated the destructive power of a volcano blowing its top, but officials have been slow to deploy state-of-the-art monitoring devices on most volcanoes in the Cascade Range. “The USA is one of the most active countries in the world when it comes to volcanic activity,” said Janine Krippner of Concord University. Southwest Washington residents can attest to that fact.
Cheers: To catching the bad guys. A judge in Lewis County District Court threw off his robe and gave chase to two handcuffed inmates when they tried to escape his courtroom. Security video shows Judge R.W. Buzzard chasing the men down four flights of stairs before catching one as he was about to exit the courthouse in Chehalis. The other inmate was apprehended a few blocks away.
Both men have been charged with second-degree escape in addition to whatever other charges they were facing, and Sheriff Rob Snaza said, “These things don’t happen very often.” That seems like an understatement.
