📉 Why Oregon cigarette sales fell off a cliff

Measles Vaccine Rates Fall Here Too

Since 2018, the percentage of children vaccinated against measles has fallen in all but two of Oregon’s 36 counties. More troubling, nearly 37% of students attend a school where vaccine rates aren’t high enough to protect the community from the spread of the contagious virus. [Oregonian]

• Related: You can look up your local school. Kelly Elementary School and Portland Waldorf are among the local school communities that have a high mistrust of the vaccine. [Oregonian]

Slow Growth for Renewable Energy

Surprisingly, Oregon and Washington rank 47th and 50th in renewable energy growth. The bottleneck is the Bonneville Power Administration, which owns the transmission lines in the region and has approved only one of “the 469 large renewable projects that applied to connect to Bonneville’s grid since 2015.” OPB reports. [OPB]

A Precipitous Drop in Cigarette Sales

Public health advocates are celebrating that Oregonians are buying fewer cigarettes — half as many as in 2011. While smoking has been in decline, voters in 2020 also approved a 150% tax increase on cigarettes to discourage smoking. [Oregonian]