🚗 How long Portand's speed cameras will be off

Traffic Cameras Effective but Offline

The city’s cameras for ticketing drivers for speeding and running red lights have been off — and won't be fully back till November — as the city switches vendors. With the change, the city is planning to increase the number of cameras from 32 to 60. [OPB]

• Notable stat: The cameras have been effective. There’s been a “43% decline in car crashes where cameras were installed, compared to the years prior,” OPB reports.

COVID Shots Now Available

Adults and children over 7 years of age can now get a COVID shot in Oregon without a prescription. (Kids can get the vaccine from their primary care provider.) Last week, the Oregon Board of Pharmacy issued an emergency order to allow pharmacists to proceed, even without the federal recommendations in place. The Oregon Health Plan (along with some other health insurers) is required to cover the full cost of the vaccine. [Oregonian]

• Notable stat: In 2024, even before the federal regulators confused the matter, only 20% of Oregonians received a COVID booster. [OPB]

A Funding Gap for Getting Schools Earthquake-Ready

Over the last 16 years, the state has awarded school districts just $650 million for seismic upgrades — compared with $465 million spent on retrofitting a single state building: the Capitol. There’s still significant need for funding the school projects, particularly in districts that haven’t passed school bonds (but also in Portland, where retrofitting every school could cost hundreds of millions). [Oregonian]