Oregon Legislature repeals contested wildfire hazard map
The measure passed the state House with just one vote against Tuesday, after passing the state Senate unanimously in April. Republicans had called for the map's repeal throughout the legislative session and accused Democrats of stalling it. The bill now heads to Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek.
'Despite an incredibly frustrating political process, we appreciate the members who have chosen to do the right thing in repealing these maps," Republican House Minority Leader Christine Drazan said.
She added in her statement that the maps had created 'chaos' in rural areas.
An updated version of the state-developed maps released earlier this year created new rules for those living in the most fire-prone areas that also border wildlands such as forests or grasslands. The building and so-called defensible space provisions impacted 6% of the state's roughly 1.9 million tax lots, a reduction from an earlier version developed in 2022 but retracted after homeowners raised concerns that it would increase insurance premiums.
The building codes were set to require new construction in high hazard areas in the so-called wildland-urban interface to have fire-resistant features, and to apply to existing homes if certain upgrades were made.
The bill passed by the Legislature revokes those defensible space and building code requirements, instead directing state agencies to create model codes that local governments can choose to adopt.
The two maps showing wildfire hazard levels and the wildland-urban interface were released by the Oregon Department of Forestry and developed by Oregon State University scientists.
Under a state law passed in 2023, insurers cannot use a wildfire hazard map produced by a state agency to cancel or decline to renew a homeowner insurance policy, or to increase premiums. But many who opposed the maps said they were flawed and placed burdens on homeowners.
Experts who worked on the maps said they were an important step in identifying and protecting fire-prone areas as the state continues to contend with record-breaking wildfires. Oregon's wildfire season last year was a record in terms of cost and acres burned, and wind-fueled blazes over Labor Day weekend in 2020 killed nine people and destroyed thousands of homes.
California, Arizona and New Mexico have had wildfire hazard maps for years. Last year, lawmakers in Washington state ordered the creation of a statewide wildfire risk map, and in 2023, Colorado passed a law establishing a wildfire resiliency code board.
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The Guardian
11 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Tuesday briefing: What last night's meeting between Trump, Zelenskyy and Europe means for the war in Ukraine
Good morning. Last night, Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House flanked by a dream team of hastily assembled European heavyweights. Their aim: to coax Donald Trump out of pro-Russian positions he adopted after his Alaska meeting with Vladimir Putin last Friday. The meeting was a sign of both panic and resolve from Europe. The fact Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and more cleared their diaries at such short notice to fly to Washington is an indication of how alarmed they are by Trump's desire to move straight to a peace deal without a ceasefire – and his insistence that Zelenskyy give up Ukrainian territory. Progress was made on US security guarantees, and Trump and Zelenskyy have said they will both be holding face-to-face talks with Putin – although the Russian and Ukrainian leaders still appear worlds apart in their demands. Macron said he had 'serious doubts' about Putin's desire for peace. For this morning's newsletters, I had a chat with our senior international correspondent Luke Harding about the key points agreed in Washington last night, what it means for international diplomacy, and what is next for Ukraine. That's after the headlines. Tax | Rachel Reeves is considering replacing stamp duty with a new property tax that would apply to the sale of homes worth more than £500,000, the Guardian has been told. UK news | Exposure to pornography has increased since the introduction of UK rules to protect the public online, with children as young as six seeing it by accident, research by the children's commissioner for England has found. Conservatives | Leaked WhatsApp messages show Conservative MPs are worried that their party's 'piss-poor' messaging over asylum-seeker hotels is making the party look silly. 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It was probably also a reminder to Trump of Europe's combined importance as an economic giant compared with Russia's much smaller economy. The European delegation included leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, the European Union and Nato. By arriving as a group they avoided another debacle like Zelenskyy's February visit to the Oval Office, where Trump and JD Vance chastised him as not showing enough gratitude for American military aid. Here is video of that meeting in case you'd like to remind yourself of the horrific blow-up that Trump thought was 'great television'. 'The meeting with Zelenskyy and Trump was significantly better than their pretty awful encounter in February of this year,' says Luke Harding. 'I think Zelenskyy was well prepared this time: he expressed gratitude to Trump on many occasions, handed a letter from his wife to Melania the first lady.' There was a fair amount of 'sucking up to Donald Trump', says Luke, and of European leaders not trying to offend him. Key European demands are that all decisions must be made with Ukraine present, and that a ceasefire is a pre-condition before further peace talks. They were looking to understand what security guarantees the US is willing to offer in the event of a settlement. Overall, the atmosphere was good, says Luke. 'Zelenskyy was even funny on occasions. When Brian Glenn – the reporter who mocked him for not wearing a suit in February – asked a question, Zelenskyy pointed out that Glenn was still wearing the same suit and Zelenskyy had changed his. So overall, the atmosphere was OK.' Did they get through to Trump? Rather than concessions from Ukraine, the summit focused on arranging security guarantees in the event of a peace deal. Trump said the guarantees 'would be provided by the various European countries [in] coordination with the United States of America'. The Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, described the development as 'a breakthrough'. Membership of Nato is not on the table, but the US and European leaders are discussing 'Article 5 kind of security guarantees for Ukraine', Rutte said. 'What is important is that Trump said the US would play a role in providing security to Ukraine in the event of a settlement. You might consider that to be progress, but we don't know what it means,' says Luke. 'As ever with Trump there is a huge gap between what he says and what he does. 'I suspect at the end of the day the White House will not want to do very much, but at least this was something tangible. The Kremlin appears to be quite annoyed – that is modest progress for Ukraine, depending on what the US is prepared to commit.' Trump is still saying there is no need for a ceasefire – because he says he has stopped a number of wars without one. There appears to have been less movement on this issue. 'The European position was that a ceasefire must come before any trilateral talks – that is common sense when Ukrainians are being killed every day,' says Luke. How did the meetings go for Zelenskyy? Like Europe, Zelenskyy wants a ceasefire before any peace deal and is unwilling to make any territorial concessions. Kyiv wants Nato-like security guarantees sufficient to deter Russia from attacking again. As a reminder, Russia took Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014 and launched a full invasion in 2022, attacking four Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia. Ahead of the meeting, Trump had pushed Ukraine to give up Crimea and abandon its goal of joining Nato – both key demands made by Putin. But Zelenskyy stressed he had been able to present a clearer picture of the battle lines to Trump, whom he met in a one-on-one in the Oval Office. 'This was the best of our meetings,' Zelenskyy said, according to a statement put out by his office. 'I was able to show many things, even on the map, to all American colleagues regarding the situation on the battlefield.' Luke says: 'On the substantive issue – which is how to get a peace deal – he correctly and deftly dodged a question on whether Ukraine was ready to swap land in return for peace.' This is Trump's preferred peace plan after his meeting with Putin in Alaska over the weekend. Speaking to reporters after the Washington talks, Zelenskyy said 'we had a truly warm, good and substantial conversation'. The next steps in the negotiations turn back to Putin, and the Ukrainian president said he was ready for what would be their first face-to-face since Moscow's invasion nearly three and a half years ago. 'I confirmed – and all European leaders supported me – that we are ready for a bilateral meeting with Putin.' What did Trump get out of the meeting? Trump previously bragged on numerous occasions that he could settle Russia's war in Ukraine in a day, but on Monday he said repeatedly that it was far more complicated than he ever thought it would be. Trump previously favoured Kyiv's proposal for an immediate ceasefire to conduct deeper peace talks. However, he reversed course after the summit and indicated support for Russia's approach of negotiating a comprehensive deal while fighting continues (for a reminder of how bad things are on the ground in Ukraine, take a look at yesterday's newsletter). After the Washington talks, Trump said on social media that he called Putin and began the arrangements for a meeting between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine, at a location to be determined. 'This was a very good, early step for a war that has been going on for almost four years,' Trump said. 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In a new start after 60, Lerner explains she doesn't see herself that way. But a generation of 20-year-olds who find solace in her entries today may disagree. Poppy Noor, deputy editor, newsletters This is the remarkable (and shocking) story of Windrush victim George Lee who has come back to the UK after 28 years of exile in Poland. 'I'm past the stage where I can feel angry,' he says. His observations of how life has changed in London during that period are depressing – notably people looking more stressed with 'tiredness etched on their faces'. Phoebe Nesrine Malik's tender piece about the dogged reporting of journalists in Gaza sheds a light on a potential reason so many have been killed: their commitment, professionalism and talent causes a real legitimacy problem for the Israeli government. 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Give us your topline, Financial Times: 'Trump floats prospect of US security guarantee in bid to end Ukraine war'. Main story in the Metro is 'UK's 5,000 fake online pharmacies'. How far-right rhetoric on migration went mainstream Academic and author Dr Maya Goodfellow discusses how UK politicians have adopted far-right language on asylum and immigration. A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad A new report shows just how impactful a raft of groundbreaking welfare policies by former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador have been. Obrador's policies, which included a tripling of the minimum wage, and a system of cash transfers for vulnerable groups, made a measurable impact on the lives of millions of everyday Mexicans, according to a dispatch by reporter Oscar Lopez. When Obrador took office in 2018, there were nearly 52 million people living below the poverty line. Six years later, that number had dropped by 13.4 million, an unparalleled reduction of nearly 26%. There has never been a single six-year term in which poverty has been reduced or decreased so significantly,' said Viri Ríos, a public policy expert and director of Mexico Decoded. 'This is a watershed moment for the Mexican economy.' Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
The Guardian
41 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Four key takeaways from Trump's White House summit on Ukraine
Donald Trump has hosted leaders from across Europe as part of a flurry of diplomacy to find a path to peace in Ukraine. Coming just days after a disappointing summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the pressure was on to make headway in a years-long conflict that the US president once said he could solve in 24 hours. Below are some key points arising from the US president's range of bilateral and multilateral talks with the leaders of Ukraine, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Finland, the European Union and Nato. A bilateral meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin is something the Russian president has always resisted, urging for a list of preconditions to be met first, but the possibility may now be nearer than ever. Donald Trump said after the White House talks: 'I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelenskyy. After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself.' According to German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Putin told Trump in a call during Monday's White House meeting that he was ready to meet Zelenskyy 'within the next two weeks'. For his part, Zelenskyy reiterated on Monday that he was ready for talks with Putin. Both Merz and the Finnish president, Alexander Stubbs, offered some pointed language on the topic, saying in separate press conferences that it remained to be seen if the Russian president had the 'courage' to go ahead with the meeting. Stubbs said: 'Putin is rarely to be trusted.' So far, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has said only that Putin was open to the 'idea' of such direct talks. Although Trump poured cold water on the importance of a ceasefire, he did offer hope on US involvement in helping guarantee Ukraine's future security. After welcoming Zelenskyy to the White House, he said: 'When it comes to security, there's going to be a lot of help', even if European countries need to be 'a first line of defence'. Later, Trump said in a post that these guarantees would be 'coordinated' with the US. On Monday morning, Zelenskyy described security guarantees as 'a key issue, a starting point towards ending the war' and appreciated Trump's indication that the US was ready to be part of that guarantee. Zelenskyy said those guarantees would be 'formalised in some way in the next week or 10 days', which can prove to be a long time when it comes to diplomacy involving Trump's White House. The US president's desire for a Nobel peace prize is well known – who can forget the 'Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity' established as part of a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan this month – and it seemed clearly in his mind during his Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy. The 'peacemaker-in-chief' said he had ended six wars since he became president, with his administration claiming to have helped settle the conflicts between Israel and Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Cambodia and Thailand, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia. But, as Andrew Roth explains, it is a claim that stretches the realities on the ground. Trump's approach to foreign crises is peppered with efforts to find a way to establish economic opportunity for US industry, and Ukraine may be no different if a deal is finalised. Zelenskyy has, after all, previously had to negotiate the US president's desire for Ukraine's critical minerals as part of his rivalry with China. On Monday, Zelenskyy indicated the price of obtaining security guarantees from the US included a pledge to buy $90bn of US weapons, primarily aircraft and air defence systems. He added that the US would also buy into Ukraine's drone program, an area in which it has made significant strides since Russia's full-scale invasion began. Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the drone deal was worth $50bn.
Reuters
41 minutes ago
- Reuters
South Korea's Lee meets business leaders to discuss summit with Trump
SEOUL, Aug 19 (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met on Tuesday the leaders of some of the country's biggest conglomerates who will accompany Lee to Washington for his summit next week with U.S. President Donald Trump, Lee's office said. Lee and Trump will hold their first summit meeting on August 25 to discuss strengthening the countries' alliance and economic security partnership, including advancing a partnership in the manufacturing sector based on a tariff deal reached last month, Lee's office said previously. Trump said last month the U.S. would charge a 15% tariff on South Korean imports as part of a deal to avoid even higher levies, while Seoul would invest $350 billion in his country. Uncertainties remain, however, since there was no written agreement, including over how the fund might work in practice and whether defence costs are brought in given how Trump has long called for Seoul to pay more for the U.S. troop presence. The business leaders meeting Lee on Tuesday represent industries seen as key to negotiations in advancing manufacturing ties with the U.S., coming from sectors such as chips, shipbuilding, automobiles, defence, pharmaceuticals and energy. Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, LG Group Chairman Koo Kwang-mo and executives from businesses such as Hyundai Motor Group, Hanwha Group and others were due to attend the meeting ahead of the trip to Washington. Lee is expected to thank the business leaders for their assistance in reaching the tariff deal with the U.S. and seek their continued help in detailed negotiations around the summit, the Yonhap News Agency reported.
