November 17, 2024 • 30 mins
The Grotto is ready for your visit to see and hear the Festival of Lights. Oregon Christmas tree farmers are busy harvesting their crop. Oregon is almost ready to distributie money to expand broadband Internet. The Red Cross has a special gift for blood donors who are fans of Friends. AAA releases a new study on automatic breaking technology.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to local voices. I'm brad Ford. The Grotto is
preparing for the holiday season. Oregon Christmas tree growers were
in the middle of their big harvest. The Oregon Broadband
Office is nearly ready to start projects to expand broadband coverage.
The Red Cross Cascades region has a special for blood
donors who are fans of the TV series Friends and
(00:25):
Triple A reviews new automatic breaking technology. The Grotto was
preparing for its Festival of Lights. It's a holiday experience.
It includes over two million lights, choirs and the Grotto carollers.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Raaushing through the soul, horse open slay, Oh the legal
all the ways.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm about to ring making experience right, what fun it is?
Your right and sing us saying some tundight.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh, jingle housingle housingle all the way, Oh what fun
it is to ride? And the one horse open slay
dingle bells, dingle bells, single all the.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Way, Oh the fun it is due ride and the
one more sopen.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Say a day or.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Two of God. I thought I'd take a ride and.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Soon miss Danny ride, We'll say by my side.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
The horseless lean and link misfortune seemed his lut He
got into and drifted.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Bank and wait the god upside boot jingle bells, dingle bells,
dingle all the way, Oh what fun is to ride?
And the one horse opens say dingle bells, dingle bells,
dingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And one horse and slay.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Hold on now the girl is right, go it while
you young.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Take the girls tonight and sing the slay song.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Just get up up to eight to forty four speed.
Then hit you too, And I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I can take the leaser, dingle bou single bow, single
all the way.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Baby, what fun it is?
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Right?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
And one who super stay jingle bows, single vows, dingle
all the way.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
That's Dan klaus Dale Linstrom, Christie Holme and Heather Delaney.
Samantha Coacher joins us on local voices to tell us more. Samantha,
first of all, tell us about the grotto.
Speaker 6 (02:17):
Yeah, so the grotto is celebrating it's centennial this year.
We are so excited. It's such a Portland tradition that
a lot of people actually don't know about. So the
grotto isn't just open during Festival of Lights. We're open
year round and we have amazing scenery and in the
garden area that you can walk around. We recently were
(02:37):
named one of the most quiet spots in the world,
so it's just a really peaceful and serene place for
everyone to come and experience. So with our centennial, we
recently had a anniversary Mass which was celebrated by Archbishop Sample.
We were very excited to have him there to celebrate
with us, and we had over eight hundred ten ds
(03:00):
to that mass. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the
weather just worked out perfectly, and then we celebrated with
donuts after the Mass was over. And also with our centennial,
we just finished a new project. We have remodeled our
visitor center and turned it into a new interpretive center
and it's really a great focus on what the grotto is,
(03:24):
the history of the grotto, the history of the servites
that founded the grotto one hundred years ago, and it's
much more informational than our visitor center was, and I
think it's going to be a really great opportunity for
families to come and visit and learn more about the
grotto itself, the history of the area that we're in,
(03:45):
as well as.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
The Catholic organization where's it located.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
The visitor center is on our main plaza, right next
to our Chapel of Mary. It's open during the Festival
of Lights, so people can come in and visit that
while they're there for the festival, and our lower level
is free and open to the public at all times.
Our upper garden does have a small admission fee.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So tell us about the Festival of Lights.
Speaker 6 (04:09):
What happens the Festival of Lights. It's a walk through
light event that also features a lot of choirs. We
have over one hundred and forty local community, high school,
elementary school, college, all sorts of choirs that come and
perform in our chapel. We also have caroling that takes
(04:31):
place throughout the plaza. We have a puppet show that's
great for kids. We have various musicians that play around,
so it's really a great family event. It's all outdoors,
so we do tell people that you need to dress
warm prepared for the Portland weather, but all of our
entertainment elements are all either inside or under tents. So
(04:54):
if you're coming to see a specific choir perform in
the chapel, or if you're there to hear our wonderful carollers,
you will be shielded from the elements, but it will
still be mostly outdoors. It's a wonderful, family friendly event.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Now choirs love to come and perform in the chapel.
Speaker 6 (05:11):
Why yeah, our acoustics are just the best in the area.
Speaker 7 (05:17):
For sure.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
I remember singing there when I was in high school.
I hear so many choir teachers who say I sang
here in high school, or I remember coming and seeing
my friends sing or my siblings sing, And a lot
of people are just amazed by the experience of getting
to sing in the chapel. The acoustics are beautiful, the
(05:40):
space itself is beautiful, just visually. It's just such a
unique experience. We have colleges from all over the region.
A couple of years ago we had Gonzaga come down
to perform with us, and schools that can't come during
the Christmas season they reach out in the spring and say,
can we just come and sing two or three songs
in your space just so we can experience it, because
(06:02):
there's nothing like.
Speaker 7 (06:03):
It in the area.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
All right, let's bring the grotto carollers back in you.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
We come calling among the last agreed.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Here we come a landing to love and joy.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Come to you and to you God Christmas.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Too, and God bless you and send you happy you,
and God send you happy. Love and joy come to
you and to you God Christmas too, and God bless
you and send you happy, and God send you are happy.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
That's the grotto Carollers. As we talked with Samantha Coacher,
So in the light display, how many lights are involved?
Speaker 6 (06:50):
Yeah, we have over two million lights. We start putting
them up. A very common question I get is when
do you start putting them up? And we usually start
after the last Sunday in September, so we started just
a couple weeks ago putting the lights up. And it
is a huge team effort. There's a whole production team
(07:10):
that puts up the lights. It takes a couple months
to get it all up, and we're always trying to
add new elements to the festival so that it doesn't
feel the same as it did last year or two
years ago. So families who do make it a Portland
tradition to come out and visit us, they get to
see new elements and new areas. But we also do
(07:31):
try to keep some of those staples around so that
families can take those like traditional pictures of you know,
see the kids grow with the giant walk through Christmas
tree that we have every year. So yeah, so our
team is very hard at work and getting those up
for our opening day.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Let's bring the Grotto carollers back in for another Christmas song.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Is the season too? Beach ally.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Don renalaga para troll.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
The ancient Uti carol.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
See the blazing U be for us fall, strike and
join the chorus.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Follow me and very measure while I tell of Utai
treasure fall.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Fast away.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
The old dear passes, hail the new lads and lasses
sing me joy us altogether, heedless of the wind and weather.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Fall.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That's the Granto Carollers. As we talked with Samantha Coacher.
So how does it work. Do we have to buy tickets?
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Yes, we have tickets available for purchase online. Now we
ask that people are ready once they get to the gate,
have their tickets up and ready to go, so that
we can get people through the line as quickly as possible.
If you're coming to see a specific choir, we really
recommend that you come about thirty to forty five minutes
before the choir performs, just to make sure that you
(09:22):
have time to find parking, enter through and then also
maybe enjoy something before you take a seat in the
chapel for their performance.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
So are their discount nights we do.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
We have some value nights, So December second through fifth,
and then December ninth through twelfth we have discount nights
value nights available and those discounts are automatically applied when
you buy the tickets.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
And so when you get your ticket, does it stay
on your phone or do you print it?
Speaker 6 (09:49):
Yeah, you can do either, So we have them on
the phone. It'll send you a QR code just right
in the body of your email, or if you prefer
or if you're giving them to families or friends as
a gift, you can print them out as well.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
What do we need to know about parking?
Speaker 6 (10:02):
So parking is free that we do have a main
parking lot that is open to everybody. It is a
little crowded on some nights, so we have a parking
crew who is there to help you guide whether there's
spots available in the lot, whether it's street parking in
the neighborhoods. But we also have a free shuttle from
the park Rows Sumner transit station which is just down
(10:25):
the road from us on ninety sixth and Sandy, So
you can park in that TriMet parking lot and then
take our free shuttle bus to and from the event.
That shuttle bus runs continuously, so it's usually about no
more than a five to seven minute wait.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Nice. So you've been involved with Snowcap for years. Talk
to us a little bit about that involvement.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
Yeah, we have had a great partnership with Snowcap for
many many years. We set out food barrels at the
entrance of our festival and we really encourage people to
bring non perishable food items to donate for Snowcap. Over
the last couple of years, not only have we done
donations through Festival of Lights for them, but we've also
done one off donation days for food Cap And they're
(11:07):
just such a great organization and we love working with them.
They really appreciate all of the food that all of
our patrons bring.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So tell us again, what are the dates for the
festival and what's the website?
Speaker 6 (11:16):
Yeah, Festival Lights opens Friday, November twenty ninth and runs
through Monday, December thirtieth. We will be closed on Christmas
Day and the website to find tickets is the Grotto
dot Org.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Samantha thanks for joining us on Local Voices. That's Samantha
Coacher from the Grotto with details on their Festival of Lights.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Uh theal dan Jeousey Close, the New Monking Hee sn
It and Mercy, Mild God and See's Reconcer Joy.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
For Nations Ries Join, the Try Off Guys.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Angelil spro Claim, Crisis in Death Line, The Heralding Jassing Glory,
The New Monkey.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Oregon Christmas Tree Growers are busy harvesting this year's crop.
Tom Norby, president of the Oregon Christmas Tree Growers Association
and owner of the Trout Creek Tree Farming and Corbett,
joins us on Local Voices. Tom, you started cutting trees
earlier in the year for shipming overseas.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
Overseas, there was some threat of that dock workers strike,
and so they actually started shipping in late September, if
you can believe that. That was a new one for me,
and usually it's the first part of October, October eighth, fifth,
something like that, But because of that dock workers strike,
it didn't materialize, thank god, it started much and right now, yeah,
(13:01):
we're we're deep in the heart of it. Lots of
trucks are rolling this week, especially to the East coast
and the eastern half of the United States. Those ones
go out first, it's a little longer trip, and then
we'll get started with some of the more local stuff,
including Arizona, California, and Utah and places like that.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Is crop the right term to use.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Yeah, crop is exactly the correct term. And some people
are still think that we go out into the woods
and harvest trees right out of the forest. Nope, that
is not a That is not a thing we grow on.
Just like corn in the Midwest, it's definitely a crop
and it's regulated under the Agricultural Department. And as far
as our size and breath goes, we historically have been
(13:46):
number one. I think North Carolina, which is the second
largest growing region, may have gone over the top of
US here, but you know, statistics haven't born that out
entirely yet. But as far as you know, what we
grow out here, they can't grow there. So you know,
our big thing here is noble fur. Douglas fir can
(14:08):
grow almost anywhere, but the noble fur is you know,
the catillact of free Although Nordmen for has taken up
and their primary crops back there is Frasier fur. We
we have a hard time growing fraser fur here. It
takes a lot of summer rain which they tend to get.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Which we don't ower prices this year in general.
Speaker 7 (14:28):
So obviously I'm going to talk on the wholesale level,
you know, up maybe slightly, but uh, I think every
Christmas tree grower is realistic that uh they can't grow
too far because you know, they'll push away customers. You know,
there's been a there. I'm going to talk about the
elephant in the room. That's the artificial Christmas tree. You know,
(14:50):
that's that's growing in popularity and you know, from an
environmental standpoint, it's a disaster, but you know, people don't
seem to care. We're pretty conscious about raising our prices
and not trying to you know, raise them so much
so that they scare off customers. But we also need
to make a living. So you know, everything has gone
(15:11):
up for us, just like it has everyone else.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Are more tree farms offering experiences, maybe gift shops, photo opportunities, foods.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
That is a growing trend. You know, everybody's looking for
experiences and so that's why you see that kind of
you know, growth in that segment of the market, you know,
but there's still people where you grow. You go up
and you know, you drive onto somebody's property, you walk
out and you take your saw and you cut it
down and you pull it out yourself and off you go.
(15:40):
So you know, there's kind of something for everyone. As
I like to say, it's just a matter.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Of what do you want that Oregan sells trees around
the world. Where have you ship trees?
Speaker 7 (15:51):
Well, I'll tell you from my experience personally, I have
sent stuff overseas to Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Japan, Dubai,
Saudi Arabia. That's pretty much it for me. But they
go everywhere. Are the trends in the industry, Yeah, I
will say one of the one of the trends as
(16:11):
far as species go, has been northern furuh. That is
kind of a newer species to us, although it's been
around for twenty or thirty years at least, and that
is a tree from Turkey and Georgia in the Caucaus
Mountain region. There's a cousin of it called the Turkish fur.
(16:34):
They're almostinct indistinguishable. They don't have quite the smell, but
they certainly laughs every bit as long as the noble
fur does. And they don't tend tostry have their needles
just like a noble For maybe a little bit, they're
a little bit better on that respect, but again they
don't have a great smell to them. So that's one
(16:55):
of the trends in the industry. A lot of the
thing that's been growing for at least especially for me,
it's smaller trees. You know, where you're getting into the
smaller and smaller spaces sometimes and people still want that
experience of having a tree, so you know, the little
waist high tree in your house or your apartment. You
(17:16):
know that you can set on your table and you know,
and still have that experience. You know, those are very popular.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You mentioned the artificial tree that can't be recycled. Real
trees are replaced with new trees every year and the
used tree is recycled into mulch.
Speaker 7 (17:31):
Yeah, and I guess or you know, across the country,
you're supporting American jobs and American farmers, and even though
you think that it's a waste to cut down a tree,
we go ahead and replant every single tree that we cut,
plus some, and environmentally, from a carbon footprint standpoint, it's
better to have a real tree in your house than
(17:51):
a plastic one.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Tom, thanks for joining us. That's Tom Norby, president of
the Oregon Christmas Tree Growers Association and owner of the
Trout Creek Tree Farm in Core. But with the look
at Oregon's Christmas tree growing industry during their annual harvest.
The Oregon Broadband Office has approved sixteen applications for money
to expand broadband Internet. Nick Batts is direct for the
(18:13):
Oregon Broadband Office. Nick, is this the first of the
broadband expansion money to be approved?
Speaker 5 (18:18):
Yes, Brad, it is. It's the first of the two
big federal infrastructure programs that Congress has passed over the
last few years.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
How is it determined what projects would be funded for.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
The Broadband Deployment Program which is what we call this program.
We ran an RFP back in early spring RFP Request
for Proposal to solicit applications from interested parties around the state.
We received sixty three applications totally four hundred and forty
million dollars, so highly competitive, oversubscribed grant program for one
(18:50):
hundred and fifty seven million dollars that was available.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Is this all for fiber optic cable installation or there
other ways that Internet would be distributed.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
The feeds allowed for other technology, but all sixteen of
the award heats that we have listed are four fiber
optic programs, which is great because fiber is the most
future proof technology that is readily available to us.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Are there minimum speed requirements that they need to meet?
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Yes. The good news is that the requirement for this
program is that successful applicants have to provide service that
is one hundred megabits per second download over over one
hundred megabits per second upload, So, in other words, it's
one hundred megabits per second symmetrical, which is great and
should provide services to constituents around Oregon that will meet
(19:40):
their future needs.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Is there a timeline for these projects? Do they need
to be finished by a certain time?
Speaker 5 (19:46):
Yeah, that's the tough part for us Brad. There is
a federal deadline for this program that all funds must
be expended and all projects must be operational by December
thirty first, twenty twenty sixth. For the applicants for this,
we need them to be finished and have the projects
operational by September thirtieth of twenty twenty six, so we
(20:06):
can close out the program and submit all our reports
to the US Treasury.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Is it possible to quantify how many people in Oregon
don't have access to broadband?
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Yes, with some caveats. So right now, for a different
federal program that we're administering called the BEAT program, we
have to run a BEAT Challenge process, and the goal
through that process is to identify all the locations in
Oregon that are eligible to receive broadband funding through the
BEAT program, and those households are those that lack speeds
(20:39):
above one hundred over twenty megabits per second. So through
that process, we've identified in the neighborhood of one hundred
and thirty thousand locations in Oregon that currently fall below
that speed standard. And I looked this up one time
a while ago. I think there are two and a
half people are two point four people per household in Oregon.
So that puts us right around four three hundred and
(20:59):
fifty four hundred thousand people in Oregon that are going
to get broad band through these two programs.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Anything else you'd like, Dad, that I didn't ask you
about these programs.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
This program in particular, is the first step in an
effort to get broadband access to all one hundred and
thirty ish thousand locations in Oregon that currently lack it.
There's never been a program or a series of programs
like this in Oregon. The federal government when they've invested
in broadband usually invests through existing federal agencies. Well, for
(21:28):
these programs, they gave the money to the state, told
the states to stand up broadband offices and these programs.
So there's a lot of there are a lot of
first times for the State of Oregon and specifically the
Broadband Office in the development and implementation of these programs.
It's been a long time coming for the BDP program,
and specifically we've been working on this for almost three
(21:49):
years now, so it's very exciting to see us at
this point where we're issuing notices of intent to award
and hopefully we'll see shovels in the ground before too long.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
This say, is the first batch of money, right, how
does the rest of the money get rolled out?
Speaker 5 (22:03):
So, yeah, you're correct, Bread, this is the first tranch
of awards for one hundred and fifty seven million dollars
from the arbook program. We're awarding one hundred and thirty
two point nine million dollars. There are some negotiations that
are coming with those sixteen awardies. We don't expect all
of them to accept the award because it may be
less than they'd originally asked for because the number of
(22:24):
locations they proposed to serve back in April isn't the
same number of eligible locations today, so there's there have
been some changes to the applications and the total locations
they wanted to provide service to. So we will go
through this a couple weeks of negotiation with these sixteen awardies.
We'll have a better handle on how much money is
(22:45):
left over through that process, and we will then combine
that with the twenty or so million dollars for round
two and make it second set of awards. That should
happen over the next three to four weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Nick, thanks for joining us on Local Voices. That's Nick
Batt's director for the Oregon Broadband Office with details in
the first grants being issued to ISPs to expand high
speed internet to households that don't have adequate access one
that way, if you're a fan of the TV series Friends,
(23:22):
or you have a friend who is a fan, the
Red Cross is offering a cool gift the blood donors.
Rebecca Marshall with the Red Cross joins us on Local Voices.
Rebecca tell us about the.
Speaker 8 (23:31):
Offer, this is great. It's been thirty years. Thirty years
since the TV show Friends first aired. I can't even
believe it, and we're marking out thirty years by incentivizing
folks to come in and donate blood at the American
Red Cross. Here's how it works. You come in, you
donate blood, you get two pairs of sox, two pairs
of friend socks, one for you and one for a friend.
(23:53):
And we thought that's a great way to honor. The
socks are really cute and really fun, and away thought
to be a great way to get people in and
donate blood. What do the socks look like, Well, they're cartoony.
I thought they'd have the Friends faces on it, but
they're actually they have a curtoon look. One says Central
Perk on a gray pair of socks, and one has
a turkey. If you're on a Red Sox now, if
(24:13):
you remember on the Friend's episode, I think it was
Joey that put the turkey over his head during an episode,
So that's the joke there. But it also it ties
into Thanksgiving, now, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
This is an important time of year to donate blood
to the Red Cross, because donations declined during the holidays
and from winter weather later on, Rebecca, the demand is
still there.
Speaker 8 (24:33):
Right, absolutely, We've talked about it before that the need
for blood doesn't stop. In fact, it only goes up
every two seconds on average. Somebody needs blood. One in
seven people admitted to the hospital needs a blood transfusion
one in seven. And we know that goes up during
the holidays, especially Thanksgiving, because people are cooking in the kitchen, right,
(24:54):
they may cut themselves and burn themselves. People are traveling more,
there may be more accidents out there on the high Wait,
that's not the scure people. That's just to put that
perspective out there that the need does go up over
the holidays, and we're busy over the holidays generally speaking, right,
so the donations tend to go down. We're just trying
to remind people to make it part of your celebration,
(25:15):
your holidays. Make it a tradition. Perhaps In fact, we
actually have blood donations happening on Thanksgiving Day. Maybe that's
something that you do early in the day on Thanksgiving
here at the Portland Chapter office. So we're just trying
to get the word out to let people know that
the need is out there. It takes about an hour
to make that donation and it can save more than
(25:35):
a one life, and we think that's a great hour
well spent.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
What's involved in signing up and getting a reservation time
to make a.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
Donation super super easy.
Speaker 8 (25:45):
All you have to do is go to Red Cross
Blood dot org. That's one way Redcross blood dot org
and you just type in your zip code and it'll
populate all the different times where there are drives that
are open that you can come in and donate blood
in that zip code area. If you prefer to make
a phone call, you can call one eight hundred Red
Cross and go through that same process verbally on the
(26:07):
phone as well. Takes about an hour. You walk in,
you will answer some screening questions. The idea is to
make sure that you're healthy. We want to make sure
you're not feeling sick when you come in to donate blood.
The actual draw itself is usually less than ten minutes.
We'll give you some snacks and some juice and then
you'll be on your way. So the whole process takes
about an hour. If you're giving platelets, platelets are needed
(26:30):
right now. I just want to put that out there.
It takes a little bit longer to give platelets, but
that's the plotting agent in blood that oftentimes cancer patients
need more than anybody else. So platelets are needed right now.
It takes about two hours, but it is the same
screening process as you walk in, and you're still encouraged
to be hydrated and to have a full meal as well.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
What are the types of blood that are needed most?
Speaker 8 (26:51):
Type O blood and platelets are a really big need
right now. Type O blood and platelets. But I'm going
to tell anybody out there, if you have blood, it's needed,
So don't think that that's the reason for you not
to donate blood. All blood types are accepted, and really
it's just a wonderful gift this time of the year,
I think we're all feeling a little sentimental perhaps, and
I think this is just a great way to give back.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
That's Rebecca Marshall with a Red Cross cascades ranging in
details on their new offer for blood donors to receive
two pairs of Friends themed socks. Automatic breaking technology in
cars is improving. Marie Dodds when the Triple A is
here with details on their new study of how automatic
breaking technology is working.
Speaker 9 (27:31):
New research from Triple A shows that automatic emergency braking
works better now in new vehicles than it did a
few years ago. In Triple A testing on a closed track,
new twenty twenty four model vehicles equipped with automatic emergency
braking avoided one hundred percent of forward collisions when tested.
It speeds up to thirty five miles per hour. Older vehicles,
(27:53):
which were twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen models, only avoided
collisions about half the time when tested. Its spas up
to thirty five miles per hour. Automatic emergency braking uses
forward facing cameras and other sensors to automatically tell the
car to apply the brakes when a crash is imminent
at slower speeds. It can prevent rear end crashes or
(28:15):
make them less severe by reducing the vehicle speed before impact.
Over the last decade, Triple A has been testing automatic
emergency braking and other advanced driver assistance systems. We began
testing automatic emergency braking in twenty fourteen, and the technology
has become much better since then. In this latest round
of testing, we took new and older model vehicles and
(28:38):
evaluated automatic emergency braking at twelve miles an hour, twenty
five miles per hour, and thirty five miles per hour.
The new twenty twenty four model vehicles avoided collisions at
all of these speeds, while the older vehicles only avoided
collisions fifty one percent of the time at these speeds.
We then tested the vehicles at forty five miles per
(29:00):
per hour. Only three of the vehicles avoided a collision.
Then we increase the test speed to fifty five miles
per hour, and none of the test vehicles were able
to avoid a collision at that speed. The takeaway from
our triple A research is that automatic emergency braking works
well in new vehicles at speeds of thirty five miles
(29:20):
per hour and slower. That technology doesn't work so well
at higher speeds and in older vehicles. Automatic emergency braking
is meant to enhance an engaged driver, not take over
the task of driving. Of course, drivers need to be
aware of the limitations these systems have and not depend
on automatic emergency braking and other technologies to avoid collisions.
(29:43):
There's still no technology that works one hundred percent of
the time in preventing crashes.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That's breedods with the Triple A and details on their
study of automatic braking technology and vehicles. You can find
out more on Triple A's website. Thanks for listening to
Local Voices, I'm brand Board. Can to hear past episodes
on the iHeartRadio app under the podcast tab. Local Voices
is a public affairs presentation from iHeartRadio AP
Welcome to local voices. I'm brad Ford. The Grotto is
preparing for the holiday season. Oregon Christmas tree growers were
in the middle of their big harvest. The Oregon Broadband
Office is nearly ready to start projects to expand broadband coverage.
The Red Cross Cascades region has a special for blood
donors who are fans of the TV series Friends and
(00:25):
Triple A reviews new automatic breaking technology. The Grotto was
preparing for its Festival of Lights. It's a holiday experience.
It includes over two million lights, choirs and the Grotto carollers.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Raaushing through the soul, horse open slay, Oh the legal
all the ways.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I'm about to ring making experience right, what fun it is?
Your right and sing us saying some tundight.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Oh, jingle housingle housingle all the way, Oh what fun
it is to ride? And the one horse open slay
dingle bells, dingle bells, single all the.
Speaker 4 (01:05):
Way, Oh the fun it is due ride and the
one more sopen.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Say a day or.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Two of God. I thought I'd take a ride and.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Soon miss Danny ride, We'll say by my side.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
The horseless lean and link misfortune seemed his lut He
got into and drifted.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Bank and wait the god upside boot jingle bells, dingle bells,
dingle all the way, Oh what fun is to ride?
And the one horse opens say dingle bells, dingle bells,
dingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride?
Speaker 1 (01:40):
And one horse and slay.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Hold on now the girl is right, go it while
you young.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Take the girls tonight and sing the slay song.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Just get up up to eight to forty four speed.
Then hit you too, And I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
I can take the leaser, dingle bou single bow, single
all the way.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Baby, what fun it is?
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Right?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
And one who super stay jingle bows, single vows, dingle
all the way.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
That's Dan klaus Dale Linstrom, Christie Holme and Heather Delaney.
Samantha Coacher joins us on local voices to tell us more. Samantha,
first of all, tell us about the grotto.
Speaker 6 (02:17):
Yeah, so the grotto is celebrating it's centennial this year.
We are so excited. It's such a Portland tradition that
a lot of people actually don't know about. So the
grotto isn't just open during Festival of Lights. We're open
year round and we have amazing scenery and in the
garden area that you can walk around. We recently were
(02:37):
named one of the most quiet spots in the world,
so it's just a really peaceful and serene place for
everyone to come and experience. So with our centennial, we
recently had a anniversary Mass which was celebrated by Archbishop Sample.
We were very excited to have him there to celebrate
with us, and we had over eight hundred ten ds
(03:00):
to that mass. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the
weather just worked out perfectly, and then we celebrated with
donuts after the Mass was over. And also with our centennial,
we just finished a new project. We have remodeled our
visitor center and turned it into a new interpretive center
and it's really a great focus on what the grotto is,
(03:24):
the history of the grotto, the history of the servites
that founded the grotto one hundred years ago, and it's
much more informational than our visitor center was, and I
think it's going to be a really great opportunity for
families to come and visit and learn more about the
grotto itself, the history of the area that we're in,
(03:45):
as well as.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
The Catholic organization where's it located.
Speaker 6 (03:49):
The visitor center is on our main plaza, right next
to our Chapel of Mary. It's open during the Festival
of Lights, so people can come in and visit that
while they're there for the festival, and our lower level
is free and open to the public at all times.
Our upper garden does have a small admission fee.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So tell us about the Festival of Lights.
Speaker 6 (04:09):
What happens the Festival of Lights. It's a walk through
light event that also features a lot of choirs. We
have over one hundred and forty local community, high school,
elementary school, college, all sorts of choirs that come and
perform in our chapel. We also have caroling that takes
(04:31):
place throughout the plaza. We have a puppet show that's
great for kids. We have various musicians that play around,
so it's really a great family event. It's all outdoors,
so we do tell people that you need to dress
warm prepared for the Portland weather, but all of our
entertainment elements are all either inside or under tents. So
(04:54):
if you're coming to see a specific choir perform in
the chapel, or if you're there to hear our wonderful carollers,
you will be shielded from the elements, but it will
still be mostly outdoors. It's a wonderful, family friendly event.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Now choirs love to come and perform in the chapel.
Speaker 6 (05:11):
Why yeah, our acoustics are just the best in the area.
Speaker 7 (05:17):
For sure.
Speaker 6 (05:18):
I remember singing there when I was in high school.
I hear so many choir teachers who say I sang
here in high school, or I remember coming and seeing
my friends sing or my siblings sing, And a lot
of people are just amazed by the experience of getting
to sing in the chapel. The acoustics are beautiful, the
(05:40):
space itself is beautiful, just visually. It's just such a
unique experience. We have colleges from all over the region.
A couple of years ago we had Gonzaga come down
to perform with us, and schools that can't come during
the Christmas season they reach out in the spring and say,
can we just come and sing two or three songs
in your space just so we can experience it, because
(06:02):
there's nothing like.
Speaker 7 (06:03):
It in the area.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
All right, let's bring the grotto carollers back in you.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
We come calling among the last agreed.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Here we come a landing to love and joy.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Come to you and to you God Christmas.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Too, and God bless you and send you happy you,
and God send you happy. Love and joy come to
you and to you God Christmas too, and God bless
you and send you happy, and God send you are happy.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
That's the grotto Carollers. As we talked with Samantha Coacher,
So in the light display, how many lights are involved?
Speaker 6 (06:50):
Yeah, we have over two million lights. We start putting
them up. A very common question I get is when
do you start putting them up? And we usually start
after the last Sunday in September, so we started just
a couple weeks ago putting the lights up. And it
is a huge team effort. There's a whole production team
(07:10):
that puts up the lights. It takes a couple months
to get it all up, and we're always trying to
add new elements to the festival so that it doesn't
feel the same as it did last year or two
years ago. So families who do make it a Portland
tradition to come out and visit us, they get to
see new elements and new areas. But we also do
(07:31):
try to keep some of those staples around so that
families can take those like traditional pictures of you know,
see the kids grow with the giant walk through Christmas
tree that we have every year. So yeah, so our
team is very hard at work and getting those up
for our opening day.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Let's bring the Grotto carollers back in for another Christmas song.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Is the season too? Beach ally.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Don renalaga para troll.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
The ancient Uti carol.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
See the blazing U be for us fall, strike and
join the chorus.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Follow me and very measure while I tell of Utai
treasure fall.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Fast away.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
The old dear passes, hail the new lads and lasses
sing me joy us altogether, heedless of the wind and weather.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Fall.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
That's the Granto Carollers. As we talked with Samantha Coacher.
So how does it work. Do we have to buy tickets?
Speaker 6 (09:01):
Yes, we have tickets available for purchase online. Now we
ask that people are ready once they get to the gate,
have their tickets up and ready to go, so that
we can get people through the line as quickly as possible.
If you're coming to see a specific choir, we really
recommend that you come about thirty to forty five minutes
before the choir performs, just to make sure that you
(09:22):
have time to find parking, enter through and then also
maybe enjoy something before you take a seat in the
chapel for their performance.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
So are their discount nights we do.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
We have some value nights, So December second through fifth,
and then December ninth through twelfth we have discount nights
value nights available and those discounts are automatically applied when
you buy the tickets.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
And so when you get your ticket, does it stay
on your phone or do you print it?
Speaker 6 (09:49):
Yeah, you can do either, So we have them on
the phone. It'll send you a QR code just right
in the body of your email, or if you prefer
or if you're giving them to families or friends as
a gift, you can print them out as well.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
What do we need to know about parking?
Speaker 6 (10:02):
So parking is free that we do have a main
parking lot that is open to everybody. It is a
little crowded on some nights, so we have a parking
crew who is there to help you guide whether there's
spots available in the lot, whether it's street parking in
the neighborhoods. But we also have a free shuttle from
the park Rows Sumner transit station which is just down
(10:25):
the road from us on ninety sixth and Sandy, So
you can park in that TriMet parking lot and then
take our free shuttle bus to and from the event.
That shuttle bus runs continuously, so it's usually about no
more than a five to seven minute wait.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Nice. So you've been involved with Snowcap for years. Talk
to us a little bit about that involvement.
Speaker 6 (10:45):
Yeah, we have had a great partnership with Snowcap for
many many years. We set out food barrels at the
entrance of our festival and we really encourage people to
bring non perishable food items to donate for Snowcap. Over
the last couple of years, not only have we done
donations through Festival of Lights for them, but we've also
done one off donation days for food Cap And they're
(11:07):
just such a great organization and we love working with them.
They really appreciate all of the food that all of
our patrons bring.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
So tell us again, what are the dates for the
festival and what's the website?
Speaker 6 (11:16):
Yeah, Festival Lights opens Friday, November twenty ninth and runs
through Monday, December thirtieth. We will be closed on Christmas
Day and the website to find tickets is the Grotto
dot Org.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Samantha thanks for joining us on Local Voices. That's Samantha
Coacher from the Grotto with details on their Festival of Lights.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
Uh theal dan Jeousey Close, the New Monking Hee sn
It and Mercy, Mild God and See's Reconcer Joy.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
For Nations Ries Join, the Try Off Guys.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Angelil spro Claim, Crisis in Death Line, The Heralding Jassing Glory,
The New Monkey.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
Oregon Christmas Tree Growers are busy harvesting this year's crop.
Tom Norby, president of the Oregon Christmas Tree Growers Association
and owner of the Trout Creek Tree Farming and Corbett,
joins us on Local Voices. Tom, you started cutting trees
earlier in the year for shipming overseas.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
Overseas, there was some threat of that dock workers strike,
and so they actually started shipping in late September, if
you can believe that. That was a new one for me,
and usually it's the first part of October, October eighth, fifth,
something like that, But because of that dock workers strike,
it didn't materialize, thank god, it started much and right now, yeah,
(13:01):
we're we're deep in the heart of it. Lots of
trucks are rolling this week, especially to the East coast
and the eastern half of the United States. Those ones
go out first, it's a little longer trip, and then
we'll get started with some of the more local stuff,
including Arizona, California, and Utah and places like that.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Is crop the right term to use.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
Yeah, crop is exactly the correct term. And some people
are still think that we go out into the woods
and harvest trees right out of the forest. Nope, that
is not a That is not a thing we grow on.
Just like corn in the Midwest, it's definitely a crop
and it's regulated under the Agricultural Department. And as far
as our size and breath goes, we historically have been
(13:46):
number one. I think North Carolina, which is the second
largest growing region, may have gone over the top of
US here, but you know, statistics haven't born that out
entirely yet. But as far as you know, what we
grow out here, they can't grow there. So you know,
our big thing here is noble fur. Douglas fir can
(14:08):
grow almost anywhere, but the noble fur is you know,
the catillact of free Although Nordmen for has taken up
and their primary crops back there is Frasier fur. We
we have a hard time growing fraser fur here. It
takes a lot of summer rain which they tend to get.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Which we don't ower prices this year in general.
Speaker 7 (14:28):
So obviously I'm going to talk on the wholesale level,
you know, up maybe slightly, but uh, I think every
Christmas tree grower is realistic that uh they can't grow
too far because you know, they'll push away customers. You know,
there's been a there. I'm going to talk about the
elephant in the room. That's the artificial Christmas tree. You know,
(14:50):
that's that's growing in popularity and you know, from an
environmental standpoint, it's a disaster, but you know, people don't
seem to care. We're pretty conscious about raising our prices
and not trying to you know, raise them so much
so that they scare off customers. But we also need
to make a living. So you know, everything has gone
(15:11):
up for us, just like it has everyone else.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Are more tree farms offering experiences, maybe gift shops, photo opportunities, foods.
Speaker 7 (15:19):
That is a growing trend. You know, everybody's looking for
experiences and so that's why you see that kind of
you know, growth in that segment of the market, you know,
but there's still people where you grow. You go up
and you know, you drive onto somebody's property, you walk
out and you take your saw and you cut it
down and you pull it out yourself and off you go.
(15:40):
So you know, there's kind of something for everyone. As
I like to say, it's just a matter.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Of what do you want that Oregan sells trees around
the world. Where have you ship trees?
Speaker 7 (15:51):
Well, I'll tell you from my experience personally, I have
sent stuff overseas to Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, Japan, Dubai,
Saudi Arabia. That's pretty much it for me. But they
go everywhere. Are the trends in the industry, Yeah, I
will say one of the one of the trends as
(16:11):
far as species go, has been northern furuh. That is
kind of a newer species to us, although it's been
around for twenty or thirty years at least, and that
is a tree from Turkey and Georgia in the Caucaus
Mountain region. There's a cousin of it called the Turkish fur.
(16:34):
They're almostinct indistinguishable. They don't have quite the smell, but
they certainly laughs every bit as long as the noble
fur does. And they don't tend tostry have their needles
just like a noble For maybe a little bit, they're
a little bit better on that respect, but again they
don't have a great smell to them. So that's one
(16:55):
of the trends in the industry. A lot of the
thing that's been growing for at least especially for me,
it's smaller trees. You know, where you're getting into the
smaller and smaller spaces sometimes and people still want that
experience of having a tree, so you know, the little
waist high tree in your house or your apartment. You
(17:16):
know that you can set on your table and you know,
and still have that experience. You know, those are very popular.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
You mentioned the artificial tree that can't be recycled. Real
trees are replaced with new trees every year and the
used tree is recycled into mulch.
Speaker 7 (17:31):
Yeah, and I guess or you know, across the country,
you're supporting American jobs and American farmers, and even though
you think that it's a waste to cut down a tree,
we go ahead and replant every single tree that we cut,
plus some, and environmentally, from a carbon footprint standpoint, it's
better to have a real tree in your house than
(17:51):
a plastic one.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Tom, thanks for joining us. That's Tom Norby, president of
the Oregon Christmas Tree Growers Association and owner of the
Trout Creek Tree Farm in Core. But with the look
at Oregon's Christmas tree growing industry during their annual harvest.
The Oregon Broadband Office has approved sixteen applications for money
to expand broadband Internet. Nick Batts is direct for the
(18:13):
Oregon Broadband Office. Nick, is this the first of the
broadband expansion money to be approved?
Speaker 5 (18:18):
Yes, Brad, it is. It's the first of the two
big federal infrastructure programs that Congress has passed over the
last few years.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
How is it determined what projects would be funded for.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
The Broadband Deployment Program which is what we call this program.
We ran an RFP back in early spring RFP Request
for Proposal to solicit applications from interested parties around the state.
We received sixty three applications totally four hundred and forty
million dollars, so highly competitive, oversubscribed grant program for one
(18:50):
hundred and fifty seven million dollars that was available.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
Is this all for fiber optic cable installation or there
other ways that Internet would be distributed.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
The feeds allowed for other technology, but all sixteen of
the award heats that we have listed are four fiber
optic programs, which is great because fiber is the most
future proof technology that is readily available to us.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Are there minimum speed requirements that they need to meet?
Speaker 5 (19:17):
Yes. The good news is that the requirement for this
program is that successful applicants have to provide service that
is one hundred megabits per second download over over one
hundred megabits per second upload, So, in other words, it's
one hundred megabits per second symmetrical, which is great and
should provide services to constituents around Oregon that will meet
(19:40):
their future needs.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Is there a timeline for these projects? Do they need
to be finished by a certain time?
Speaker 5 (19:46):
Yeah, that's the tough part for us Brad. There is
a federal deadline for this program that all funds must
be expended and all projects must be operational by December
thirty first, twenty twenty sixth. For the applicants for this,
we need them to be finished and have the projects
operational by September thirtieth of twenty twenty six, so we
(20:06):
can close out the program and submit all our reports
to the US Treasury.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Is it possible to quantify how many people in Oregon
don't have access to broadband?
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Yes, with some caveats. So right now, for a different
federal program that we're administering called the BEAT program, we
have to run a BEAT Challenge process, and the goal
through that process is to identify all the locations in
Oregon that are eligible to receive broadband funding through the
BEAT program, and those households are those that lack speeds
(20:39):
above one hundred over twenty megabits per second. So through
that process, we've identified in the neighborhood of one hundred
and thirty thousand locations in Oregon that currently fall below
that speed standard. And I looked this up one time
a while ago. I think there are two and a
half people are two point four people per household in Oregon.
So that puts us right around four three hundred and
(20:59):
fifty four hundred thousand people in Oregon that are going
to get broad band through these two programs.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Anything else you'd like, Dad, that I didn't ask you
about these programs.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
This program in particular, is the first step in an
effort to get broadband access to all one hundred and
thirty ish thousand locations in Oregon that currently lack it.
There's never been a program or a series of programs
like this in Oregon. The federal government when they've invested
in broadband usually invests through existing federal agencies. Well, for
(21:28):
these programs, they gave the money to the state, told
the states to stand up broadband offices and these programs.
So there's a lot of there are a lot of
first times for the State of Oregon and specifically the
Broadband Office in the development and implementation of these programs.
It's been a long time coming for the BDP program,
and specifically we've been working on this for almost three
(21:49):
years now, so it's very exciting to see us at
this point where we're issuing notices of intent to award
and hopefully we'll see shovels in the ground before too long.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
This say, is the first batch of money, right, how
does the rest of the money get rolled out?
Speaker 5 (22:03):
So, yeah, you're correct, Bread, this is the first tranch
of awards for one hundred and fifty seven million dollars
from the arbook program. We're awarding one hundred and thirty
two point nine million dollars. There are some negotiations that
are coming with those sixteen awardies. We don't expect all
of them to accept the award because it may be
less than they'd originally asked for because the number of
(22:24):
locations they proposed to serve back in April isn't the
same number of eligible locations today, so there's there have
been some changes to the applications and the total locations
they wanted to provide service to. So we will go
through this a couple weeks of negotiation with these sixteen awardies.
We'll have a better handle on how much money is
(22:45):
left over through that process, and we will then combine
that with the twenty or so million dollars for round
two and make it second set of awards. That should
happen over the next three to four weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
Nick, thanks for joining us on Local Voices. That's Nick
Batt's director for the Oregon Broadband Office with details in
the first grants being issued to ISPs to expand high
speed internet to households that don't have adequate access one
that way, if you're a fan of the TV series Friends,
(23:22):
or you have a friend who is a fan, the
Red Cross is offering a cool gift the blood donors.
Rebecca Marshall with the Red Cross joins us on Local Voices.
Rebecca tell us about the.
Speaker 8 (23:31):
Offer, this is great. It's been thirty years. Thirty years
since the TV show Friends first aired. I can't even
believe it, and we're marking out thirty years by incentivizing
folks to come in and donate blood at the American
Red Cross. Here's how it works. You come in, you
donate blood, you get two pairs of sox, two pairs
of friend socks, one for you and one for a friend.
(23:53):
And we thought that's a great way to honor. The
socks are really cute and really fun, and away thought
to be a great way to get people in and
donate blood. What do the socks look like, Well, they're cartoony.
I thought they'd have the Friends faces on it, but
they're actually they have a curtoon look. One says Central
Perk on a gray pair of socks, and one has
a turkey. If you're on a Red Sox now, if
(24:13):
you remember on the Friend's episode, I think it was
Joey that put the turkey over his head during an episode,
So that's the joke there. But it also it ties
into Thanksgiving, now, doesn't it.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
This is an important time of year to donate blood
to the Red Cross, because donations declined during the holidays
and from winter weather later on, Rebecca, the demand is
still there.
Speaker 8 (24:33):
Right, absolutely, We've talked about it before that the need
for blood doesn't stop. In fact, it only goes up
every two seconds on average. Somebody needs blood. One in
seven people admitted to the hospital needs a blood transfusion
one in seven. And we know that goes up during
the holidays, especially Thanksgiving, because people are cooking in the kitchen, right,
(24:54):
they may cut themselves and burn themselves. People are traveling more,
there may be more accidents out there on the high Wait,
that's not the scure people. That's just to put that
perspective out there that the need does go up over
the holidays, and we're busy over the holidays generally speaking, right,
so the donations tend to go down. We're just trying
to remind people to make it part of your celebration,
(25:15):
your holidays. Make it a tradition. Perhaps In fact, we
actually have blood donations happening on Thanksgiving Day. Maybe that's
something that you do early in the day on Thanksgiving
here at the Portland Chapter office. So we're just trying
to get the word out to let people know that
the need is out there. It takes about an hour
to make that donation and it can save more than
(25:35):
a one life, and we think that's a great hour
well spent.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
What's involved in signing up and getting a reservation time
to make a.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
Donation super super easy.
Speaker 8 (25:45):
All you have to do is go to Red Cross
Blood dot org. That's one way Redcross blood dot org
and you just type in your zip code and it'll
populate all the different times where there are drives that
are open that you can come in and donate blood
in that zip code area. If you prefer to make
a phone call, you can call one eight hundred Red
Cross and go through that same process verbally on the
(26:07):
phone as well. Takes about an hour. You walk in,
you will answer some screening questions. The idea is to
make sure that you're healthy. We want to make sure
you're not feeling sick when you come in to donate blood.
The actual draw itself is usually less than ten minutes.
We'll give you some snacks and some juice and then
you'll be on your way. So the whole process takes
about an hour. If you're giving platelets, platelets are needed
(26:30):
right now. I just want to put that out there.
It takes a little bit longer to give platelets, but
that's the plotting agent in blood that oftentimes cancer patients
need more than anybody else. So platelets are needed right now.
It takes about two hours, but it is the same
screening process as you walk in, and you're still encouraged
to be hydrated and to have a full meal as well.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
What are the types of blood that are needed most?
Speaker 8 (26:51):
Type O blood and platelets are a really big need
right now. Type O blood and platelets. But I'm going
to tell anybody out there, if you have blood, it's needed,
So don't think that that's the reason for you not
to donate blood. All blood types are accepted, and really
it's just a wonderful gift this time of the year,
I think we're all feeling a little sentimental perhaps, and
I think this is just a great way to give back.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
That's Rebecca Marshall with a Red Cross cascades ranging in
details on their new offer for blood donors to receive
two pairs of Friends themed socks. Automatic breaking technology in
cars is improving. Marie Dodds when the Triple A is
here with details on their new study of how automatic
breaking technology is working.
Speaker 9 (27:31):
New research from Triple A shows that automatic emergency braking
works better now in new vehicles than it did a
few years ago. In Triple A testing on a closed track,
new twenty twenty four model vehicles equipped with automatic emergency
braking avoided one hundred percent of forward collisions when tested.
It speeds up to thirty five miles per hour. Older vehicles,
(27:53):
which were twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen models, only avoided
collisions about half the time when tested. Its spas up
to thirty five miles per hour. Automatic emergency braking uses
forward facing cameras and other sensors to automatically tell the
car to apply the brakes when a crash is imminent
at slower speeds. It can prevent rear end crashes or
(28:15):
make them less severe by reducing the vehicle speed before impact.
Over the last decade, Triple A has been testing automatic
emergency braking and other advanced driver assistance systems. We began
testing automatic emergency braking in twenty fourteen, and the technology
has become much better since then. In this latest round
of testing, we took new and older model vehicles and
(28:38):
evaluated automatic emergency braking at twelve miles an hour, twenty
five miles per hour, and thirty five miles per hour.
The new twenty twenty four model vehicles avoided collisions at
all of these speeds, while the older vehicles only avoided
collisions fifty one percent of the time at these speeds.
We then tested the vehicles at forty five miles per
(29:00):
per hour. Only three of the vehicles avoided a collision.
Then we increase the test speed to fifty five miles
per hour, and none of the test vehicles were able
to avoid a collision at that speed. The takeaway from
our triple A research is that automatic emergency braking works
well in new vehicles at speeds of thirty five miles
(29:20):
per hour and slower. That technology doesn't work so well
at higher speeds and in older vehicles. Automatic emergency braking
is meant to enhance an engaged driver, not take over
the task of driving. Of course, drivers need to be
aware of the limitations these systems have and not depend
on automatic emergency braking and other technologies to avoid collisions.
(29:43):
There's still no technology that works one hundred percent of
the time in preventing crashes.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
That's breedods with the Triple A and details on their
study of automatic braking technology and vehicles. You can find
out more on Triple A's website. Thanks for listening to
Local Voices, I'm brand Board. Can to hear past episodes
on the iHeartRadio app under the podcast tab. Local Voices
is a public affairs presentation from iHeartRadio AP
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