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New Oregon bill would heavily tax beer, wine makers; COVID vaccine scheduling process changes for Portland metro area; Portland woman's mask tree wins her new Mazda

'First of all, it's a ludicrous tax': New Oregon house bill would heavily tax beer and wine makers

Oregon currently has one of the lowest taxes on a barrel of beer in the country. Oregon House Bill 3296 would change that, increasing the tax on a 31-gallon barrel of beer from $2.60 to $72.60 a barrel. The bill would also raise the price of a barrel of wine from $0.65 a barrel to $10.65 a barrel. Proponents of the bill say they want beer and wine makers to then pass the cost on to the customer. Why? They argue if the price goes up, underage drinkers or binge drinkers won't have the money to buy more. The bill is designed to help curb underage and binge drinking, proponents say. The revenue the tax generates would then be directed to addiction recovery treatments. Every alcohol maker KGW spoke with said they support the need to increase access to addiction recovery resources but said this bill was not the way to go about it. "First of all, it's a ludicrous tax. To go from $2.60 cents to $72.60 is actually like just bonkersville," said Ecliptic Brewing founder and brewmaster John Harris. READ MORE

'They'll contact you': Oregon changes COVID-19 vaccination scheduling process for Portland metro area

Rather than hundreds of thousands of people scrambling to find thousands of appointments, eligible people will sign up at a new website and be notified when a dose is available. READ MORE

Portland woman's mask tree wins her a new Mazda

Ursula Hood has been giving out her handmade face masks, hanging some from the branches of a tree for people to take, since the pandemic began. Her daughter nominated her for the Mazda Heroes program, which awards people making a difference. READ MORE

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