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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 2015)
OFF PAGE ONE Pressure grows on Volkswagen as bad news piles up Page 8A East Oregonian FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The fallout from Volkswagen’s emis- sions-cheating scandal inten- si¿ed Wednesday, as inves- tors bailed out and European regulators pressured VW to quickly disclose the ¿ndings of an internal investigation. In the U.S., the company halted sales of seven models that allegedly were part of the cheating. On Tuesday, VW admitted that it had understated the carbon dioxide emissions for 800,000 cars, widening the scope of a scandal that has forced the ouster of a CEO and prompted investigations and lawsuits on several continents. The company has been unable halt the Àow of bad news since mid-September, when the U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency said Volkswagen had installed software on 482,000 cars that enabled them to cheat on emissions tests for nitrogen oxide, a pollutant that contributes to smog and respiratory problems. The software reduced emissions when the car was on a test stand. Volkswagen acknowl- edged that 11 million vehi- cles with small diesel engines worldwide have the software — but only after denying its use for more than a year. On Monday, the EPA charged that Volkswagen also used cheating software in some cars with larger diesel engines, including Volkswa- gen’s elite Porsche brand. Volkswagen has denied that claim, but over the past two days halted sales in the U.S. and Canada of the models involved: the Volkswagen Touareg, Porsche Cayenne, and the Audi A6, A7, A8, Q5 and Q7. Late Tuesday, VW said it had also found “unexplained inconsistencies” in emissions from some of its vehicles of carbon dioxide. The cars were sold under the Volk- swagen, Audi, SEAT and Skoda brands, most of them in Europe and none in the United States. The company said the carbon dioxide problem could cost it $2.2 billion, on top of 6.7 billion euros it had already set aside to cover the costs of recalls. Analysts say the total costs in ¿nes and lost sales could be several times that. Amid concerns over the escalating costs, the German carmaker’s ordinary shares slid 9.5 percent to close at 100.45 euros. The shares have tumbled 23 percent since the scandal was revealed, and VW’s total value has fallen $26.3 billion to $57.21 billion at Wednesday’s euro-to-dollar conversion rate. The EU’s executive Commission told Volk- swagen to speed up its investigation, which is being led by law ¿rm Jones Day. “Public trust is at stake here,” spokeswoman Lucia Caudet told reporters on Wednesday. “We need all the facts on the table.” The commission has enforcement powers to ensure that manufacturers respect their obligations in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, including the possibility of imposing ¿nes. Germany’s transport minister indicated that VW will be on the hook for the costs of higher car taxes following the revelation that carbon dioxide emissions were understated. CAPECO: Distributes 1.2M pounds of food each year Continued from 1A January and February, but Quezada said CAPECO tries to move everything that comes into its ware- house within a month. As a member of the Oregon Food Bank network CAPECO can count on shipments from the state food bank during months that see fewer local donations. “Just because we don’t have food drives doesn’t mean people don’t get food,” she said. CAPECO distributes about 1.2 million pounds of food each year, some directly to families in need and some through allocations to emergency food assistance programs like the one run by the Agape House. The Agape House serves about 900 families a month in the Hermiston area. Nearby, Stan¿eld’s food basket program serves about 120 to 150. Bev Sherman, one of the volunteers who runs Stan- ¿eld’s food bank, said they get some donations directly from the community and some from CAPECO. The extra donations around the holidays allow the food bank to be open every Monday (except the one after Thanks- giving), instead of twice a month, during November and December. Sherman said volunteers try to offer items that can be cooked together into a nutritional meal. “We print up a menu of what we’re offering for that day,” she said. “We don’t have a big enough area to let (clients) get it themselves but we let them pick off the menu and we go get it for them.” Letting clients pick out their own food instead of handing them a pre-pack- aged box is something Quezada said CAPECO and the Oregon Food Bank encourage. It gives clients a sense of ownership and normalcy, she said, and cuts Staff photo by E.J. Harris Food Program Coordinator Tori Bowman prepares a shipment of food for the tribal commodities program on Wednesday at the CAPECO warehouse in Pendleton. down on waste. The type of food that comes into the CAPECO warehouse varies, Quezada said. On Wednesday, for example, volunteers from the job training program Trend- sitions, Inc. were sorting and bagging a one-time donation of 8,000 pounds of pinto beans. Quezada said the 1.2 million pounds of food distributed by CAPECO each year doesn’t count what CAPECO is able to give to the Oregon Food Bank on months that a local food processor or producer comes through with a large donation. “We’re their local contact, so they’ll call us and say ‘Do you want this?’ and then if there is more than we can use we’ll send it on to the Oregon Food Bank,” Quezada said. Girl Scout troop leader Michelle Kane said the Girl Scouts always contact area food banks about a good drop-off day before doing their annual regional food drive. “We try to have someone near each food bank coordi- nate collection in their area,” she said. The girls collect food in the spring, knowing donations drop off after the winter, and divide up their cities into sections so that no one gets asked for food by more than one troop. They end the day by bringing in their collected donations to the Agape House or another food bank for a weigh-in. “The girls really get into this,” Kane said. “They feel like they’re competing against themselves in the year before.” The CAPECO warehouse gives a glimpse of where the food that goes through the organization ends up. One portion is dedicated to a USDA program where income-qualifying tribal members and people who live on reservations can come pick out a month’s worth of food. Another is dedicated to putting together boxes for senior citizens, who can pick up a few days’ worth of food to supplement what they get through their local food bank. A large walk-in freezer holds meat and other “rescue food” donated by Safeway LAWSUIT: Immigrants lacking legal status make up about 3 percent of Oregon’s total population Continued from 1A natory and violates the U.S Constitution, the suit says. The lawsuit does not question the general validity of Oregon’s citizen initiative process. Defendants targeted in the lawsuit include Gov. Kate Brown, the director the state Department of Transporta- tion, several Transportation Commission members, and the administrator of the Oregon DMV. State Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum’s spokes- woman Kristina Edmunson said the Oregon Department of Justice will represent the defendants. Edmunson declined to comment on the pending litigation. About 120,000 immi- grants in Oregon lack legal status, according to the Pew Research Center. They make up about 3 percent of the state’s total population. More than 80 percent have lived in the country for more than ¿ve years and many have U.S. citizen children. The complaint was ¿led in the name of ¿ve anonymous immigrants who would have quali¿ed for the driver’s cards and two organizations that serve Latinos and are affected by their inability to drive. The suit seeks to be certi¿ed as a class action that includes all residents who have lived in the state for more than one year and are denied driving privileges solely because they are unable to prove legal presence. The state estimated that, were it not for the passage of Measure 88, it would have issued about 84,000 driver’s cards in the ¿rst year after the law took effect. Many would have been issued to immigrants who were long-time residents and whose driver’s licenses had expired, according to a state analysis. In the past, Oregon allowed state residents to get a driver’s license regardless of legal status. But in 2008, to make licenses compliant with the federal REAL ID Act, legislators enacted a law that required Oregonians to show proof of legal pres- ence in the U.S. to obtain a license. The state reversed course in 2013, joining seven other states in granting driving privileges to immigrants lacking legal status. The cards could not be used to vote, get bene¿ts or buy ¿rearms. Oregon voters, by a margin of 66 percent to 34 percent, canceled that law before it went into effect. Proponents of Measure 88 — mostly represented by the group Oregonians for Immigration Reform — said granting the driver cards would lead to more immigrants without legal status moving to Oregon, taking Oregonians’ jobs and pushing up crime rates. Andrea Miller, director of the Oregon immigrant-rights group Causa that pushed for the driver card law, said Measure 88’s invalidation of the law has led to a crisis in the Latino community. “Mothers and fathers are struggling to take their kids to school, workers in the ¿eld are struggling to get to work, and children who come of age have to drive their family around to take care of basic needs,” Miller said. and Wal-Mart when it is still good but past the corpora- tion’s sell-by policy. What CAPECO could use now, Quezada said, is more volunteers to come and help sort and package the holiday rush of food. ——— Contact Jade McDowell at jmcdowell@eastorego- nian.com or 541-564-4536. Thursday, November 5, 2015 EOTEC: Money comes from the Oregon Lottery Continued from 1A commissioners the board needed to push to ¿nish and the amount is not out of line. He stressed this was a “good deal for the county” and far cheaper than the cost of renovating the fairgrounds. Holding the fair at the center in 2017 is a year behind the originally stated schedule. Anderson, however, during his turn at the mic said the project was not behind schedule nor over budget and touted the event center as the spark to economic development on the south end of Hermiston. Commissioner Bill Elfering said as a busi- nessman, investor and taxpayer, the new building replaces three at the current fair site that are “being held together with bubble gum and baling wire.” Rather than keep those buildings limping along, he said, he would rather invest in a new facility that has the potential of bringing in new revenue. He also said he has no hesitation putting economic money toward the project. Those dollars come from the Oregon Lottery and are not part of the county’s general fund. Commissioner Larry Givens was in the same boat and said the county could not delay. County board chairman George Murdock pointed out the county and Herm- iston shoulder the liability for any shortfalls, and he has seen nothing requiring EOTEC to have a rainy day fund. County budget of¿cer Robert Pahl said there is a reserve fund of about $225,000, but that was not for capital improvements unless the board voted to change it. He also asked the board to hold off on approving the $600,000 so he could review the budget. Givens didn’t hold off, however, and voted to approve the funding request. Elfering gave the second, and both voted yes. Murdock abstained. “I was not ready,” he stated. “I didn’t realize we were going to do this today.” They’ve served our country with courage and honor. They’ve left behind loved ones to risk their lives in protecting their country. They’ve defended our freedoms and ideals. They make us proud to be Americans. Join us for Veterans Day, Wednesday, November 11, 2015 in the East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald, as we honor the men and women of the U.S. Military. Their courage, hard work and sacrifice are the backbone of our nation, protecting freedom, liberty, justice and all we hold dear. “I was not ready. I didn’t realize we were going to do this today.” — George Murdock, Umatilla County Board of Commissioners chairman The board expressed more caution on the economic development request that preceded the surprise EOTEC vote. Mike Short, president of the Round-Up City Devel- opment Corporation, told commissioners there is no radar system at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport, but the city of Pendleton has the opportunity to receive a $1.5 million Connect Oregon grant to buy and install a radar system that would be an asset to the remotely manned aircraft range there and the airport as a whole. The grant requires a 30 percent match, he said, and Pendleton and the Port of Umatilla each promised $150,000. He asked the county to give the last $150,000 so the grant appli- cation could meet a deadline in 10 days. Elfering asked how much revenue the range has generated. Pendleton economic development director and airport manager Steve Chrisman responded none yet, but that looks to change in the next two years. Elfering suggested the county could give $30,000 a year for ¿ve years. Short did not turn down the offer but pointed out the grant needed the cash match upfront. The board decided to look at the request further and come back in a few days to decide. Short stayed through the EOTEC presentation and told commissioners legacy projects always have their “bumps and bruises,” including funding delays. He said he wanted the county to give his funding request the same level of consideration as they did EOTEC. PRICES 1x4 - $ 40.00 2x3 - $ 55.00 Full Color Included Private Party Only Bring in or call 1-800-522-0255 with a photo and message to your hero to give them a special thanks. DEADLINE Wednesday, November 5 th 1x4 EXAMPLE For more information call Paula at 541-278-2678 or 1-800-522-0255 or Hermiston Herald at 541-564-4530. 2x3 EXAMPLE We are so proud of you for serving your country. Love Evelyn, Joe and Cheryl J OSEPH B. D AVIS J OSEPH S MITH Thank you for your service! Love always Marcy, Julie & Emily