Today
Saturday Sunday
High: 61
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Precip: 50%
High: 65
Low: 46
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High: 66
Low: 45
Precip: 30%
IN BRIEF
First lady praises program
that mentors children
PORTLAND — Laura Bush made a
second West Coast stop Thursday to
build support for her “Helping Ameri
ca’s Youth” program, visiting the head
quarters of a nonprofit group that pairs
first-graders with adults to reduce the
chances the students will get involved
with drugs or gangs.
“Children want us in their lives, and
they need us in their lives,” Bush said,
repeating a line she had used earlier
Thursday at a similar gathering to
wrap up a Los Angeles visit.
She drew a standing ovation from a
crowd of more than 1,000 people who
packed the headquarters of Portland
based Friends of the Children, which
provides mentors to first-graders who
suffer from various problems, includ
ing drug-addicted parents, neglect or
sexual abuse.
“Every moment in a child’s life is
precious,” Bush said.
She praised Duncan Campbell,
who founded Friends of the Chil
dren in 1993.
Bush noted that Campbell overcame
his own troubled childhood growing
up poor with alcoholic parents, earn
ing a law degree and becoming a suc
cessful businessman who has invested
his time and money in his old neigh
borhood, which is still suffering from
many of the same problems.
Campbell joined Bush for a meeting
with some of the mentors and their
children before her speech, and he told
the crowd he still becomes emotional
when he hears their stories and sees
their determination to overcome seri
ous problems.
“I’ve been doing this for 12 years,
and I almost started crying like a
baby,” Campbell said.
But outside the headquarters, stand
ing on the porch of his house, 10-year
old Demarcus Spencer asked whether
Bush would be able to help improve
support for public schools, including
his, Boise-Eliot Elementary.
“What is she going to do about
saving our schools?” the fifth-grad
er asked.
Jim Edmunson, Democratic Party
chairman in Oregon, said the Bush
administration has proposed cuts in
48 different education and children’s
programs totaling $4.3 billion.
Edmunson noted that some of
those programs facing cuts specifically
target inner-city youths, the children
the Portland program is designed to
help. He also said the proposed
administration budget “dramatically
underfunds” the president’s No Child
Left Behind initiative.
“If the first lady is serious about
helping America’s youth, she ought
to go back to Washington and tell
President Bush to stop slashing pro
grams that benefit Oregon’s youth
who need them most to give tax
breaks to those who need them
least,” Edmunson said.
— The Associated Press
Senate panel OKs
bill to cap interest
on payday loans
BY NIKI SULLIVAN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALEM — New restrictions
would be imposed on the high-in
terest, short-term payday loan in
dustry under a bill passed by a Sen
ate panel Thursday.
The bill would limit interest
charges to 15 percent, set a mini
mum 31-day loan term and require
consumers to pay off a quarter of
the loan before renewing it.
It’s supported by advocates for
the poor, who say it will help those
who have nowhere else to turn for
money from falling too far into debt.
But opponents call the bill unnec
essary, citing the low number of
consumer complaints.
The bill passed the Senate Com
merce Committee on a 3-1 vote and
now heads to the full Senate.
There was no testimony in Thurs
day’s hearing, but in previous hear
ings the Oregon Food Bank support
ed the bill as a way to prevent the
poor from falling deeper into debt.
Angela Martin of the Oregon
Food Bank described the bill in a
previous interview as a way to set
up consumers to succeed, not to
prevent them from getting payday
loans. She said the bill is a compro
mise that still allows profitable inter
est rates but also helps keep con
sumers from abusing the loans.
Oregon is one of eight states that
have no cap on payday loan interest
charges, according to the Oregon
Department of Consumer and Busi
ness Services.
The bill passed despite opposi
tion from Sen. Doug Whitsett,
R-Klamath Falls, who said he had
n’t heard testimony from one per
son directly harmed by the
high-interest loans.
But Sen. Charlie Ringo, D
Beaverton, said he “never heard
any discussion of why lenders
need to charge interest rates of
500 percent.”
The small, short-term loans usu
ally come at a cost of $15 or more
per $100 loaned, with additional
fees each time the loan is renewed.
Figured annually, the interest
rate varies from 300 to more than
600 percent in Oregon, according
to figures payday lenders are re
quired to disclose to consumers
under federal law.
The bill would limit charges to
$15 per $100 loaned, in addition to
allowing consumers to enter a re
payment plan if, after their second
loan renewal, they are still unable to
repay the balance.
While committee members and
advocates for the poor said they
were happy to support the bill,
a payday lending group said it
was unnecessary.
In 2003, 677,000 payday loans
were made in Oregon with a com
bined value of $215 million. There
are currently more payday loan
stores in Oregon — more than 320
— than any single fast-food chain.
AMBER: Oregon is 5th state
to use the Web portal system
Continued from page 1
The previous system, which
only utilized electronic highway
billboards and radio and television
broadcasts, could take up to three
hours to distribute information.
Those three hours are critical be
cause in that short period of time,
74 percent of kidnapped children
are killed, according to a press re
lease from Walek & Associates,
the firm handling the Web Portal
Consortium.
“This is just the next step in an ini
tiative to protect children,” Kulon
goski spokeswoman Anna Richter
Taylor said, adding the AMBER Alert
Web Portal was already available to
media and law enforcement, but
now anyone can sign up.
Recently in Washington state, one
child was recovered under the new
system before the old system had
time to kick in, Walek & Associates
spokesman David Rosen said.
All Oregonians are encouraged to
go to www.oregonamberalert.com
and sign up to receive PC pop-ups as
well as cell phone and pager text
message alerts.
In addition, businesses with Ore
gon Lottery will receive AMBER
Alert printouts from validation ma
chines, which the retailers can post
for customers to see.
“The more people who know, the
better chance we have of rescuing
the child,” Taylor said, adding that
everyone who has a cell phone or
computer should sign up.
Not only will the new Web portal
provide live information and updates
to anyone who signs up, but law en
forcement, broadcast media, en
hanced 9-1-1 call centers, electronic
highway billboards, other states, bor
der agencies, transit authorities and
casinos will also have access, accord
ing to a press release from the Ore
gon State Police.
Taylor said because the funding is
coming from non-profit organiza
tions and corporate sponsorship, the
system is free to the public.
Oregon is the fifth state to utilize
the Web portal system, joining
Washington, Idaho, Montana and
Arizona. In the coming months, Al
abama, Nevada, Oklahoma, Mis
souri and Rhode Island are sched
uled to receive the program as well.
emilysmith@ daily emerald, com
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UNLEASH the TIGER TONIGHT!
Join the UO Bookstore at 6 p.m. for tiger treats and beverages. The Digital Duck will close
one hour early tonight and re-open to host an “after hours” event from 6 p.m.- 8 p.m.