2A — THE OBSERVER
DAILY
PLANNER
TODAY
Today is Tuesday, May 19,
the 140th day of 2020. There
are 226 days left in the year.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
On May 19, 1943, in his
second wartime address to
the U.S. Congress, British
Prime Minister Winston
Churchill pledged his coun-
try’s full support in the fi ght
against Japan; that evening,
Churchill met with President
Franklin D. Roosevelt at the
White House, where the
two leaders agreed on May
1, 1944, as the date for the
D-Day invasion of France
(the operation ended up
being launched more than a
month later).
ON THIS DATE
In 1536, Anne Boleyn, the
second wife of England’s
King Henry VIII, was behead-
ed after being convicted of
adultery.
In 1649, England was
declared a republic by
Parliament following the
execution of King Charles I.
In 1913, California Gov.
Hiram Johnson signed a law
prohibiting “aliens ineligible
to citizenship” from owning
farm land, a measure
targeting Asian immigrants,
particularly Japanese.
In 1921, Congress passed,
and President Warren G.
Harding signed, the Emer-
gency Quota Act, which
established national quotas
for immigrants.
In 1924, the Marx Brothers
made their Broadway debut
in the revue “I’ll Say She Is.”
In 1935, T.E. Lawrence,
also known as “Lawrence of
Arabia,” died in England, six
days after being injured in a
motorcycle crash.
In 1967, the Soviet Union
ratifi ed a treaty with the
United States and Britain,
banning nuclear and other
weapons from outer space
as well as celestial bodies
such as the moon. (The
treaty entered into force in
October 1967.)
In 1992, in a case that
drew much notoriety, Mary
Jo Buttafuoco of Mass-
apequa, New York, was shot
and seriously wounded by
her husband Joey’s teenage
lover, Amy Fisher.
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DELIVERY ISSUES?
If you have any problems
receiving your Observer, call
the offi ce at 541-963-3161.
TODAY’S QUOTE
“Every moment one lives
is different from the other.
The good, the bad, hard-
ship, the joy, the tragedy,
love, and happiness are all
interwoven into one single,
indescribable whole that
is called life. You cannot
separate the good from the
bad. And perhaps there is no
need to do so, either.”
— Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis (1929-1994)
Oregon Legislature could convene in June
Logistics of meeting during coronavirus
pandemic are unlike any in its history
By Gary A. Warner
For the Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — The Oregon
Legislature is preparing
to meet as early as June at
the Capitol to deal with an
estimated $3 billion gap in
the state budget due to the
fi nancial fallout of the coro-
navirus pandemic.
The 60 House members
and 30 senators, along with
staff and support personnel,
would be coming to Salem
amid an ongoing public
health crisis that has killed
138 people in Oregon and
seriously sickened thou-
sands. The Capitol is in
Marion County, which has
the highest per capita rate of
positive cases in the state.
With businesses closed
and thousands unem-
ployed, the hit on the state
budget has been specula-
tive. That speculation will
end Wednesday when the
Offi ce of Economic Anal-
ysis issues the Oregon Eco-
nomic Forecast.
Gov. Kate Brown has
asked state departments and
agencies to submit a plan to
cut their budgets by up to
17%. Brown said last month
she expected to call a spe-
cial session of the Legisla-
ture after the May 20 report
to fi gure out how to pull
the state out of its cashfl ow
crater. Unlike the federal
government, Oregon has to
have a balanced budget by
constitutional mandate.
Oregon had 3,687
COVID-19 cases as of
Monday. Marion County
has 843 cases and 24
deaths, second only to
Multnomah County, which
includes Portland.
The largest proportion of
Marion County cases have
been reported north of the
Capitol, in North Salem,
Gervais and Woodburn.
But the Capitol zip code —
97301 — has had 69 cases
through May 12, about 12.4
per 10,000 people.
The high rate led the
Oregon Health Authority to
send three of the 15 Abbott
ID NOW test machines
obtained recently from
the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Ser-
vices to Marion County.
The machines can report a
positive test result within 15
minutes.
Though nearly every leg-
EO Media Group
SALEM — The
COVID-19 pandemic
delayed the U.S. Census
Bureau’s ability to hand-de-
liver materials and make
sure everyone is counted in
the 2020 census, the offi cial
count of every person in the
United States done every
decade.
Most people already
received an invitation in the
mail to complete the census.
But 27,229 households in
Oregon do not receive mail
at their addresses, and the
Census Bureau is required
to deliver the invitations.
“We need to tie a census
count to a physical address.
We cannot tie it to a P.O.
islator will be coming to
Marion County from places
with lower infection rates,
several from both parties
agreed the need for action
outweighed any perceived
personal risk.
“Our obligation is to
deal with the pending
catastrophe of the state
budget,” said Sen. Betsy
Johnson, D-Scappoose.
Johnson said exposure
of lawmakers and staff to
the virus can be limited if
there is an agreement ahead
of time that business will be
rapidly completed and the
Legislature adjourned. That
means getting Democrats
and Republicans to promise
to limit the session to only
fi xing the budget and not
bringing up other policy
issues.
“I think we need to be
absolutely unambiguous
about what we are going to
do and what we will NOT
do,” she said. “We should
have a protocol ahead of
time, agreed to by the gov-
ernor, and the leadership of
the Senate and House and
announce it to the public.”
Asked if she would come
to Salem herself, Johnson
was clear.
“Absolutely,” she said.
“If you take precautions,
you can be safe anywhere.”
The logistics of a pos-
sible special session are
being drawn up by the
offi ces of the presiding
offi cers, House Speaker
Tina Kotek, D-Portland,
and Senate President Peter
Courtney, D-Salem.
Bringing lawmakers
back to the Capitol is cur-
rently the only option, said
Danny Moran, Kotek’s
communications director.
Idaho’s fi rst mail-in primary
moves ahead amid coronavirus
By Keith Ridler
Associated Press
BOISE — Idaho is
holding an entirely mail-in
primary for the fi rst time
as the state works to slow
the spread of the corona-
virus pandemic.
Ballots must be
requested by Tuesday and
returned by 8 p.m. June
2 to local county elec-
tions offi ces, with results
announced that evening.
The Idaho secretary of
state’s offi ce said 320,000
ballots have been requested
and mailed out, with about
100,000 returned in what
could be a record turnout.
“It’s looking like equal
or better than the presiden-
tial primary” in March,
said Secretary of State
Chief Deputy Chad Houck.
Democratic voters will
see one high-profi le name
on their ballot: Former
2018 Democratic guber-
natorial nominee Paulette
Jordan of Plummer is run-
ning against former con-
gressional candidate Jim
Vandermaas, a retired law
enforcement worker from
Eagle, for a chance to chal-
lenge GOP Sen. Jim Risch
in November.
Jordan, who served
two terms in the Idaho
House of Representatives,
garnered national atten-
tion during her 2018 cam-
paign amid hopes from
supporters that she could
become the fi rst Native
American governor in the
United States.
Either way, the Demo-
cratic nominee will have a
tough road ahead of them
when they take on Risch,
who is seeking his third
six-year term representing
one of the most conserva-
tive states in the nation.
Jordan, despite the pub-
licity of her gubernato-
AP Photo/Jack Smith, File
Associated Press fi le photo
In this Nov. 6, 2018, fi le photo, voters cast their ballots
at Collister Elementary in Boise. On Tuesday, May 19,
2020, Idaho is holding an entirely mail-in primary for the
fi rst time as the state works to slow the spread of the
coronavirus pandemic.
rial campaign in 2018,
for example, got only
40% of the vote against
then-Republican Lt. Gov.
Brad Little in the general
election.
Risch is running unop-
posed in the GOP primary.
Two other Republicans
seeking to represent Idaho
in Congress are facing pri-
mary challenges.
Rep. Mike Simpson,
who has been in offi ce
since 1999, faces Kevin
Rhoades, a Boise resident
and small businessman.
Rhoades is trying to posi-
tion himself to the right of
Simpson. But Simpson has
a long history of bringing
in federal dollars for the
U.S. Department of Ener-
gy’s Idaho National Lab-
oratory, one of the largest
employers in Simpson’s
district as well as the state.
First-term Rep. Russ
Fulcher is being challenged
by Boise resident Nich-
olas Jones, who owns sev-
eral board game shops and
burger eateries.
Democrats competing
in the primary are Rudy
Soto, a member of the Sho-
shone-Bannock Tribes of
the Fort Hall Reservation,
and Staniela Nikolova, a
University of Idaho law
student.
Idaho Republicans have
a closed primary, with bal-
lots available only to reg-
istered Republican voters,
and the contested congres-
sional seats are typically
won by the incumbents.
Besides those races, all
70 seats in the Idaho House
and 35 in the Idaho Senate
are on the ballot. How-
ever, many of the races are
uncontested.
Republicans hold
super-majorities in both
chambers, and the toughest
test for most Repub-
lican offi ceholders is the
primary.
Some races of note
include the contest among
four Republicans to replace
Rep. Gary Collins of
Nampa, who is retiring
after 10 terms.
In eastern Idaho, incum-
bent Republican Rep. Britt
Raybould of Rexburg is
being challenged by former
Republican Rep. Ron Nate,
who previously served two
terms before losing in the
2018 primary.
2020 Census staff resume door-to-door work in Oregon
By Kyle Spurr
TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020
STATE/REGIONAL
box,” said Jeff Enos, U.S.
Census Bureau deputy
regional director of the Los
Angeles Region, which
oversees Oregon. “We have
to physically deliver census
materials in these areas that
do not receive home mail
delivery.”
La GRANDE
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Census Bureau staff
resumed work this week to
drop off invitations at door-
steps across Oregon. It was
the fi rst time staff went
door-to-door in Oregon
since fi eld work was sus-
pended March 18 due to the
coronavirus.
Staff wore face masks
and gloves as they dropped
the materials at doorsteps,
Enos said. They avoided
interacting with people.
So far, about 61% of
people in Oregon have
responded to the 2020
census.
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In this May 18, 1980, fi le photo, Mount St. Helens sends a
plume of ash, smoke and debris skyward as it erupts. May
18, 2020, is the 40th anniversary of the eruption that killed
more than 50 people and blasted more than 1,300 feet off
the mountain’s peak, but the COVID-19 crisis nixed public
observances of the anniversary at the mountain.
Virus interrupts
St. Helens eruption
anniversary plans
Associated Press
COUGAR, Wash. —
The coronavirus outbreak
disrupted what had been big
plans to mark the 40th anni-
versary of the eruption of
Mount St. Helens in Wash-
ington state.
The peak in the Cascade
Mountain Range blew its
top on May 18, 1980, killing
57 people, blasting more
than 1,300 feet off the top
of the mountain and raining
volcanic ash around for
hundreds of miles.
But there were no public
observances at the volcano
Monday. Oregon Public
Broadcasting reported the
main highway into the
national volcanic monument
is closed due to COVID-19,
and the multiple visitor cen-
ters and museums that had
planned remembrances also
are closed.
“We’ve been thrown
for quite a loop here,” said
Washington State Parks
interpretive specialist Alysa
Adams, adding plans for
next year are in the works
for the 41st anniversary.
Several agencies are pre-
senting talks and experi-
ences online.
The Oregon Museum
of Science and Industry,
Pacifi c Northwest Seismic
Network and Washington
State Parks scheduled sep-
arate 40th-anniversary
live stream presentations
Monday night.
The eruption produced
huge, black and grey clouds
of ash that rose more than
80,000 feet and eventu-
ally poured tiny granules of
debris in cities and towns
throughout the Northwest.
The peak had experienced
many smaller eruptions on
the weeks preceding the big
event. Within minutes of
a 5.1 earthquake that hit at
8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980,
the volcano’s north fl ank
collapsed, triggering the
largest landslide in recorded
history.
The explosion scorched
and fl attened about 230
square miles of dense
forest.
Michael
BARRY
H For COMMISSIONER H
Union County
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Union County Commissioner
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