The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, September 20, 2017, Image 1

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    EVERYTHING AUTO FALL 2017 EDITION INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2017
145TH YEAR, NO. 58
ONE DOLLAR
PATRIOT HALL
SPARKLES AT GRAND OPENING
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
TOP: State Sen. Betsy Johnson, right, holding scissors, helps cut the ribbon during the grand opening of Patriot Hall at Clatsop Community College on
Tuesday in Astoria. LEFT: Members of the Swenson family run the ceremonial first official lap on the new Patriot Hall track . MIDDLE: Clatsop Community
College President Christopher Breitmeyer, right, recognizes the school’s board of directors . RIGHT: Members of the public were invited to walk the
new track . The new facility features studio and office space, a basketball court, classrooms and a gym and weight room.
New lease for Chinook Building Eliminating
Conference space
planned near Port
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria Commission
on Tuesday approved leasing out the
Chinook Building to William Orr and
Chester Trabucco, who operate the
Astoria Riverwalk Inn next door.
Orr and Trabucco’s company,
Marina Village LLC, will take over
daily operations of the Chinook Build-
ing, which includes a seafood mar-
ket, charter boat company and several
offi ce tenants. Upstairs is the meeting
space of the Astoria Yacht Club, which
occupies part of the 7,500 square feet
Medicaid
backlog will
cost Oregon
Marina Village plans to improve into
conference space for attracting more
guests during winter.
The lease runs one year, with subse-
quent 10- and 50-year renewal options.
Marina Village will pay the Port $6,311
a month, along with taxes, insurance
and utilities.
Port Executive Director Jim Knight
said the initial term of the Chinook
Building lease, ending in October
2018, is meant to coincide with the end
of Orr and Trabucco’s current term on
the Riverwalk Inn . The pair took over
operation of the hotel from Brad Smi-
thart two years ago and envision a
Marina Village tourist attraction around
the Port’s West Mooring Basin.
The Daily Astorian
See LEASE, Page 7A
The Chinook Building will be leased to Marina Village,
which plans to develop the upstairs into conference space.
Estimated expense
pegged at $4.3 million
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
Gov. Brown doesn’t get meeting
with Attorney General Sessions
Brown would have made an
appeal for DACA program
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions
didn’t meet with Gov. Kate Brown while in Portland
Tuesday, despite her request for an audience with him.
In a speech at a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services offi ce in Portland, Sessions castigated sanctu-
ary cities as promoters of “lawlessness.”
Meanwhile, Brown spoke with reporters in her offi ce
at the Capitol.
See SESSIONS, Page 7A
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian
A group protested U.S. Attorney General Jeff Ses-
sions Tuesday as he arrived in Portland to discuss
sanctuary city policies with city and regional law
enforcement officials.
SALEM — An intensive effort to shore
up Oregon’s Medicaid enrollment records is
expected to cost the state at least $4.3 million.
Participants in the Oregon Health Plan,
Oregon’s Medicaid program, must have their
eligibility for the plan verifi ed annually in a
process called redetermination.
Oregon had fallen behind on those annual
redeterminations, and by late May had an
estimated backlog of about 115,000 people
whose eligibility for the Oregon Health Plan
was in question.
State workers and contractors hired by
the state spent months verifying whether
those people were still eligible to receive
Medicaid benefi ts, a project that concluded
at the end of August.
Of the group of approximately 115,000,
the state found that more than half were still
eligible for the Oregon Health Plan.
However, 31,895 did not respond to the
department’s inquiries and 22,937 were
found to no longer qualify for the program;
both groups were removed from the state’s
Medicaid rolls.
The $4.3 million estimated cost includes
a $1 million contract with auditing fi rm
KPMG and $1.7 million in costs associated
with limited-duration staff.
See MEDICAID, Page 7A