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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 8, 2001)
August 8,2001 Page A3 <ïbt JJorilanò ©h server Study Says Early Americans From Japan (A P) - The first people to cross a land bridge from Asia and settle in the A m ericas may have been descendants o f an ancient group w ho once lived in Japan, according to a new stu d y . R esearchers exam ining and m easuring the bone structure o f nearly 10,000 ancient hu m an s k u lls c o lle c te d fro m around the w orld say the first A m ericans w ere m ost closely related to the Jom on, a preh is toric people w ho lived in Japan thousands o f years ago, and to a later group, the Ainu. C. L oring B race o f the M u seum o f A nthropology at the U niversity of M ichigan said the skull m easurem ents and other evidence suggest the m em bers o f th e J o m o n - A in u g ro u p crossed w hat is now the Bering S traits and m igrated through out the A m ericas, from A laska to the tip o f South A m erica. “T hese w ere not the people w ho now live in Japan,” said Brace, lead author o f a study. “T hose people m igrated to Ja pan later from Asia, but you c a n s till fin d tra c e s o f the Jom on am ong the Japanese.” Brace said the Jom on had som e characteristics o f E uro peans, along w ith A sian influ e n c e s. At the tim e o f the first m i gration, 15,000 years ago, ice covered much of the northern world, causing the worldw ide sea level to drop by hundreds o f feet. The Bering Strait, w hich is not m uch deep er than 60 feet in m ost places, was not there. Instead, there was a dry land bridge from A laska to Si beria. Brace said characteristics of the first migrants are now clearly seen in many of the American In d ia n trib e s, in c lu d in g the Blackfoot, Sioux and Cherokee. Comment Sought on Health Plan Changes The Oregon Health Plan pro ew legislation will vides coverage for people on add up to 50,000 Oregonians to the public assistance. It also pro coverage for about 93,000 Oregon Health Plan, vides but re people who are not in a tradi duce coverage to pay for more people using the insurance plan. As a result, community forum s are scheduled statewide to learn how people would prefer ben efits to change. Two pub lic meetings will be held in the Portland area, starting » with a session on Wednes day, Aug. 8 at Tuality Hospital in Hillsboro, fol lowing by a meeting Tues day, A ug. 28 at the Adventist Medical Cen ter, 10123 S.E. Market St. Both sessions will run from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.. “We will ask per,pie how they rank various benefits such as physician services, dental care and prescrip tion drugs,” said Dr. John Santa, administrator of the state Office for Oregon Health Plan Policy and Re search, which staffs the state commission. “We also want to hear opinions about costs such as higher premiums, deductibles and co-pays.” N tional Medicaid category or who earn too much for assistance but whose household incomes are still below the federal pov erty level ($ 1,179 a month for a family of 3). That expanded coverage, now in its eighth year, would grow to cover Oregonians with a household income of up to 185 percent of the federal pov erty level ($2,181 a month for a family of 3). Expanding the number of people covered, which is ex pected by late 2002, will be financed by a combination of reducing the benefit package and seeking federal matching funds. A C T IO N s y Abdullah Takes Job Promoting Health <;■ « ________ Shareefah Abdullah Southw est W ashington H ealth D istrict has hired S h a re e fa h A b d u lla h o f V ancouver as its first com m unications specialist. A form er media relations m anager for the Am erican H e a rt A s s o c ia tio n , A bdullah will handle inter nal and external com m uni cations. “W e’re pleased to add Shareefah to the health dis trict team,” executive direc tor Kay Koontz said. Abdullah holds a law de gree from N o rthw estern School o f Law of Lewis and C lark C ollege in Portland and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Univ. of Massachusetts at Boston. She wrote neighbor hood and business news for the Colombian in Vancouver, before joining the American Heart Association. She is a member of the Public Relations Society of America and former president of the Portland Association of Black Journalists. < z z w w w .o fe g o n lo tte r y .o r g O re g o n L o t t e r y S p o rts A c tio n is N O J a s s e tta te d w ith , sp o n s o re d o r a u t h o m e d by th e N a tio n a l F o o tb a ll L e a g u e o r any o t h e r pro fessio n al s p o rts le a g u e o r o r g a n is a tio n . L o t t e r y g am es a r e b as ed on c h a n c e , sho u ld b e p layed fo r e n t e r t a in m e n t o nly a n d sho u ld h o t be p layed fo r in v e s tn s e n t p u rp o ses. O d d s v a ry by th e n u m b e r o f e v e n ts p la y e d E stim ated Payout • 40 V