www . THESKANNER . COM
M Ay 11, 2011
P ORTlAND
V OlUME XXXIII, N O . 28
25
CENTS
I NSIDE
Choral Poetic History
page 2
NBA All-Star’s Book
page 9
Succeed in College
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
Will consumer input
affect a 22 percent
insurance rate jump?
By Brian Stimson
Of The Skanner News
S
hould Regence Blue Cross Blue
Shield be allowed to raise their health
insurance rates 22 percent? Next
month the Oregon Insurance Division plans
a public hearing on the proposed hike,
which would affect nearly 60,000
Oregonians.
It’s the only public meeting in recent
memory that the Insurance Division has
held for a rate hike, according to Laura
Etherton, of the consumer group OSPIRG.
Public hearings on big rate hikes could
become the rule if the Oregon Senate passes
bill 717, which would require the Insurance
Division to hold such meetings when insur-
ance companies request rate increases.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Chip
Shields, N/NE Portland, as well as the
Committee on General Government and
Consumer and Small Business Protection,
would mandate public hearings on rate
increases bigger than 7 percent and those
that affect 1,000 or more policy holders.
“A public meetings process would pre-
cede a public hearing to allow questions to
be asked of insurers in a public forum,” said
Shields.
OSPIRG, a group that is contracted by the
state to analyze rate increase requests, says
they are currently going through Regence’s
bid for more money to determine if the
increase is supported by the company’s
needs. The public hearing is June 2 from
4:30 to 7 p.m., at University Place at
Portland State, 310 SW Lincoln St. in
Portland
“What’s clear on the face of it is that a 22
percent rate increase will make it very diffi-
cult for Oregonians to afford,” said
Etherton, who is part of OSPIRG’s Health
Insurance Rate Watch project. “That raises
flags for not only affordability for
Oregonians, but whether or not Blue Cross
Blue Shield will be able to maintain enroll-
HannaH
to
atlanta
Benson High School Junior Khari-Malik
Hannah has been nominated for Team USA
this fall. Now all he needs to do is come up
with transportation expenses for himself and
his dad, Charles Hannah, to Atlanta, Ga.,
where a training camp is held over Memorial
Day weekend. The two figure they need to
raise $3,000 by May 26. The “Hannah to
Atlanta Fund” has been set up at US Bank,
where anyone can invest some money to
send the father and son off to their dream.
Reach Charles Hannah at 503-750-5890.
New Evidence Gives Proof of Heroic Acts
Final push may secure Medal of Honor for Sgt. Henry Lincoln Johnson
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
N
inety-three years ago, on
a World War I battlefield
in France, a young Black
soldier became a legend. Now
new evidence may bring official
recognition for Sgt. Henry
Lincoln Johnson’s heroism with
America’s highest military
award, The Medal of Honor.
Sources close to the campaign
say Sens. Charles Schumer and
Ron Wyden will submit a pack-
et containing that evidence to
See RatES on page 3
INDEX
News .........2,3,8-10,12
Opinion ..................4,5
A & E ...................2,6,7
Books.........................7
Bids/Classifieds ........11
PHOtO BY JulIE kEEfE
Public
Health
Debate
page 7
Army Sec. John McHugh, pos-
sibly as soon as Friday, May 13.
“I didn’t know that. This is
very exciting,” said Sgt.
Johnson’s grandson, Herman
Johnson. “I would just love to
see this happen for my grandfa-
ther, and for my uncle, Herman
Johnson. It breaks my heart that
my uncle passed away in his
eighties without seeing his
father awarded the medal he
rightly deserved.”
So what happened that night
in 1918? On guard duty in the
dark of night, Sgt. Johnson and
Pvt. Neadom Roberts were
attacked on two flanks by a
German raiding party estimated
to be 20-strong. Both men
fought bravely, but Johnson dis-
played exceptional courage.
Fighting on with his bolo knife,
even after his rifle jammed and
he had sustained several
wounds, he repelled the attack
and rescued Roberts, who was
being dragged off as a prisoner.
“President Teddy Roosevelt
called him ‘one of the five
bravest men who fought in
World War I,’” Portland City
Commissioner Nick Fish wrote
May 9, in a letter urging
Oregon’s entire Congressional
Delegation to support the
request. “Because he served
with a French unit, under
French flag, during a time of
segregation in our armed forces,
he has been unjustly denied this
country’s highest military
honor.”
Commissioner Fish has a per-
sonal interest in the story. He
heard all about Johnson from his
grandfather Hamilton Fish, who
See MEDal on page 8
The Skanner Partners with Oregonian
Interactive web page brings together communities across the state
T
he Skanner news group is partnering
with the Oregonian and American
University’s J-Lab Institute for
Interactive Journalism to create the
Oregonian News Service, a new way for
readers to catch up on news around the
entire state of Oregon.
Other partners include The Lund Report, a
public health blog; BikePortland, which
covers cycling news and public policy
around transportation; Oregon Capitol
News and more.
“Not only does this project give the
Skanner news a wider platform to reach
readers within our community, but it also
gives the wider readership of The
Oregonian a chance to find out more about
our community issues,” said the Skanner
news Publisher Bernie Foster.
“We applaud the Oregonian for providing
this opportunity,” he said.
“This is about literally sending our reader
to other small news sites for the full story,”
said ONN project coordinator Cornelius
Swart.
“the oregonian is dedicated to profes-
sional reporting,” he says.
“We’d also like to become a trusted
See NEwS on page 3