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WWW . THESKANNER . COM A UGUST 15, 2012 S EATTLE , W ASHINGTON V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 33 25 CENTS For The Skanner news alerts Text "NEWS" to 503-715-0890 or scan this QR code C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW Governor Race All Over Map WITH THE NUNS Observers: November election might still hold surprises By Rachel La Corte The Associated Press PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Hundreds marched on Sunday, Aug. 12, to show support for nuns who were recently rebuked by the Catholic Church for promoting “radical feminist themes.’’ The “I Stand with the Sisters” marchers carried flowers and sang hymns on their walk from Capitol Hill to St. James Cathedral, the seat of the Archdiocese of Seattle. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious represents about 80 percent of the 57,000 Roman Catholic nuns in the U.S. A recent Vatican report labeled them dissenters who undermine Catholic teaching on all- male priesthood, birth control and homosexuality. The group held its national assembly last week in St. Louis and its board met on Saturday with Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain. The Vatican has appointed Sartain to oversee an overhaul of the group. Doctors Hard to Hire in Cowlitz County Lack of medical care in rural areas will grow with Health Care Act By Marqise Allen The Longview Daily News LONGVIEW, Wash. (AP) — The Cowlitz Family Health Center has been trying to hire a doctor for three years, and it’s no closer to filling the vacancy now than it was when the process began. ``We’ve had a few applicants, but not many,’’ said Tamara Russell, human resources spe- cialist at the Longview clinic. ``Since January, we’ve had less than 10 applicants but not much more than that since the position opened up.’’ Cowlitz County, like many similar areas across the United States, finds itself struggling to compete with metropolitan areas for a limited number of primary care doctors, and the shortage will, according to health experts, lead to longer waits for appointments, delayed care and poorer health out- comes. The national doctor shortage took root three decades ago when American medical schools INDEX News ..................2,3,6,7 Books ..........................2 Opinion .......................4 Bids/Classifieds............7 established enrollment caps. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects the nation will be short 63,000 doc- tors by 2015. The shortage is expected to double by 2025 as federal health care reform expands medical coverage and sends thousands of new patients into the system. According to an AAMC report, ``The United States already was struggling with a critical physician shortage, and the problem will only be exacer- bated as 32 million Americans acquire health care coverage, and an additional 36 million people enter Medicare’’ under the federal Affordable Health Care Act. The shortage is going to be even more acute in smaller com- munities, which are at a recruit- ing disadvantage. Numerous studies and surveys, including one by the American Academy of Medical Management, show that only about 10 percent of doctors want to live in towns smaller than 100,000 people, See DOCTORS on page 3 OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — What hap- pens when you have an open primary elec- tion and less than half of the voters show up? You end up with results in a hotly contest- ed governor’s race that everyone wants to dissect for clues about what will happen come November and the expected larger turnout. With about a million votes counted so far, Democratic former U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee edged Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna, 47 to 43 percent, in Tuesday night’s primary. The sole purpose of the state’s ``top two’’ primary is to winnow down the candidates, regardless of party. McKenna and Inslee easily advanced to the general ballot. While the public isn’t paying attention yet — at least not enough to send in primary ballots, anyway — Tuesday’s results are the latest rough poll in what is expected to be one of the nation’s most competitive gover- nor’s races. Here’s a breakdown of key numbers, all of which could vary slightly as votes continue to be counted: —Turnout: Secretary of State Sam Reed originally predicted a 46 percent voter turnout by the state’s 3.7 million voters in the completely vote-by-mail election. Spokesman David Ammons said it’s likely to be closer to 40 percent once all the mailed ballots, which are still arriving, are counted. Voter turnout in November is expected to be at least double that, considering that turnout in the 2008 election was 85 percent. —Counties won: McKenna, 29 (including all of Eastern Washington); Inslee, 10 (including voter-rich King County). This could shift by a county or two as votes con- tinue to be counted. —Democratic vs. Republican vote when the two Democratic and four Republican See ELECTION on page 3 Town Near Smelter Sees Rise in Disease Northport has 10 to 15 times the normal rates of Chrohn’s, colitis NORTHPORT, Wash. (AP) — Rose Kala- marides was in her early 20s when she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. Her older brother also got the debilitating disease. So did one of her childhood friends, her third- grade teacher and a former classmate at her elementary school. Kalamarides and many other residents of Northport, Wash., a tiny 296-resident border town, suspect they got sick because of a smelter up the Columbia River in British Columbia. Now, Harvard Medical School researchers have determined that the northeast Wash- ington town has 10 to 15 times the normal rates of the inflammatory bowel disease, The Spokesman-Review reported Sunday. The border town is located downwind and downriver of a smelter in Trail, British Columbia, that’s run by Teck Resources. For years, the smelter dumped pollutants into the Columbia River. ``When we were kids walking to school, we could smell it in the air,’’ said Kala- marides, now 56, who grew up about 15 miles from the smelter’s stacks. A Teck official declined to comment to The Spokesman-Review. See DISEASE on page 2
