FINDING LOVE
FOR TENNIS
California oil spill
spans nine miles
79/54
SPORTS/1B
NATION/7A
THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015
139th Year, No. 155
WINNER OF THE 2013 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
One dollar
STANFIELD
Keeping
a promise
Three years of Eastern Promise
changing regional education
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A cleaner Columbia
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
A Tidewater barge moves down the Columbia River on Wednesday near the Wallula Gap east of Umatilla. Oregon
congressional delegates and Northwest tribal leaders are seeking to create a $50 million grant program to improve water
quality in the Columbia Basin.
Grant program would fund water quality projects
and Peter DeFazio, have rein-
troduced legislation that would
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The Columbia River is a years for projects to clean up the
major source of renewable basin and more closely monitor
energy, food and jobs throughout contamination.
Dubbed the Columbia River
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Democrats is now working the bill would provide funding
to establish a voluntary grant for projects through the Envi-
program to keep the Columbia’s ronmental Protection Agency to
cut back on pollution and elim-
waters clean of toxins.
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff inate pathways for toxins into
Merkley, along with Reps. Earl the river — such as stormwater
Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici runoff.
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
The legislation is not a
mandate, nor does it add new
EPA regulations, but rather
provides a competitive source of
funding for organizations inter-
ested in cleaning up contami-
nated sites and monitoring water
quality in the basin.
“The Columbia River is an
Oregon icon that is central to
both our environment and our
economy,” Merkley said in a
statement Wednesday. “A clean
Columbia River is essential for
the health of our communities
“Anytime the tribes see federal agencies willing to put water quality
fi rst, we are optimistic. This is a conversation we need to have.”
— Sara Thompson, pubic information offi cer, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
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and recreation industries.”
Rep. Blumenauer described
the Columbia as the “lifeblood
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but said the river has become
dangerously polluted. The
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of emerging toxic threats to the
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dants to pharmaceuticals.
Those are in addition to what
are known as legacy contami-
nants, including polychlorinated
biphenyl, or PCBs, that are now
banned by the EPA but still
found in products like inks and
dyes. High levels of PCBs in
the river build up in the fatty
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In the past 18 months, pros-
ecutors have brought criminal
cases against banks accused
unit Citicorp, Barclays and the of tax evasion and sanctions
Royal Bank of Scotland were violations, and have reached
accused of working together multibillion-dollar settlements
to manipulate rates on the with several others for their roles
foreign exchange market, where LQWKH¿QDQFLDOPHOWGRZQ
hundreds of billions of dollars
Still,
the
punishment
and euros change hands back announced Wednesday may
and forth.
have limited practical conse-
The penalties are a victory quences.
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The four banks will be able
a broader effort by the Justice to continue to do business in the
Department, long criticized as currency markets. No executives
reluctant to prosecute big banks, were charged, though that part
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of the investigation continues.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Four of
the world’s biggest banks agreed
Wednesday to pay more than
$5 billion in penalties and plead
guilty to rigging the currency
markets — a rare instance in
which federal prosecutors have
wrung an admission of criminal
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cial institution.
Traders
at
JPMorgan
Chase, Citigroup’s banking
See PROMISE/8A
PILOT ROCK
City raises
utility rates
Staff, officials still receive
discount on sewer, water fees
See COLUMBIA/8A
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Will plead guilty to market rigging
High school graduation usually marks
the beginning of a new journey, but for most
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transition from high school to college won’t
seem like much of a transition at all.
Thirty of the 39 seniors will graduate with at
least one college class under their belt. Thanks
to Eastern Promise, the regional college credit
program in its third year, many students are
graduating with two or three semesters’ worth
of college credit and experience living in
college dorms during Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity’s summer institute.
Kris Mulvihill, Eastern Promise’s K-12
director, said she has seen the program trans-
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³7KH\DUHLQHIIHFW6WDQ¿HOG&RPPXQLW\
College,” she said.
For students who in the past would have run
through their school’s entire slate of advanced
courses by the end of junior year, Mulvihill
said Eastern Promise allows them to continue
their academic progress while still enjoying
the social life and extracurricular activities of a
normal high school student.
“They’re going to college in their own
school,” she said.
At the same time, students are encouraged
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
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fraction of what the institutions
have made through currency
trading over the past decade.
Prosecutors said traders
shared customer orders through
chat rooms and used that
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clients’ expenses. The traders
called themselves “The Cartel,”
and in one of those chat rooms,
a Barclays employee wrote:
“if you aint cheating, you aint
trying,” investigators said.
The banks will pay a
Pilot Rock City Council approved on a split
vote Tuesday the city’s 2015-16 budget that
included raising sewer and water rates $10 per
month. But that raise and several more in the
near future won’t affect city staff, councilors or
the mayor who don’t pay the fee.
Councilors Bob Deno, Raymond Doherty
and Deacon Perkins voted for the $2.1 million
budget with a $654,000 general fund, while
Kacie Moss and James Hinkle opposed it.
Councilman Ray Corwin was absent. The
minority members said their bone of conten-
tion was a fund the council created earlier in
the meeting at the request of resident John
Taylor to help the city pay for improvements
to the sewer lagoon.
The city is looking at a $2.5 million-$3.7
million project to upgrade aging sewer
lagoons. Paying for that will require grants
See BANKS/6A
See UTILITY/8A
Farmers volunteer quarter of water rights
By FENIT NIRAPPIL
and SCOTT SMITH
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A
group of California farmers, in a
surprising turnaround, is volunteering
to give up a fourth of its available
water this year, sharing a resource all
but guaranteed to them for more than
a century.
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Associated Press Wednesday that
he would decide whether to accept
the offer by Friday. The concession
by farmers in the Sacramento and
San Joaquin river delta could be one
of the most important yet forced by
California’s record four-year drought.
In exchange for taking 25 percent
less river water for irrigation or leaving
See FARMERS/8A
AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
Irrigation pipes sit along a dried irrigation canal Monday on a fi eld
farmed by Gino Celli near Stockton, Calif.
Government providing
$50M for Western
water-saving projects
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The
U.S. government will invest nearly
$50 million in water conservation
and reuse projects in 12 drought-
stricken Western states, Interior
Secretary Sally Jewell announced
Wednesday.
“It is absolutely critical that states
and the federal government leverage
our funding resources so that we can
make each drop count,” Jewell said
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Los Angeles.
The money will partially fund
more than 60 projects in Oregon,
Washington, Idaho, California,
Arizona, Colorado, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico,
Texas and Utah.
See WATER/8A