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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 27, 2015)
NATION/WORLD Wednesday, May 27, 2015 East Oregonian Floodwaters deepen in Houston Associated Press HOUSTON — Floodwa- ters deepened across much of Texas on Tuesday as storms dumped almost another foot of rain on the Houston area, stranding hundreds of motorists and inundating the famously congested high- ways that serve the nation’s fourth-largest city. Meanwhile, the search went on for at least 13 people who were still missing, including a group that disap- peared after a vacation home was swept down a river and slammed into a bridge. Several more fatalities were reported — four in Houston and one more in Central Texas. That brought to 14 the number of people killed by the holiday weekend storms in Texas and Oklahoma. Similar search efforts unfolded just south of the Texas-Mexico border, where crews tried to track down the missing and assessed damage in the city of Ciudad Acuna after a tornado killed 13 people Monday. In Houston, the water rose sharply overnight as about 11 more inches of rain fell, much of it in a six-hour period. By Tuesday evening, most rivers had receded back within their banks. 7KH ÀRRGZDWHUV DIIHFWHG virtually every part of the city and paralyzed some areas. )LUH¿JKWHUVFDUULHGRXWPRUH than 500 water rescues, most involving stranded motorists. At least 2,500 vehicles were abandoned by drivers seeking KLJKHUJURXQGRI¿FLDOVVDLG “Given the magnitude and how quickly it happened, in such a short period of time, I’ve never seen this before,” WASHINGTON — Sophisticated criminals used an online service run by the IRS to access personal tax information from more than 100,000 taxpayers, part of an elaborate scheme to steal identities and claim fraudu- lent tax refunds, the IRS said Tuesday. The thieves accessed a system called “Get Tran- script,” where taxpayers can get tax returns and RWKHU ¿OLQJV IURP SUHYLRXV years. In order to access the information, the thieves cleared a security screen that required knowledge about the taxpayer, including Social Security number, date RIELUWKWD[¿OLQJVWDWXVDQG street address, the IRS said. ³:H¶UH FRQ¿GHQW WKDW these are not amateurs,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “These actually are organized crime syndi- cates that not only we but HYHU\ERG\ LQ WKH ¿QDQFLDO industry are dealing with.” Koskinen wouldn’t say whether investigators believe the criminals are based overseas — or where they obtained enough personal information about the taxpayers to access their returns. The IRS has launched a criminal investigation. The Obama urges Senate to renew phone records collection program Associated Press Cody Duty/Houston Chronicle via AP Motorists are stranded along I-45 along North Main in Houston after storms flood- ed the area on Tuesday. Overnight heavy rains caused flooding closing some por- tions of major highways in the Houston area. said Rick Flanagan, Hous- ton’s emergency manage- ment coordinator. The drenching weather threatened to linger. Fore- casts called for a 20 to 40 percent chance of thunder- storms through the rest of the week in Houston. 7KH ÀRRGLQJ FORVHG several highways, and the ones that stayed open became a gridlocked mess. Interstate 45 near down- town was backed up for miles on Tuesday morning, and a handful of motorists traveled the wrong way on the highway to retreat from high water. The small cars weaved between massive 18-wheelers as other drivers stared at them in disbelief. With no end to the backup in sight, some drivers got off the freeway, only to be held up again by water covering nearby access roads. In the Heights neighbor- hood about 5 miles from downtown, groups of people roamed the streets after escaping their stalled cars, and police cruisers blocked some dangerous roads. Some motorists were stuck on I-45 all night, sleeping in their cars until the backup was cleared about 8 a.m. NBA fans at the Toyota Center, where the Rockets hosted a Western Conference ¿QDOV JDPH DJDLQVW *ROGHQ State on Monday, were asked with about two minutes left in the game not to leave the arena because of the weather. The game ended before 11 p.m., but about 400 people remained in their seats at 1:30 a.m., choosing to stay in the building rather than EUDYH WKH ÀRRGHG URDGV WKDW awaited them outside. Up to 150 people stayed all right, DFFRUGLQJWRDUHQDRI¿FLDOV A spokeswoman for WKH ÀRRG GLVWULFW RI +DUULV County, which includes Houston, said up to 700 homes sustained some level of damage. Yesenia Lopez and husband, Armando, waded through knee-deep water, carrying bags of possessions over their heads. During the night, a nearby bayou RYHUÀRZHGDQGÀRRGHGWKHLU apartment complex. “We tried to do as much as we could, saved the family portraits and stuff like that, but everything else is destroyed,” she said. The two planned to stay with her mother-in-law. Dripping with water, she said: “Everything is scary. 7KDW¶V WKH ¿UVW WLPH , OLYHG through something like this, so it gives you a lot to think about.” IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000 By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press Page 7A agency’s inspector general is also investigating. Identity thieves, both foreign and domestic, have stepped up their efforts in recent years to claim fraudu- lent tax refunds. The agency estimates it paid out $5.8 billion in fraudulent refunds to identity thieves in 2013. “Eighty percent of the of the identity theft we’re dealing with and refund fraud is related to organized crime here and around the world,” Koskinen said. “These are extremely sophisticated criminals with access to a tremendous amount of data.” Congress is already pressing the IRS for informa- tion about the breach. “That the IRS — home to highly sensitive information on every single American and every single company doing business here at home — was vulnerable to this attack is simply unacceptable,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “What’s more, this agency has been repeatedly warned by top government watchdogs that its data security systems are inadequate against the growing threat of international hackers and data thieves.” Koskinen said the agency was alerted to the thieves when technicians noticed an increase in the number of taxpayers seeking transcripts. The IRS said they targeted the system from February to mid-May. The service has been temporarily shut down. Taxpayers sometimes need copies of old tax returns to apply for mortgages or college aid. While the system is shut down, taxpayers can still apply for transcripts by mail. The IRS said its main computer system, which KDQGOHV WD[ ¿OLQJ VXEPLV- sions, remains secure. “In all, about 200,000 attempts were made from questionable email domains, with more than 100,000 of those attempts successfully clearing authentication hurdles,” the agency said. ³'XULQJ WKLV ¿OLQJ VHDVRQ taxpayers successfully and safely downloaded a total of approximately 23 million transcripts.” The agency is still deter- mining how many fraudulent tax refunds were claimed this year using information from the stolen transcripts. Koskinen provided a preliminary estimate, saying less than $50 million was successfully claimed. Thieves can also use the information to claim fraudulent tax refunds in the future. As identity theft has exploded, the agency has DGGHG ¿OWHUV WR LWV FRPSXWHU system to identify suspicious UHWXUQV7KHVH¿OWHUVORRNIRU anomalies in the information provided by the taxpayer. Until recently, tax refund fraud has been surprisingly simple, once thieves obtain a taxpayer’s Social Security number and date of birth. Typically, thieves would ¿OH IDNH WD[ UHWXUQV ZLWK made-up information early LQ WKH ¿OLQJ VHDVRQ EHIRUH WKHOHJLWLPDWHWD[SD\HUV¿OHG their returns — and before HPSOR\HUV DQG ¿QDQFLDO LQVWLWXWLRQV ¿OHG ZDJH DQG tax documents with the IRS. The refunds would often be sent electronically to prepaid debit cards or bank accounts. ,56 RI¿FLDOV VD\ QHZ FRPSXWHU ¿OWHUV DUH KHOSLQJ to stop many crude attempts at identity theft. This year, the IRS stopped almost 3 million suspicious returns, Koskinen said. However, old tax returns FDQ KHOS WKLHYHV ¿OO RXW credible-looking returns in the future, helping them get DURXQGWKH,56¿OWHUV WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama called on the Senate Tuesday to extend key Patriot Act provisions EHIRUHWKH\H[SLUH¿YHGD\VIURPQRZLQFOXGLQJWKHJRYHUQ- ment’s ability to search Americans’ phone records. “This needs to get done,” he told reporters. “It’s necessary to keep the American people safe and secure.” But with the May 31 deadline fast approaching, there was scant evidence Tuesday of a search for a deal on Capitol Hill. The House and Senate stood in recess for the week, and a House GOP leadership aide said there were no talks happening between the two chambers. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity, because the aide was not authorized to discuss the issue on the record. The Senate adjourned for its Memorial Day break early Saturday after a chaotic late-night session during which senators failed to pass a White House-backed House bill reforming the phone collection program. Attempts by GOP leaders to extend current law also repeatedly fell short, amid objections from presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and others, including Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is calling the Senate back into session on Sunday, May 31, just hours before the midnight deadline, but it’s not clear lawmakers will have any new solution. Back home in Kentucky on Tuesday, McConnell offered no hint of how the impasse might be resolved. “This is a very big issue that people are divided on. That’s what we do. So we’re going to work it out in some way and go forward. But there are deep differences of opinion,” McConnell told reporters after addressing the Elizabethtown 5RWDU\&OXE³:H¶YHJRWWR¿JXUHVRPHZD\RXWRIWKLV´ The House bill, which passed by a wide bipartisan margin, was just a few votes short in the Senate Friday, and House Republicans appear content to hold off on a search for compromise in hopes that pressure will increase on McCon- nell to accept their bill or see the Patriot Act programs lapse. McConnell complained that the House bill waters down the bulk collection program that now exists, but acknowl- edged, “they passed it by a very large margin. So that makes it pretty challenging to extend the law as it is.” A few hours earlier Obama addressed reporters after meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. “The Senate did not act, and the problem we have now is that those authorities run out at midnight Sunday. I strongly urge the Senate to work through this recess to make sure they identify a way to get things done,” he said. BRIEFLY Cleveland, Justice Department reach deal to overhaul police department CLEVELAND (AP) — Cleveland agreed to VZHHSLQJFKDQJHVLQKRZLWVSROLFHRI¿FHUVXVHIRUFH treat the community and deal with the mentally ill, under a settlement announced Tuesday with the federal government that will put the 1,500-member department under an independent monitor. The settlement was made public three days after a white Cleveland patrolman was acquitted of manslaughter for KLVUROHLQDVKRWEDUUDJHRISROLFHJXQ¿UHWKDWOHIWWZR unarmed black suspects dead in a car in 2012. Mayor Frank Jackson said the ambitious plan that was ZRUNHGRXWRYHU¿YHPRQWKVRIQHJRWLDWLRQVZLWKWKH86 Justice Department will be expensive and will take years to put in place. But he said he sees it as a chance to set an example for other cities. The proposed reforms come amid tension around the U.S. over a string of cases in which blacks died at the hands of police. Notebook by James Holmes describes ‘obsession to kill’ since childhood CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — In a brown spiral notebook titled “Of Life,” Colorado theater shooter James Holmes scrawled a self-diagnosis of his “broken mind” and described his “obsession to kill” since childhood. He made lists of weapons he planned to buy and included detailed drawings of the theater complete with pros and cons of attacking different auditoriums. He wrote that his decision to storm the crowded auditorium came after a “lifelong hatred of mankind,” and that his failures in graduate school served as the catalyst but were not the cause of the violence. “Most fools will mistake correlation for causation,” Holmes wrote. “The message is there is no message.” However, he also revealed that the “causation is my state of mind for the last 15 years.” STUDENT OF THE WEEK Joonas Kortesalmi U KIAH H IGH S CHOOL Joonas Kortesami is an exchange student from Finland and a junior in Ukiah High School. He has been a very active part of the school both in and out of the classroom. Joonas participated in soccer, basketball, and track, is on the honor roll, and a positive role model. He has been a wonderful addition to the student body and we are happy to be able to have shared this year of his life with him. Proudly Sponsored by Place a Yard Sale Ad 25 words, 3 days, private party only $20.00 East Oregonian & Hermiston Herald Yard Sale Kits - $5.00 Includes 2 signs, stakes & price stickers. Call Paula 541-278-2678 2801 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton, OR • 541-276-5121
