COLBRAY
RANKED
NO. 1 IN
NATION 1B
FESTIVALS
WILL RETURN
IN 2016
49/43
PENDLETON/3A
2015 was
hottest year
on record
WORLD/7A
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21, 2016
140th Year, No. 69
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Molly J. Smith/Statesman-Journal via AP
Gov. Brown outlines her 2016 policy
agenda at a press conference at the
State Capitol in Salem, Wednesday.
Brown says
feds must
end refuge
occupation
Governor lays out full agenda
for 2016 as short session nears
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
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Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Harney County,
armed protesters now occupy a place on
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priorities.
During Brown’s unveiling of her agenda
Wednesday, the governor said that one of
her priorities is to pass a funding package to
offset expenses associated with responding
to the occupation. The governor said her
administration would “scour the budget to
make sure that we have the resources at the
state level to subsidize the cost for Harney
County.”
The cost of responding to the occupa-
tion, which started Jan. 2, is running about
$100,000 per week, Brown said.
The state would later ask the federal
government to reimburse the state for those
costs, she said.
Ammon Bundy and his armed followers
seized the remote refuge Jan. 2 in a protest
against federal public lands policies.
“The situation is absolutely intolerable,”
Brown said. “The very fabric of this commu-
nity is being ripped apart. The residents of
Harney County have been overlooked and
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thus far.”
Brown said she has expressed her
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levels of our government, the U.S. Depart-
ment of Justice and the White House.”
“Federal authorities must act quickly
to end the occupation and hold all of the
wrongdoers accountable,” she said. “The
spectacle of lawlessness must end. Until
Harney County is free of it I will not stop
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Some of Brown’s other 2016 priorities
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to enact her plan to boost minimum wage
to $15.52 in the Portland area and $13.50
in the rest of the state by 2022. The plan is
intended to thwart two ballot measures that
would raise minimum wage in three years
See BROWN/8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Madeleine Winn, left, and Lindsey Markgraf talk while eating lunch Wednesday at the Pendleton Coffee Bean & Bistro on
Main Street in Pendleton.
Downtown on the rebound
PDC reports high occupancy
rates in Pendleton downtown
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Rural Oregon has taken
longer than the Willamette
Valley to recover from the
recession, but local entrepre-
neurs are taking a chance on
downtown Pendleton.
The Pendleton Develop-
ment Commission recently
released its annual survey,
which showed a 10 percent
increase in Main Street occu-
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Storefronts in the downtown
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high.
In a press release, city coun-
More inside
Sushi restaurant to open in
town within two months
Page 8A
cilor and commission chairman
Chuck Wood directly attributed
the growth to the grant and
loan programs offered by the
commission.
“We see this as a steady,
long-term process,” he said in
a statement. “The programs of
the Pendleton Development
Commission that operate under
the urban renewal plan have
See PENDLETON/8A
HERMISTON
School district unveils emergency crisis app
To download the app
• Search for “SchoolDude
CrisisManager” in the
phone’s app store
• Select “Client Plans,” then
search for “Hermiston School
District 8”
• Use the password “HSD”
to connect
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
In the event of an emer-
gency, community members
will have more information
from
Hermiston
School
District than ever before.
The CrisisManager smart-
phone application provides
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cations to maps of emergency
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director of operations for HSD,
said three different levels
of security clearance should
allow parents, staff and emer-
gency responders to receive
the information they need in
a crisis without compromising
any of the district’s security
measures.
“It’s just another step to
provide as much accurate
information as quickly as
possible,” he said.
For parents and students,
information contained in the
app includes a database of
contact information, emer-
gency procedures, maps of
See APP/8A
Coal curtailed
Exporter remains optimistic despite
decrease in demand, supply obstacles
ment of the Interior announced
a sweeping review of its coal
leasing program that could take
The company behind a up to three years to complete.
proposed coal export terminal /LJKWKRXVH 5HVRXUFHV ²
in Boardman is not happy about formerly Ambre Energy North
the government’s freeze on $PHULFD²RZQVDQLQWHUHVWLQ
mining new coal on federal land, two coal mines in the Powder
but remains optimistic about the River Basin of Montana and
Wyoming.
project moving forward.
In a statement Tuesday, the
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Resources says the moratorium company said it is still reviewing
doesn’t affect Asian demand how the moratorium will affect
for coal. Other researchers, pending applications to mine
however, point to a recent new coal at both the Black Butte
downturn in China as a sign of DQG 'HFNHU PLQHV /LJKWKRXVH
EO i le photo
things to come.
The Boardman Coal Plant will stop generating electricity with coal in 2020.
See
COAL/8A
On Jan. 15, the U.S. Depart-
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian