NATION/WORLD
Thursday, January 21, 2016
Marijuana states take fresh look
at investments from other plaFes
By KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press
DENVER — States that have
legalized pot are taking a fresh look at
making it easier for out-of-state inves-
tors to get in the weed business, saying
the industry¶s ongoing dif¿Fulty in
banking means they need new options
to ¿nanFe e[pansion
The four states that allow reFre-
ational pot sales — Alaska, Colorado,
Oregon and Washington — have
another big reason to take a new look
at pot investment That¶s California, the
nation’s most populous state and largest
mariMuana produFer, though it allows
the drug only for people with Fertain
mediFal ailments
California voters Fould approve
reFreational pot this fall, giving the
nasFent pot industries in the other states
reason to want to attraFt investment
now, before a giant enters the piFture
California has no ban on out-of-state
owners, pressuring other pot states to
loosen the rules before California opens
for business
“There’s only so many people willing
to invest in this risky and new industry,
so allowing people from out of state
to beFome investors in this business
seems like a good idea,” said Colorado
Sen Chris +olbert, R-3arker, and
sponsor of a bill to allow out-of-state
ownership of mariMuana businesses
The head of the Colorado Cannabis
Chamber of CommerFe was more blunt
“We Fan’t go get a loan from the
bank to grow our business to help us
aFFelerate,” Tyler +enson said “We
are susFeptible to falling behind other
states”
%ut the prospeFt of big out-of-state
money Àowing into legal pot states still
gives regulators pause
3ot-business residenFy ownership
requirements generally date to the early
days of regulated pot as a safeguard
against investment by foreign drug
Fartels Those fears have largely dissi-
pated, but publiF of¿Fials have hung
onto the residenFy requirements beFause
they believe it keeps the industry small
and easier to manage
3ot regulators also Fite the 8S
Department of JustiFe, whiFh has
repeatedly warned pot states they must
keep drug money out of interstate
FommerFe or faFe a FraFkdown
“The regulators will say, ‘Do we
have money Àying Fross-Fountry to be
deposited in the pot industry? Let’s just
keep it loFal,”’ said Chris Lindsey, legis-
lative analyst for the 0arijuana 3oliFy
3rojeFt, whiFh oversees legalization
AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, ile
In this 2013 ile photo, an employee trims away unneeded leaves from pot
plants, harvesting the plant’s buds to be packaged and sold at Medicine
Man marijuana dispensary, in Denver.
Fampaigns in many states
Alaska’s pot regulators voted last
year to ease residenFy requirements
for pot industry investment, then baFk-
traFked in DeFember The regulators
ended up using the more stringent
standards needed to qualify to reFeive
a yearly FheFk from Alaska’s oil wealth
fund
ResidenFy requirements range from
si[ months in Washington to two years
in the other states
In Washington and Colorado, those
requirements apply to business appli-
Fants and investors
But Washington’s Liquor and
Cannabis Board announFed this month
that it intends to drop the ban on out-of-
state investment to make it easier for
marijuana businesses to raise money
The Fhange would take effeFt in 0arFh
if it’s approved as e[peFted
In Oregon, majority ownership must
rest with Oregon residents Outside
investment is allowed there, but non-res-
ident owners Fan’t be direFtly involved
in a business’ operation or management
A bill Furrently pending in the Oregon
Legislature would Fhange that
0arijuana businesses and aFtivists
believe that marijuana residenFy
requirements are an endangered breed,
though Linsley argued that state
marijuana proteFtions will one day be
as illegal as any other kind of business
proteFtionism
And residenFy requirement Fan
simply invite shadowy ¿nanFing
“sFhemes,” said another sponsor of
Colorado’s residenFy bill In Colorado,
for e[ample, some investors pour money
into anFillary pot businesses, suFh as
warehouses or lighting Fompanies, then
e[aFt heavy kiFkbaFks from the in-state
pot growers
“I want to make sure that we have
baFkground FheFks on those investors,”
3abon said “To me, this is a transpar-
enFy measure to allow what is already
happening in Colorado but to do it
above-board”
One prominent Denver marijuana
attorney Falled the removal of mari-
juana ownership requirements a logiFal
ne[t step in the industry’s maturation
As long as interested pot investors Fan’t
have a say in how a Fompany is run,
they’re unlikely to pour muFh money
into it, Brian ViFente said
“Residents of other states are already
allowed to loan money to these busi-
nesses *iven the risk they are assuming
in this unFertain industry, they should be
able to hold equity in the Fompanies as
well,” ViFente said
But the Fhange won’t be easy, neither
for regulators nor the e[isting marijuana
businesses in legal states
“I think the industry has always
liked the idea of being a homegrown
industry,” said Jason Warf of the
Southern Colorado Cannabis CounFil
“This de¿nitely opens the door for your
larger out-of-state venture Fapitalists
to walk right in If we have folks with
muFh more Fapital than our owners who
are able to walk in, when our owners
have had to meet these requirements for
many years, it would just be an unfair
advantage”
2015 was Earth’s hottest by far
WAS+IN*TON
A3
— Last year wasn’t just
the Earth’s hottest year on
reFord — it left a Fentury of
high temperature marks in
the dust
The National OFeaniF
AtmospheriF Administration
and
NASA announFed
Wednesday that 201 was
by far the hottest year in 16
years of reFord keeping For
the most part, sFientists at
the agenFies and elsewhere
blamed man-made global
warming, with a boost from
El Nino
NOAA
said
201’s
temperature was 62
degrees Fahrenheit 1
degrees Celsius, passing
201 by a reFord margin of
02 degrees That’s 162
degrees above the 20th-Fen-
tury average NASA, whiFh
measures differently, said
201 was 02 degrees
warmer than the reFord set in
201 and 16 degrees above
20th Fentury average
BeFause of the wide
margin over 201, NASA
FalFulated that 201 was
a reFord with perFent
Fertainty, more than double
the Fertainty it had last year
when announFing 201 as
a reFord NOAA put the
number at above perFent
— or “virtually Fertain,”
said Tom Karl, direFtor of
NOAA’s National Centers for
Environmental Information
For the ¿rst time Earth
is 1 degree Celsius 1
degrees Fahrenheit warmer
than it was in pre-industrial
times, NOAA and NASA
said That’s a key milestone
beFause world leaders have
set a threshold of trying to
avoid warming of 1 or
degrees Celsius above pre-in-
dustrial times
BeFause of the paFe of
rising temperatures, “we
don’t have very far to go to
reaFh 1,” Karl said
But 1 or 2 degrees are
not “magiF numbers” and
“we’re already seeing the
impaFts of global warming,”
said NASA *oddard Institute
of SpaFe Studies direFtor
Thermometer place
makes a difference
AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File
In this Aug. 15 ile photo, pedestrians walk past a digi-
tal thermometer reading 113 degrees Fahrenheit in the
Canoga Park section of Los Angeles.
*avin SFhmidt
“This trend will Fontinue
it will Fontinue beFause
we understand why it’s
happening,” SFhmidt said
“It’s happening beFause the
dominant forFe is Farbon
dio[ide” from burning of
fossil fuels like Foal, oil and
gas
Although 201 is now the
hottest on reFord, it was the
fourth time in 11 years that
Earth broke annual marks for
high temperature
“It’s getting to the point
where breaking reFord is the
norm,” Te[as TeFh Flimate
sFientist Katharine +ayhoe
said “It’s almost unusual
when we’re not breaking a
reFord”
DeFember 201 was the
10th month last year that set a
monthly warmth reFord, with
only January and April not
hitting high marks
“That’s the ¿rst time we’ve
seen that,” said NOAA’s Karl
In DeFember, the globe
was 2 degrees Fahrenheit
warmer than normal, beating
the old reFord set in 201 by
more than a half a degree,
NOAA FalFulated
Earth has broken monthly
heat reFords times sinFe
2000 The last time a global
Fold month reFord was set
was DeFember 116 and the
Foldest year on reFord was
111, aFFording to NOAA
An added faFtor this
year is the strong El Nino,
a warming of parts of the
3aFi¿F OFean that Fhanges
weather worldwide and adds
to the globe’s heat MiFhael
Mann of 3ennsylvania State
8niversity said a strong El
Nino Fan add about a third
of a degree of warming to
Earth’s temperature but that
“sits upon the ramp of global
warming”
Karl and SFhmidt both
said 201 would have been a
reFord without El Nino “But
El Nino pushed it way over
the top,” Karl said
And it’s likely to happen
this year, too SFhmidt, Karl
and others said there’s a
better than even FhanFe that
this year will pass 201 as the
hottest year on reFord, thanks
to El Nino
“201 will be dif¿Fult
to beat, but you say that
almost every year and you
get surprised,” said ViFtor
*ensini, a meteorology
professor at the College of
Du3age outside of ChiFago
Measurements
from
Japan, the 8nited Kingdom
and the 8niversity of
California at Berkeley also
show 201 is the warmest
on reFord Satellite measure-
ments, whiFh sFientists say
don’t measure where we live
and have a larger margin of
error, FalFulate that last year
was only the third hottest
sinFe 1
WASHINGTON (AP) —
When it comes to measur-
ing global warming, it’s all
about altitude.
Temperature readings
taken close to Earth’s sur-
face — about 6 feet off the
ground — show a slightly
warmer planet than mea-
surements taken from on
high by satellites in orbit.
And that discrepancy has
given ammunition to cli-
mate-change doubters.
Government agencies and
most scientists rely pri-
marily on ground measure-
ments, and they show that
2015 was the warmest
year on record.
The National Oceanic
Atmospheric Administra-
tion, NASA, the Japanese
and British meteorological
agencies and the World
Meteorological Organiza-
tion all use ground data.
“We care about what’s
happening where we live.
That’s why ground-based
temperatures are most
relevant to humans,” said
Texas Tech climate scien-
tist Katharine Hayhoe.
But those who try to cast
doubt on accepted science
— most often non-scientists
— prefer satellite data that
goes back to 1979. And the
data shows that 2015 was
only the third-warmest year
on record.
Politicians who reject
mainstream climate sci-
ence especially cite one
satellite measurement
system, Remote Sensing
Systems, in asserting that
there has been no global
warming for 18 years.
That’s a claim scientists,
including the one who runs
RSS, say is misleading.
Carl Mears, senior scien-
tist for Remote Sensing
Systems, told The Asso-
ciated Press in an email:
“The satellite measure-
ments do not measure the
surface warming. They are
measurements of the aver-
age temperature of thick
layers of the atmosphere.”
East Oregonian
Page 7A
BRIEFLY
Stocks slide again
as oil tumbles
NEW YORK
A3 — 8S stoFks
slumped Wednesday as
the priFe of oil suffered
its worst one-day drop
sinFe September, and the
Standard 3oor’s 00
inde[ fell to its lowest level
in almost two years
Investors are worried
that low oil priFes mean
there’s not that muFh
demand for fuel That
would be a sign that
growth in the global
eFonomy is slowing down
StoFks in the 8S started
sharply lower following
widespread selling
overseas, and looked like
they were headed for
huge losses At one point
the Dow Jones industrial
average fell as muFh as 6
points
After a late reFovery, the
Dow Flosed down 22
points, or 16 perFent, to
1,66 The S3 00
inde[ fell 22 points, or 12
perFent, to 1, That
is its lowest Flosing priFe
sinFe April 201
The Nasdaq Fomposite,
whiFh brieÀy turned
positive in the afternoon,
lost 26 points, or 01
perFent, to ,16 The
Dow is the lowest it’s
been sinFe August, and
the Nasdaq is at its lowest
sinFe OFtober 201
8S Frude dropped
11, or 6 perFent, to
26 a barrel in New
York That was the biggest
one-day plunge for 8S oil
sinFe Sept 1 8S Frude is
down 2 perFent in 2016
and is trading at its lowest
level sinFe May 200
Brent Frude, a
benFhmark for international
oils, fell Fents, or 1
perFent, to 2 a barrel
in London
Pakistani school
attack raises
security questions
C+ARSADDA,
3akistan A3 — OnFe
again, IslamiF militants
stormed a sFhool in
northeastern 3akistan in a
deadly attaFk that lasted
for hours And onFe again,
the blood of students and
teaFhers stained Flassrooms
and hallways, raising
questions about whether
seFurity forFes are able
to proteFt the Fountry’s
eduFational institutions
from e[tremists
At least 20 people
were killed and 2 were
wounded Wednesday in
the assault at BaFha Khan
8niversity in Charsadda
before the four gunmen
were slain and the military
deFlared an end to the
siege Two teaFhers were
among the dead, inFluding
a Fhemistry professor
who was praised as a hero
for shooting baFk at the
attaFkers and allowing
some students to esFape
The university attaFk
was grimly reminisFent
of the DeFember 201
massaFre at an army publiF
sFhool in nearby 3eshawar
that killed 10, mostly
Fhildren
A breakaway faFtion
of the Taliban took
responsibility for the
university attaFk, although
a spokesman for the larger
Taliban organization,
led by Mullah Fazlullah,
denied having anything
to do with it and Falled it
“un-IslamiF”
Palin’s return
underscores split
in Republicans
DES MOINES, Iowa
A3 — If the RepubliFan
3arty is on the verge of an
implosion, Sarah 3alin may
have been the one who lit
the fuse
3alin’s FompliFated
relationship with *O3
leaders over the past eight
years is a miFroFosm of the
party’s broader struggles
with its most restive
members What started
with an embraFe by party
leaders evolved into wary
toleranFe, followed by a
potentially irreparable split
So it’s perhaps little
surprise that 3alin is
re-emerging on the national
politiFal sFene at this
moment of reFkoning for
RepubliFans While she’s
hardly the Fonservative
kingmaker she onFe was,
3alin remains a favorite of
the tea party insurgenFy,
and her endorsement of
Donald Trump for the
2016 *O3 nomination
gives him an added boost
of Fonservative, anti-
establishment Fredibility
“+e’s been going rogue
left and right,” 3alin said
Tuesday, with a beaming
Trump standing by her
side “+e’s been able to
tear the veil off this idea of
the system”
Love
!
s
e
t
o
N
Mwah
Tell the world how you feel,
send a message to your special
someone for Valentine's Day!
$
ONLY
15
00
10 Words
+ Photo
$
ONLY
10 00
20 Words
Fill out this form and send to our offices...
Chris McClellan
541-278-2678
Shannon Paxton
541-564-4530
211 SE Byers Ave.
Pendleton
333 E Main St.
Hermiston
Your Name:
Daytime Phone:
Address:
City:
Zip:
Person's Name:
Message:
❑ Emailed photo to classifieds@eastoreonian.com
Remember: Please include a check or money order.
East Oregonian
Hermiston Herald
❑ $15 with Pic
❑ $15 with Pic
❑ $10 without
❑ $10 without
Publishes Feb. 13
Publishes Feb. 10
❑ I would like to pay with my credit card (Visa or Mastercard only)
Cardmember's Name:
Card Number:
Cardholder's Address:
Card Type:
Exp. Date:
Entries must be received by Feb. 3rd at Noon.