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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2016)
DOJ ASKED TO INVESTIGATE PALMER A kick to Governor Kate Brown NORTHWEST/2A OPINION/4A POPE SAYS TRUMP ‘NOT CHRISTIAN’ FAITH/8A FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2016 140th Year, No. 90 Your Weekend One dollar WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD House passes minimum wage hike Gov. Brown says she’ll sign the measure By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau • • • Inland Northwest Orchestra in Hermiston EOCI career fair Friday and Saturday His Little Feet concert at Armand Larive For times and places see Coming Events, 5A Catch a movie Rafy/A24 via AP “The Witch” is a horror thriller about Puritan paranoia in the 1600s. For showtime, Page 5A For review, Weekend EO Weekend Weather Fri Sat Sun SALEM — A three-tiered minimum wage plan cleared its last hurdle Thursday when the House of Representatives approved the measure 32 to 26. Gov. Kate Brown said she plans to sign the bill. The Senate approved the bill last week. “Today’s action advances one of my priorities for 2016: raise the minimum wage,” Brown said in a statement Thursday. 7KHSODQLQFUHDVHVZDJHVWR LQWKH3RUWODQGPHWURDUHDLQ rural and coastal areas with struggling HFRQRPLHV DQG LQ WKH UHVW RI the state by 2022. 7KH ¿UVW SD\ EXPS VWDUWV LQ -XO\ IURPWRVWDWHZLGH “Thousands of working families are in poverty,” Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene. “They can’t make ends meet. We have the opportunity to address this issue, which hasn’t been DGGUHVVHGLQ\HDUV Paris Achen/Pamplin Media Group “It is time for us as a state to do Advocates for a hike in the minimum wage to $15 pitched their everything we can to help the needy,” tents at the Capitol Thursday as the House debated and passed a three-tiered plan that increases the wage more slowly than a proposed ballot initiative. See WAGE/10A HERMISTON (27(&PRUHWKDQKDOIZD\WR0JRDO Six weeks remain to raise funds for phase one By JADE MCDOWELL East Oregonian 53/36 50/30 52/34 Watch a game vs. Heppner vs. Weston-McEwen Friday, 1 p.m., at Pendleton Convention Center Senators want PUC to weigh in on energy bill By HILLARY BORRUD Capital Bureau SALEM — Republican senators Thursday called for Oregon’s public utility commissioners to testify on a controversial bill to double the state’s existing renewable energy mandate. The legislation would also require the state’s two investor-owned utilities, 3DFL¿&RUS DQG 3RUWODQG General Electric, to stop buying coal power to serve Oregon customers. In a press release, Senate Republicans pointed to an article published Wednesday See ENERGY/10A A little over halfway into a four-month blitz, the fund- raising committee for the Eastern Oregon Trade and (YHQW&HQWHULVSHUFHQWRI the way toward its $2 million goal. ³:H¶UH YHU\ FRQ¿GHQW that things are on track,” committee chair Dennis Barnett of Barnett & Moro said. The committee had raised $1,140,639 as of Wednesday. Its goal is to raise $2 million by April 1. Barnett said some area businesses are in the process of sending a donation request up their chain of command, while others have indicated they would like to donate but have not yet decided how much to give. Some donations have come from the east side RI 8PDWLOOD &RXQW\ DQG RWKHUVIURP0RUURZ&RXQW\ but Barnett said so far the majority of donations have come from Hermiston residents and locally owned Hermiston businesses. “They’re people who live here, who work here, who sleep here,” he said. Barnett said even though (27(& ZLOO EHQH¿W WKH county by bringing travelers to the area and providing larger, higher-quality facili- WLHVIRUWKH8PDWLOOD&RXQW\ Staff photo by E.J. Harris A sign marking the fundraising efforts for the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center on Highway 395 in Hermiston shows more than half of the $2 million goal has been raised. borrowing, but it should be VLJQL¿FDQWO\ORZHUWKDQWKDW He said a large number of “very generous people” are — Dennis Barnett, EOTEC committee chair giving their entire donation up front. And although the )DLU DQG )DUP&LW\ 3UR RI WZR WR ¿YH \HDUV ZKLOH board needs to know by April 5RGHR,QWKH8PDWLOOD still being able to access the 1 how much money it will &RXQW\)DLU<RXWK/LYHVWRFN entire sum during construc- have for construction in order Auction raised more than tion, the county commission to design components and DQG+HUPLVWRQ&LW\&RXQFLO send them out to bid, Barnett $492,000. “When you’re talking have given permission for said they won’t actually need about the fair, you’re talking (27(&WRERUURZXSWR DOO RI WKH PRQH\ WR ¿QLVK million. paying contractors until early about the county,” he said. Barnett said it is very hard LQ DIWHU GRQRUV KDYH In order to provide donors the option of spreading to say at the moment how already made their second donations out over a period much the board will end up payment. “This area is supremely giving. People are very charitable.” He said the fundraising committee has been making itself available to give an informational presentation DERXW (27(& WR DQ\ interested city council, business or civic group. The committee has also been actively soliciting donations from people and businesses LGHQWL¿HG DV OLNHO\ GRQRUV Some people have donated unsolicited, too, Barnett said, including someone who ZDONHGLQWRKLVRI¿FHRXWRI See EOTEC/10A Former politician proposes container shipping authority By GEORGE PLAVEN East Oregonian Swollen rollin’ river Staff photo by E.J. Harris A swollen Umatilla River runs underneath the Bedford Bridge in this image using a three-second exposure Thursday in Pendleton. A former Oregon legislator and one-time Repub- lican gubernatorial candidate thinks he has the answer to reviving container shipping out of Portland. Kevin Mannix, who spent more than 10 years in the Legis- lature and ran for governor against Ted Kulongoski in 2002, wants to create a container shipping authority that would take over Terminal 6 from the Port of Port- land. The authority would be in charge of re-establishing container Mannix business after the terminal lost its two main carriers, Hanjin Shipping and Hapag-Lloyd, early last year. Without container service in Portland, Eastern See SHIPPING/10A
