NORTHWEST
Child welfare system fails federal standards
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Theoretically, Oregon could lose
some of its federal child welfare
money if the state fails to meet goals
for improving the system. In practice,
that has not happened.
Gene Evans, a spokesman for
DHS, wrote in an email Wednesday
that the federal government has
not withheld any money from the
state as a penalty for failing to meet
such goals. Oregon’s child welfare
program has already been on a
federal “program improvement plan”
since at least 2008.
State Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Cor-
vallis, said one of her takeaways
from the report was the situation
since 2008 has “gotten worse rather
than better ... The agency has lacked
adequate leadership for a long time.”
Gelser, who has criticized DHS’
failure to protect children and spon-
sored legislation earlier this year to
force the agency take action when
children are at risk, said it is time for
the agency to clean house to remove
employees who allowed the prob-
lems to grow.
³:HQHHGVLJQL¿FDQWO\QHZOHDG-
ership at all levels of our child welfare
agency and a culture change,” Gelser
said. “And I think Clyde (Saiki) is the
By HILLARY BORRUD
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Oregon’s child
welfare system failed to meet all
of the standards in a recent federal
assessment, Department of Human
Services director Clyde Saiki told
lawmakers in an email Wednesday.
The state fell short of federal
goals from foster parent recruitment
and retention, to ensuring “children
DUH¿UVWDQGIRUHPRVWSURWHFWHGIURP
abuse and neglect,” Saiki wrote,
regarding the report by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human
Services.
He warned there is likely more
EDGQHZVWRFRPH7KH¿QGLQJVZHUH
RQO\ WKH ¿UVW SDUW RI D WZRSKDVH
review, and “it is very likely Oregon
ZLOO PHHW WKH VWDQGDUGV LQ WKH ¿QDO
report.”
Oregon’s child welfare system,
operated by the Department of
Human Services, has a history of
problems and has faced renewed
scrutiny by lawmakers and the public
since Willamette Week reported last
year the agency continued to send
children to a troubled Portland foster
program.
Thursday, April 21, 2016
How Oregon marijuana
dealers pay taxes
right person to make that happen ...
The governor has made it really clear
that is her priority and directive she’s
put forward.”
Gelser said it was understandable
the federal government had not
withheld funds from Oregon because
the program is already underfunded,
and this causes problems such as
overloaded caseworkers.
Oregon House Republicans
suggested on Wednesday the agency
could do a better job with its current
budget.
“We must take action to demand
accountability from our child
welfare system and ensure that
Oregonians’ tax dollars are being
handled prudently, and in a way that
maximizes positive outcomes for
children in our child welfare system,”
Rep. Greg Smith, R-Heppner, who
Chairs the House Republican Budget
Committee, said in a written state-
ment.
Meanwhile, Oregon has plenty of
company when it comes to being on a
federal “program improvement plan.”
States from Alaska to New York are
also listed by the U.S. Department of
Health & Human Services as being
on such monitoring plans.
SALEM (AP) — Oregon has
raked in $6.84 million so far from
January and February recreational
pot sales — far outpacing the $3
million projected for the entire
year.
Collecting those taxes is no
simple task. More than half of
Oregon’s recreational pot dealers
paying their taxes during those
two months did so in cash, a sign
of the industry’s long struggle for
banking access that has created a
big security risk.
In response, the Oregon
Department of Revenue has
transformed a small, unused space
at its Salem headquarters into a
mini-fortress inaccessible to the
public. The area houses a detailed
system for dropping off, counting
and transporting cash to the bank
daily.
Colorado and Washington state
have similar operations in place,
DOWKRXJKRI¿FLDOVWKHUHGRQ¶WOLNH
to talk about it for security reasons.
2UHJRQ RI¿FLDOV KRZHYHU JDYH
The Associated Press a mock
walk-through of its tax-paying
process from the perspective of a
pot business.
ZIKA: Only female mosquitoes feast on blood
Festival in Rio de Janerio.
Zika has garnered some scary
“We are kind of a cross between headlines in recent days. The virus
Indiana Jones and Buffy the Vampire can trigger microcephaly, which
Slayer,” she said. “We’re out there causes the brain of a fetus to shrink.
chasing
down
blood-sucking
“The virus has the unique ability
beings in the middle of nowhere. to destroy brain tissue as it is devel-
We’re after treasure — not the gold oping,” McKeon said. “The babies
that Indy was after, but blood and don’t have as much mass in their
genetics.”
brain when they are born.”
McKeon, who has a doctorate in
In adults who are not pregnant,
biomedical sciences with emphasis however, the virus causes mild,
on immunology and infectious ÀXOLNHV\PSWRPV
disease, gave the audience a primer
“Eighty percent of people have
on the Zika virus. The mosqui- no idea they are sick,” McKeon said.
to-borne disease has recently swept “They don’t skip a beat.”
through Brazil and other countries
Currently, she said, Brazil has
in Latin America and the Caribbean. PLOOLRQFRQ¿UPHGFDVHVDQGWKH
The disease isn’t new, McKeon United States has about 350 (all
VDLG =LND ZDV ¿UVW GLVFRYHUHG LQ people who traveled outside the
Uganda’s Zika forest in 1947.
country and brought it home). Brazil
“Then it basically hid out for 60 had 4,000 cases of babies born with
years,” she said.
smaller heads. The U.S. has had 40,
The virus showed up in 2007 so far.
in Micronesia. The World Health
Not every mosquito carries the
Organization estimates that about 73 virus. She said two types of mosqui-
percent of people living on Micro- toes, the Aedes agypti and the Aedes
nesia’s Island of Yap contracted the albopictus, are the culprits. The
disease. Zika cropped up again in Aedes types are found in 30-or-so
French Polynesia in 2013. Currently, states, McKeon said, though not in
the Centers for Disease Control Oregon.
and Prevention reports Zika in 44
She said the mosquito’s range is
countries and territories, 36 of them expanding as global temperatures
in North and South America.
rise. Still, she said, the Aedes
Zika, McKeon said, is thought mosquitoes also carry the dengue
to have arrived in Brazil in 2014 virus and yellow fever, “close
during the International Canoe cousins of Zika,” and neither has
Continued from 1A
taken hold in the U.S., though they
circulate from time to time.
McKeon shared some mosquito
factoids of general interest, as well.
Only female mosquitoes feast on
blood. Males are content to survive
on nectar.
Mosquitoes seem to favor
certain people more than others,
she said. They are attracted by
carbon dioxide, body heat and blood
type, particularly type O. They are
attracted to pregnant women. They
like beer drinkers.
Zika, though, was the prime topic
of the day. McKeon expects the
virus to make its way to new places.
“As global warming happens,
the mosquitoes are expanding their
range,” she said. “If the mosquitoes
come and set up shop here, we’ll
have a problem.”
But, even if an outbreak occurs,
it generally subsides and doesn’t rise
again. Look at Micronesia, she said,
which has no current cases.
“Once the virus sweeps through
the population, the people get herd
immunity,” she said. “Anyone who
gets the disease is protected against
repeated exposure. We won’t banish
it from the planet, but most of us will
be protected.”
———
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0810.
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Copyright © 2016, EO Media Group
TODAY
THURSDAY
Mostly sunny,
warm and pleasant
Partly sunny and
very warm
85° 50°
82° 54°
SUNDAY
SATURDAY
FRIDAY
An afternoon
t-storm in spots
Cloudy and breezy
Rain and drizzle
possible
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
67° 48°
75° 51°
62° 38°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
87° 52°
84° 51°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
80°
63°
88° (1934)
45°
40°
23° (1966)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.21"
0.76"
4.20"
3.01"
4.76"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
82°
66°
90° (1934)
39°
40°
24° (1982)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.00"
0.28"
0.50"
2.98"
1.78"
3.64"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
Last
Apr 21
Apr 29
66° 40°
Seattle
84/54
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
72° 50°
78° 54°
New
6:00 a.m.
7:49 p.m.
6:32 p.m.
5:34 a.m.
First
May 6
May 13
Today
Spokane
Wenatchee
81/54
86/58
Tacoma
Moses
85/47
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 86/51
79/49
68/48
85/46
87/54
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
79/48
84/55 Lewiston
89/52
Astoria
85/53
63/47
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
81/53
Pendleton 77/43
The Dalles 87/52
85/50
87/55
La Grande
Salem
80/42
78/48
Albany
Corvallis 77/46
78/47
John Day
81/51
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
82/46
76/47
77/42
Caldwell
Burns
82/49
77/37
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
63
79
77
63
77
77
76
82
87
81
71
80
78
81
59
64
82
88
85
81
80
78
81
79
79
84
87
Lo
47
37
42
51
37
43
47
51
52
51
36
42
42
49
49
50
46
50
50
53
40
48
54
44
48
55
54
W
pc
s
pc
c
pc
s
pc
s
s
pc
pc
s
s
pc
pc
pc
s
s
s
pc
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s
s
pc
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s
Hi
64
81
74
60
77
76
72
80
84
79
70
80
78
76
61
64
85
86
82
76
78
75
80
78
74
82
84
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Lo
50
76
65
44
49
33
48
49
52
61
59
W
s
t
s
pc
pc
r
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
Klamath Falls
71/36
Lo
50
40
46
52
41
45
52
48
51
53
42
46
44
50
51
52
49
51
54
55
44
53
56
45
55
56
54
W
c
pc
pc
sh
pc
pc
c
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
c
c
c
pc
pc
pc
c
pc
c
pc
pc
c
pc
pc
Thu.
Hi
86
87
83
59
75
50
68
70
68
76
67
Lo
50
77
60
44
51
37
53
53
47
63
60
W
s
sh
pc
pc
t
sn
pc
pc
pc
pc
r
(in mph)
Today
Thursday
Boardman
Pendleton
NE 3-6
NNE 4-8
WSW 4-8
NW 4-8
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Times of clouds and sun
today; a passing shower, except dry across
the north.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Partly sunny
today; a shower or thunderstorm in spots
near the Cascades.
Western Washington: Mostly sunny today;
a shower or thunderstorm in spots across
the south in the afternoon.
Eastern Washington: Mostly sunny today.
Clear to partly cloudy tonight. Some
sunshine tomorrow.
Cascades: Clouds and sun, a thunderstorm
in spots this afternoon; very warm across
the north.
Northern California: A shower today; sun,
some clouds, but sunshine in central parts.
1
4
6
6
3
Roughly $3.5 million. The
Department of Revenue spent a
big chunk of that refurbishing the
current site, installing equipment,
hiring a dozen employees and
EHH¿QJXSVHFXULW\ZLWKIXOOWLPH
UHWLUHGSROLFHRI¿FHUV
Unexpected costs included
hiring a new armored car service
because the previous one was
unwilling to transport pot cash.
Anticipating the pot industry’s
growth, the department plans
to use the rest of its budget to
build a bigger space, likely on
WKH PDLQ ÀRRU WR DFFRPPRGDWH
more businesses and larger cash
transactions.
&ODVVLÀHG/HJDO$GYHUWLVLQJ
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Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
WINDS
Medford
81/49
How much does it cost?
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Thu.
WORLD CITIES
Hi
81
81
85
58
76
53
64
72
67
75
65
Almost daily. Pot dealers pay
taxes each month, rather than
quarterly, and only in Salem for
safety reasons.
Many of Oregon’s 300-plus
recreational pot dealers are paying
in cash. The rest send payments
by mail in bank checks, money
orders and cashier’s checks
because electronic payments are
not set up yet.
Corrections
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
When is it happening?
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regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call
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www.eastoregonian.com
It starts with a phone call.
Dialing the Marijuana Tax
Program hotline, pot dealers make
an appointment for anywhere
between 30 minutes to two hours,
depending on how much cash
they’ll be bringing. They are
DVNHG WR ¿OO RXW D YRXFKHU ZLWK
the business’ details and bring it
to the appointment for the state’s
record-keeping.
At the Department of Revenue
in Salem, about a block from the
Capitol, dealers take an elevator
WRDQXSSHUÀRRUDVWKH\FDUU\WKH
voucher and a duffel bag, brief-
case, shopping bag or whatever
works for toting thousands of
dollars in cash.
Exiting to a short hallway, the
cash-carrier picks up a telephone
RQ WKH ZDOO GLDOV D ¿YHGLJLW
number as instructed by a sign,
FRQ¿UPVWKHDSSRLQWPHQWDQGJHWV
buzzed through a door.
7KH FDVKFDUULHU¶V ¿QDO VWRS
the Cash Transaction Unit, is
a few steps ahead. The carrier
approaches a bank teller-like
window with two payment stations
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— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
How it works
behind bulletproof glass that’s
equipped with security cameras
and monitors and a retired police
RI¿FHUVWDQGLQJJXDUG
A faint odor of marijuana — a
byproduct of “smelly money” —
emanates through the eye-level
cracks in the glass used for talking
to state workers.
Cash and the voucher are
placed into a bullet-proof metal
deposit drop below then grabbed
by a worker on the other side.
The cash-carrier then waits
and watches as cash-counting
machines crank out totals and
workers upload the information
electronically.
The money then goes into
another bag and is taken to an
undisclosed area, where it’s later
picked up by an armored car and
delivered to the state’s bank.
'HSDUWPHQW RI 5HYHQXH RI¿-
cials have likened the operation to
a bank, while others see it differ-
ently. “This might be more like
a casino than a bank,” state Sen.
Doug Whitsett during a February
KHDULQJ ZKHQ WKH RSHUDWLRQ ¿UVW
came to light.
1
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2016
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: Sunshine is in store from Florida to Maine and in a large part of the
West today. Showers and storms will extend from Texas and Louisiana to Nebraska, Iowa,
Illinois and Indiana.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 97° in Imperial, Calif.
Low 12° in Cabin Creek, Colo.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Hi
73
84
59
70
68
82
82
54
83
82
70
70
78
54
67
85
58
68
83
76
77
82
67
91
73
83
Lo
47
59
46
45
44
59
55
43
60
57
56
54
62
34
51
54
38
45
72
64
58
58
47
65
60
57
W
s
pc
s
s
s
c
pc
s
pc
s
sh
s
t
c
pc
s
pc
c
pc
t
c
pc
t
s
t
s
Thur.
Hi
75
80
65
74
74
76
86
70
82
78
69
68
74
65
67
86
59
60
84
80
69
83
70
91
77
79
Lo
49
63
55
59
49
63
58
52
64
58
44
53
55
40
51
58
39
33
71
61
53
63
50
66
58
57
W
s
c
pc
pc
s
t
pc
pc
sh
sh
sh
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t
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sh
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pc
s
pc
t
t
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pc
s
c
s
Today
Louisville
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson
Washington, DC
Wichita
Hi
80
75
81
58
68
78
79
67
73
61
70
94
57
60
74
61
78
81
71
74
79
74
84
90
72
71
Lo
60
63
71
49
51
60
66
48
51
48
47
66
36
40
50
38
44
54
57
49
61
58
54
57
51
48
W
pc
t
pc
sh
c
c
c
s
pc
r
s
s
s
s
s
c
s
pc
t
s
s
pc
s
s
s
pc
Thur.
Hi
72
76
83
64
69
73
78
72
71
72
74
96
68
72
79
69
78
77
75
80
76
69
73
93
76
72
Lo
58
59
73
41
44
59
67
59
48
45
61
67
46
51
61
41
51
55
56
57
61
57
54
60
64
50
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
t
t
pc
sh
pc
t
t
pc
t
pc
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s
pc
pc
pc
s
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pc
t
s
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pc