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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 2016)
NATION/WORLD Wednesday, June 22, 2016 Hundreds of new evacuations across West as wildires surge By JOHN ANTCZAK Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Surging wildires on Tuesday forced new evacuations of hundreds of homes across the West, while ireighters worked to beat back a pair of huge adjacent blazes looming over suburban Los Angeles. Near the U.S.-Mexico border southeast of San Diego a two-day-old, 12-square-mile wildire took a large leap and forced the evacuation of about 600 homes and more than 1,500 people in the community of Lake Morena Village. Previ- ously only about 75 people had evacuated from that ire. In Utah, oficials have evacuated about 100 homes from a mountain town in the southwest of the state as a wildire less than a mile away is moving down a rocky slope toward the community of Pine Valley. The blaze is less than a square mile but moving dangerously close to homes in dificult terrain, oficials said. In Southern California, two adjacent ires in the San Gabriel Mountains 20 miles AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu Smoke from wildires burning in Angeles National Forest ills the sky behind the Los Angeles skyline on Monday. northeast of Los Angeles burned out of control but had not destroyed any homes while their combined size grew to more than 8 square miles. About 770 homes in the foothill city of Duarte were under evacuation orders and residents of Bradbury and Monrovia just to the west were urged to be ready to leave immediately if given the word. A 4 a.m. wind shift started bringing the ire down the mountains but a helicopter making nighttime water drops slowed the advance. Signii- cant progress, however, was made overnight on the east side of Duarte, where lames creeped down to the bottom of slopes behind homes and ireighters extinguished them. The two ires erupted separately Monday and scared homeowners before burning mostly away from the cities. Charlie Downing, out of breath and with his shirt off because of the heat, said when he irst smelled ire and felt heat that he ran outside of his house and was astonished by the size and nearness of the lames. “I came running over just to look and it was 15 to 20 feet in the air,” Downing told reporters. “By the time I came back and told my grandma and my kids to get in the car, it was right by the car.” He and two neighbors sprayed the lames with their yard hoses until ireighters arrived minutes later. Two towering columns of smoke rose from the moun- tain range, reminiscent of a 2009 ire that scorched 250 square miles of the Angeles National Forest as it burned for weeks. Elsewhere, crews made progress against a week-old blaze in rugged coastal mountains west of Santa Barbara, boosting contain- ment to 70 percent. About 270 homes and other buildings were threat- ened by the blaze, which has charred more than 12 square miles since Wednesday. Authorities planned to begin lifting mandatory evacua- tions there on Wednesday. No ‘magic bullet’ against jihadist propaganda ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Orlando massacre at a popular gay nightclub shows no one yet has “found the magic bullet” to prevent Americans from being inspired to violence by jihadist propaganda on the internet, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday as she visited a city still shaken by the shootings. Countering the narra- tive of radical extremism continues to be a challenge for the government, Lynch said in an interview with The Associated Press. “How do we break that chain? How do we counter this extremist ideology that’s online, knowing that the internet has to remain free and open?” she said. “What can we get out there that’s a counter-message to that?” At the scene of the carnage, workers removed a temporary fence that was erected around the Pulse nightclub. State oficials wondered how they would pay for resources drained by the June 12 massacre, and investigators kept probing for gunman Omar Mateen’s motives for the rampage, in which 49 people were killed and dozens more wounded. Mateen died in a gunbattle with police. Lynch said investigators may never pinpoint a single motive and have not ruled out witness reports suggesting Mateen might have been at Pulse before or had gay interests. “While we know a lot more about him in terms of who he was and what he did, I do not want to deinitively rule out any particular moti- vation here,” she said, later adding, “It’s entirely possible that he had a singular motive. It’s entirely possible that he had a dual motive.” In a 911 call from the club, Mateen pledged solidarity with the Islamic State group, and Lynch said there’s no doubt, based on evidence gathered during the investigation, that he had read and absorbed extremist propaganda on the internet. “We believe that is certainly one avenue of radicalization, but we want to know if there are others,” she said in the interview. “We want to know everything he did in the days, weeks and months leading up to this attack.” “We still do believe that this was an act of terror and an act of hate,” she added. Speaking to reporters later, she called the rampage a “shattering attack — on our nation, on our people and on our most fundamental ideals.” She also directly addressed the LGBT commu- nity, saying, “We stand with you to say that the good in the world far outweighs the evil ... and that our most effective response to terror and hatred is compassion, unity and love.” While in Orlando, Lynch visited a memorial, praised the actions of irst responders and met with victims’ relatives. Her remarks at a news conference followed meetings with U.S. Attorney Lee Bentley and other law enforcement oficials, including prosecutors assigned to the investigation. Lynch’s meeting with irst responders came as Orlando police faced continued ques- tions about their response. On Monday, police Chief John Mina said that if any ire from responding oficers hit victims at the club, Mateen bears the responsibility. “Those killings are on the suspect, on the suspect alone in my mind,” he said. East Oregonian Clinton warns that Trump would plunge economy into recession COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Donald Trump would send the U.S. economy back into recession, warning his “reckless” approach would hurt workers still trying to recover from the 2008 economic turbulence. Clinton’s address in Ohio, one of the most important battleground states, sought to deine Trump as little more than a con man, whose ignorance and ego would tank the global economy, bankrupt Americans and risk the country’s future. “Every day we see how reckless and careless Trump is. He’s proud of it,” the Democratic presidential candidate said. “Well, that’s his choice. Except when he’s asking to be our pres- ident. Then it’s our choice.” The speech was similar to one earlier this month in San Diego in which Clinton tried to undercut the Republican candidate’s foreign policy credentials. This time, at an alternative high school in Columbus, she questioned whether Trump has the tempera- ment to guide the economy and repeatedly pointed to his business record as evidence of how he would treat small businesses and working families. “Just like he shouldn’t have his inger on the button, he shouldn’t have his hands on our economy,” Clinton said. Her speech included stinging one-liners, including a takedown of Trump’s best-selling books. “He’s written a lot of books about business. But they all seem to end at Chapter 11,” she said, in an allusion to the U.S. bankruptcy code. Trump warns we don’t know ‘about Hillary in terms of religion’ NEW YORK (AP) — Republican Donald Trump appeared to raise questions about likely rival Hillary Clinton’s religious faith at a closed-door meeting with evangelical leaders Tuesday. The presumptive GOP nominee, in a video clip of his remarks, appeared to suggest the public doesn’t know “anything about Hillary in terms of religion.” “You know, she’s been in public eye for years and years, and yet there’s no, there’s nothing out there. There’s like nothing out there,” he told the group. “It’s going to be an extension of Obama, but it’s going to be worse because with Obama you had your guard up, with Hillary you don’t. And it’s going to be worse,” he warned. A spokeswoman for Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on exactly what Trump meant. Footage of Trump speaking at the meeting at a Times Square hotel, which was closed to reporters, was posted by attendee Bishop E.W. Jackson on his Twitter feed. Jackson told The Asso- ciated Press that Trump had been talking about the idea that conservatives are constantly scrutinized over their religion, how devout they are and their positons on social issues. “He was saying in the context that liberals and the Democrats don’t get those kinds of questions, they don’t get their faith exam- ined in that way,” he said. “He wasn’t questioning her Christianity, but he was questioning the implica- tions of her faith, compared to how conservatives tend to have their faith exam- ined.” DRONES: Pendleton UAS aims to proit broad access to the national airspace. Initially, the agency put its emphasis on inding ways to enable larger drones like those used for military missions to safely ly at the same altitudes as other manned aircraft. Later, the agency shifted its focus to small drones when it became clear that the market for their uses was developing much faster. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836. Route work pays for my children’s activities. FOREST SERVICE HOUSE FOR SALE IN UKIAH, OREGON Become a East Oregonian Carrier. OPEN HOUSE: JUNE 17-18 TH FROM 10am to 2pm Accepting sealed bids beginning on May 25th. Property information, minimum bids, deposits, sale terms, and maps available at http://www.fs.usda.gov/r6. Copies of the Informa- tion for Bids are available at the North Fork John Day Ranger District or Rhodes Supply in Ukiah, Oregon. For more information, contact Karen Gamble at 541-523-1245. 211 SE Byers Ave. Pendleton or call: 541-276-2211 1-800-522-0255 wattsmart is registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. sight, which are prohibited under standard light autho- rizations. Despite those restrictions, Part 107 allows pilots to apply for waivers to some of those constraints if they can demonstrate the operation can be conducted safely. Chrisman said the city has always known that some UAS companies will bypass the test range, but he still largely sees the new rules as a boon to Pendleton. Industry and government oficials describe commer- cial drones as the biggest game-changing technology in aviation since the advent of the jet engine. “This is a watershed moment in how advanced technology can improve lives,” said Brendan Schulman, a vice president at DJI, the world’s largest civilian drone-maker. Jason Miller, an economic adviser for the Obama administration, said the rules are the irst step toward full integration of drones in the national airspace system. Congress has been prodding the FAA for more than a decade to write rules to provide civilian drones © 201 Pacific Power Continued from 1A industry oficials. Unless those operators make a serious mistake that brings them to the FAA’s attention, there’s not a lot the agency can do to track them down. The new rules would provide an easier way for those businesses to operate legally. Steve Chrisman, Pend- leton airport manager and economic development director, lauded the new rules, which he said will expand the market and open up more opportunities for the Pendleton UAS Range. “I don’t see how this could be bad thing in any way, shape or form,” he said. SOAR Oregon, a group that supports the state’s three test ranges, also hailed Part 107 as a “signiicant step forward.” City oficials have long touted the Pendleton UAS Range as an economic devel- opment opportunity. While some have bypassed the testing range using the 333 exemption, the city has envisioned the range as a place where drones can ly higher, faster, during the night and out of the line of Page 7A Every resident of Wattsmart knows a well-insulated home is a more energy-efficient home. It’s also a home that feels cozy in the winter and cooler in the summer. 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