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. And
with cash incentives from
Energy Trust of Oregon,
you can add insulation to your home
and save energy for years to
come. You may not
live in Wattsmart, but
you can learn to live
wattsmart ® . More tips
and cash incentives at
bewattsmart.com.