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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 2016)
Enjoy a free trip to the Pendleton Underground Tours DALE McDONALD OF MILTON-FREEWATER RNC KICKS OFF HERMISTON TAKES IT TO THE STREETS NATION/7A SPORTS/1B 81/57 TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2016 140th Year, No. 197 One dollar WINNER OF THE 2015 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD Insurers pull out, premiums to go up Umatilla County residents face more limited choices for health insurance By ALEXA LOUGEE East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney The Zac Brown Band performs at the Pendleton Whisky Music Fest on Saturday at the Round-Up Grounds. Fans f lock to fest Zac Brown Band performs at fi rst Pendleton Whisky Music Fest ready to unleash their power. Corey and McAnally hatched the idea of a major music festival about Doug Corey and Andy McAnally two years ago and planned the event looked simultaneously wired and for months. Now it was coming to life and they seemed cautiously tired. The men sat in the Pendleton optimistic about the turnout. Ticket sales were going well. Round-Up’s South The weather forecast Grandstand Friday looked good. afternoon watching After party “We’re expecting their brainchild come Organizers tally what a large crowd,” Corey to life — the fi rst-ever went right, wrong to said. Pendleton Whisky consider next year. Festival-goers Music Fest, which Page 8A would hear openers would kick off the next Jackson Michelson and day. As they looked on, a guy in cargo shorts unloaded fencing Drake White late Saturday afternoon from a Penske truck and a couple before the Zac Brown Band took the dozen other workers erected the stage, stage that evening. a semi-truck that unfolded Transform- See MUSIC/8A er-style. Five generators sat on trailers By KATHY ANEY East Oregonian Staff photo by Kathy Aney Zac Brown performs at the fi rst-ever Pendleton Whisky Music Fest on Saturday at the Round-Up Grounds. Umatilla County citizens will have fewer health insurance carriers to choose from in 2017, and premiums will increase. Four of the seven companies that offered individual coverage to Umatilla County citizens this year announced they are pulling out of the county next year, citing insuffi cient payments by the federal government to cover losses from high-risk customers. Bridgspan and Moda will continue to offer individual coverage plans within the health insurance marketplace. People who get coverage through the marketplace may be eligible for tax credits to offset their premium costs. HealthNet also will continue to offer individual coverage in Umatilla County, but tax credits will not be available to those subscribers. In addition to fewer choices, Umatilla County faces signifi cant rate increases for their premiums. In general, Oregon classifi es insurance plans in three categories — bronze, silver and gold — depending on what percentage of medical costs the plan covers. A bronze plan covers approximately 60 percent of medical costs, silver covers 70 percent and gold covers about 80 percent. For a single, 40-year-old, non-tobacco user in Umatilla County on a silver plan, Bridgespan premiums will go up 23 percent in 2017. Moda Health premiums will rise 32 percent. HealthNet’s individual premium rates will increase one percent, though HealthNet traditionally has very few subscribers in Umatilla County. See HEALTH/8A Corporate sales tax wouldn’t boost Ex-con gets high school graduation measure 22 years in ARLINGTON By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — A proposed corporate sales tax that would raise $3 billion a year in new revenue would have little to no effect on the amount of funding earmarked to high school grad- uation programs under Initiative Petition 65. IP 65, sponsored by the Oregonians for High School Success campaign, dedi- required to submit a plan Boost for districts under IP 65 to the Oregon Department cates an average of $800 in new state revenue per of Education for how to District ADMw Estimate year to each high school use the money to build Hermiston 1,818 $1,227,926 pupil for dropout preven- programs for dropout Pendleton 1,160 $783,481 tion, career technical prevention and career education and college and college-readiness Morrow 896 $605,439 readiness programs. programs. Milton-Freewater 672 $454,178 The measure includes Only about 74 percent Umatilla 532 $359,633 a safety valve that allows of students in Oregon * High school weighted average daily membership, as for a smaller prorated graduate from high school calculated by the Oregon Department of Education. SOURCE: ECONorthwest allocation when new state in four years, one of the funding falls below $1.5 lowest rates in the nation. billion in a particular year, Andrew Dyke, a but there is no mechanism for 2017-18 for programs aimed at researcher at ECONorthwest, increasing the per-student allo- boosting high school graduation. said it’s unclear how the measure A study by economic would directly impact the state’s cation above an average of $800, consulting fi rm ECONorthwest graduation rate. Researchers said Ted Nesbitt, an adviser for the campaign and former chief has parsed out how much money from the fi rm plan to examine of staff for Gov. Ted Kulongoski, each of the state’s 88 school how the measure would affect who was a chief petitioner for districts would receive of that six Oregon school districts by amount. the graduation measure. looking at how the schools plan Hermiston School District to use the money, what programs Revenue from the corporate sales tax measure, Initiative Peti- would receive $1.23 million already are in place and the tion 28, could help keep revenue next year, under the measure, existing graduation rate, Dyke above that $1.5 billion threshold, Pendleton School District would said. but it would not bring additional bring in $783,481 and Morrow The Oregon Education revenue for the high school County School District would Association is not supporting graduation programs, said Peter add $605,439. Portland Public IP 65 but has not organized an Zuckerman, a spokesman for the Schools, the largest district in the opposition campaign against it. IP 65 campaign. state, would receive about $10.2 Instead, OEA is campaigning for If passed, IP 65 would allo- million. passage of IP 28 as an avenue for cate an estimated $147 million in High schools would be boosting funding for schools. kidnapping East Oregonian A Tennessee man was sentenced Friday to 22 years and four months in prison for a kidnapping and sexual assault near Arlington last summer. William Cooter, 46, from Greenville, Tennessee, pleaded guilty in the Gilliam County Circuit Court to the crimes of kidnapping in the fi rst degree, attempted rape, sodomy in the fi rst degree, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, assault in the fourth degree, menacing and giving false informa- Cooter tion to a peace offi cer. According to a news release from the Gilliam County District Attorney’s offi ce, Cooter used a large rock to smash through the rear window of a car where a woman was sleeping after she parked at the Arlington Mall to rest during a trip from Portland to Montana. He entered the car, bound and When is it time to consider assisted living? 1550 NW 11th Street • Hermiston 541-564-2595 • 800-550-3449 regencysunterracehermiston.com See the choices available - schedule your tour today! See COOTER/8A