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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2016)
WEATHER East Oregonian Page 2A REGIONAL CITIES Forecast THURSDAY TODAY Partly sunny A shower in the afternoon 36° 22° 36° 30° FRIDAY SATURDAY Snow or fl urries possible Today SUNDAY Chilly with clouds and sun Cloudy, a little snow; chilly PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 34° 28° 32° 20° 29° 12° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 34° 31° 36° 21° PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH LOW 48° 39° 39° 25° 66° (1900) -12° (1990) 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 0.16" 1.49" 0.98" 12.79" 9.71" 12.49" HERMISTON through 3 p.m. yesterday LOW John Day 36/18 Ontario 20/5 Bend 35/18 50° 34° 39° 27° 63° (1933) -12° (1990) Burns 25/0 0.24" 1.11" 0.99" 9.01" 6.74" 9.49" SUN AND MOON Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today New First Jan 5 7:33 a.m. 4:14 p.m. 12:04 a.m. 12:25 p.m. Full Last Jan 12 Jan 19 Caldwell 24/9 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 50 19 35 54 25 30 39 36 36 36 35 32 32 44 49 54 20 37 36 45 35 42 31 35 45 37 35 Lo 37 3 18 38 0 14 28 23 21 18 14 18 19 27 37 37 5 19 22 31 14 28 16 17 33 20 17 Klamath Falls 35/14 Hi 49 20 37 51 23 27 45 35 34 34 39 29 29 44 48 53 20 34 36 43 36 44 30 34 43 34 33 Lo 40 12 27 44 13 21 39 29 31 28 29 26 26 37 41 43 10 25 30 39 26 38 28 27 40 30 24 W r c c r c c r c c c c c c c r r c i c r c r sn c r c i Today Beijing Hong Kong Jerusalem London Mexico City Moscow Paris Rome Seoul Sydney Tokyo Hi 44 77 51 51 71 34 45 62 54 77 61 Lo 29 67 41 36 45 28 43 41 46 67 52 Thu. W c t pc r pc sh c pc r s s Hi 44 76 54 47 72 33 50 59 51 74 67 Lo 20 62 41 39 44 28 35 38 28 68 59 W s s s pc pc c r pc r pc r (in mph) Today Thursday Boardman Pendleton ENE 3-6 SE 4-8 SSW 3-6 SSE 6-12 UV INDEX TODAY REGIONAL FORECAST Coastal Oregon: Sunny to partly cloudy today. Mostly cloudy tonight; periods of rain across the north. Eastern and Central Oregon: Mostly sunny today; cold in the upper Treasure Valley. Partly cloudy tonight. Western Washington: Sun and clouds today; areas of morning fog. Periods of rain at the coast tonight. Eastern Washington: Clouds and sun today, except partly sunny across the south. Some clouds tonight. Cascades: Partly sunny today. Some clouds tonight. A bit of snow tomorrow. Northern California: Plenty of sunshine today. Partly cloudy tonight. Mostly cloudy tomorrow. 0 1 1 — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and Dec. 25, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2016 Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday surrounding county as a whole. The audit also found that only 30 percent of Business Oregon incentives between 2006 and 2015 went to firms in rural areas, even though urban areas “already have faster employment growth.” Regarding the enterprise zones created by local governments, the audit found that the standard zones appear to be working better than the long-term rural zones, which provide a longer tax break. In 2015, each new job in a long-term rural enterprise zone cost $55,000 in waived property taxes, versus $4,200 per job in standard zones. Data storage centers, which tech giants like Apple, Facebook, and Google have built in Oregon in recent years, have been particularly costly in terms of job creation, the audit found. Data centers’ combination of high investment in equipment — meaning potentially high property taxes — and few workers needed to maintain them, meant that each job they created cost $87,000 to nearly $800,000 in lost property taxes in 2015. The audit also concludes that, despite some recent improvements, there is still a lack of transparency in the different tax breaks and other incentives that the state and local governments provide. For example, some subsidy programs don’t publicly disclose what requirements — like a set number of created jobs or investment in a facility — businesses must comply with in order to receive their incentive. Others don’t provide details on whether a recepient ultimately complied with those requirements or not. “Both Business Oregon and the (Oregon) Department of Revenue tend to be conservative about releasing business information,” the audit states, because releasing more information “could compromise projects ... and reduce demand for the incentive and loan programs.” But auditors wrote that interviews with officials in other states where more disclosure is required hadn’t found that to be the case. 0 The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num- ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings off cover price EZPay $14.50 41 percent 52 weeks $173.67 41 percent 26 weeks $91.86 38 percent 13 weeks $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge Audit takes a look at state’s business incentive programs 0 0-2, Low 3-5, Moderate 6-7, High; 8-10, Very High; 11+, Extreme Didn’t receive your paper? Call 1-800-522-0255 before noon Tuesday through Friday or before 10 a.m. Saturday for same-day redelivery Copyright © 2016, EO Media Group 0 8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m. Subscriber services: For home delivery, vacation stops or delivery concerns: 1-800-522-0255 EUGENE — Oregon should work to ensure better return on investment and transparency in the $340 million a year in tax breaks and cash incentives it provides to businesses, a new audit from the Secretary of State’s office concludes. The audit, released Monday, examines Business Oregon, the state’s economic development agency, and the incentives it provides directly to private companies. Those sweeteners — including forgivable and low-in- terest loans, tax credits, and direct cash assistance — total $72.5 million a year. But the review also examined property tax waivers granted by local governments through state-approved enterprise zones and the Strategic Investment Program. Those add up to $267.5 million a year in waived property taxes throughout Oregon. Technology firm Intel is the biggest recepient with $162.5 million a year in tax breaks from Washington and Multnomah counties. Lane County currently has several enterprise zones, which provide prop- erty tax waivers to a wide range of companies. Hynix, which shut its West Eugene plant in 2008, was the county’s largest recepient of property tax breaks: $65 million over ten years. “It is critical that Business Oregon and other state agencies regularly evaluate and improve their business subsidy programs to make the best use of limited public resources,” Secre- tary of State Jeanne Atkins said, in a prepared statement. “Taxpayers should expect nothing less.” Generally, the audit found that economic development officials, when they give a business an incentive, aren’t adequately monitoring and reporting the number of jobs the company creates or retains, the wages of those jobs, and the state’s overall return on investment. For example, analyzing 231 direct Business Oregon incentives between 2011 and 2012, the audit found that most went to firms where wages were lower, on average, than those in the W pc s s s s s pc pc pc s s s s s pc pc s pc pc pc s pc pc s pc pc pc Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. WORLD CITIES Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. By SAUL HUBBARD The Register-Guard NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Thu. WINDS Medford 44/27 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 Dec 28 Albany 41/29 Eugene 39/28 TEMPERATURE Yesterday Normals Records 31° 16° Spokane Wenatchee 31/16 28/20 Tacoma Moses 45/30 Lake Pullman Aberdeen Olympia Yakima 33/19 29/21 46/35 44/30 35/17 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 45/32 37/20 Lewiston 36/20 Astoria 30/18 50/37 Portland Enterprise Hermiston 45/31 Pendleton 30/14 The Dalles 36/21 36/22 32/20 La Grande Salem 32/18 42/28 Corvallis 41/30 HIGH 34° 20° Seattle 46/35 ALMANAC Yesterday Normals Records 35° 26° Wednesday, December 21, 2016 -10s -0s 0s showers t-storms 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: The nation will be free of major storms today. Snow will create slippery travel from North Dakota to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Rain showers will dampen part of southern Florida for a time. Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 88° in Naples, Fla. Low -21° in Presque Isle, Maine 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 53 61 46 47 32 58 24 41 60 48 33 37 63 40 31 68 7 35 81 68 38 64 42 58 53 78 Lo 32 47 34 29 18 45 9 30 36 37 24 29 36 18 27 44 -16 18 71 52 24 40 20 45 32 55 W s s s s s pc s pc s pc c c s s c pc sn c pc pc pc pc pc s s s Thur. Hi 42 62 49 49 30 60 27 42 66 44 32 35 51 41 36 53 -11 33 80 67 35 71 39 57 49 74 Lo 35 40 34 28 19 38 19 28 41 26 18 25 37 24 20 42 -18 20 68 49 19 50 26 39 31 53 W sn pc c pc c pc c c pc c pc c pc s pc r pc pc pc pc pc pc s r s c 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 45 51 82 34 35 49 65 43 54 41 45 72 38 43 56 36 45 58 48 37 73 59 46 72 48 45 Lo 30 34 68 26 17 35 53 34 27 18 30 57 24 29 33 11 25 35 27 21 57 44 35 58 35 22 W pc pc pc c c s pc pc s pc pc pc s pc s pc s s pc s s s pc pc s s Thur. Hi 43 48 82 34 30 47 65 44 45 39 47 67 36 43 59 39 48 57 39 36 69 58 44 68 52 41 Lo 25 33 68 21 22 31 52 34 32 24 31 55 23 29 30 13 33 41 25 24 56 45 39 53 32 27 W pc pc s pc pc pc pc c s s pc r sh c pc pc pc s s pc sh s r r pc s Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice. Advertising Director: Marissa Williams 541-278-2669 • addirector@eastoregonian.com Advertising Services: Laura Jensen 541-966-0806 • ljensen@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Terri Briggs 541-278-2678 • tbriggs@eastoregonian.com • Elizabeth Freemantle 541-278-2683 • efreemantle@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Chris McClellan 541-966-0827 • cmcclellan@eastoregonian.com • Stephanie Newsom 541-278-2687 • snewsom@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Classified & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: • call 541-966-0818 • fax 541-276-8314 • email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers in at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit a Letter to the Editor: mail to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com. • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com BRIEFLY Judge: Kids can move ahead with climate rights case SEATTLE (AP) — A judge says eight Seattle children should have “their day in court” to argue that Washington state and others are violating their constitutional rights to a healthy environment by failing to protect them from climate change. King County Superior Court Judge Hollis Hill on Monday wrote that there’s a need for coordinated science-based action by the state to “address climate change before efforts to do so are too costly and too late.” The petitioners, between 12 and 16 years old, had asked the judge to find the Department of Ecology in contempt for failing to protect them and future generations from global warming. The judge said Ecology complied with her orders within her timeline and so denied the kids’ request. But in an unusual move, the judge allowed the youth to amend their petition and move forward with their constitutional rights claims against the state. Secretary of state suspends probe of voter ‘robocalls’ SALEM (AP) — Oregon’s secretary of state is suspending an investigation into automated calls that told some voters in the run-up to the November election that they were marked as “inactive” voters in registration rolls and their vote might not count. Secretary of State Jeanne P. Atkins said Tuesday that while the calls confused voters, there is no evidence that they contained deliberately false information. She has said previously that the contacts may have relied on outdated voter rolls. In a statement, Atkins says in the future, political campaigns should consult with state elections officials to make sure their voter records are up-to- date. Voters all across the state received the confusing auto- mated calls in the week before the Nov. 8 election. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI also looked into the complaints. Officials concerned about water used for growing marijuana MEDFORD (AP) — The Medford Water Commission is concerned that commercial marijuana growers might be illegally taking water from municipal sources. The commission is installing water meters to measure how much water is being used at filling stations in White City and Medford and see if increased marijuana production has had an impact, reported The Mail Tribune. Officials are also hoping to determine if there are ways to police the water usage. “A lot of growers are buying land that is pretty arid,” said commission member Bob Strosser. He said that as a result they could look for other water sources. Under state law, municipal water can be used for homes, lawns and other landscaping around a house. The law isn’t specific about using the water for agricultural purposes. Local contractors can get permission to use fire hydrants at construction sites, but the Corrections The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sin- cerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818. commission has gotten reports that other water trucks are also filling up there. There’s also concern about commercial growers with hundreds of plants using water from filling stations. “At some point, we need to look at our policies and come up with clear and definitive guidelines as to when the treated water can be used,” said Strosser, who will be on the Jackson County Board of Commissioners beginning in January. “It’s an emerging issue that we are going to have to address and deal with because water is a finite resource.” No charges for fatal medication error BEND (AP) — No criminal charges will be filed against an Oregon hospital after a patient died from being given the wrong medication. The Bend Bulletin reports that 65-year-old Loretta Macpherson, a Sisters resident, died in December 2014 when a staff member at the St. Charles Bend hospital pharmacy filled an IV bag with a paralyzing agent instead of the requested anti-seizure drug. St. Charles said the correct drug was entered in the hospital’s record system. The Deschutes County District Attorney’s office announced Monday that it won’t prosecute the case. District Attorney John Hummel said in a news release that he decided not to initiate criminal charges after reviewing the facts and considering steps St. Charles took to prevent future mistakes. December 26 th Saager’s Shoe Shop Up to 50% Off Milton-Freewater, OR Give a thoughtful gift that gives all year long! A gift subscription to the East Oregonian Convenient home delivery every Tuesday through Saturday, plus unlimited access to EastOregonian.com Call 800-552-0255 to give your gift today!
