OF PILOT ROCK
REGION/3A
RICHARD HEMPHILL
Visit Elite
Guns &
Bows in
Pendleton
for a free hat
PENDLETON
TAKES ON
WILLAMINA
TOP 11
WEATHER
EVENTS
OF 2016
WRESTLING/1B
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2016
141st Year, No. 54
Your Weekend
•
•
•
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Obama
punishes
Russian
hacking
PENDLETON
Free First Day Hike at
Emigrant Springs
Hermiston Resolution
Run at Riverfront Park
IMAC breakfast at Stokes
Landing Senior Center
By JOSH LEDERMAN
and TAMI ABDOLLAH
Associated Press
For times and places
see Coming Events, 3A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
37/23
39/27
29/15
Min wage
to increase
in 19 states
on Jan. 1
Oregon hike coming
later in the year
By DAVID KLEPPER
Associated Press
ALBANY, N.Y. — It will
be a happy New Year indeed
for millions of the lowest-
paid U.S. workers. Nineteen
states, including New York
and California, will ring in
the year with an increase in
the minimum wage.
Massachusetts
and
Washington state will have
the highest new minimum
wages in the country, at $11
per hour.
California will raise
its wage to $10.50 for
businesses with 26 or more
employees. New York state
is taking a regional approach,
with the wage rising to $11
in New York City, to $10.50
for small businesses in the
city, $10 in its downstate
suburbs and $9.70 elsewhere.
Some specifi c businesses —
fast-food restaurants and the
smallest New York City busi-
nesses — will have slightly
different wage requirements.
“This $1.50 increase, I
cannot even comprehend or
tell you how important this
will be,” said Alvin Major,
a New York City fast-food
worker. The 51-year-old
father of four helped lead
the fi ght for the increase
in his state, one of several
successful efforts by fast-
See WAGE/10A
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Mayor Phillip Houk does some fi nal paperwork as his last term as Pendleton’s leader comes to a close.
Let’er Houk
Departing mayor rides off after 22 years in city government
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The fi rst edition of
Pendleton Mayor Phillip
Houk’s biography is on the
walls of his offi ce.
On the left wall is a
picture of Houk, then
a young city councilor,
breaking ground in 1995
on a renovation project that
would turn Helen McCune
Junior High School into
present day city hall.
On the right is novelty
check from the U.S.
Department of the Treasury
representing the several
million dollars the federal
government gave the city
in 2006 to extend Airport
Road. Further back is the
photo he took with Bill
Clinton in 2008 when the
former president rolled
through Pendleton while
stumping for his wife,
Hillary, in her fi rst bid for
president.
These
photos
and
memorabilia span 22 years
on the Pendleton City
Council and 12 years as
mayor, which will end this
week when his handpicked
successor takes his place.
Contributed photo
Phillip Houk rides his Harley decked out with a campaign sign in the 2004
Dress-Up Parade during his fi rst campaign for Pendleton mayor.
Clad in his standard
mayoral garb — dress shirt,
tie and jacket paired with
blue jeans and cowboy
boots — Houk literally
paged through a list of
Pendleton achievements
accomplished during his
tenure.
Besides the aforemen-
tioned city hall renovation
and Airport Road extension,
Houk cited his involvement
in the creation of a new
wastewater
treatment
plant, a water membrane
See HOUK/10A
HONOLULU — The
United States struck back
Thursday at Russia for hacking
the U.S. presidential campaign
with a sweeping set of punish-
ments targeting Russia’s
spy agencies and diplomats.
The U.S. said Russia must
bear costs for its actions, but
Moscow called the Obama
administration “losers” and
threatened retaliation.
A month after an election
the U.S. says Russia tried
to sway for Donald Trump,
President Barack Obama
sanctioned the GRU and FSB,
leading Russian intelligence
agencies the U.S. said were
involved. Those sanctions
could easily be pulled back by
Trump, who has insisted that
Obama and Democrats are
merely attempting to delegit-
imize his election.
In an elaborately coordi-
nated response by at least fi ve
federal agencies, the Obama
administration also sought to
expose Russia’s cyber tactics
with a detailed technical
report and hinted it might still
launch a covert counterattack.
“All Americans should be
alarmed by Russia’s actions,”
Obama said, adding, “Such
activities have consequences.”
Trump issued a statement
saying it was “time for our
country to move on to bigger
and better things.” Yet in the
face of newly public evidence,
he suggested he was keeping
an open mind.
“In the interest of our
country and its great people, I
will meet with leaders of the
intelligence community next
week in order to be updated
on the facts of this situation,”
Trump said.
As part of the punishment,
the U.S. also kicked out
35 Russian diplomats who
the U.S. said were actually
intelligence operatives, and
shut down a pair of Russian
compounds, in New York
and Maryland. The U.S. said
those actions were in response
to Russia’s harassment of
U.S. diplomats, calling it part
of a pattern of aggression that
See RUSSIA/10A
OUR NEW NEIGHBORS
Chen family brings sushi to Hermiston
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
New Hermiston resident
Sean Chen and his family
brought a fresh perspective
on food to Eastern Oregon
with the opening of their new
restaurant, Kobe Hibachi
Sushi — and they’re happy
with their decision to come
here.
Chen and his family,
who moved from Portland a
few months ago to open the
restaurant at 1055 S. Hwy.
395 Ste. 100, Hermiston,
like the friendly customers
and welcoming atmosphere
Hermiston has provided
them so far.
“We have experience
in different towns,” said
Chen, 28. “My cousin has
restaurants in Oregon, and
My cousin has
restaurants ...
and I’ve worked
for him, but this
is my fi rst time
being in charge.”
— Sean Chen, owner of
Kobe Hibachi Sushi
I’ve worked for him, but
this is my fi rst time being in
charge.”
Chen is the restaurant’s
manager, but he takes the
phrase “family enterprise”
seriously.
“It’s not just me,” he said,
gesturing to his brothers
working around the restau-
rant — Feng, the youngest,
See CHEN/10A
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
The Chen family recently opened Kobe Hibachi Sushi restaurant in Hermiston.
From left: Kevin, Josh, Ben, Feng and Sean.