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East Oregonian
DeVos pledges not to
undo public education,
pushes school choice
WA S H I N G T O N
(AP) — In a sometimes
contentious
confirmation
hearing, education secretary
pick Betsy DeVos
pledged
Tuesday
not to dismantle
public
education
and said she wasn’t
selected for the job
simply
because
of her wealthy
family’s generous
contributions to the DeVos
Republican Party.
Sen. Patty Murray of
Washington state, the top
Democrat on the Senate
Health, Labor, Education and
Pension Committee, asked
DeVos point blank to pledge
that she would not seek to
privatize public schools or
take money away from them.
DeVos, who has spent
more than two decades advo-
cating for charter schools and
school choice, promised to
work to address “the needs of
all parents and students.”
Committee
Chairman
Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.,
a former education secretary,
expressed confidence that
DeVos is an “excellent” choice
for the job. “She is on the side
of our children,” he said.
But as other Republicans
praised President-elect Donald
Trump’s pick, Democrats
grilled her on a range of issues
from child care to students
with disabilities and making
public colleges and
universities tuition-
free.
Asked outright
by Sen. Bernie
Sanders of Vermont
if she got the job
because of her
family’s political
contributions,
DeVos said: “As a
matter of fact I do think that
there would be that possi-
bility. I have worked very
hard on behalf of parents and
children for the last almost
30 years.”
On tuition-free public
colleges and universities,
DeVos said: “I think we also
have to consider the fact that
there is nothing in life that is
truly free. Somebody is going
to pay for it.”
She skirted Sanders’ ques-
tion on whether she would
support making child care
free or much more affordable
for low-income families as
is the case in many countries
around the world, saying
only that she feels strongly
about “parents having an
opportunities for child care
for their children.”
HAMLEY: Woodfield
has 30 days to amend,
resubmit lawsuit
Continued from 1A
she needed more time to rule
on Woodfield’s third claim
— expelling Pearce due to
bad acts. The judge in a Jan.
11 letter to attorneys said she
dismissed the claim.
Hampton stated Wood-
field did not demonstrate
how the allegations he made
against Pearce related to any
of the four Hamley busi-
nesses.
“There are no allegations
of ultimate facts showing
how the alleged wrongful
conduct adversely or mate-
rially affected any particular
LLC,” Hampton wrote. “Nor
are there any allegations
how a material breach of
a specific organization or
operating agreement made
it not reasonably practicable
to carry on the business of a
specific LLC.”
The judge concluded:
“I find that plaintiff has not
stated ultimate facts suffi-
cient to constitute a claim for
expulsion.”
Still, Hampton allowed
Woodfield 30 days to amend
the lawsuit and try again.
The East Oregonian tried
to seek comment from Wood-
field and his lawyer, Steven
J. Joseph of La Grande, but
they did not immediately
return messages.
Pearce said the dismissal
“breaks up the ice jam” to
what he has been trying to do
for months — buy out Wood-
field’s interest in Hamley’s.
But, Pearce added, he would
wait for Woodfield to make
the first move.
ICE: High winds expected
to batter Oregon coastline
Continued from 1A
into the Columbia River
Gorge could get up to an
inch, the National Weather
Service said.
Ice was disrupting and
delaying public transpor-
tation around Portland on
Tuesday evening, transpor-
tation officials said. Officials
were
urging
Portland
residents to avoid travel if
possible.
A high wind warning
was also in effect along the
Oregon and Washington
coasts, with gusts of up to 75
mph predicted on headlands
and open beaches in some
locations.
Flights were also delayed
at Portland International
Airport due to icy conditions.
Oregon
has
been
pummeled by snow and
below-freezing temperatures
for days, but a warming trend
starting Wednesday could
mean flooding later in the
week.
That would be another
problem for newly sworn
in Portland Mayor Ted
Wheeler, who has fielded
angry questions on Twitter
about why Portland streets
are still caked with a thick
layer of ice a week after a
storm dumped 10 inches of
snow on the city.
At a news conference
Tuesday
convened
to
discuss a new homeless
shelter, Wheeler also spent
time talking about the city’s
response to the storm.
“I’m not here to make
excuses. I think we can do
better,” he said, adding that
he wanted to review the
response.
An incoming weather
system
was
spreading
freezing rain across a broad
swath of the Cascades,
Central Washington and
southwest Washington.
The Yakima airport in
Washington closed at 6 p.m.
because of freezing rain,
officials said.
Officials on Tuesday
evening said the westbound
lanes of Interstate 90 in
Ellensburg,
Washington,
would be closed overnight
because of freezing rain and
avalanche danger.
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
UK’s May calls for a ‘clean Brexit’
LONDON (AP) —
Britain’s future outside the
European Union became
much clearer Tuesday: It’s
so long to the single market,
goodbye to the European
Court of Justice and farewell
to the freedom of movement
for workers.
In a long-awaited speech,
Prime Minister Theresa May
finally revealed the U.K’s
hand as it prepares to start EU
exit talks. She said the U.K.
wants to free itself from EU
governance and stop paying
millions into its coffers, but
still remain friends, allies and
tariff-free trading partners
with the soon-to-be 27 nation
bloc.
“We want to buy your
goods and services, sell you
ours, trade with you as freely
as possible, and work with
one another to make sure
we are all safer, more secure
and more prosperous through
continued friendship,” May
said in a speech to diplomats
and dignitaries beneath the
gilded paintwork and chan-
deliers of a Georgian London
mansion.
“You will still be welcome
in this country as we hope our
citizens will be welcome in
yours,” she said.
Pro-Brexit British politi-
cians praised the speech, and
the pound rallied from recent
lows as May provided more
details of the path ahead for
AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, pool
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May smiles as she
arrives to deliver a speech on leaving the European
Union at Lancaster House in London, Tuesday.
the split with the EU — and
vowed that Britain would
remain “a great global trading
nation” open to business and
talent from around the world.
Others called May’s
vision wildly ambitious,
like a divorcing couple who
hope to remain best friends,
share the kids and keep each
other’s front door keys.
“This is rather like a
divorce rather than ‘friends.’
And then the question is,
divorces can be handled very
well or very, very badly,”
said Tony Travers, director
of British government studies
at the London School of
Economics
Travers said Britain was
hoping its friends in the EU
will say “let’s make it gentle,
let’s not — as with a bad
divorce — give all the money
to the lawyers.”
In her 40-minute address,
May said Britain would leave
the EU single market of some
500 million people, but “seek
the greatest possible access to
it through a new, comprehen-
sive, bold and ambitious free
trade agreement.”
She said there would be
no attempt to cling to bits of
EU membership. Britain will
“bring an end to the jurisdic-
tion of the European Court of
Justice in Britain,” May said.
It also will impose controls
on the number of people
coming to Britain from EU
member countries, aban-
doning the bloc’s principle of
free movement.
May promised for the first
time that Britain’s Parliament
would be able to vote on the
final deal reached between
Britain and the EU, likely in
2019. However, she didn’t
say what would happen
should lawmakers reject the
agreement.
The speech received
mixed reactions within the
EU, whose leaders largely
lament Britain’s decision to
leave.
German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter
Steinmeier
said the speech had “created
a little bit more clarity about
the British plans.” French
far-right leader Marine Le
Pen of the National Front
described it as “courageous”
and respecting the will of the
British people.
European Council Presi-
dent Donald Tusk described
it on Twitter as a “sad
process, surrealistic times
but at least more realistic
announcement.” He said the
27 other EU nations were
“united and ready to nego-
tiate” once Britain formally
starts the two-year process of
talks by invoking Article 50
of the EU’s key treaty.
In his final daily press
briefing before the change
in U.S. administrations,
White House press secretary
Josh Earnest called on these
“critically important Amer-
ican allies” to engage with
each other in a way “that’s as
transparent as possible.”
BUS: City expects slow ridership build
Continued from 1A
riders the first day and 20 on
the second, but driver Ron
Myers said things slowed
down a little Friday after the
snow days, likely because
people weren’t sure if it was
running.
Myers,
a
lifelong
Hermiston resident with
decades of truck and bus
driving experience, said he
was pleased to be assigned
the HART route. He said
he was looking forward to
driving on bare roads once
the weather warms up, and
to not having large piles of
snow in front of many of the
stops. For now cars have to
wait behind him when there
is not enough room to pull
over without getting stuck
in the snow, and the routes
have been running about 10
minutes late.
If the bus gets to a stop
early, it won’t leave until
the appointed time on the
schedule, but if it is running
late and no one is standing
near the white and red
marker at the stop, the driver
will only pull over for a few
seconds.
Most people didn’t seem
to mind a few extra minutes
waiting if it saved them a
long walk across town. On
Friday morning Jason Cook
of Pendleton got on at Fiesta
Foods. He said he some-
times rides the Hermiston
Hopper bus from Pendleton
to Hermiston in order to
shop or visit friends, but in
the past he has had to walk
from the Hermiston Hopper
stop off Orchard Avenue to
Hermiston to ask for bigger slice
of county transportation pie
As Hermiston starts its new bus
program, the city is still running its taxi
ticket program for senior and disabled
residents.
The program subsidizes rides from
approved taxi services — currently
Umatilla Cab Company — by allowing
people to buy a $2-per-ride ticket at city
hall while the city reimburses the cab
company for the rest of the cost of the ride.
At the Special Transportation Advi-
sory Committee on Feb. 6 at 1:30 p.m.
at the Umatilla County Courthouse, the
city plans to ask Umatilla County for an
increase in grant money to help support
the program.
Assistant city manager Mark Morgan
said a coordinated human services plan put
together by the county recently showed
that Pendleton and Milton-Freewater were
providing fewer “special transportation”
wherever in town he wanted
to go.
“I usually walk from
Bi-Mart to downtown, so it’s
nice I can get a ride now,” he
said. “I think once the weather
gets better they’re gonna have
a full bus every day.”
After all of Kayak’s
buses had shut down due
to dangerous roads for a
couple of days, Cook said
he had been stranded in
Hermiston and was glad to
connect with the Hermiston
Hopper and get back home.
Dustin Mason was the
HART’s other rider Friday
morning, and he said he will
“definitely” be using the bus
rides for seniors and disabled residents
than Hermiston but were getting three
times as much money.
According to Morgan, Hermiston
currently gets $27,000 a year from the
county, with the Hermiston Senior Center
and Good Shepherd Health Care System’s
Carevan program getting another
combined $25,000. The city of Pendleton
gets about $87,000. Hermiston plans to
ask that the city’s grant be increased to
$55,000, which Morgan said still works
out to 20 percent less per ride than Pend-
leton.
Morgan said in the past one of the
reasons given for not giving more money
to the city of Hermiston has been that
the city’s taxi program is limited to city
residents, so the new grant application
includes a proposal for expanding the
program outside of city limits.
a lot to get to the store and
visit friends. In the past he
has walked or skateboarded
or gotten rides any time he
wanted to go somewhere.
Mason is in his twenties,
but he said a lot of the
people he had met riding
the bus in its first week were
elderly and wouldn’t be able
to walk as far as he can.
“I think this is very
helpful,” he said.
Assistant city manager
Mark Morgan said he hadn’t
asked Kayak Public Transit
for ridership counts yet, but
the city expected that things
would be fairly slow the
first few months as word
spread. He said he had been
surprised to see Kayak’s
announcement that they
already had 12 riders the
very first day.
“It will be interesting to
see how ridership shapes
up once more people know
about it,” he said.
The bus schedule can be
found online at ctuir.org/
hermiston-hart or on the
city’s website at hermiston.
or.us. Weather closures are
announced on Kayak Public
Transit’s Facebook page.
———
Contact Jade McDowell
at jmcdowell@eastorego-
nian.com or 541-564-4536.
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