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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 2017)
WORLD BRIEFLY Tuesday, February 28, 2017 Senate confirms billionaire investor as commerce secretary WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Monday confirmed billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary as President Donald Trump adds to his economic team. The vote was 72-27. Breaking with Republican orthodoxy, Ross said the Trump administration will work quickly to re-do the North American Free Trade Agreement. That’s the massive trade pact with Canada and Mexico that has boosted trade but still stings laid-off workers across the Midwest. Senators from both political parties were deferential to Ross at his nearly four-hour confirmation hearing, which was much more subdued than the confirmation hearings of other Trump nominees. Former commerce secretaries have praised him, including one who served under former President Barack Obama. “Mr. Ross will bring decades of business, entrepreneurial and civic experience to this important position,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Commerce Committee. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts criticized Ross’ business ties to Russia and the way he ran a mortgage lender during the housing crisis. “Mr. Ross has extensive ties to Russia. He plans to keep making money from his major oil shipping companies while working as Commerce Secretary. He’s made billions off the backs of struggling home owners,” Warren said Monday. “He is practically a cartoon stereotype of a Wall Street fat cat.” As part of his ethics agreement, Ross is giving up his position at Diamond S. Shipping, but he will retain a stake in the company, which ships petroleum and other products. As part of the agreement, Ross has promised not to take any action as commerce secretary that would benefit any company in which he has a financial interest. At his confirmation hearing, Ross was not asked about business ties to Russia or his work as a mortgage lender, and he did not address the issues. Cause of most U.S. wildfires traced to people, study finds WASHINGTON (AP) — People have triggered five out of six wildfires in the U.S. over the last two decades, tripling the length of the wildfire season and making it start earlier in the East and last longer in the West, a new study finds. Even as climate change worsens the nation’s fire season — making it longer and easier to burn more acres — researchers said human activities play an even bigger role. While fire experts have long blamed people more than lightning, the new work details the extent of human-caused ignitions and how they interact with global warming to make matters worse. Scientists analyzing fire data from 1992 to 2012 found that 84 percent of all U.S. wildfires — but only 44 percent of the total acres burned — were started by people, either by accident or on purpose. And human- caused blazes have more than tripled the length of the wildfire season from 46 days to 154 days, according to a study in Monday’s journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “People are moving more and more into natural wild areas and essentially providing ignition for wildfires,” said lead author Jennifer Balch, a fire ecologist at the University of Colorado. Of the more than 1 million human-started fires since 1992, about 29 percent began by trash burning, another 21 percent were arson and 11 percent were from misuse of equipment, Balch said. Last year’s Soberanes fire in California was sparked by an illegal campfire and burned for nearly three months. The blaze surpassed $200 million in firefighting costs, the most expensive in U.S. history. One out of every five wildfires occurs on the Fourth of July from fireworks, Balch said. Devin Nunes of California, said he has heard no evidence so far that anyone in Trump’s orbit was in contact with Russians during the presidential campaign. The top Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, also of California, said the committee’s investigation was hardly off the ground and it was premature to make any conclusions. The nature of ties between Trump’s associates and Russia has dogged him throughout his nascent presidency, and Monday brought renewed calls for a special prosecutor to investigate the unusual situation. Federal investigators have been looking into contacts between Trump advisers and Russia for months, along with Probe into Russia ties to Trump off to rocky start WASHINGTON (AP) — A simmering dispute between leaders of the House intelligence committee spilled into the public Monday over an investigation into whether President Donald Trump has ties to Russia, even as they pledged to conduct a bipartisan probe. The Republican committee chairman, Rep. East Oregonian SpaceX says it will fly two people to moon next year Russia’s role in political hacking during the campaign aimed at Democrats. Trump, on Monday, said he hasn’t called Russia in 10 years. The House and Senate intelligence committees are conducting separate investigations. But revelations last week that the White House enlisted the Republican chairmen of those committees to push back against news reports have intensified concerns over whether the congressional investigations will be tainted by political influence. Nunes has said the White House asked him to talk with one reporter, but didn’t give him any guidance on what to say. He said he told that reporter the same thing he’s said to many other reporters in the course of discussions. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX said Monday it will fly two people to the moon next year, a feat not attempted since NASA’s Apollo heyday close to half a century ago. Tech billionaire Elon Musk — the company’s founder and chief executive officer — announced the surprising news barely a week after launching his first rocket from NASA’s legendary moon pad. Two people who know one another approached the company about sending them on a weeklong flight just beyond the moon, according to Musk. He won’t identify the pair or the price tag. They’ve already paid a “significant” deposit and are “very serious” about it, he noted. “Fly me to the moon ... Ok,” Musk said in a light- hearted tweet following the news conference. Musk said SpaceX is on track to launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in mid-2018. This moon mission would follow about six months later, by the end of the year under the current schedule, using a Dragon crew capsule and a Falcon heavy rocket launched from NASA’s former moon pad in Florida. If all goes as planned, it could happen close to the 50th anniversary of NASA’s first manned flight to the moon, on Apollo 8. SHOP MARCH 8 - 14 TH TO EARN Gas Reward Points * *MAXIMUM GAS REWARD AT PARTICIPATING CHEVRON OR TEXACO STATIONS IS $1 PER GALLON OF CHEVRON OR TEXACO BRANDED FUEL AND $1 PER GALLON AT SAFEWAY, CARRS/SAFEWAY, TOM THUMB, RANDALLS, VONS, AND ALBERTSONS GAS STATIONS. Savings are limited to 25 gallons for one vehicle per transaction—subject to rounding for Chevron or Texaco in-store fuel transactions and/or transaction dollar limits on your payment card set by your fi nancial institution. Other restrictions and exclusions apply. Use your Rewards* at participating stations On All Participating MONOPOLY The MONOPOLY name and logo, the distinctive design of the game board, the four corner squares, the MR. MONOPOLY name and character, as well as each of the distinctive elements of the board and playing pieces are trademarks of Hasbro for its property trading game and game equipment. © 1935, 2017 Hasbro. All rights reserved. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO PLAY OR WIN. See store for offi cial rules & odds chart. Series MON-10. Effective 02/08/17 - 05/09/17. The MONOPOLY game is in-store only and not available for online orders. Bonus Ticket Items Effective dates 3/8/17 - 3/14/17 COUPONS BELOW VALID 3/1 TO 3/7 clip or CLICK! Valid 2/28/17 thru 3/7/17 ® 10 OFF $ 50 or more Save on your next grocery purchase of $50 or more* $ * with your Club Card & this Savings Award. *Use this Savings Award on any shopping trip you choose at any Oregon Safeway or Albertsons store and S.W. Washington stores serving Clark, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Skamania, Walla Walla and Klickitat counties by 3/7/17. This $10.00 Savings Award excludes purchases of Alcoholic Beverages, Fluid Dairy Products, Tobacco, US Postage Stamps, Trimet Bus/Commuter Passes, Money Orders, Container Deposits, Lottery, Gift Cards, Gift Certificates Sales, All Pharmacy Prescription Purchases, Safeway Club Savings, Safeway or Albertsons Store Coupons and Sales Tax. One Savings Award redeemable per household. COUPON CANNOT BE DOUBLED. Online and in-store prices, discounts, and offers may differ. clip or CLICK! ® Valid 3/1/17 thru 3/7/17 clip or CLICK! ® Valid 3/1/17 thru 3/7/17 clip or CLICK! ® Gallon. Whole, Fat Free, 1% or 2%. 2 Limit 2 39 ea WITH CARD AND COUPON clip or CLICK! Jumbo Raw Shrimp 16 to 20-ct. E-Z Peel. Frozen. Sold in a 2-lb. bag. Only $11.98 ea. This coupon must be presented at time of purchase. Offer Valid with Card and Coupon. COUPON CANNOT BE DOUBLED. Coupon valid thru 3/7/17. 99 Sold in a 3-lb. package. Only $8.97 ea. ® Lucerne ® Large White Eggs ea WITH CARD AND COUPON Dozen. Valid 3/1/17 thru 3/7/17 5 99 lb WITH CARD AND COUPON 2 ¢ Limit 2 This coupon must be presented at time of purchase. Offer Valid with Card and Coupon. COUPON CANNOT BE DOUBLED. Coupon valid thru 3/7/17. This coupon must be presented at time of purchase. Offer Valid with Card and Coupon. COUPON CANNOT BE DOUBLED. Coupon valid thru 3/7/17. Valid 3/1/17 thru 3/7/17 Signature ® Farms Bacon Value Corner Milk clip or CLICK! Limit 2 Large Navel Oranges 99 lb WITH CARD AND COUPON This coupon must be presented at time of purchase. Offer Valid with Card and Coupon. COUPON CANNOT BE DOUBLED. Coupon valid thru 3/7/17. ® Valid 3/1/17 thru 3/7/17 5 clip or CLICK! $ ea Whole Chicken 8-lb. Available in the Service Deli. This coupon must be presented at time of purchase. Offer Valid with Card and Coupon. COUPON CANNOT BE DOUBLED. Coupon valid thru 3/7/17. This coupon must be presented at time of purchase. Offer Valid with Card and Coupon. COUPON CANNOT BE DOUBLED. Coupon valid thru 3/7/17. WITH CARD AND COUPON ® Valid 3/1/17 thru 3/7/17 5 99 ea WITH CARD AND COUPON Prices in this ad are effective 6 AM Wednesday, March 1, 2017 thru Tuesday, March 7, 2017 (unless otherwise noted) in all Safeway or Albertsons stores in Oregon and S.W. Washington stores serving Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clark, Skamania, Walla Walla and Klickitat Counties. Items offered for sale are not available to other dealers or wholesalers. Sales of products containing ephedrine, pseudoephedrine or phenylpropanolamine limited by law. Quantity rights reserved. SOME ADVERTISING ITEMS MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE IN ALL STORES. Some advertised prices may be even lower in some stores. On Buy One, Get One Free (“BOGO”) offers, customer must purchase the fi rst item to receive the second item free. BOGO offers are not 1/2 price sales. If only a single item purchased, the regular price applies. Manufacturers’ coupons may be used on purchased items only — not on free items. Limit one coupon per purchased item. Customer will be responsible for tax and deposits as required by law on the purchased and free items. No liquor sales in excess of 52 gallons. No liquor sales for resale. Liquor sales at licensed Safeway or Albertsons stores only. © 2015 Safeway Inc. Availability of items may vary by store. Online and In-store prices, discounts and offers may differ. 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