NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Thursday, April 6, 2017
$5.6M for Oregon farm-to-school Wyden to hold
funding passes key committee
town halls in
Lawmakers also consider
increasing tax credit for
crop donations
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A bill directing $5.6
million to Oregon’s farm-to-school food
program has won unanimous approval
from the House Committee on Agricul-
ture and Natural Resources.
Now, House Bill 2038 must
compete against other spending bills
in the Joint Committee on Ways and
Means, which is prioritizing requests
for funding in the next biennium amid
a projected state budget deficit of $1.6
billion.
The bill would provide nearly
$4.6 million for grants to help school
districts buy foods grown and processed
in Oregon and more than $900,000 for
food-, garden- and agriculture-based
education.
The committee’s chairman, Brian
Clem, D-Salem, noted that existing
farm-to-school funding would be
eliminated under the 2017-2019 budget
recommended by Gov. Kate Brown
and halved under the proposal by the
co-chairs of the Joint Committee on
Ways and Means.
Lawmakers have
been advised to be
selective in their
requests for funding
to the Ways and
Means Committee,
given
budget
constraints, he said.
If farm-to-school
Brian Clem
funding is signifi-
cantly reduced from
the amount requested in HB 2039, Clem
recommended that the program revert to
a competitive grant system.
Currently, all school districts receive
non-competitive grants to buy Oregon
food products, but this approach
wouldn’t provide enough incentive if
each received only a small amount of
money, he said.
“No one school district will find that
worth doing,” he said.
The history of Oregon’s farm-to-
school program goes back a decade,
when lawmakers created the position
of a farm-to-school coordinator in
2007.
A competitive grant pilot program
armed with $200,000 was created in
2011, with funding expanded to $1.2
million in 2013. During the 2015
legislative session, another $3.3 million
was added to the program and grants for
food purchases were made non-com-
petitive.
Aside from voting to approve HB
2038 during its April 4 meeting, the
House Agriculture Committee also
considered another bill that would
increase tax credits for farmers who
donate crops to food banks and similar
institutions.
Under House Bill 3041, the tax credit
would increase from 15 percent to 25
percent of the value of crops donated.
Jenny Dresler, state public policy
director for the Oregon Farm Bureau,
said the organization understands
Oregon’s tight budget situation.
If resources are available, though,
lawmakers should support the bill
because it would help farmers overcome
financial barriers to donating crops,
Dresler said.
Tax Fairness Oregon, a group that
opposes tax breaks to preserve state
revenues, doesn’t believe the tax credit
increase is justified, said Jody Wiser, its
founder.
“Why are we doing it? We don’t have
any statistical analysis to show the need
is there,” she said.
Restaurants and grocery stores also
donate food, but must content them-
selves with a deduction to their taxable
income, rather than a tax credit, Wiser
said.
“It’s hard to explain why farmers
should be treated so differently than
other food contributors,” she said.
Eastern Oregon
East Oregonian
U.S.
Senator
Ron
Wyden will hold town halls
in 11 central and eastern
Oregon counties from
April 17-23, as part of his
goal to hold annual town
halls in each of the state’s
36 counties.
Umatilla County will be
the last stop on Wyden’s
string of town halls,
5 p.m. at McLoughlin High
School in Milton-Freewater
on April 23.
He will visit Morrow
County at 10 a.m. Saturday,
April 22 and hold a meeting
at Riverside High School
in Boardman. That same
day he will hold a meeting
at 4:30 p.m. at La Grande
High School.
With these meetings,
Wyden will have held 815
town halls, as per his commit-
ment to hold annual town
halls in each Oregon county.
“It’s clear from the strong
turnouts so far at this year’s
town halls that participatory
democracy is alive and
well throughout Oregon,”
Wyden said. “I am looking
forward to hearing directly
from residents of central
and eastern Oregon about
solutions we can work on
together to preserve and
Young salmon risk ‘gas bubble trauma’
Measure to put Yakima’s
immigration policy into
ordinance dies
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Young
salmon and steelhead migrating from
the Columbia River Basin in unusually
high flows face a potentially lethal
problem in spillways at dams where
increased nitrogen in the water can
cause tissue-damaging trauma.
However, managers of fisheries
say special features at dams meant to
reduce nitrogen will help the fish make
it to the ocean, and survival should be
about average based on previous high-
flow years.
Like natural waterfalls, a dam’s
spillway increases dissolved gas, including
nitrogen, in water when it smashes into
other water below. The nitrogen can cause
bubbles to form inside fish, similar to the
condition that human divers experience
when they get the bends.
The standard for total dissolved gas
considered safe for fish is 110 percent.
Dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers
have been near or above 120 percent in
recent weeks.
“We’re seeing elevated symptoms
of gas bubble trauma,” said Ritchie
Graves of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. “But I
YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) —
Officials say an ordinance to ensure
residents receive city services
regardless of immigration status has
died.
The Yakima Herald-Republic
reports City Council voted 4-2
Tuesday to kill the proposed
ordinance that would have required
the city of Yakima not to ask about
a person’s immigration status.
Councilwomen Carmen Mendez
and Dulce Gutierrez who drafted the
ordinance described it as a public
safety policy.
Yakima police say they already
do not ask about immigration status
because they do not want to deter
people from reporting a crime.
Councilwoman Maureen Adkison,
who supporting killing the ordinance,
says the council wasted four months
discussing a policy city police were
already respecting. Council members
Bill Lover, Holly Cousens and Mayor
Kathy Coffey voted in favor of
Adkison’s motion.
wouldn’t say something horrible is
happening at this stage.”
Fish flows at four federal dams on
the lower Columbia River and four
more on the lower Snake River are
about double what is typical this time
of year. As a result, managers are being
forced to spill water rather than run it
through energy-generating turbines.
Graves said studies have found that
about 1 percent of fish have symptoms
when the total dissolved gas reaches
115 to 120 percent. At 135 percent,
about 20 to 25 percent of fish have
symptoms that include gas bubbles
forming in gill filaments, fins and eyes.
Graves said fish can’t sense the danger.
The problem became apparent with
the building of the John Day Dam on
the Columbia River. Dissolved gas
reached 140 percent, killing thousands
of adult fish migrating upstream.
In the 1990s, after runs of salmon and
steelhead started receiving federal protec-
tion under the Endangered Species Act,
dams on the lower Columbia and lower
Snake rivers began being retrofitted
with deflecting structures at spillways to
reduce dissolved gas.
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Walden visiting Bend for town hall
BEND (AP) — U.S.
Rep. Greg Walden plans
to visit Bend next week
for a town hall meeting.
Bend is the largest city
in Walden’s district, and
The Bulletin newspaper
reports the Republican
has been criticized for
not holding a town hall
meeting there since 2013.
The critics say Walden
has been avoiding Bend
because it does not give
him the unquestioned
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REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
TODAY
SATURDAY
FRIDAY
Cloudy
Becoming windier
with a shower
65° 51°
61° 38°
Cooler with a few
showers
SUNDAY
Partly sunny and
cool
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
51° 35°
52° 36°
54° 35°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
66° 40°
70° 52°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
63°
59°
81° (1952)
44°
38°
24° (1975)
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
Trace
Trace
0.22"
6.27"
4.02"
4.18"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
63°
62°
82° (1960)
46°
38°
21° (1975)
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
Trace
Trace
0.11"
4.93"
2.80"
3.22"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
Last
Apr 10
Apr 19
New
Apr 26
58° 36°
60° 34°
Seattle
58/46
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
58° 39°
6:26 a.m.
7:30 p.m.
2:58 p.m.
4:23 a.m.
First
May 2
Today
MONDAY
A shower in the
afternoon
Spokane
Wenatchee
56/43
58/43
Tacoma
Moses
59/44
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 64/47
58/47
56/47
58/43
65/44
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
59/49
66/52 Lewiston
69/51
Astoria
65/47
57/48
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
61/48
Pendleton 55/43
The Dalles 70/52
65/51
64/47
La Grande
Salem
60/47
62/47
Albany
Corvallis 62/47
63/47
John Day
61/45
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
62/50
63/48
59/39
Caldwell
Burns
64/51
58/40
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
57
57
59
59
58
55
63
64
70
61
54
60
59
66
59
61
62
69
65
61
64
62
56
59
60
66
65
Lo
48
42
39
47
40
43
48
48
52
45
38
47
47
44
46
48
50
49
51
48
40
47
43
44
47
52
44
W
r
c
pc
r
c
c
c
c
c
pc
c
c
c
pc
r
r
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
c
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Fri.
Hi
52
59
51
49
51
55
56
60
66
55
47
60
56
54
53
55
64
66
61
57
56
57
56
54
55
63
63
Lo
43
35
32
41
31
35
41
35
40
34
28
36
33
38
41
42
39
39
38
43
32
42
36
32
43
40
39
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
r
sh
r
sh
sh
sh
sh
pc
pc
sh
r
sh
sh
sh
r
sh
sh
pc
c
sh
c
sh
r
sh
sh
sh
pc
WORLD CITIES
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Hi
79
77
77
58
79
60
56
66
57
72
64
Lo
52
70
51
44
51
43
39
47
45
60
58
W
s
c
s
pc
pc
c
pc
t
pc
pc
c
Fri.
Hi
71
79
65
59
81
53
63
66
71
73
67
Lo
57
71
46
42
53
38
43
46
50
61
60
W
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
sh
s
pc
pc
pc
r
WINDS
Medford
66/44
(in mph)
Klamath Falls
54/38
Boardman
Pendleton
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Cloudy today; a little rain
in the morning, but any time in the south.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Mainly cloudy
today; cooler in the south and central parts.
A little rain tonight.
Western Washington: Morning rain, then
a shower today; however, a shower across
the south.
Eastern Washington: Cloudy today; a
shower in the north, toward the Cascades
and in central sections.
Cascades: Mostly cloudy today; a passing
morning shower; however, dry in the south.
Northern California: Cloudy today; rain,
heavy at times, but dry in the interior
mountains.
Today
Friday
SW 6-12
SW 6-12
SW 10-20
SW 12-25
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
0
support
he
receives
elsewhere in his largely
rural district.
Walden’s visit will be
on April 13 at Mountain
View High School.
Town hall meetings
held by members of
Congress have drawn
more attention since
Donald
Trump
was
elected president. Several
Republican
lawmakers
have been met by hecklers
and organized protests.
The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and
sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in
the paper, please call 541-966-0818.
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Subscriber services:
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protect the Oregon way of
finding common ground.”
A list of the meeting
times and locations in
northeastern Oregon:
Tuesday, April 18
• Grant County: 4 p.m.,
Grant-Union High School
“Old Gym,” 911 S. Canyon
Blvd., John Day
Wednesday, April 19
• Baker County: 9 a.m.,
Baker High School audito-
rium, 2500 E Street, Baker
City
Friday, April 21
• Sherman County: 1:30
p.m., Sherman County
High School gym, 65912
High School Loop, Moro
Saturday, April 22
• Morrow County: 10
a.m., Riverside Junor/
Senior High School audito-
rium, 210 Boardman Ave.
N.E., Boardman
• Union County: 4:30
p.m., La Grande High
School auditorium, 708 K
Ave., La Grande
Sunday, April 23
• Wallowa County: 12
p.m.. Joseph Community
Center, 102 E. First St.,
Joseph
• Umatilla County: 5
p.m., Jack Williams audi-
torium, McLoughlin High
School 120 S. Main St.,
Milton-Freewater
2
3
4
2
0
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
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: A storm will bring flooding rain, high winds, severe thunderstorms
and snow to the Northeast today. A new storm will bring rain, snow and gusty winds to the
Northwest. Storms will rumble in South Florida.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 95° in Plant City, Fla.
Low 3° in Leadville, Colo.
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
70
59
60
65
70
64
63
46
69
54
48
56
77
63
45
82
38
54
85
78
45
75
56
85
67
77
Lo
45
44
47
43
49
43
51
44
46
36
33
35
51
37
33
52
19
32
73
52
35
47
33
64
41
54
W
s
c
r
r
pc
pc
c
r
pc
r
sn
r
s
s
r
pc
s
s
pc
s
r
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
Fri.
Hi
77
61
53
51
73
65
64
53
66
45
55
42
78
75
48
87
38
65
85
80
51
71
63
82
68
71
Lo
47
41
39
36
45
39
41
40
41
32
37
31
58
48
31
56
16
46
72
56
33
42
49
63
45
56
Today
W
pc
s
c
c
pc
s
r
c
s
sn
s
sn
pc
pc
c
s
s
s
pc
pc
pc
s
s
pc
s
c
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
51
66
89
47
55
60
73
56
67
59
64
91
42
52
67
61
64
68
56
73
72
65
58
90
69
61
Lo
38
43
64
33
33
40
54
45
42
33
45
63
39
45
43
39
44
52
38
55
58
56
46
56
45
39
W
r
c
pc
c
s
sh
s
r
s
s
r
s
r
r
t
s
c
c
pc
c
pc
sh
r
s
r
s
Fri.
Hi
57
64
80
50
61
62
72
51
71
67
51
91
51
53
58
76
54
65
60
68
69
63
56
90
53
65
Lo
36
43
59
37
47
35
53
38
54
49
37
63
38
39
37
47
36
48
43
46
58
49
42
56
38
53
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
sh
pc
s
c
c
c
c
pc
pc
r
t
s
pc
pc
t
sh
pc
c
pc