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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2017)
OFF PAGE ONE Germ in raw milk, poultry now tops food poisoning list Page 10A East Oregonian By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer NEW YORK — The U.S. government’s latest report card on food poisoning suggests that a germ commonly linked to raw milk and poultry is surpassing salmonella at the top of the culprit list. The report counts cases in only 10 states for nine of the most common causes of foodborne illness, but is believed to be a good indicator of national food poisoning trends. Highlights from Thurs- day’s report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: What’s making us sick? The most common bug last year was campylobacter (kam-pih-loh-BAK’-tur). It’s mostly a problem in unpasteurized dairy products, but also is seen in contaminated chicken, water, and produce. Salmo- nella was No. 1 for the last 20 years but last year moved down to No. 2. Other causes like listeria, shigella AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File In this 2015 file photo eggs sit waiting to be cooked at a cafe in Des Moines, Iowa. (shih-GEHL’-uh) and E. coli trail behind. Is food poisoning getting worse? Actually, no. Last year, there were no significant changes in new case rates for most kinds of food poisoning, compared to the previous three years. The new report tallied about 24,000 illnesses and 98 deaths in the 10 states. The CDC estimates that 1 in 6 Americans get sick from contaminated food each year, though most cases are not reported. Any other good news? Yes. There’s been a continued decline in illnesses from what used to be the most common strain of salmonella — called Salmonella Typhimurium. That’s possibly because of vaccinations of chicken flocks and tighter regula- tions. What changed in the report? Before this report, the OREGON: Governor also plans to issue executive order to improve debt collection Continued from 1A estimate is about $790 million total funds,” according to the email. “We have options, we have solutions, and we have bills to fix the structural problems plaguing our state’s government. We must move forward with a budget that isn’t a list of red-alert threats. Senate Republicans are committed to listening to Oregonians who have clearly stated, repeatedly, we are not interested in hiking taxes and hurting the poor to satisfy overspending Democrat politicians,” Ferrioli said in a statement. The governor said she also has plans to issue executive orders to improve debt collec- tion, renegotiate contracts with state vendors, address the unfunded liability in the Public Employees Retire- ment System and clarify policies regarding bargaining with state employee unions. “The entire state must take responsibility and join in this effort. I have challenged state agencies to look for both short-term savings and ways to address long-term cost drivers throughout state government. I also encourage the Secretary of State, the State Treasurer, the Attorney General, and the Commis- sioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries, as well as the Legislative Assembly and the Judicial Department, to adopt policies that freeze hiring, reduce travel expenditures, and optimize facility usage. ——— The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. BILLS: HB2739 would allow landowners to sue biotech patent holders for unwanted GMOs Continued from 1A crafting a transportation package, which has not been assigned a specific bill. Yet-to-be written revenue and spending bills are similarly exempt from the deadline. The following is a handful of significant legislation, and whether it met the deadline. • Public pensions — In a narrow committee vote Monday, the Senate Work- force committee referred Senate Bills 559 and 560, which would change public employee benefits in an effort to bend the cost curve of the Public Employee Retirement System, to Ways and Means. • GMOs — Companion bills that would have allowed local governments to regulate genetically modified crops are among the casualties midway through the session. Under state law, most local governments can’t restrict seed. House Bill 2739, which would allow landowners to sue biotech patent holders for the unwanted presence of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, on their land, was passed to House Rules Committee, which isn’t subject to an April 18 legislative deadline. • Pay equity — HB 2005 would increase civil penal- ties for paying women and minorities less than others who do the same work. It passed out of the Oregon House 36-24 after extended debate. As a result of its passage out of the House, it met Tuesday’s deadline, and will be worked in the Senate Workforce Committee. • Carbon emissions — SB 557, which would create a “cap-and-invest” system for pricing greenhouse gas emissions from large emitters and using the proceeds for things like transportation infrastructure projects. It still survives by way of referral to the Rules Committee, and subsequently, the Senate Business and Transportation Committee. • Rent control — HB 2004, which would lift a statewide ban on rent control, has been a popular bill as Portland and other areas of the state struggle with a housing shortage during a time of strong population growth. It’s been criticized for failing to address the root of the housing problem here, but advocates say that it’s a short-term fix for a dire need. The bill has passed out of the House and still survives. • Transitional leave — SB 935 would expand the maximum amount of time someone can be released from prison through the state’s short-term transitional leave program from 90 to 180 days, part of the state’s efforts to reduce the burden on the state prison system. It has been referred to Ways and Means. • Child welfare — SB 942, which initially would have required the Department of Human Services to conduct a study on child safety, was replaced by an amendment that would require the agency — which has been beset with child safety issues — to improve how it makes find- ings in investigations of child abuse. It’s now in Ways and Means. •Guns — A series of Senate bills that provoked emotional testimony at the Legislature Monday did not pass out of chamber, but that doesn’t mean they won’t get reintroduced through rules or through other revival mech- anisms. Senate Bill 868, for example, which would create a court process to prevent someone at risk of suicide or harming someone else from possessing a gun, was instead inserted as an amendment to another bill that did make it out of committee Tuesday. CDC only counted results from traditional lab tests, which can take a couple of days. But the agency is now including results from new rapid tests, which check for 20 or more bugs and give results in an hour. Those tests are picking up more campylobacter but with the caveat that those might be dead germs that didn’t cause any illness. While quicker, the new technology doesn’t offer as many specifics and is making it more difficult to understand food poisoning trends. Can I prevent food poisoning? Yes. Carefully wash and clean food, and cook meat, poultry and eggs thoroughly. Avoid raw milk and unpasteurized juices. Promptly refrigerate leftovers. According to a U.S. government report, leafy greens like lettuce and spinach are the biggest source of food poisoning, and produce, in general, accounted for nearly half of all illnesses. Friday, April 21, 2017 China launches its first unmanned cargo spacecraft BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday launched its first unmanned cargo spacecraft on a mission to dock with the country’s space station, marking further progress in the ambitious Chinese space program. The Tianzhou 1 blasted off at 7:41 p.m. atop a latest-generation Long March 7 rocket from China’s newest spacecraft launch site, Wenchang, on the island province of Hainan. Minutes later, as the spacecraft cleared the atmosphere, the mission was declared a success by administrators at ground control on the outskirts of Beijing. It is programmed to conduct scientific exper- iments after reaching the now-crewless Tiangong 2, China’s second space station. A pair of Chinese astronauts spent 30 days on board the station last year. China launched the Tiangong 2 precursor facility in September and the station’s 20-ton core module will be launched next year. The completed 60-ton station is set to come into full service in 2022 and operate for at least a decade. Communications with the earlier, disused Tiangong 1 experimental station were cut last year and it is expected to burn up on entering the atmo- sphere. China was excluded from the 420-ton Inter- national Space Station mainly due to U.S. legislation barring such cooperation and concerns over the Chinese space program’s strong military connections. Chinese officials are now looking to inter- nationalize their own program by offering to help finance other countries’ missions to Tiangong 2. MARIJUANA: GhostTown Organix was originally organized in October in Sumpter Continued from 1A Echo farmer Kent Madison is listed as the owner of the property on the zoning application, but he said his only involvement with the project is waiting for the city to issue the conditional use permit so that the sale can be finalized. “I’m not necessarily supportive of the industry, but I’m not going to stop you if it’s legal in Oregon,” he said. The application lists Sheri Ramirez as the owner of GhostTown Organix, who did not return a request for comment as of press time. Oregon Secretary of State records show GhostTown Organix was originally orga- nized in October in Sumpter, a small Baker County town that is one of the handful of Eastern Oregon cities to legalize marijuana sales. Ramirez filed a new address with the Secretary of State March 1, listing the Riverside site as the new location. If GhostTown Organix is able to get both city and Oregon Liquor Control Commission approval, it would provide new life to the warehouse-style building. Madison purchased the building in 2013, according to Umatilla County records, and the property has an assessed value of $328,120 and a real market value of $451,960. Coldwell Banker Whitney & Associates lists the prop- erty with a $399,000 price tag and said the building, built in 1972, is 19,050 square feet. GhostTown Organix’s application states that the business will feature fencing for security and use a charcoal filter to prevent the building from emitting a marijuana odor. The busi- ness expects no additional traffic because it won’t be selling a retail product. GhostTown Organix is just the latest business to try to jump into the marijuana market early after Pendleton voters approved cannabis sales in November. Pendleton Cannabis opened April 13, becoming the city’s second recre- ational marijuana retailer. Owner Shawn Pace said his business opened with little fanfare. “We didn’t make an announcement,” he said. “We just opened the doors.” Although Pace was reti- cent to say whether the shop was doing well or not until it hit the month mark, business was brisk on Thursday at the former lube shop. Having a 25 percent off sale on everything in the store, which includes mari- juana, topicals, dabs and glassware, certainly helped. Pendleton now has two marijuana stores open and two others that have selected sites but are still in the application process, although prospective mari- juana shop owner Bryson Thurman is looking to move his proposed location away from Tutuilla Road after he encountered strong resistance from the neigh- borhood. Due to Pendleton’s zoning laws, that means that cannabis entrepreneurs are quickly running out of real estate to put a business. In addition to the state requirement that marijuana business be located beyond 1,000 feet of a school, the Pendleton City Council imposed 1,000-foot buffers for parks and other mari- juana businesses. The commission will meet April 27 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at Pendleton City Hall , 500 S.W. Dorion Ave. ——— Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@eastoregonian. com or 541-966-0836. BUTTE CHALLENGE Route work pays for my children’s activities. SATURDAY , MAY 6 , 2017 5K Run, 5K Walk, 10K Run, Kid's Butte Scoot All races begin & end at Hermiston's Butte Park DRAWINGS • FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY Become an East Oregonian Carrier. 211 SE Byers Ave. Pendleton or call: 541-276-2211 1-800-522-0255 Online registration & race information at WWW.BUTTECHALLENGE.COM Register online by April 22nd to order a custom technical race T-Shirt All proceeds benefi t THE HERMISTON CROSS COUNTRY PROGRAM THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!