TRUMP LIMITS
IRS ACTION ON
CHURCH POLITICS
FAITH/7A
TWO
RE-SIGN
WITH BMCC
A kick in
the pants to
Gov. Brown
SPORTS/1B
OPINION/4A
FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2017
141st Year, No. 144
One dollar
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Your Weekend
Turn off for fun
•
•
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Pendleton Farmers
Market kicks off season
Thousand-yard shoot
Saturday in Ione
Hermiston celebrates
Cinco y Seis de Mayo
For times and places
see Coming Events, 5A
Catch a movie
K
E
E
Disney-Marvel via AP
E
R
F
N
For showtime, Page 5A
Weekend Weather
Fri
Sat
Sun
63/43
57/39
61/39
Associated Press
W
E
All your favorites are back,
plus a baby tree monster, in
Disney-Marvel’s “Guardians
Of The Galaxy Vol. 2.”
E
E
R
SC
Family and
friends rally
to help after
ATV accident
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Chase Ammons, a Pend-
leton resident and father of
two, was badly injured in an
ATV rollover two weeks ago.
He is still in critical condi-
tion and as family and friends
hope for his recovery, they are
trying to help where they can.
Ammons, 30, crashed his
ATV April 20 near Highway
11 and Southeast Court
Avenue. No one else was
involved in the crash. He
was immediately taken to St.
Anthony hospital in Pend-
leton, then Good Shepherd
in Hermiston, and then life-
fl ighted to Kadlec Regional
Medical Center in Richland,
Washington, where he has
been since.
Ammons’ father Dave said
his son was in a coma until
a few days ago and is now
awake, but there are a lot of
complications.
“He had part of his skull
See AMMONS/10A
Photo illustration by E.J. Harris and Drew Langton
Event encourages families to get outside
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
As America moves closer to a smartphone in every
pocket and a Netfl ix subscription in every home, going
an entire week “screen free” isn’t nearly as easy as it was
during the fi rst national Screen Free Week in 1994.
This year’s Screen Free Week, May 1-7, is taking place
in a much different environment — one where the average
American spends 10 hours and 39 minutes a day looking
at a screen, according to a 2016 Nielsen Company study,
including four and a half hours watching television or movies.
Going cold turkey on digital entertainment (participation
still allows for screen time needed for a job or schoolwork)
might be too much for some, but on Wednesday night fami-
lies in Umatilla were at least making a dent.
A “screen free” event sponsored by the OSU Extension
See SCREENS/10A
House
GOP
rallies,
passes
ACA
repeal
Staff photo by Jade McDowell
Children play with a giant beach ball during
Screen Free Week at Hash Park in Umatilla.
WASHINGTON — Deliv-
ering at last, triumphant House
Republicans voted Thursday
to repeal and replace the
“Obamacare” health plan they
have reviled for so long, over-
coming united Democratic
opposition and their own deep
divisions to hand a major win
to President Donald Trump.
The 217-213 vote was a
narrow victory, and ultimate
success is far from assured
since the measure must still
make its way through a highly
skeptical Senate. But after
seven years of campaign
promises and dozens of show
votes, Republicans fi nally
succeeded in passing a health
care bill that has a chance of
becoming law.
They weren’t waiting for
fi nal passage to celebrate.
“What a great group of
people!” Trump exclaimed
at the White House, arms
raised to salute the dozens of
lawmakers who hurried to
join him in the Rose Garden
immediately after the vote.
Set aside for the moment were
the feuds and philosophical
divides that nearly sank the
bill time and again.
And at the same time, the
Republicans had begun to
show that perhaps they can
come together and govern the
country now that they control
Washington in full.
“Make no mistake, this
is a repeal and a replace of
Obamacare, make no mistake
about it,” Trump declared.
“Premiums will be coming
down, deductibles will be
coming down, but very
importantly it’s a great plan.”
Rep. Greg Walden, chair
of the House Energy and
Commerce Committee that
was instrumental in creating
the bill, sent out a press release
immediately after it passed
celebrating the moment.
“For seven years, our
constituents, patients, friends,
and family, have suffered
under a one-size-fi ts-all law
that is collapsing under its
own weight,” he said. “The
American Health Care Act
will put patients, families,
See HEALTH/10A
‘Space gym’ concept
gets noticed by NASA
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Contributed photo by Daryl LaBello
A team of freshmen from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Uni-
versity, including Pendleton High School graduate Ryan
Lacey, are in the fi nals for a competition sponsored by
NASA. From left to right, team member Jesus Ferrand,
team leader Jack Grant, professor and adviser Claudia
Ehringer Lucas, team member Cheyenne Reed and Lacey.
Ryan Lacey chose to attend Embry-
Riddle Aeronautical University so he could
eventually pursue a career at NASA. More
than halfway through his freshman year, he
has NASA’s attention.
The Pendleton High School graduate
and a team of three other Embry-Riddle
students have made the fi nals for NASA’s
Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts
Academic Linkage competition, a contest that
invites college students to submit concepts
that will improve human space exploration.
Editor’s note: Promise &
Potential is an ongoing series
following young adults as
they leave high school and
head into the world.
The contestants are asked to create
concepts for a certain piece of technology,
like a Mars transport vehicle or a deep
space airlock system.
Although the team’s idea emerged from
at least 180 entries to make the fi nal fi eld
of 14, Lacey said that the concept — a
See NASA/10A