WEEKEND EDITION
INSIDE TODAY:
PEnDLeTON
VISItoRs
GUIdE
GROGAN
ALL-EO
PLAYER OF
THE YEAR
HEALING WITH HORSES
SPORTS/1B
LIFESTYLES/1C
JUNE 24-25, 2017
141st Year, No. 180
Editor’s note: Promise & Potential is
an ongoing series following young
adults as they leave high school and
head into the world.
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2016 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Shaking the
sophomore slump
Ore. House
advances
disputed
revenue bill
Would put limits on a tax cut
for certain business owners
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
Kodie Arnold
Patrick Collins
Laura Dewey
fl irtation with switching to
engineering physics, Lacey
is sticking with astronautical
engineering as a part of his
longterm goal to land a job at
NASA.
By all academic measures,
Lacey has excelled at Embry-
Riddle.
He scored a perfect 4.0
in all of his classes this year
and an International Space
Station gym concept he
worked on with some peers
SALEM — The Oregon House of Repre-
sentatives Friday narrowly passed legislation
that would make it harder for businesses to
qualify for tax breaks passed in 2013 as part
of the so-called “grand bargain.”
The bill, which now heads to the Oregon
Senate, puts new limits
on a tax cut for certain
business
owners,
and should it pass, is
expected to raise nearly
$196 million in the next
two years.
It’s a far cry from
the major tax over-
haul many Oregon
Democrats called for
this session, but after a
stalemate over proposals to switch the basis
for taxing businesses from income to sales
two weeks before legislators must close the
books, it now appears to be the session’s big
tax vote.
After a nearly three-hour debate the
measure passed with 31 Democrats voting
in favor. All House Republicans and three
Democrats voted against it: Rep. Brad Witt,
of Clatskanie; Rep. Teresa Alonso Leon, of
Woodburn; and Rep. Caddy McKeown, of
Coos Bay. A fourth Democrat, Rep. Deborah
Boone, of Cannon Beach, was excused.
Under current law, owners of S-corpo-
rations, limited liability companies or part-
nerships can choose to have income “passed
through” to them from the business taxed
at a lower rate, as long as the income they
earn from the business is “non-passive,” the
business employs at least one non-owner,
and the non-owner employee or employees
do at least 1,200 hours of work in a year. By
taking the lower rate, owners give up other
deductions.
The bill the House approved Friday
would limit eligibility for the lower income
rate to seven sectors, including agriculture,
mining and manufacturing. To qualify under
the new bill, businesses would also need
to have at least 10 non-owner employees,
instead of one.
In short, the bill means fewer owners
would be eligible to pay the lower rate, and
so some of those removed from eligibility
under the bill would pay higher income
taxes.
By tweaking the cut as the bill outlines,
the state would collect about $196 million
more in taxes in the next two-year budget.
That’s a signifi cant fi gure in light of a
projected gap of about $1.4 billion between
See STUDENTS/10A
See REVENUE/12A
CeCe Hoffman
Laura Zepeda
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Pendleton graduate Ryan Lacey has been inputing data for program that charts the chemical makeup of soil while
working as a research assistant at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service outside of
Pendleton.
More than a quarter of college students don’t stay enrolled
for second year. Six local students are sticking it out.
By JAYATI RAMAKRISHNAN
and ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
For the all the work
it takes for high school
students to get into college,
it isn’t always easy to stay
there.
According to the National
Student
Clearinghouse
Research Center, of all the
students who started college
in fall 2014, 72.1 percent
were still enrolled at an
American institution by
the fall of 2015, while 60.6
percent started the 2015 fall
term at the same college they
started with.
Defying some of these
trends, six students that
were profi led as a part of the
Promise & Potential series
are not only continuing onto
their sophomore years, but
most plan to stay at their
original schools.
While some students are
starting to explore different
academic paths, their lives in
college are starting to come
into focus.
———
Ryan Lacey doesn’t
know anyone in his social
circle who has dropped out
of college, but he knows
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical
University has its fair share.
Lacey, a PHS grad, said it’s
also pretty common for many
of his peers at the Daytona
Beach, Florida school to
switch majors to something
less science intensive like
business or unmanned aerial
systems. Despite a brief
PENDLETON
Wiener dog winner
has another boom year
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Boomer, a four-year-old dachshund owned by Joe Daniels of Kennewick, cross-
es the fi nish line to take the championships of the 11th Annual Dogtona 400
wiener dog race on Main Street in Pendleton.
A new dynasty was born
Friday.
On the hallowed grounds of
the 400 block of Pendleton’s
Main Street, the 11th annual
Dogtona 400 crowned Boomer
its wiener dog race king Friday.
It was Boomer’s second
straight win in Pendleton
following two straight years of
coming in second place.
The representative of the
previous wiener dog dynasty
— Miss Fatty Patty — did not
participate.
“Every wiener is a
winner tonight.”
— Sam Neal,
emcee for Dogtona 400
“We make a big deal about
it, but it’s all for fun,” Boomer’s
owner Joe Daniels said as a
young fan petted the champion.
This year’s Dogtona 400
consistently redefi ned what it
means to be a champion.
Could a pug dressed in a red,
white and blue cowgirl costume
See RACE/12A