Page 8A
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Friday, August 25, 2017
More evacuations as
Hurricane Harvey bears
down on Texas
HOUSTON (AP) — Harvey
intensified into a hurricane Thursday
and steered for the Texas coast with
the potential for up to 3 feet of rain,
125 mph winds and 12-foot storm
surges in what could be the fiercest
hurricane to hit the United States in
almost a dozen years.
Forecasters labeled Harvey a
“life-threatening storm” that posed
a “grave risk.” Millions of people
braced for a prolonged battering that
could swamp dozens of counties
more than 100 miles inland.
Landfall was predicted for late
Friday or early Saturday between
Port O’Connor and Matagorda Bay, a
30-mile stretch of coastline about 70
miles northeast of Corpus Christi
Harvey grew quickly Thursday
from a tropical depression into a
Category 1 hurricane. Fueled by
warm Gulf waters, it was projected
to become a major Category
3 hurricane. The last storm of
that category to hit the U.S. was
Hurricane Wilma in October 2005 in
Florida.
Superstorm Sandy, which
pummeled New York and New
Jersey in 2012, never had the high
winds and had lost tropical status
by the time it struck. But it was
devastating without formally being
called a major hurricane.
Hurricane Harvey likely
to boost gas prices for
U.S. drivers
Hurricane Harvey is expected to
hit a refinery-rich stretch of the Gulf
Coast and U.S. drivers could soon
see the impact at the gas pump.
Some refineries are expected to
shut down until the storm passes,
possibly disrupting gas supplies.
Wholesale gasoline futures rose
Thursday 5 cents, or 3 percent, to
$1.66 per gallon, and experts say
that will quickly show up on service-
station signs.
“Starting (Thursday night) you
could start to see the Harvey effect
being factored into gas prices,” said
Patrick DeHaan, an analyst with
GasBuddy. “The good news is this
isn’t Hurricane Katrina.”
That Gulf storm in August 2005
caused about a 40-cent increase
overnight, DeHaan said. We might
not know the full impact of Harvey
until Monday, when refineries have
had a chance to assess damage,
which could be caused by flooding or
power outages, he said.
“We’ll see retail prices move
up in every nook and cranny of
the country through this very
uncertain weekend,” said Tom
Kloza, an analyst with the Oil Price
Information Service.
Kloza said an increase of 5 to 15
cents per gallon was most likely but
a spike of up to 25 cents by Labor
Day was possible if the hurricane
hits a refining center.
Massachusetts hospital
worker claims record
lottery jackpot
BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) — A
53-year-old Massachusetts hospital
worker stepped forward Thursday to
claim the biggest undivided lottery
jackpot in U.S. history — a $758.7
million Powerball prize — after
breaking the news to her employer
the way the rest of us only dream of:
“I called and told them I will not be
coming back.”
“The first thing I want to do is
just sit back and relax,” Mavis L.
Wanczyk told reporters at a news
conference.
Wanczyk chose to take a
lump-sum payment of $480 million,
or $336 million after taxes, lottery
officials said. Winners who take a
gradual payout stand to get more
money spread out over several
decades.
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. rubs his head as he takes
a question while meeting with Boeing workers Thursday
in Everett, Wash.
Ana Ramirez/The Victoria Advocate via AP
Jim Gilbert, owner of the Saltwater Saloon and J&T One Stop, boards
up a window at his home in Magnolia, Texas, Thursday. Gilbert and his
wife plan to stay through Hurricane Harvey and watch the storm.
Even after paying taxes on the
winnings, Wanczyk is worth more
than some small countries such
as Micronesia, which has a gross
domestic product of $322 million,
or the Pacific islands of Palau, with
a GDP of $293 million, according to
2016 figures from the World Bank.
The previous evening, she
recalled, she was leaving work with a
firefighter and remarked, “It’s never
going to be me. It’s just a pipe dream
that I’ve always had.”
Kushner’s Mideast
peace push met with
Palestinian skepticism
RAMALLAH, West Bank
(AP) — Presidential adviser Jared
Kushner met with Israeli and
Palestinian leaders on Thursday to
try to jumpstart moribund peace
talks, but after months without
progress the Mideast envoy
faces growing skepticism on the
Palestinian side.
With no clear vision for peace
outlined by the administration and
domestic issues distracting President
Donald Trump, Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas, expectations for the new
peace push are low.
The Palestinians initially
welcomed Trump’s election, but
they have since grown impatient
with what they say is a failure by the
U.S. president to present a roadmap
for peace. Specifically, they are
seeking a halt to Israeli settlement
construction on occupied lands, and
an American commitment to the
establishment of an independent
Palestinian state as part of a peace
deal with Israel.
“If the U.S. team doesn’t bring
answers to our questions this time,
we are going to look into our options
because the status quo is not working
for our interests,” said Ahmad
Majdalani, an aide to Abbas.
It was not clear whether Kushner
offered any clarity during his three-
hour meeting with Abbas. Nabil Abu
Rdeneh, Abbas’ spokesman, called
the meeting “positive,” without
discussing details, and said the
Palestinian leader had reiterated his
desire for an American commitment
to a Palestinian state.
White House slams
GOP Sen. Corker for
criticizing Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) The White
House is slamming Tennessee Sen.
Bob Corker for questioning President
Donald Trump’s competence.
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders was asked about Corker’s
comments during a press briefing
Thursday.
She says, “I think that’s a
ridiculous and outrageous claim and
doesn’t dignify a response from this
podium.”
Corker, the chairman of the
Foreign Relations Committee, last
week delivered a stinging rebuke of
Trump after the president said “both
sides” were to blame for the violence
in Charlottesville.
Corker said Trump had not shown
the stability or competence required
for an American president to succeed
and had recently “not demonstrated
that he understands the character of
this nation.”
Trump has been ramping up
attacks on Republicans in recent
days, blaming them for his stalled
legislative agenda.
UN humanitarian chief
says needs far outstrip
donations
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The
growing need for food, medicine and
shelter by millions of people facing
conflicts and crises around the world
is far outstripping the increased
generosity of donors, the United
Nations’ outgoing humanitarian chief
warns.
Stephen O’Brien, who is stepping
down Aug. 31 as undersecretary-
general for humanitarian affairs and
the world body’s emergency relief
coordinator, said in an interview this
week that “we have to get to the root
causes to try to reduce needs.”
Equally, he said, the United
Nations needs to intensify donations,
especially from its 193 member
states.
The United Nations has appealed
for $23.5 billion to help over 102
million people in 38 countries this
year but has received only $8.1
billion, according to the U.N. Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs.
The appeals range from about
$10 million for Mozambique, where
an earthquake hit in June, to $3.34
billion for conflict-torn Syria.
California death penalty
measure survives
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A
voter-approved measure to speed
up executions in California was
upheld Thursday by the state
Supreme Court, but justices rejected
arguments that a provision setting
a five-year limit on appeals was
mandatory, raising doubts that the
law will succeed in accelerating
death sentences.
“What happened here is that
the Supreme Court of California
has kicked the can down the road,”
said Franklin Zimring, an expert in
capital punishment at the University
of California, Berkeley School of
Law.
The highly anticipated ruling
concerned Proposition 66, a push to
“mend not end” capital punishment
in California.
Condemned inmates in California
currently languish for decades and
are more likely to die of natural
causes than from lethal injection.
There are nearly 750 inmates on
death row and only 13 have been
executed since 1978 — the last in
2006.
Trump attacks GOP leaders
over debt ceiling ‘mess’
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Fanning the flames of GOP
discord, President Donald
Trump accused Republican
congressional
leaders
Thursday of botching efforts
to avoid an unprecedented
default on the national debt.
“Could have been so easy-now
a mess!” Trump tweeted.
The president’s sharp words
underscored the perilous state
of play as Congress heads into
the fall without a clear plan to
take care of its most important
piece of business: If it does
not increase the nation’s $19.9
trillion borrowing limit, the
government could be unable
to pay its bills, jarring financial
markets and leading to other
harsh consequences.
Trump unleashed his
latest criticism of the GOP’s
congressional leadership in
a series of morning tweets
that also included a rebuke of
Majority Leader Mitch McCo-
nnell for his inability to get the
Senate to repeal the Obama
health care law. The harsh
posts were fresh evidence of
the president’s fraying rela-
tions with fellow Republicans
just when the White House
and Capitol Hill most need to
be working in sync.
Critiquing GOP legislative
strategy, Trump tweeted that
he had asked McConnell
and House Speaker Paul
Ryan to attach the legislation
increasing the borrowing
limit — a toxic vote for many
Republicans — to popular
military veterans’ legislation
that he recently signed. The
idea was floated in July
but never gained steam in
Congress.
Trump said that because
legislators didn’t follow that
strategy, “now we have a big
deal with Dems holding them
up (as usual) on Debt Ceiling
approval.”
Republicans control both
Congress and the White House,
placing the burden on them to
ensure the government doesn’t
default. In the past, Democrats
largely provided the votes for
debt limit increases.
The Treasury Department
has said the debt ceiling
needs to be raised by Sept.
29 to avoid potential default
on government obligations
including Social Security and
interest payments.
House Speaker Paul Ryan,
playing down Trump’s notion
of a debt limit “mess,” said
flatly that Congress would
“pass legislation to make sure
that we pay our debts.”
“I’m not worried that’s not
going to get done because it’s
going to get done,” he said
during an appearance in Wash-
ington state.
McConnell likewise said
earlier in the week that there
was “zero chance, no chance,
we won’t raise the debt
ceiling.”
The president’s latest
broadsides against members
of his own party came one
day after the White House and
McConnell issued statements
pledging to work together.
After Trump’s latest incen-
diary tweets, both sides tried
again Thursday to tamp down
talk of escalating tensions
Ryan, speaking to Boeing
employees in suburban Seattle,
said he and Trump have
“different speaking styles,” but
they are in “constant contact”
on the policy agenda.
“For me it’s really important
the
president
succeeds,
because if he succeeds then the
country succeeds,” Ryan said.
White House press secre-
tary Sarah Huckabee Sanders
insisted the president’s rela-
tionships with GOP leaders
“are fine.”
For all of that conciliatory
talk, the evidence of mounting
friction between the president
and the Republican party is
growing.
Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake
said in an interview with
Georgia Public Broadcasting
on Wednesday that the pres-
ident was “inviting” a 2020
presidential primary challenge
because he was only culti-
vating the GOP base of voters.
Trump has labeled Flake as
“weak” and “toxic” on Twitter.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins,
a Republican who has been
critical of the president, told
MSNBC this week it was
“too difficult to say” if Trump
would be the party’s presiden-
tial nominee in 2020.
The growing rift between
congressional
Republicans
and Trump could make it more
difficult for the White House
to advance its agenda.
The White House and
congressional
Republicans
have yet to engage in serious
negotiations to address the debt
ceiling or stopgap legislation
needed to avert a government
shutdown when the fiscal year
ends on Sept. 30.
Trump is expected to hold
meetings with congressional
leaders after the Labor Day
holiday.
Asked about the debt
ceiling, Sanders put the onus
on Congress to resolve the
matter: “It’s our job to inform
Congress of the debt ceiling
and it’s their job to raise it.”
She added that the White
House was looking for a
“clean” debt ceiling bill
— without any legislative
add-ons. But tea party Repub-
licans and outside conserva-
tive groups are demanding
spending cuts as the price
for increasing the borrowing
limit.
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129 S. Main Street
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O: 541.304.2069
C: 541.429.5029
eanderson@guildmortgage.net
Loan Officer
NMLS 4523220
1565 N. 1st St. 45
Hermiston, OR 97838
O: 541.371.5562
C: 541.720.2786
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