NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Cliven Bundy loses bid to represent self Activists ask Oregon
to allow online
signing for initiatives
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada
cattleman and state’s rights figure
Cliven Bundy lost a courtroom bid to
represent himself at his upcoming trial,
after refusing Wednesday to recognize
federal authority over grazing land at
the center of a 2014 armed standoff with
federal agents, his lawyer said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen
ruled after questioning the 71-year-old
Bundy that he could not fire his attorney,
Bret Whipple, even though Whipple
filed court documents last week saying
that Bundy dismissed him.
“I’m still on the case. We’re set for
trial,” Whipple said following the ruling.
“The court would not let him represent
himself because he would not accept a
court ruling that the land is owned by
the federal government.”
Bundy remains in federal custody.
A spokeswoman for Acting U.S.
Attorney Steven Myhre declined to
comment about Leen’s ruling. Myhre is
the prosecutor in the Bundy case.
Whipple said in court filings that his
attorney-client relationship with Bundy
stopped after Bundy demanded that
Whipple withdraw from the case.
The attorney said Wednesday he was
bound by legal ethics and court rules to
represent his client’s wishes. He said he
intended to appeal Leen’s ruling to the
trial judge, Chief District Judge Gloria
Navarro.
Bundy, two sons and four other
EUGENE (AP) — Some
Oregon activists are pushing
for the state to implement a
system that would allow
voter signatures to be
gathered electronically for
initiative petitions.
A grass-roots effort
is calling for petitions to
be signed online so more
initiatives can bypass
the Legislature and go
directly before voters, The
Register-Guard reported on
Wednesday.
Under
the
current
initiative process, backers
of proposed public policies
are required to collect a
set number of physical
signatures with pen and
paper in order to get a
measure qualified for the
ballot. Many successful
initiatives typically involve
financial backing to pay for
people to gather signatures.
Of the 415 initiative
petitions
filed
since
November 2006, 27 have
John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File
In this 2014 file photo, Cliven Bundy stands at the Bundy ranch near
Bunkerville, Nevada.
defendants are due for trial Oct. 10 —
including two defendants whose retrial
ended last month with acquittal on most
charges but who still face assault on a
federal officer and weapon counts.
Bundy, sons Ryan and Ammon
Bundy, and defendants Ryan Payne of
Montana and Peter Santilli of Cincinnati
are accused of leading a conspiracy to
enlist a self-styled militia to prevent
federal agents from removing Bundy
cattle from what is now Gold Butte
National Monument.
Cliven Bundy has long refused to
recognize federal authority over public
land where he said his family grazed
cattle since the early 1900s.
The dispute echoes a nearly half-cen-
tury fight over public lands involving
ranchers in Nevada and the West, where
the federal government controls vast
expanses of land.
Speed of Medicaid payments depends on many factors
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Although the
state dispensed $4.9 billion in
medical assistance payments to
coordinated care organizations
in 2016, the Oregon Health
Authority doesn’t track how
long it takes those CCOs to pay
Medicaid service providers.
Medicaid serves 1.1 million
Oregonians who meet certain
income eligibility requirements.
Oregon paid $6.7 billion to health
care providers who saw Medicaid
patients in 2016.
Most people on the Oregon
Health Plan are enrolled in one
of the state’s 16 coordinated
care organizations — essentially,
regional groups of providers that
see OHP patients.
Each CCO has a contract with
the Oregon Health Authority to
provide Medicaid services for a
monthly per-patient fee, known as
a capitated payment. OHA makes
those payments on the first of the
month.
The CCO in turn pays its
providers, and those arrangements
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Oregon SOS Dennis
Richardson plans
trade visit to China
PORTLAND (AP) — Oregon
Secretary of State Dennis Richardson
says he’s visiting China on a 12-day
trade mission in November.
Richardson made 11 trips to China
during his years as a state lawmaker,
but this will be his first since getting
elected to the statewide office last year.
Richardson said Wednesday that
his flight is being paid for with money
from his official travel budget, but
he’s using his own money to upgrade
his seat on the 12-hour flight. Local
Chinese governments will pay his
expenses while in the country.
He says the mission will give
Oregon businesses traveling with the
delegation a chance to network with
consumers, distributors, and Chinese
officials.
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— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
BRIEFLY
pre-authorization, whereas urgent
pre-approvals are conducted
within 72 hours, and emergent
pre-approvals within 24 hours.
In some cases, the payments
are processed manually, such as
when there are issues with the
claim like a duplication. Some
providers submit claims by mail
or fax, and the agency doesn’t
track response times to those
claims, Cowie said.
The Oregon Health Authority
also does not collect data on
how long it takes CCOs to pay
providers.
Recent issues with the state’s
system for verifying Medicaid
eligibility have thrust the Oregon
Health Authority’s data systems
into the legislative spotlight.
To manage payments, the
agency uses a system called
the
Medicaid
Management
Information System, or MMIS.
The secretary of state’s audit
found in May that the MMIS
successfully enrolled patients in
CCOs and made payments.
The state auditor’s review
focused mainly on capitated
payments to CCOs.
negotiates a contract requiring
payment within 30 days, and can
enforce interest on payments that
don’t meet that deadline.
It typically receives payments
for services for Oregon Health
Plan patients in 20 to 25 days,
spokesman Nick Bejarano said in
an email Tuesday.
Good Shepherd has separate
contracts with its coordinated
care organization and with the
state directly for fee-for-service
clients.
Both contracts stipulate the
payments be made in 45 days,
Bejarano said, although they
typically get payments in about
half that time.
Patients on Medicaid are
subject to pre-authorization,
where a service, such as an
ultrasound, has to get approved
before a patient can receive it.
That requirement can cause
delays. But payments for “clean”
claims for fee-for-service patients
that have been pre-authorized are
made “in real time,” said OHA
spokesman Robb Cowie.
For OHA, routine procedures
typically take 16 days to get
— including the length of time
in which payments are made for
medical services — vary from
CCO to CCO.
For FamilyCare, a Portland-
area CCO, more than 98 percent
of its claims are paid within 30
days, according to spokesman
Jack Coleman. Ninety percent are
made within 14 days.
Capitated payments to CCOs
accounted for about $4.9 billion
of total payments to OHP
providers in 2016, according to
an audit released by the Oregon
Secretary of State in May.
The rest — about $1.8 billion
— went to services for patients
in a “fee-for-service” pool. Those
people aren’t members of a CCO.
For those patients, providers
bill OHA directly for individual
medical services.
The length of time it takes
money for a specific medical
service to get to a Medicaid
provider depends on several
factors, including the patient, the
service and the provider.
With
most
commercial
insurers, Hermiston’s Good
Shepherd
Health
System
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Copyright © 2017, EO Media Group
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
TODAY
FRIDAY
Sunny and
beautiful
Times of clouds
and sun
82° 52°
76° 49°
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
Cooler; a shower in
the p.m.
Chance of a
shower
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
65° 47°
62° 42°
61° 45°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
79° 52°
84° 47°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
80°
73°
91° (1967)
47°
46°
27° (1911)
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
0.00"
0.91"
0.48"
12.28"
8.02"
8.86"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
80°
74°
89° (1952)
44°
44°
30° (1945)
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
0.00"
0.36"
0.39"
7.01"
5.44"
6.51"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
Last
Oct 5
Oct 12
New
Oct 19
68° 44°
65° 46°
Seattle
84/58
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
69° 48°
6:50 a.m.
6:41 p.m.
2:50 p.m.
none
First
Oct 27
Today
MONDAY
A passing
afternoon shower
Spokane
Wenatchee
78/50
79/53
Tacoma
Moses
83/54
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 81/46
79/50
77/58
83/55
82/48
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
83/55
82/58 Lewiston
83/49
Astoria
82/52
73/55
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
84/57
Pendleton 76/41
The Dalles 84/47
82/52
84/53
La Grande
Salem
78/44
85/55
Albany
Corvallis 83/53
84/52
John Day
77/51
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
78/45
84/52
79/48
Caldwell
Burns
76/44
74/35
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
73
78
79
68
74
76
84
79
84
77
78
78
76
88
68
68
78
83
82
84
81
85
78
77
83
82
82
Lo
55
35
48
54
35
41
52
52
47
51
41
44
43
53
55
57
45
49
52
57
43
55
50
41
57
58
48
W
s
s
s
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
s
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Fri.
Hi
63
77
66
63
73
76
66
73
79
78
69
77
75
72
61
65
79
78
76
66
69
67
77
73
65
77
74
Lo
50
41
37
52
37
43
46
48
52
46
36
44
42
47
51
51
54
52
49
52
35
49
48
40
52
53
44
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
W
sh
pc
c
sh
pc
pc
sh
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
pc
sh
sh
pc
pc
pc
sh
c
sh
pc
pc
sh
pc
pc
WORLD CITIES
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Hi
74
93
77
68
71
51
69
76
76
76
79
Lo
48
80
60
55
57
39
58
56
50
56
66
W
s
s
s
pc
t
c
pc
pc
s
c
r
Fri.
Hi
79
91
76
66
72
49
75
75
71
76
76
Lo
52
82
62
51
57
43
55
55
58
59
65
W
s
t
s
sh
t
c
t
pc
s
s
pc
WINDS
Medford
88/53
Klamath Falls
78/41
(in mph)
Today
Friday
Boardman
Pendleton
NE 4-8
N 4-8
WSW 7-14
W 6-12
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Sunny today; pleasant in
the south with clouds and sun. Pleasant
across the north.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Beautiful
today with plenty of sunshine. Clear tonight.
Eastern Washington: Brilliant sunshine
today. Clear tonight.
Western Washington: Plenty of sunshine
today. Occasional rain and drizzle at the
coast tonight.
Northern California: Sunshine today; pleas-
ant at the coast. Partly cloudy tonight.
Cascades: Sunny and nice today.
1
qualified to go before
voters.
David Carlson, the chief
petitioner for the proposal,
said a system that allows
online signing would
enable more initiatives
without major financial
backing to qualify. It would
also make the process more
convenient for voters, he
said.
“We live in 2017. The
internet is available and
accessible to almost all
Oregonians,” Carlson said.
“People do everything
online.”
Under the proposal,
voters
would
sign
petitions on a state website
administered
by
the
secretary of state. Voters’
identities would be verified
though a Social Security
number or an Oregon
driver’s license number.
Our Oregon filed a
challenge to the Oregon
Supreme Court.
2
4
4
2
1
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: Cool air will sweep from the Midwest to the Northeast today. Storms
will drench areas from Texas to Colorado. Downpours will soak South Florida as showers dip
into the northern Great Lakes.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 97° in Thermal, Calif.
Low 16° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
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
68
89
79
78
70
88
76
75
93
76
73
70
82
56
68
78
41
67
87
86
74
93
74
86
82
90
Lo
54
68
54
52
45
63
51
51
72
50
55
51
67
42
52
63
34
39
75
73
51
71
53
67
60
65
W
r
s
pc
s
pc
s
s
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
c
r
s
pc
r
pc
pc
pc
s
s
s
s
pc
s
Fri.
Hi
65
86
71
73
72
84
78
64
87
74
71
72
81
66
69
75
40
63
89
88
76
91
75
89
81
88
Lo
53
68
57
52
51
62
52
51
69
50
52
53
64
46
50
61
26
48
74
68
48
73
54
67
60
63
Today
W
pc
s
s
s
s
s
pc
s
pc
s
s
sh
c
c
sh
c
c
pc
sh
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
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
76
81
88
73
71
80
91
78
70
75
78
95
73
80
90
70
79
91
76
70
82
81
84
93
80
75
Lo
55
61
77
54
48
56
75
55
57
51
56
74
46
50
60
45
49
57
55
48
64
58
58
68
57
53
W
s
s
t
s
pc
s
s
pc
c
s
pc
s
pc
pc
s
s
s
s
s
s
pc
s
s
s
s
pc
Fri.
Hi
78
81
85
67
65
79
89
70
72
74
73
98
66
69
77
66
78
84
80
73
80
72
65
95
75
75
Lo
53
61
77
51
46
55
72
55
55
54
57
77
44
49
55
48
47
55
52
55
64
59
52
69
58
56
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
t
pc
pc
s
s
s
c
pc
s
s
s
s
s
pc
s
s
s
pc
s
s
r
s
s
s