Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 2018)
Thursday, January 18, 2018 NATION/WORLD White House official: Trump immigration views have evolved WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s views on immigration and building a wall along the Mexico border have evolved since his pres- idential campaign, the White House chief of staff said Wednesday. Those changes are giving some people hope that a compromise with Congress on the thorny issue is possible. But they are perplexing others — even as the clock ticks down to a showdown. John Kelly made the comments Wednesday at a closed-door meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, participants say, and made similar remarks later on Fox News Channel. They came amid a shaky effort to craft an accord protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deporta- tion — a push the White House and Republicans say they would back if it’s coupled with tough border security measures and other restrictions. Kelly said on Fox that he told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that “they all say things during the course of campaigns that may or may not be fully informed.” He said Trump has “very definitely changed his attitude” toward protecting the young immigrants, “and even the wall, once we briefed him.” “So he has evolved in the way he’s looked at things,” Kelly said. “Campaign to governing are two different things and this president has been very, very flexible in terms of what is within the realms of the possible.” Kelly’s comments were noteworthy because they openly acknowledged the difference between campaign promises and governing, and even suggested that Trump needed to be educated on the subject. They also come as lawmakers struggle to reach a bipartisan deal protecting “Dreamers” — around 800,000 people who arrived in the U.S. illegally as children and could be deported without legal protections. Part of negotiators’ problem has been uncertainty over what Trump would accept. “He’s not yet indicated what measure he’s willing to sign,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters Wednesday. “As soon as we figure out what he is for, then I will be convinced that we would not just be spinning our wheels going to this issue on the floor.” AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster White House chief of staff John Kelly pauses to look to a video monitor as he appears on Fox News in Washington, Wednesday. Some lawmakers who met with Kelly Wednesday recalled his remarks differently. “He specifically said that there’s some areas of the border that didn’t needs the wall, and that the president didn’t know that when he was making his campaign promises,” Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said in a brief inter- view. Another lawmaker, Rep. Luis, Guti- errez, D-Ill., said Kelly told them that “there were statements made about the wall that were not informed statements. In other words, I’ve informed the pres- ident of what it takes to build a wall, so here’s how we’re going to do it. That’s what I understood, and all of that was helpful.” Many Democrats have said that without an immigration deal in sight, they’ll vote against a Republican bill preventing a weekend government shutdown. Congressional passage must come by Friday to prevent an elec- tion-year shuttering of federal agencies that could be damaging to both parties. During his presidential campaign, Trump made it a mantra to promise to build a “beautiful” wall that would be paid for by Mexico. Since then, White House officials have repeatedly said it doesn’t have to be a concrete wall from coast to coast but could include large stretches of fencing, technology or other systems. Trump also now wants Congress to provide taxpayer money to finance it. One White House official said Wednesday that Kelly’s suggestion that Trump’s positions had evolved was inartful, and maintained Trump is still committed to his immigration priorities. Trump ended the legal shields on “Dreamers” last year and gave Congress until March to renew them. Last week, he rejected a compro- mise by three Democratic and three Republican senators to restore those protections, a deal that included money to begin building the wall and other security steps. Trump’s rejection angered the bargainers, and partisan feelings worsened after participants in a White House meeting last week said Trump had referred to African nations as “shitholes.” Another group of high-level lawmakers has also started talks aimed at brokering an immigration deal, adding an additional level of uncer- tainty. Kelly said on Fox that “there’s no doubt in my mind there’s going to be a deal” protecting the Dreamers. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said there’s “very, very strong” sentiment among Democrats in the chamber to oppose GOP-drafted legislation to keep the government’s doors open. East Oregonian Page 7A BRIEFLY Tillerson signals deeper U.S. military commitment in Syria PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled deeper U.S. commitment to Syria on Wednesday, saying America would maintain its military presence there to prevent an Islamic State resurgence. He said the U.S. also would push for broader political changes in the Middle East country. Speaking at Stanford University after being introduced by former top diplomat Condoleezza Rice, Tillerson said the Trump administration was determined not to repeat President Barack Obama’s “mistake” when he withdrew U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011. Republicans for years have argued the withdrawal created the opening for IS’ rapid expansion. Instead, Tillerson stressed that U.S. forces would remain in Syria for the foreseeable future as President Donald Trump and his aides implement a new strategy to stabilize Syria, where a civil war has killed as many as a half-million people and created millions of refugees since 2011. There are currently some 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria. Uber nearing autonomous cars without human backup driver DETROIT (AP) — Uber plans to carry passengers in autonomous vehicles without human backup drivers in about the same time frame as competitors, which expect to be on the road at the latest sometime next year, the service’s autonomous vehicle chief said Wednesday. Advanced Technology Group leader Eric Meyhofer wouldn’t give a specific start date but he said Uber won’t deploy the driverless cars without human backups unless they are proved safe. “Once we can check that box, which we call passing the robot driver’s license test, that’s when we can remove the vehicle operator,” Meyhofer said in an interview at an auto industry investors conference Detroit. “We’re going aggressively too.” Waymo, the name of the autonomous car unit of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, currently is testing on public roads in the Phoenix area without human backups and plans to carry passengers soon. General Motors Co.’s Cruise Automation has promised to start sometime next year in an unspecified location. California city sues state over Oroville Dam crisis in 2017 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A small California city at the base of the tallest U.S. dam filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the state over an emergency that forced authorities to order 188,000 people to flee last year, arguing the crisis was caused by decades of mismanagement. The City of Oroville blames a culture of cronyism and a priority for low cost dam repairs over quality maintenance for the crisis. Its lawsuit is the latest escalation in years of tension between water managers and Oroville city officials who believe state officials never delivered promised dam benefits and skimped on repairs to continue delivering cheap water to farmers and Southern California residents. “This was not an act of God. This was not just a wild rainstorm. This went back 20 years of neglect,” said Joseph Cotchett, the lead attorney. The crisis began when a massive crater opened in Oroville Dam’s main spillway, a 3,000-foot concrete chute that releases water from Lake Oroville, California’s second-largest reservoir. R A E Y E H T F O R E L C Y EC R L A I C R E M M O C 7 1 20 CTUIR - Tribal Environmental Recovery Facility (TERF) At the end of each year the employees of Pendleton Sanitary Service, Inc. (PSSI) nominate several commercial businesses or institutions for the Commercial Recycler of the Year award. Th e winning recipient is determined by a vote of PSSI employees, as they are the individ- uals who deal directly with the recycled materials, and are impacted by the quality of those materials. Th is award is given to a commercial recycler that does an outstanding job in recycling, and/or has made signifi cant improvements to their recycling eff orts over the past year. Th e employees of Pendleton Sanitary Service voted unanimously to choose CTUIR and the Tribal Environmental Recovery Facility (TERF) as Pendleton’s Commercial Recycler of the Year for 2017. In 2001, PSSI began working with TERF in their waste and recycling operations. A cooperative partnership formed, and with TERF’s con- certed recycling eff orts, their recycling grew from a small operation to generating 117 tons of cardboard in 2017! In addition to cardboard, TERF recycles: aluminum, scrap metal, plastics, newspaper, offi ce paper, and wood waste. Not only does TERF do an outstanding job of recycling with the signifi cant volume of materials they produce, the quality control in their recycling eff ort is excellent, which makes a signifi cant impact on reducing waste going to the landfi ll. A special thanks go to Bonnie Burke and the team at TERF!! Great job! Pendleton Sanitary Service would like to congratulate and thank CTUIR and TERF and their employees for the outstanding eff orts in recycling!