NATION/WORLD
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
East Oregonian
Page 7A
Venerable B-52 may outlive snazzier, younger bombers
By ROBERT BURNS
AP National Security Writer
WASHINGTON — The
B-52, which people have
called “aging” seemingly for
ages, is now likely to outlive
its younger, snazzier brother
bombers, the swing-wing
B-1 and the stealthy B-2.
Air Force Secretary
Heather Wilson announced
Monday that her service will
begin retiring the B-1 and B-2
fleets as soon as it has built
enough B-21s, the next-gen-
eration bomber that is still
on the drawing board and is
expected to begin entering
service in the mid-2020s.
The pace of retirement will
depend on how quickly the
B-21 is acquired.
An Air Force spokes-
woman, Ann Stefanek, said
the B-1 and B-2 are likely
to keep flying into the early
2030s.
The B-52 is expected to
soar past those timelines,
remaining part of the combat
force until mid-century.
Aware of the political
ramifications of any change
in the structure of the bomber
force, Wilson said the
number of bomber bases will
not shrink.
“If the force structure we
have proposed is supported
by the Congress, bases that
have bombers now will
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File
In this Jan. 10, 2016 file photo, a U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flies over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
The Air Force says the venerable B-52 bomber, which gained lasting fame in Vietnam as an aerial terror, is now
likely to outlive its younger, far snazzier brother bombers, the swept-wing B-1 and the stealthy B-2.
have bombers in the future,”
Wilson said. “They will be
B-52s and B-21s.”
Officially nicknamed the
Stratofortress and informally
known as the Big Ugly Fat
Fellow, the B-52 gained
lasting fame in Vietnam as an
aerial terror. It is scheduled
to stay in service until 2050,
assuming its gets planned
upgrades, including new
engines. In its 2019 budget
request Monday, the Air
Force asked for $280 million
for B-52 upgrades.
Boeing built eight different
models of the B-52 between
1952 and 1962. There are
75 planes left, split between
Minot Air Force Base in
Obama portrait unveiled, ears and all
By ASHRAF KHALIL
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — When
Barack Obama speaks, people
listen. At least they did when
he was in the White House.
But that kind of authority
didn’t hold much sway when
it came time for his presiden-
tial portrait.
At a ceremony Monday
to unveil portraits of him and
former first lady Michelle
Obama, the former president
said artist Kehinde Wiley
cheerfully ignored almost all
of his suggestions.
“He listened very thought-
fully to what I had to say
before doing exactly what
he always intended to do,”
he said. “I tried to negotiate
less gray hair, but Kehinde’s
artistic integrity would not
allow it. I tried to negotiate
smaller ears and struck out on
that as well.”
The final product depicts
Obama sitting in a straight-
backed chair, leaning forward
and looking serious while
surrounded by greenery and
flowers. Michelle Obama’s
portrait, painted by Amy
Sherald, shows her in a black
and white dress looking
thoughtful with her hand on
her chin.
Both artists were person-
ally chosen by the Obamas.
The portraits will now
hang in the National Portrait
Gallery, which is part of
the Smithsonian group of
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
Former President Barack Obama, left, speaks at the unveiling ceremony for the
Obama’s official portraits at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Monday in
Washington. Obama’s portrait was painted by Artist Kehinde Wiley.
museums. The gallery has a
complete collection of pres-
idential portraits. A different
set of portraits of the former
first couple will eventually
hang in the White House.
“I am humbled, I am
honored, I am proud,”
Michelle Obama said. “Young
people, particularly girls and
girls of color, in future years
they will come to this place
and see someone who looks
like them hanging on the walls
of this incredible institution.”
Barack Obama spoke of
CDC via AP
Thelazia gulosa, a type of eye worm seen in cattle in
the northern United States and southern Canada, but
never before in humans.
14 worms pulled from
Oregon woman’s eye
NEW YORK (AP) — An
Oregon woman who had
worms coming out of her eye
is being called the first known
human case of a parasitic
infection spread by flies.
Fourteen tiny worms were
removed from the left eye
of the 26-year-old woman
in August 2016. Scientists
reported the case Monday.
The
woman,
Abby
Beckley, was diagnosed in
August 2016 with Thelazia
gulosa. That’s a type of eye
worm seen in cattle in the
northern United States and
southern Canada, but never
before in humans.
They are spread by a type
of fly known as “face flies.”
The flies feed on the tears
that lubricate the eyeball,
scientists said.
She had been horseback
riding and fishing in Gold
Beach, Oregon, a coastal,
cattle-farming area.
After a week of eye irritation,
Beckley pulled a worm from
her eye. She visited doctors, but
removed most of the additional
worms herself during the
following few weeks.
The worms were translu-
cent and each less than half
an inch long.
After they were removed,
no more worms were found
and she had no additional
symptoms.
Eye worms are seen in
several kinds of animals,
including cats and dogs. They
can be spread by different
kinds of flies.
Two other types of Thelazia
eye worm infections had been
seen in people before, but
never this kind, according
to Richard Bradbury of the
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention. He was the
study’s lead author.
his choice of Wiley, saying
the two men shared multiple
parallels in their upbringing;
both had African fathers who
were largely absent from their
lives and American mothers
who raised them.
The former president drew
multiple laughs from the audi-
ence for his remarks, starting
out by praising Sherald for
capturing, “the grace and
beauty and charm and hotness
of the woman that I love.”
North Dakota and Barksdale
Air Force in Louisiana. No
longer the saturation bomber
associated with the Vietnam
war, the B-52 had been
updated and adapted to a
range of combat missions.
It has been used extensively
in the war in Afghanistan as
well as in the air campaign
against the Islamic State
group in Iraq and Syria.
Just last week a B-52
pummeled a Taliban site in
northern Afghanistan.
“The aircraft has played
a leading role in Air Force
operations for decades, and
was recently reconfigured
with a conventional rotary
launcher to increase its reach
and lethality,” the U.S. mili-
tary said in announcing the
Afghanistan attack.
The B-1 has an unusual
history. It was initially devel-
oped in the 1970s, cancelled
and then revived by President
Ronald Reagan. It originally
was designed for either
nuclear or conventional
attack but is now strictly for
non-nuclear combat.
The B-2, the world’s
first radar-evading bomber,
was developed in secrecy
by Northrop (now known
as Northrop Grumman) in
the 1980s and was initially
best-known for its stunning
price tag of more than $1
billion per aircraft, of which
21 were built.
The Air Force now has 20
B-2s, all based at Whiteman
Air Force Base in Missouri,
and 62 B-1s at several bases
including Dyess Air Force
Base in Texas.
Stocks power higher
after a dreadful week
NEW YORK (AP) —
Stocks powered higher
Monday, sending the Dow
Jones industrial average up
410 points, as the market
clawed back more of its
massive losses from the
previous two weeks.
Apple jumped 4 percent
and led a rally in technology
companies, while industrial
companies, banks, and
consumer-focused compa-
nies like retailers also rose.
Netflix and Amazon
surged again as stocks that
led the market higher in
2017 recovered more of the
ground they lost recently.
Energy companies got some
relief as oil prices turned
higher. All of that helped
stocks build on the market’s
gains from late Friday.
Some market watchers
say the recent bout of turbu-
lence may not be over. Jim
Paulsen, chief investment
strategist for the Leuthold
Group, said he thinks stocks
and bonds will fall further
as investors consider the
likelihood that interest rates
will keep rising and infla-
tion will increase. Inflation
and higher wages can cut
into company profits, and
higher interest rates slow
down economic growth.
“The catalyst behind
this bull market up until
maybe the last year or so
has just been the ability of
this economy to grow, even
if it’s very sluggishly (...)
without creating any nega-
tive consequences for the
financial markets,” he said.
Paulsen
said
the
consumer prices report
Wednesday or the February
employment report due
next month could both have
major effects on the market.
The Standard & Poor’s
500, the benchmark for
many index funds, gained
36.45 points, or 1.4 percent,
to 2,656. The Dow climbed
410.37 points, or 1.7 percent,
to 24,601.27. It had risen as
much as 574 earlier, led by big
gains for Boeing and Apple.
The Nasdaq composite
advanced 107.47 points,
or 1.6 percent, to 6,981.96.
The Russell 2000 index of
smaller-company
stocks
rose 13.15 points, or 0.9
percent, to 1,490.98.