NATION/WORLD
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
East Oregonian
Iran-Contra figure
Oliver North named
president of the NRA
Associated Press
ATLANTA — Retired
Lt. Col. Oliver North, the
Marine at the center of the
Iran-Contra affair three
decades ago, was
named president
Monday of the
National Rifle
Association, giv-
ing it star power
as it faces a pow-
erful backlash
over the massa-
cres in Florida
and Las Vegas.
N o r t h ’s
a p p o i n t m e n t North
was ripped by
gun-control
advocates
who called his appoint-
ment symptomatic of a
tone-deaf NRA given his
role in the arms-trafficking
scandal that engulfed the
White House in the Rea-
gan administration. Con-
servatives and gun-rights
supporters hailed him as a
patriot who will vigorously
battle efforts to restrict
access to firearms.
North, 74, will be the
biggest celebrity to lead
the
5-million-member
gun lobby since Holly-
wood leading man Charl-
ton Heston, who famously
declared in 2000 that his
guns would have to be
taken “from my cold, dead
hands.”
“Oliver North is a leg-
endary warrior for Amer-
ican freedom, a gifted
communicator and skilled
leader,” NRA CEO Wayne
LaPierre said.
Momentum for gun
control has been
building since
the mass shoot-
ing in Las Vegas
last fall that
killed 58 peo-
ple and the Feb.
14 rampage at a
Parkland, Flor-
ida, high school
that left 17 dead.
“The election
of Oliver North is
the clearest sign
yet that the NRA is floun-
dering in the face of plum-
meting popularity, scru-
tiny into its Russia ties,
and state lawmakers who
are defying the gun lobby
left and right,” said John
Feinblatt, president of
Everytown for Gun Safety,
founded by former New
York mayor and billionaire
Michael Bloomberg. “The
NRA doesn’t need a new
leader, it needs an entirely
new direction.”
North was picked by
the NRA’s board of direc-
tors, which elects a pres-
ident every two years,
and is expected to assume
office within the next sev-
eral weeks. He succeeds
Pete Brownell, who did not
seek a second term.
New York attorney general
resigns amid abuse allegations
NEW YORK (AP) — ken to The New Yorker on
New York Attorney Gen- the record, saying Schnei-
eral Eric Schneiderman, derman repeatedly hit them
who had taken on
during the course
high-profile roles
of their relation-
ships with him in
as an advocate for
recent years, and
women’s
issues
never with their
and an antagonist
consent. Neither
to the policies of
woman filed any
President Donald
police complaints,
Trump, announced
but both said they
late
Monday
sought out medi-
that he would be
resigning
from Schneiderman cal attention and
confided to others
office hours after
four women he was roman- about the abuse.
tically involved with or had
A third woman who also
romantic interactions with was involved with him told
accused him of physical vio- her story to the other two
lence in accounts published women, but said she was
by The New Yorker.
too frightened to come for-
Schneiderman, who had ward. A fourth woman said
been running for re-election, Schneiderman slapped her
said he contested the wom- when she rebuffed him
en’s accounts, but “while during an intimate encoun-
these allegations are unre- ter, but also asked to remain
lated to my professional unidentified.
conduct or the operations of
The New Yorker said it
the office, they will effec- vetted the third woman’s
tively prevent me from lead- allegations, and saw a photo
ing the office’s work at this of what the fourth woman
critical time.” He said he said was her injury.
would resign at the close of
Schneiderman has been
business on Tuesday.
a vocal supporter of the
Two women had spo- #MeToo movement.
Page 7A
Trump to
announce
decision on
Iran deal
U.S. Geological Survey via AP
This May 6 photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the lava lake at
the summit of Kilauea near Pahoa, Hawaii. Hawaii’s erupting Kilauea volcano has
destroyed homes and forced the evacuations of more than a thousand people.
Kilauea volcano destroys
dozens of homes in Hawaii
Associated Press
PAHOA, Hawaii (AP)
— Hawaii’s Kilauea vol-
cano has destroyed 26 homes
since it began spewing lava
hundreds of feet into the air
last week, and residents who
evacuated don’t know how
long they might be displaced.
The decimated homes
were in the Leilani Estates
subdivision, where molten
rock, toxic gas and steam
have been bursting through
openings in the ground cre-
ated by the volcano. Another
four unspecified structures
were covered by lava, offi-
cials said in revised figures
issued Sunday.
Some of the more than
1,700 people who evacuated
were allowed to briefly return
to gather medicine, pets, and
other necessities. They will
be able to do so each day as
long as authorities believe it
is safe.
Amber
Makuakane
Kane, 37, a teacher and sin-
gle mother of two, said her
three-bedroom house in Lei-
lani Estates was across from
a fissure that opened Friday.
At the time, “there was some
steam rising from all parts
of the yard, but everything
looked fine,” Makuakane
said.
On Saturday, she received
alerts from her security sys-
tem that motion sensors
throughout the house had
been triggered. She later con-
firmed that lava had covered
her property.
Makuakane grew up in the
area and lived in her house
for nine years. Her parents
live in the same subdivision.
“The volcano and the lava
— it’s always been a part of
my life,” she said. “It’s dev-
astating ... but I’ve come to
terms with it.”
Lava has spread around
387,500 square feet sur-
rounding the most active
fissure, though the rate of
movement is slow. There
was no indication when the
lave might stop or how far it
might spread.
“There’s more magma in
the system to be erupted. As
long as that supply is there,
the eruption will continue,”
U.S. Geological Survey vol-
canologist Wendy Stovall
said.
Cherie McArthur won-
dered what would become of
her macadamia nut farm in
Lanipuna Gardens, another
evacuated neighborhood near
Leilani Estates. One of the
year’s first harvests had been
planned for this weekend.
“If we lose our farm, we
don’t know where we’re
going to go. You lose your
income and you lose your
home at the same time,” said
McArthur, who’s had the
farm for about 20 years. “All
you can do is pray and hope
and try to get all the informa-
tion you can.”
About 250 people and 90
pets spent Saturday night at
shelters, the American Red
Cross said.
The number of lava-vent-
ing fissures in the neighbor-
hood has grown to as many
as 10, Stovall said, though
some have quieted at various
points.
WASHINGTON (AP)
— President Donald
Trump is set to reveal his
decision on whether to
keep the U.S. in the Iran
deal on Tuesday, a move
that could determine the
fate of the 2015 agree-
ment that froze Iran’s
nuclear program.
The announcement
is set to cap more than
a year of deliberation
and negotiation that has
at times pitted Trump
against some of his clos-
est aides and key Amer-
ican allies. Trump is
facing a self-imposed
May 12 deadline over
whether to uphold the
2015 nuclear agreement,
which he long has criti-
cized. The president has
signaled he will pull out
of the pact by the dead-
line unless it is revised,
but he faces intense pres-
sure from European
allies not to do so.
“I will be announc-
ing my decision on the
Iran Deal tomorrow
from the White House at
2:00pm,” Trump tweeted
Monday.
The president has
been the subject of an
intense lobbying effort
by American allies to
maintain the agreement,
with British Foreign
Minister Boris John-
son making a last-ditch
appeal to the administra-
tion in a visit to Wash-
ington this week.
European leaders say
that they are open to
negotiating a side agree-
ment with Iran, but the
existing framework must
remain untouched for
that to happen.
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