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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (May 25, 2018)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian Page 2A Friday, May 25, 2018 Grant County School District opts not to arm teachers, for now AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, file In this 2017 file photo, an Amazon Echo Dot is displayed during a program announcing several new Amazon products by the company, in Seattle. By RICHARD HANNERS EO Media Group Amazon: Echo device sent conversation to family’s contact Associated Press SEATTLE — An “unlikely” string of events prompted Amazon’s Echo personal assistant device to record a Portland family’s private conversation and then send the recording to an acquaintance in Seattle, the company said Thursday. The woman told KIRO-TV that two weeks ago an employee of her hus- band contacted them to say he thought their device had been hacked. He told them he had received an audio file of them discussing hard- wood floors, she said. In a statement Thurs- day, Amazon confirmed the woman’s private conversa- tion had been inadvertently recorded and sent. The company said the device interpreted a word in the background conversation as “Alexa” — a command that makes it wake up — and then it interpreted the con- versation as a “send mes- sage” request. “At which point, Alexa said out loud ‘To whom?’” the statement said. “At which point, the back- ground conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list. “Alexa then asked out loud, ‘(contact name), right?’ Alexa then inter- ing school safety from many diverse sources. “This is clearly a subject this community is interested in,” she said. Cronin noted the strong feelings on both sides and said the idea had come before the board three times already. “We’ve been listening,” she said. Now was not the time to change policy to allow teach- ers to be armed, Cronin said. The district would face “sig- nificant costs,” and teach- ers were already “stretched thin” and facing scheduling difficulties. She noted that no school staff told her they wanted to be armed. The district’s proposed budget includes funding for a school resource officer, and opportunities for part- School board may consider at another time The idea of arming teach- ers in Grant County schools was put to rest after the school board reached con- sensus May 16 that it is not the best time to change that policy and it is better to pur- sue other options. Chairwoman Chris Cro- nin recognized the numerous steps taken by the adminis- tration since she sat on the board, including installing cameras and new locks, and she said she appreciated all the public input on improv- preted background conver- sation as ‘right.’” The statement contin- ued: “As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.” The woman, who was identified only by her first name in the news report, said every room in her fam- ily’s home was wired with the Amazon devices to con- trol her home’s heat, lights and security system. She said the family unplugged the devices and contacted Amazon after they learned the recording had been sent. Ryan Calo, a law pro- fessor who co-directs the University of Washington’s tech policy lab, agreed that the sort of glitch Amazon described is unlikely. But it may trouble customers nev- ertheless, he said “What makes it particu- larly unfortunate is the sense that Amazon Echo users will have that there’s any prospect that what they say in their private home might end up outside the home,” Calo said. “We feel less reassured about the control we assert over it than we once did. It’s the feeling you have to watch what you say in front of a device that’s supposed to make your life better.” software now supplied by contractor DXC Technology. Officials with the Secre- tary of State’s Office believe having an in-house system would allow them to quickly adapt the system to changes in Oregon law and better maintain the security of data, said Steve Bender, an analyst with the Legislative Fiscal Office. It also was uncertain whether DXC would con- tinue to support the voter reg- istration system. When it came to the atten- tion of the Legislative Fiscal Office that the project bud- get excluded a quality assur- ance review, the office asked the secretary of state to add the review. The secretary of state obtained a quote of nearly $337,000 to conduct an independent review of the IT project. The state Legislature’s Joint Emergency Board approved that expenditure Wednesday, May 23. Given state government’s “landscape of all of the detri- tus of failed computer sys- tems and failed IT implemen- By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau Despite a record of infor- mation technology project failures, some state agen- cies are exempt from a law requiring them to have an independent external quality assurance review of projects exceeding $1 million. Certain state agencies, such as the Secretary of State’s Office, are exempt from laws passed in 2014-15 to require certain state agencies to have independent outisde over- sight and reporting on IT proj- ects. Some of the state’s most notorious IT project failures — such as the Cover Oregon healthcare exchange website and the more recent project to install a new state agency phone system — lacked an independent quality assurance reviewer for all or part of the duration of those projects. The Secretary of State’s Office has allocated $2.8 mil- lion to build its own Oregon Centralized Voter Registra- tion computer system during the next three years to replace Corrections SUBSCRIPTION RATES Local home delivery Savings off cover price EZPay $14.50 41 percent 52 weeks $173.67 41 percent 26 weeks $91.86 38 percent 13 weeks $47.77 36 percent *EZ Pay = one-year rate with a monthly credit or debit card/check charge www.eastoregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to www.eastoregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ Single copy price: $1 Tuesday through Friday, $1.50 Saturday East Oregonian (USPS 164-980) is published daily except Sunday, Monday and postal holidays, by the EO Media Group, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Periodicals postage paid at Pendleton, OR. Postmaster: send address changes to East Oregonian, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801. Classified & Legal Advertising 1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678 classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com NEWS • To submit news tips and press releases: call 541-966-0818 or email news@eastoregonian.com • To submit community events, calendar items and Your EO News: email community@eastoregonian.com or call Tammy Malgesini at 541-564-4539 or Renee Struthers at 541-966-0818. • To submit engagements, weddings and anniversaries: email rstruthers@eastoregonian.com or visit www.eastoregonian. com/community/announcements • To submit sports or outdoors information or tips: 541-966-0838 • sports@eastoregonian.com Business Office Manager: Janna Heimgartner 541-966-0822 • jheimgartner@eastoregonian.com COMMERCIAL PRINTING Production Manager: Mike Jensen 541-215-0824 • mjensen@eastoregonian.com Copyright © 2018, EO Media Group REGIONAL CITIES Forecast TODAY SUNDAY SATURDAY Times of clouds and sun A thick cloud cover 81° 51° 73° 48° MONDAY Nice with partial sunshine Intervals of clouds and sun TUESDAY Partly sunny and very warm PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 78° 54° 86° 57° 81° 48° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 80° 52° 87° 56° PENDLETON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH LOW 85° 73° 93° (1928) 64° 49° 34° (1920) 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" 0.65" 1.01" 6.07" 9.14" 6.12" HERMISTON through 3 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE HIGH Yesterday Normals Records LOW 90° 75° 97° (1928) 67° 49° 35° (2010) 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" 0.87" 4.96" 6.31" 4.86" SUN AND MOON Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today Full Last May 29 June 6 New 92° 59° 86° 51° Seattle 68/50 ALMANAC Yesterday Normals Records 85° 58° 5:14 a.m. 8:30 p.m. 4:29 p.m. 3:39 a.m. First June 13 June 20 Today Spokane Wenatchee 80/54 84/54 Tacoma Moses 69/46 Lake Pullman Aberdeen Olympia Yakima 84/53 78/52 62/50 70/45 86/53 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 68/49 82/54 Lewiston 86/57 Astoria 84/59 61/52 Portland Enterprise Hermiston 72/49 Pendleton 75/50 The Dalles 87/56 81/51 79/54 La Grande Salem 77/49 72/45 Albany Corvallis 70/44 69/45 John Day 75/48 Ontario Eugene Bend 87/58 67/43 66/43 Caldwell Burns 86/58 73/42 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 61 78 66 58 73 75 67 78 87 75 58 77 74 67 58 59 87 87 81 72 69 72 80 73 71 82 86 Lo 52 51 43 47 42 50 43 50 56 48 41 49 47 46 47 50 58 57 51 49 41 45 54 46 48 54 53 W s t t c t t s pc pc t t t t t s pc pc pc pc s t s pc pc s pc pc NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Sat. Hi 61 64 66 61 62 58 65 70 80 62 66 63 62 72 57 62 75 80 73 67 68 66 73 62 65 72 80 Lo 50 45 38 49 39 42 43 47 52 43 35 44 41 47 46 49 56 49 48 48 35 46 49 40 46 52 49 Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. W pc c pc pc c c pc c c c c r c pc pc pc c c c pc pc pc c r pc r pc WORLD CITIES Today Beijing Hong Kong Jerusalem London Mexico City Moscow Paris Rome Seoul Sydney Tokyo Hi 91 94 81 70 82 64 78 77 75 67 79 Lo 63 83 65 57 52 44 62 61 55 52 64 W s pc s pc pc s t s pc pc s Sat. Hi 89 95 85 77 82 68 84 78 82 69 75 Lo 61 85 66 62 52 50 63 63 58 52 66 W c pc s pc pc s pc s s s sh WINDS Medford 67/46 (in mph) Klamath Falls 58/41 Boardman Pendleton REGIONAL FORECAST Coastal Oregon: Partly sunny today; how- ever, more clouds in the south. Eastern and Central Oregon: Sun today. A shower and storm in central parts and near the Cascades; a t-storm in the south and upper Treasure Valley. Western Washington: Mostly sunny today. Mostly cloudy tonight. Partly sunny tomorrow. Eastern Washington: Some sunshine today. Partly cloudy tonight. Cascades: A shower and thunderstorm around today, but a thunderstorm in spots across the north. Northern California: A shower and thunder- storm around today, except a thunderstorm at the coast. Today Saturday WSW 6-12 W 6-12 WSW 7-14 WSW 7-14 UV INDEX TODAY Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows. 2 4 7 7 4 tial difficulties or concerns in the implementation plan that were not discovered inter- nally then having an external reviewer would be helpful in increasing the likelihood of the project’s success.” Johnson said she also wanted assurances that law- makers would receive reports on the quality assurance reviews to provide account- ability for the project. “What happens if the QA is retained and ignored?” she asked. The Legislative Fiscal Office will receive reports on the quality assurance review and give them to lawmakers on the committee that over- sees IT projects, Rocco said. The failure of the Cover Oregon health insurance website — which ate up more than $300 million in state and federal funds — and the more recent problems with the $46 million replacement of the state agency phone sys- tem lacked the kind of qual- ity control reviews that might have caught problems early on. tations,” Emergency Board member Sen. Betsy John- son, said, she was concerned whether there is adequate oversight and quality con- trol over the voter registration system project. “I am just quite worried that some of the same people who oversaw absolute deba- cles here are now going to be present overseeing this, and I’m looking for some degree of reassurance,” the Scap- poose Democrat said. The Legislative Fiscal Office flagged the lack of independent oversight after going over the project, said Legislative Fiscal Officer Ken Rocco. “LFO was concerned about the risk of the project and the size of the project and that is why we asked the sec- retary of state obtain an exter- nal quality assurance review of this,” Bender said. “Quality assurance reviews don’t ensure a project is successful. However, we do believe that this will increase the likelihood of that outcome and that if there are poten- ADVERTISING Regional Publisher and Revenue Director: Christopher Rush 541-278-2669 • crush@eastoregonian.com Advertising Services: Grace Bubar 541-276-2214 • gbubar@eastoregonian.com Multimedia Consultants: • Kimberly Macias 541-278-2683 • kmacias@eastoregonian.com • Jeanne Jewett 541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com • Dayle Stinson 541-278-2670 • dstinson@eastoregonian.com • Angela Treadwell 541-966-0827 • atreadwell@eastoregonian.com • Audra Workman 541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com Subscriber services: For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1 211 S.E. Byers Ave., Pendleton 541-276-2211 333 E. Main St., Hermiston 541-567-6211 Office hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed major holidays Williams pointed out that he and Cronin had not talked about the matter before the board meeting. The dis- trict was facing numerous changes this year — a new superintendent, a new prin- cipal at Humbolt Elementary and numerous staff changes — and now was not the time to change policy to allow teachers to be armed, he said. One by one, the rest of the board said they agreed with Cronin and Williams. Haley Walker noted that some- how discussion about school safety had narrowed down to arming teachers. Colleen Robertson said she was glad students had an opportunity to provide input. The board agreed to pur- sue other options to improve school safety, including eval- uating mental health issues. State grapples with gaps in IT project oversight The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call 541-966-0818. — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — nerships with law enforce- ment, more training and building improvements had come out of the discussion, Cronin said. Board Vice Chairman Zach Williams, who had brought up the idea of arm- ing school teachers or staff during the board’s March 21 meeting, following the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, said he agreed with Cronin. Williams said there was significant public pressure to have a discussion on the idea, and he wanted the public’s input. He noted he had heard people say that his mind was already made up, but he had changed his opinion. “We got a better outcome because of this discussion,” he said. 2 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. ©2018 -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: The Northeast will get a taste of summer warmth today, while down- pours will return to the South. Showers and thunderstorms will stretch up to the Upper Midwest and will rattle the West Coast. Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 100° in Laredo, Texas Low 26° in Leadville, Colo. 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 90 78 78 87 84 85 87 87 84 88 89 85 94 86 87 98 63 90 85 89 88 86 90 90 87 68 Lo 60 69 66 69 57 69 57 68 72 66 67 65 74 56 66 67 41 62 74 70 69 69 68 64 68 56 W s t s s pc t pc s c pc s s s pc s s c c s t s t t s t sh Sat. Hi 92 83 78 84 84 85 72 82 86 84 89 85 95 91 88 101 65 93 85 91 88 85 94 83 89 70 Lo 60 69 67 69 58 68 52 54 73 66 68 67 74 60 67 71 44 64 74 72 69 72 69 65 70 58 Today W s t pc c pc t t t sh t t t pc s t s pc s c pc pc c s pc pc sh 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 90 87 81 85 91 87 87 87 90 93 86 99 84 86 85 82 60 65 86 88 70 65 68 99 87 90 Lo 71 71 74 65 70 69 72 69 67 68 67 74 65 66 69 55 45 52 71 59 61 55 50 64 71 67 W s pc t t pc pc t s s pc s s pc s pc s t t t s sh t s s s t Sat. Hi 88 87 81 84 94 87 88 88 93 97 87 95 76 84 86 91 61 74 92 81 68 65 68 96 85 95 Lo 72 72 76 66 70 68 72 66 68 70 68 69 51 58 70 61 48 53 72 54 60 53 51 62 71 70 Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice. W t t t pc s t t pc s s pc s c t c s t pc t c sh pc pc s c s
