NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Saturday, June 9, 2018
Trump signals support for legislation Walden-backed
easing national marijuana ban
opioid package
LOS ANGELES (AP) —
President Donald Trump said
Friday that he was inclined to
support a bipartisan effort in
Congress to ease the U.S. ban
on marijuana, a proposal that
would dramatically reshape
the nation’s legal landscape
for pot users and businesses.
The federal ban that puts
marijuana on the same level
as LSD and heroin has cre-
ated a conflict with more
than two dozen states that
have legalized pot in some
form, creating a two-tiered
enforcement system where
cannabis can be both legal
and not.
The legislation would
ensure states have the right to
AP Photo/Mathew Sumner, File
President Donald Trump said Friday that he is inclined
to support a bipartisan effort in Congress to ease the
U.S. ban on marijuana.
determine the best approach
to marijuana within their
borders, but some U.S.
restrictions would remain,
headed for debate
from members of Congress
from both parties, including
Republican U.S. Sen. Cory
Gardner of Colorado.
“I support Senator Gard-
ner. I know exactly what he’s
doing,” Trump told reporters
in Washington, when asked
about the legislation. “We’re
looking at it. But I probably
will end up supporting that,
yes.”
The president’s remarks
place him in conflict with
his own Justice Department
and U.S. Attorney General
Jeff Sessions, an outspoken
opponent of marijuana who
lifted an Obama adminis-
tration policy and freed fed-
eral prosecutors to more
aggressively pursue cases
in states that have legalized
marijuana.
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Associated Press
including recreational sales
to people under 21.
The
proposal
intro-
duced Thursday has support
Congress attempts
to rein in three-
headed monster
By KATHY ANEY
East Oregonian
One of Rep. Greg
Walden’s favorite subjects
these days is the opioid
epidemic
and
what lawmakers
can do to stop it.
“This is just
cutting across
the fabric of our
state and coun-
try,”
Walden
said Thursday
by phone. “You
lose more Ore- Walden
gonians to over-
dose deaths than in car
accidents. That’s a pretty
stunning number.”
As the leader of the
House Energy and Com-
merce Committee, Walden
helped craft and advance
nearly 60 opioid-related
bills that are scheduled to
be debated on the House
floor over the next two
weeks. The Republican
Congressman conducted
multiple opioid roundta-
bles around the state over
the past several years.
The number of Amer-
icans dying of drug over-
doses tripled from 1999 to
2015 and then rose another
12 percent in the next
two years. Someone dies
from prescription pain-
killers every 20 minutes.
Some compare the crisis
to a three-headed monster
of prescription painkillers,
synthetic opioids and street
drugs. Opioids include ille-
gal drugs like heroin and
synthetic fentanyl as well
as prescription pain reliev-
ers including oxycodone,
hydrocodone, codeine and
morphine.
Because of the com-
plexity, the legislation
takes a multi-pronged
Walla Walla sweet onion harvest kicks off this weekend
Locati said there have been
no issues.
Onion sizes are trending
towards jumbo size, about 3
inches and up in diameter, he
said.
“The price right now is a
good starting price,” Locati
said. “Profitability, the mar-
gins are getting slimmer with
the way labor costs have
gone up, especially in Wash-
ington State.”
Locati is introducing a red
Walla Walla sweet onion in
“very limited production,”
less than 5 percent of the yel-
low Walla Walla sweet crop.
He’s been developing it for
10 years, he said, picking
off-pigment onions during
harvest and planting and
raising the reddest ones.
“It’s not a deep red, I call
it more of a rosé Walla Walla
sweet,” he said. “It’s just
another option. It’s a beau-
tiful, kind of pinkish-hue
onion, very mild. When you
think of a red, you think of
a hot onion. Great potential,
for sure.”
Walla Walla River Pack-
ing Co. begins offering
organic Walla Walla sweets
for the first time this year,
Locati said.
Locati introduces
new ‘rosé’ Walla
Walla sweet
By MATTHEW WEAVER
EO Media Group
Walla Walla sweet onion
farmers start harvesting this
weekend, the leader of the
crop’s marketing committee
says.
“They look good,” said
Michael J. Locati, farmer and
chairman of the Walla Walla
Sweet Onion Marketing
Committee. “We’re excited
for a pretty good season.”
Locati expects to start
harvest Saturday.
About 10 to 15 farmers
raise the niche onion on 500
total acres in Walla Walla
County and a small part of
northeastern Oregon. Walla
Walla sweet onions are pro-
tected by a federal marketing
order designating the legal
production area.
Harvest runs through the
middle or end of August.
Average yield is roughly 650
50-pound units per acre.
Other than a minor wind-
storm that battered the crop
in late April or early May,
Matthew Weaver/Capital Press
Walla Walla sweet onion harvest starts this weekend,
says Michael J. Locati, chairman of the Walla Walla
Sweet Onion Marketing Committee.
Corrections
The June 8 story “New director turns around business
center” misquoted return on investment figures attributed
to the Small Business Development Center. The Oregon
SBDC Network generates $2.56 in federal revenue and
$2.49 in state revenue for every dollar invested.
The June 8 story “Fundraisers scheduled for shooting
victim” left out the date of the car wash at Smitty’s ACE
Hardware. It is on Sunday, while the car wash on Orchard
Avenue is on Saturday.
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REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
TODAY
SUNDAY
A few morning
showers; cooler
Mostly cloudy, a
shower; breezy
64° 46°
65° 46°
MONDAY
TUESDAY
Partly sunny and
beautiful
Mostly sunny and
warmer
Partly sunny
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
70° 42°
79° 51°
84° 53°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
71° 49°
70° 50°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
81°
76°
102° (2015)
48°
51°
35° (1910)
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"
Trace
0.45"
6.07"
10.04"
6.96"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
Yesterday
Normals
Records
HIGH
LOW
83°
77°
105° (2015)
58°
52°
40° (1979)
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"
0.00"
0.21"
4.96"
6.54"
5.32"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
New
First
Full
June 13 June 20 June 27
84° 54°
89° 57°
Seattle
62/49
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
76° 42°
5:06 a.m.
8:43 p.m.
2:52 a.m.
3:52 p.m.
Last
July 6
Today
WEDNESDAY
Spokane
Wenatchee
58/44
66/47
Tacoma
Moses
62/44
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 68/47
55/41
60/48
62/44
67/43
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
61/47
64/49 Lewiston
69/50
Astoria
59/48
60/49
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
62/50
Pendleton 54/37
The Dalles 70/50
64/46
67/50
La Grande
Salem
53/40
62/48
Albany
Corvallis 61/46
60/46
John Day
54/37
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
74/45
60/44
57/35
Caldwell
Burns
74/44
57/29
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
60
57
57
56
57
54
60
60
70
54
56
53
53
61
57
58
74
68
64
62
60
62
58
53
62
64
67
Lo
49
37
35
46
29
37
44
44
50
37
30
40
39
44
47
49
45
49
46
50
34
48
44
37
50
49
43
W
t
sh
sh
t
t
sh
t
t
sh
t
t
sh
sh
t
t
t
pc
sh
sh
t
sh
t
sh
t
t
sh
c
Hi
60
58
58
59
56
53
63
62
71
57
60
57
54
67
57
61
65
70
65
63
61
63
60
55
61
64
66
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Lo
57
80
65
57
58
42
62
60
62
54
67
W
sh
sh
s
pc
pc
pc
t
pc
t
sh
c
Lo
48
33
35
48
29
36
44
43
49
36
34
39
38
47
48
51
42
45
46
51
35
47
42
35
49
47
40
W
sh
c
pc
pc
pc
c
c
c
c
c
pc
c
c
pc
c
c
pc
c
c
sh
c
c
sh
c
c
c
c
Lo
60
81
65
54
58
43
62
63
60
54
66
W
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
c
t
s
pc
sh
r
WINDS
Medford
61/44
(in mph)
Klamath Falls
56/30
Boardman
Pendleton
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Rather cloudy today with
a couple of thundershowers. A couple of
showers tonight.
Eastern and Central Oregon: A passing
shower or two today, but a couple of thun-
dershowers in central parts.
Western Washington: Mainly cloudy today
with a couple of thundershowers. A shower
tonight. Showers tomorrow.
Eastern Washington: Mostly cloudy today; a
brief shower or two.
Cascades: A shower or two this morning,
then showers. A shower tonight; cold in
the south.
Northern California: Clouds limiting sun
today; a morning shower in the interior
mountains.
Today
Sunday
SW 10-20
WSW 8-16
WSW 10-20
WSW 10-20
UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
1
1
2
3
2
Business Office Manager: Janna Heimgartner
541-966-0822 • jheimgartner@eastoregonian.com
COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
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Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
Sun.
Hi
82
90
87
74
77
57
78
81
78
63
71
NEWS
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NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Sun.
WORLD CITIES
Hi
75
89
86
71
79
58
80
77
85
61
84
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Subscriber services:
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approach. Some bills tar-
get the importation of
illicit drugs. Others focus
on treatment, non-opioid
remedies for pain, new
enforcement tools, moni-
toring, prescribing limits,
changes to Medicaid and
Medicare and a plethora of
grant money.
“As you look at the
package of bills, I
would argue it is
the most compre-
hensive focus on
a national prob-
lem I’ve seen
and it’s bi-parti-
san,” Walden said.
“It’s been a very
aggressive effort.”
He said fen-
tanyl worries him
greatly. The synthetic opi-
oid is 50 times more pow-
erful than heroin and 100
times more potent than
morphine. Sometimes fen-
tanyl is cut into heroin.
Mexican cartels and other
foreign entities have been
accused of trafficking the
drug into the United States.
“We’ve got to do a bet-
ter job in stopping these
killer chemicals coming
in from foreign nations in
the postal service, which
is what happens with fen-
tanyl,” he said.
Walden said the U.S.
must also continue to rein
in opioid prescribing.
“Clearly we’ve got
to get to best practices
on prescribing,” Walden
said. “I would argue that
nobody got hooked on opi-
oids that didn’t start with a
prescription.”
Despite the huge num-
ber of bills in the package,
Walden didn’t promise a
silver bullet.
“We’ll be after this a lot
of years going forward,”
he said.
———
Contact Kathy Aney
at kaney@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0810.
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. ©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: Showers and thunderstorms are expected today from the Upper
Midwest to the mid-Atlantic, some of which could bring flash flooding. Otherwise, thunder-
showers will be in the Northwest.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 107° in Needles, Calif.
Low 25° 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
92
88
75
83
90
91
76
78
85
90
80
79
94
95
77
97
67
86
87
94
88
87
92
102
92
81
Lo
66
71
64
66
59
69
45
58
72
65
65
65
74
63
64
73
48
66
74
74
70
69
70
76
71
62
W
s
pc
t
t
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
c
t
pc
s
t
s
sh
c
pc
t
t
t
pc
s
t
s
Sun.
Hi
94
89
69
75
71
89
63
70
89
85
80
76
94
96
76
95
58
85
86
93
86
88
92
97
94
81
Lo
64
71
60
60
45
70
43
55
74
66
62
63
75
55
61
75
41
68
74
75
70
70
72
75
73
63
Today
W
s
t
sh
sh
pc
s
sh
pc
pc
t
t
c
pc
s
c
c
pc
c
pc
t
t
t
t
s
s
s
Hi
Louisville
91
Memphis
93
Miami
88
Milwaukee
70
Minneapolis
78
Nashville
93
New Orleans
92
New York City
82
Oklahoma City
93
Omaha
90
Philadelphia
83
Phoenix
110
Portland, ME
78
Providence
81
Raleigh
90
Rapid City
87
Reno
74
Sacramento
78
St. Louis
90
Salt Lake City
95
San Diego
76
San Francisco
66
Seattle
62
Tucson
102
Washington, DC 87
Wichita
97
Lo
72
74
76
58
64
72
73
64
71
72
65
80
50
56
69
60
42
53
75
59
63
53
49
74
69
73
W
pc
pc
t
t
c
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
t
s
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
s
pc
pc
t
s
t
pc
Sun.
Hi
87
92
86
66
81
91
90
77
93
97
72
106
73
76
91
90
74
82
92
69
74
71
61
105
78
97
Lo
72
74
76
59
64
71
75
58
74
75
59
78
50
52
72
54
48
55
75
48
63
55
48
72
64
75
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
t
pc
t
t
c
t
t
pc
pc
pc
sh
s
s
pc
t
s
s
s
t
s
s
s
sh
s
sh
pc