NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Friday, December 14, 2018
Courtney, Boquist spar over
claims of hostility, disrespect
lature itself is preparing to
comply with a new law that
mandates pay equity. The
law takes effect Jan. 1.
SALEM — Senate Pres-
The Republican senator
ident Peter Courtney has said he has sought public
directed a Republican state records and submitted ques-
senator to “cease and desist” tions to Courtney and other
intimidating communica- legislators on the issue.
tions with other senators and
Courtney had enough last
legislative employees.
month.
Courtney made the
“Senator, in the recent
demand to state Sen. Brian past, you have communi-
cated with mem-
Boquist,
R-Dal-
bers and staff in a
las, in a Nov. 15
way that creates a
letter obtained by
hostile and intimi-
the Oregon Capi-
dating workplace,”
tal Bureau that cited
Courtney
wrote.
“hostile, intimidat-
ing and harassing”
“Your communica-
tions have belittled
communications.
Boquist denied
Sen. Brian
and harassed staff.
the accusation and
Boquist
You must imme-
diately cease and
responded to Court-
ney this week in an email desist communicating in this
asking the Senate leader to manner.”
apologize.
Courtney’s office didn’t
In an email to other Dem- respond to a request for
ocratic senators on Dec. 10, details on the conduct
Boquist blasted Courtney.
that triggered Courtney’s
“I am sorry for the harsh- unusual rebuke.
ness of this email,” Boquist
Boquist has been known
said, warning that he might to send long and detailed
move the Senate to censure emails to colleagues, some-
times copying reporters who
Courtney.
The Senate is scheduled cover the state legislature.
to meet in Salem on Friday.
Boquist said that in Sep-
In an interview Wednes- tember he received what he
day, Boquist said he’s been considered an inadequate
trying for weeks to get response to his request for
details on how the Legis- legislative documents relat-
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Oregon Capital Bureau
ing to the pay equity matter.
Under the new law, employ-
ers are required in certain
circumstances to ensure
employees are paid the same
for the same work.
In October, Boquist
said, he fired off 44 ques-
tions to Courtney and House
Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Port-
land. He received a response
to the questions from Court-
ney’s chief of staff, Betsy
Imholt.
“I asked a list of ques-
tions, I got a list of answers
back that were frankly,
non-answers and they were
done in the name of Peter
Courtney,” Boquist said
Wednesday. “And he doesn’t
like it when I called him out
asking for factual answers.”
On Nov. 15, according
to records obtained by the
news bureau, Boquist wrote
to Courtney’s staff chief,
referring to her as “Presi-
dent Imholt” and terming
her answers “nothing more
than political blather.”
That same day, Imholt
asked Boquist by email to
be more respectful while
Courtney issued his cease-
and-desist demand.
Boquist has represented
the mid-Willamette Valley
in the Senate since 2009, and
served in the House before
that.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
Mainly cloudy and
windy
Intervals of clouds
and sunshine
A brief shower in
the afternoon
Mostly cloudy, a
shower or two
Spotty showers in
the afternoon
49° 35°
47° 38°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
49° 42°
56° 44°
51° 40°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
49° 34°
49° 37°
48° 41°
58° 43°
53° 40°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
51/39
43/31
45/28
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
50/38
Lewiston
50/39
49/36
Astoria
52/39
Pullman
Yakima 44/32
51/36
47/35
Portland
Hermiston
50/39
The Dalles 49/34
Salem
Corvallis
50/34
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
41/29
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
51/35
50/28
45/28
Ontario
40/28
Caldwell
Burns
51°
33°
39°
27°
62° (1995) -10° (1972)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
49/34
Trace
0.19"
0.67"
7.15"
8.77"
9.14"
WINDS (in mph)
41/30
36/21
Trace
0.34"
0.60"
9.21"
15.34"
12.07"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 42/25
52/36
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
49/35
46/35
57°
37°
39°
26°
63° (1924) -28° (1919)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
54/36
Aberdeen
43/30
37/30
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
53/41
Today
51/34
45/28
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2018
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
First
7:28 a.m.
4:11 p.m.
12:13 p.m.
11:23 p.m.
Full
Last
New
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 86° in McAllen, Texas Low -21° in Presque Isle, Maine
Dec 15
Dec 22
By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press
SEATTLE — With sci-
entists warning that the
Northwest’s beloved killer
whales are on the brink of
extinction, Washington Gov.
Jay Inslee announced dra-
matic plans Thursday to
help the population recover
— including $1.1 billion
in spending and a partial
whale-watching ban.
“We are undertaking
a herculean effort to save
these iconic creatures,” Ins-
lee said in a prepared state-
ment. “It will take action at
every level of the environ-
ment across our entire state.”
Starved by a dearth of
salmon, poisoned by con-
taminants, and buffeted
by vessel noise that hin-
ders their hunting and com-
munication, the orcas that
live in the waters between
Washington state and Can-
ada’s Vancouver Island have
failed to reproduce success-
fully in the past three years.
One grieving whale carried
her dead calf on her head for
17 days last summer in an
apparent effort to revive it.
There are 74 left in the
population, the lowest num-
ber since the 1970s, when
hundreds of orcas were cap-
tured in the region and more
than 50 were kept for aquar-
ium display.
Inslee, who is mulling a
Democratic presidential run
in 2020, detailed the plans
as part of his announce-
ment of his priorities for
the 2019-2021 state budget.
The money would go toward
protecting and restoring
habitat for salmon, espe-
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File
In this Jan. 18, 2014, file
photo, an endangered
female orca leaps from
the water while breaching
in Puget Sound.
cially chinook, the orcas’
favored prey; boosting pro-
duction from salmon hatch-
eries; storm-water cleanup;
and quieting vessel traffic.
Nearly $300 million
would go toward comply-
ing with a court order that
requires the state to replace
culverts that block the path
of migrating salmon.
Money would also sup-
port developing plans to
move or kill seals and sea
lions that feast on Colum-
bia River salmon where
they get blocked by dams or
other structures, and chang-
ing state water quality stan-
dards to allow more water to
be spilled over dams, help-
ing young salmon reach the
ocean.
Inslee called for a new
capital gains tax and an
increase in business taxes to
help cover the tab.
The governor also said he
intends to ban commercial
whale-watching of the local
endangered orcas — known
as the southern residents —
for three years. He stressed
that whale-watching will be
allowed for other whales in
Washington waters, includ-
ing nonresident orcas that
pass through, and that the
state would undertake efforts
to promote the industry to
offset any lost business.
Inslee said he intended
to permanently double the
size of the “no-go zone” for
vessels around orcas to 400
yards (365 meters) and cre-
ate a “go slow zone” with
reduced speed limits within
a half-mile (926 meters).
The Department of Fish and
Wildlife would get $1.1 mil-
lion for public education and
enforcement.
His plans call for con-
verting two state ferries
to quieter electric hybrids
and building two others as
hybrids.
The Arizona-based Cen-
ter for Biological Diversity
has sued the federal govern-
ment for not doing more to
protect the full range of the
orcas along the West Coast.
Catherine
Kilduff,
the
group’s attorney, called Ins-
lee’s plans to reduce vessel
noise a good first step.
But, as other environ-
mentalists
have
done,
Kilduff stressed that remov-
ing four major dams along
the Snake River is essential
for the recovery of salmon
— and thus for the whales.
A federal court has
already ordered the govern-
ment to consider breaching
the dams.
ENE 3-6
SE 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Washington governor proposes
major steps for orca recovery
Sat.
Boardman WSW 10-20
Pendleton SSE 12-25
Medford
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren/
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee walks past a photo of an orca whale after he talked to
reporters about his 2019-21 budget proposal on Thursday at the Capitol.
Dec 29
Jan 5
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Secretary of State Richardson
gives update on brain cancer
SALEM (AP) — Ore-
gon Secretary of State Den-
nis Richardson has released
a video statement updating
people on his treatment for
a brain tumor.
Richardson
had
announced in June the pres-
ence of a “small, cancerous
brain tumor.” Since then,
he said Thursday that the
“three most recent” MRIs
show the tumor has not
grown.
The Statesman Journal
reports Richardson said the
“most challenging” effect
of his treatment is its impact
on his speech patterns.
Richardson has been
absent from public events.
The Secretary of State’s
office hasn’t released the
specific type of cancer or
his prognosis.
Richardson, an attorney
from southern Oregon, was
elected in 2016 as Oregon’s
first Republican secretary
of state since 1985.
Hospital: St. Anthony ends hospice care
Continued from Page A1
Geller didn’t know how
long St. Anthony had been
offering hospice care, but he
agreed that it had been a long-
time service for the hospital.
The hospice used to be
housed in a separate facility
on Southeast Court Avenue,
but the service was even-
tually consolidated into the
main hospital building when
St. Anthony built the new
hospital in 2013.
Cason’s Place, a non-
profit grief support center,
now occupies the old hospice
building.
The closest facilities for
end-of-life care are now
Good Shepherd Hospice in
Hermiston and Walla Walla
Community Hospice.
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
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