NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, January 24, 2019
Oregon to help amid federal government shutdown
By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press
SALEM — With the fed-
eral government shutdown in
its second month, officials in
Oregon are looking to help
beleaguered federal employ-
ees, possibly with millions of
dollars in assistance, authori-
ties said Wednesday.
Almost 10,000 federal
employees in the state are
not getting paid because of
the shutdown, huge swaths of
federal lands are unattended,
creating wildfire hazards.
Also, food stamps for 320,000
Oregonians are at risk if the
shutdown persists past Febru-
AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File
This Jan. 15, 2019, file photo, shows a notice saying training
by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
on workplace harassment has been canceled in the Oregon
state Capitol in Salem.
ary, said Lisa Taylor, spokes-
woman for state Senate Presi-
dent Peter Courtney.
He is drafting a bill to
Amazon testing delivery by self-driving robots
of them will be roaming the
sidewalks and streets of the
neighborhood.
Amazon says a worker
will accompany the robots
at first, but it didn’t pro-
vide additional details of
how the service would
work. The company did not
respond to questions about
the test.
Several companies have
been testing similar deliv-
ery robots on college cam-
puses that deliver fast food
or snacks to students.
Amazon says its robot,
which it is calling Scout,
can navigate around pets
and pedestrians.
By JOSEPH PISANI
AP Retail Writer
NEW YORK — Ama-
zon is bringing delivery
robots to the streets of a
Seattle suburb.
The online shopping
giant says it started to test
self-driving robots in Sno-
homish County, Washing-
ton, on Wednesday that can
bring Amazon packages to
shoppers’ doorsteps.
The robots are light
blue, about the size of a
Labrador, have six wheels
and the Amazon smile logo
stamped on its side, accord-
ing to Amazon photos. Six
Amazon via AP, File
This undated file photo
provided by Amazon shows
a self-driving delivery ro-
bot that Amazon is calling
Scout.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Low clouds and
fog breaking
Low clouds and
fog breaking
Low clouds and
fog breaking
Low clouds and
fog breaking
Mostly sunny
48° 33°
45° 32°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
48° 34°
43° 29°
52° 28°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
50° 33°
47° 33°
48° 34°
48° 30°
53° 31°
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
49/37
38/31
46/29
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
48/34
Lewiston
47/34
50/36
Astoria
50/37
Pullman
Yakima 41/31
50/36
45/32
Portland
Hermiston
52/36
Salem
The Dalles 50/33
52/33
51/33
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
44/27
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Bend
52/34
49/27
46/27
Ontario
45/28
Caldwell
Burns
56°
42°
43°
29°
60° (1947) -26° (1930)
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
Eugene
0.37"
1.53"
0.96"
1.53"
0.81"
0.96"
WINDS (in mph)
45/28
41/18
0.62"
2.07"
1.11"
2.07"
1.35"
1.11"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
48/33
51/34
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
Pendleton 41/25
52/35
Corvallis
52°
43°
42°
28°
63° (1935) -20° (1930)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
49/35
Aberdeen
36/30
38/28
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
50/40
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
54/29
Fri.
WSW 3-6
SW 6-12
NNW 4-8
W 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
44/21
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:26 a.m.
4:49 p.m.
9:34 p.m.
9:51 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
Jan 27
Feb 4
Feb 12
Feb 19
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 82° in Punta Gorda, Fla. Low -24° in Alamosa, Colo.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
allow federal employees who
are working but not being
paid to receive unemployment
benefits, Taylor said. That’s
in defiance of the U.S. Labor
Department, which says fed-
eral employees who are on the
job without pay cannot collect
unemployment. Only those
not working during the shut-
down can receive benefits.
“I’m absolutely disgusted
at what is happening at the
federal level,” said House
Speaker Tina Kotek. She said
she’s open to the state helping
federal employees without
access to unemployment.
The move comes as states
are starting to fill gaps as the
longest-ever federal govern-
ment shutdown drags on.
Among those working with-
out pay are federal prison
guards, air traffic controllers,
TSA agents and U.S. Coast
Guard personnel.
Private citizens also are
helping. In Astoria, home to
a Coast Guard unit that has
continued search and rescue
missions, more than 1,300
federal employees and their
families lined up at a Masonic
Lodge last weekend for
donated food, toiletries and
other necessities, The Daily
Astorian newspaper reported.
Courtney’s bill will have
an emergency clause and
be retroactive, with a draft
expected by the end of the
week.
“We cannot simply say it’s
the federal government’s job,
not our problem,” Courtney
said in a statement. The cost
to the state is expected to be
millions of dollars.
“This isn’t going to be a
cheap and easy fix,” Taylor
said.
U.S. Senator Jeff Merk-
ley said Monday that if Ore-
gon provides aid, he’ll seek
reimbursement from the fed-
eral government. “If we have
a bill to reopen government,
we can put a reimbursement
clause in there,” he said.
Jackson County asks state
to deny gas pipeline permit
MEDFORD (AP) —
Jackson County commis-
sioners are asking the state
to block a proposed natural
gas pipeline that would ferry
gas over 229 miles of South-
ern Oregon to an export ter-
minal near Coos Bay.
The Oregon Department
of State Lands is considering
whether to grant the project
a key permit and is taking
public comment until Feb.
3. There is broad opposition
to the pipeline in Klamath,
Jackson, Douglas and Coos
counties, The Mail Tribune
reported Wednesday.
Pembina Pipeline Corpo-
ration, a Canadian company,
wants to use the pipeline to
export North American nat-
ural gas to Asian markets.
But county commission-
ers have long been opposed
to the project because of
the possibility that emi-
nent domain could be used
against property owners
unwilling to have the pipe-
line cross their land.
“All indications are that
the benefits to Jackson
County will be extremely
minimal, while the costs to
our wetlands and water bod-
ies is high,” the letter says.
Pembina says the proj-
ect would create 1,400 jobs
during the pipeline’s con-
struction and 1,000 jobs
while the export terminal is
being built.
More than 200 people
would have permanent jobs
once construction is done,
mainly at the export facility,
it says.
The project would gener-
ate $60 million annually in
tax revenue for the Southern
Oregon counties, according
to Pembina.
In their letter, Jackson
County officials said there
is no guarantee that Pem-
bina would cover the costs
of restoration if the pipeline
is damaged or fails.
They point to the exam-
ple of PG&E. The power
utility announced it will go
through Chapter 11 bank-
ruptcy after its equipment
was implicated in 2017 and
2018 wildfires that burned
24,600 structures and killed
more than 100 people in
California.
The letter says Pembina
wants to use water from res-
ervoirs, a lake and an irriga-
tion canal in Jackson County
to fill the pipeline and test its
strength.
“These water sources are
important for irrigation, fire
suppression and livestock
watering,” the letter says.
“Considering the drought
conditions of the last sev-
eral years, and extreme fire
conflagrations in Oregon
and this region of the coun-
try, removing water from
these sources is detrimen-
tal to our ranching commu-
nity and a life-safety issue
when reducing water supply
available for wildland fire
suppression.”
The pipeline would cross
87 waterways and wetlands
in the county, including
the Rogue River, and cross
beneath the Rogue River
north of Shady Cove.
County officials say in
the letter the crossing is too
close to homeowners, who
would be subjected to con-
struction and drilling noise
and other effects. They also
worry about the leakage of
drilling fluid into the river.
BRIEFLY
Parent company of The
Bulletin files for bankruptcy
BEND (AP) — Western Communica-
tions, the parent company of The Bulletin,
has filed for bankruptcy.
The Bulletin says court filings made Tues-
day show the company owes more than $10
million to more than 1,000 creditors and has
assets of $10 million to $50 million.
Its largest unsecured creditor is newsprint
supplier Page Cooperative Inc. of King of
Prussia, Pennsylvania, which is owed about
$946,000.
Western Communications previously
filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2011 fol-
lowing a three-year dispute with the Bank of
America, the company’s largest creditor at
the time.
The company emerged from Chapter 11
protection in April 2012.
Western Communications is also the par-
ent company of The Baker City Herald and
four other Oregon publications, as well as
two California newspapers.
Eugene, Lane County plan
would bring homeless off streets
EUGENE (AP) — Elected leaders for
Eugene and Lane County are supporting an
ambitious, expensive push aimed at lower-
ing to zero the number of homeless people
camping along local streets and in parks.
The Register-Guard reports that the
series of 10 recommendations by Tech-
nical Assistance Collaborative, a Bos-
ton-based consultant, includes construction
of a 75-bed low-barrier homeless shelter and
hundreds of additional units of supportive
housing.
It also calls for the expansion or improve-
ment of existing programs spread across
numerous public agencies and nonprofit
providers to better help homeless people
secure housing and keep them in it.
The Eugene City Council voted Tuesday
to have City Manager Jon Ruiz work with
Lane County Administrator Steve Mokro-
hisky to develop a plan by May 1 to imple-
ment the consultant’s recommendations.
The plan would require a large infusion
of public money, likely running into the tens
of millions of dollars, that elected leaders
would have to identify to pay for both con-
struction and annual operating costs.
Woman sues Home Depot for
$1.5M after termination
BEND (AP) — A Bend Paralympic ath-
lete is suing Home Depot for $1.5 million,
claiming the company did not consider her
disability when it fired her in 2017.
The Bulletin reports in a complaint filed
Tuesday in Deschutes County Circuit Court,
Barbara Buchan claims that after suffering
a concussion in a fall at work, management
fired her for keeping $11 worth of presenta-
tion materials in her vehicle overnight.
Buchan suffers from a traumatic brain
injury sustained in 1982 when she was com-
peting for a spot on the U.S. Cycling Team.
Buchan later achieved success as a Paralym-
pic athlete before she started work at the
Bend Home Depot in 2006.
She’s seeking damages for lost wages for
claims including retaliating on a worker’s
comp claim and disability discrimination.
The Atlanta-based corporation has yet to
be served with complaint and a spokesper-
son declined to comment.
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
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ice
60s
cold front
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