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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (March 6, 2019)
NORTHWEST East Oregonian A2 Oregon Senate President Courtney takes 10-day medical leave session that caused His staff pointed inflammation and to 2003, when his redness. The Senate appendix burst. He President’s office rallied, and shortly suggested his cur- after was elected rent illness may be as Senate President related, as Courtney for the first time. Courtney has experienced Courtney, a similar symptoms. Democrat, was Courtney is expected elected to the Legislature in back March 18, according 1980, representing Salem to Currie. He remains Sen- in the House after serving ate president in his absence, on the Salem City Council. with Senate President Pro Courtney is known for Tempore Laurie Monnes his rhetorical flair and a Anderson filling in as pre- professed desire to conduct siding officer while he is business in a bipartisan away. fashion. When the Salem Monnes Anderson, a lawmaker rose to Sen- Democrat from Gresham, ate President in 2003, the is a retired public health 30-member chamber was nurse who was elected to split equally between Dem- the Senate in 2004 after ocrats and Republicans. Public scrutiny of the two terms in the House of longtime Senate president Representatives. Currie said Courtney has dialed up in recent will still sign off on bills months in the wake of the moving through the Sen- state Bureau of Labor and ate, and his staff will keep Industry investigation into him apprised of goings how he and other elected on, however, the goal is to leaders and legislative allow him to rest as much staff handled allegations as possible. Currie said his of sexual harassment at the absence wouldn’t slow the Capitol. legislative progress. The Senate president’s Currie said Courtney office denied that Court- wouldn’t attend the state ney’s leave is related, funeral for Secretary of emphasizing that he is fol- State Dennis Richardson lowing the advice of his doctors by staying away on Wednesday. Courtney has missed from work for the time being. time due to health before. By Oregon Capital Bureau SALEM — Senate Pres- ident Peter Courtney is tak- ing a 10-day medical leave at the recommendation of his doctors. His spokeswoman, Carol McAlice Currie, said Courtney skipped Mon- day’s floor session and wasn’t in the Capitol on Tuesday. Currie said Courtney’s doctors have been after him to take some time and rest for a couple weeks now. She said his issues include a “flare up” of his Graves’ disease — an autoimmune disorder that impacts the thyroid gland. Currie didn’t go into further detail, but said there should be no major concern, and the issue isn’t expected to result in more absences. He was not hos- pitalized, his staff said. A flu-like illness has spread through the Cap- itol recently, sickening some legislators and staff- ers. However, Courtney’s condition is not related, according to Currie. “We knew Peter was under the weather, but we didn’t know what was the cause,” Currie said. Courtney, 75, battled an eye disease during the 2014 Forecast for Pendleton Area TODAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY Very cold with a little icy mix Cold with clouds and sun Partly sunny and cold Mostly cloudy and cold Areas of low clouds and cold 30° 24° 39° 24° PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 35° 22° Merkley opts to stay out of White House race By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press SALEM — U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon announced Tuesday he has decided after months of con- sideration not to enter the increasingly crowded race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Merkley said in an inter- view that he decided he would be more effective in championing issues by run- ning for his third term in the Senate instead of being a presidential candidate. The large field of Dem- ocratic contenders for the White House was not a major factor in his decision, nor was an Oregon law that prevents him from being on the ballot for more than one elected office in any given year, Merkley said. “I’ve never shied from a fight, and there’s nothing about the field that would make me reluctant to be there,” Merkley told The Associated Press in a tele- phone interview Monday night. Merkley amped up his presence on the national stage by vocally oppos- ing the Trump administra- tion’s immigration crack- down that has seen families separated and children put in detention facilities. But Priscilla Southwell, a Uni- versity of Oregon political science professor, said that while Merkley has made a name for himself in Ore- gon and some other parts of the country, he is not well- known nationally, and the field of contenders is large. 42° 25° 38° 22° 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 46/34 37/26 36/20 Longview Kennewick Walla Walla 31/29 Lewiston 42/32 32/24 Astoria 45/35 Pullman Yakima 36/24 42/30 39/32 Portland Hermiston 40/33 Salem The Dalles 32/25 33/26 42/33 Yesterday Normals Records La Grande 44/26 PRECIPITATION John Day Bend 41/32 37/19 46/28 Ontario 53/40 Caldwell Burns 23° 0° 54° 32° 70° (1987) 0° (2019) 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 0.00" 0.00" 0.17" 3.39" 1.75" 2.41" WINDS (in mph) 55/40 45/29 0.00" Trace 0.17" 4.85" 2.82" 2.68" through 3 p.m. yest. HIGH LOW TEMP. 30/24 41/32 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 43/26 41/34 Corvallis 22° 1° 52° 33° 74° (1972) 1° (2019) PRECIPITATION Moses Lake 42/31 Aberdeen 35/26 34/22 Tacoma Yesterday Normals Records Spokane Wenatchee 44/36 Today Boardman Pendleton Medford 52/33 Thu. NNW 4-8 NNW 4-8 SW 6-12 WSW 6-12 SUN AND MOON Klamath Falls 46/26 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019 Sunrise today Sunset tonight Moonrise today Moonset today New 6:25 a.m. 5:48 p.m. 6:50 a.m. 5:59 p.m. First Full Last NATIONAL EXTREMES Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states) High 88° in Tamiami, Fla. Low -35° in Clark, Wyo. Mar 6 “I think it was a very wise choice,” Southwell said. Merkley said he aims to fight anti-democracy moves including voter suppres- sion, gerrymandering and dark money. He said he also wants to focus on help- ing families by improving health care, education and access to living-wage jobs and on stemming climate change. “These are the things we feel like we have to take on, and we have to take them on boldly and aggressively,” Merkley said. He is not endorsing any candidate yet but said he is impressed by many of those Democrats who have already declared their can- didacy or intention to run. “If you’re running, you’ve got to present a cred- ible and determined vision on how you’ll take on these problems,” he advised the growing field. In just the past few days, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and current Washington Gov. Jay Ins- lee launched their presiden- tial bids, and 2016 presiden- tial nominee Hillary Clinton and former Attorney Gen- eral Eric Holder said they’re not running. Merkley expressed guarded optimism that Democrats might regain control of the Senate in 2020, girded by opposition to President Donald Trump. If the House were to impeach Trump, the Senate would act as jury in a trial overseen by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and Merkley would have a seat in the juror box, something he indicated he anticipates happening. “The House has the responsibility of taking the first step,” Merkley said. “As a future juror, let me just withhold my thoughts until the House has acted, and I have a responsibil- ity to play that role in the Senate.” BRIEFLY 37° 24° 39° 24° OREGON FORECAST AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File In this Jan. 24, 2019, file photo, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., speaks during the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington. 33° 22° 35° 22° HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST 32° 25° Wednesday, March 6, 2019 Mar 14 Mar 20 Mar 27 NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY Oregon bill would effectively ban death penalty SALEM (AP) — A pro- posed bill in Oregon would effectively ban capital pun- ishment in the state by lim- iting it to terrorism-related killings. House Bill 3268 would also grant new sentencing trials to all people currently on death row. Lawmakers cannot intro- duce an outright ban on cap- ital punishment without sending the measure to the ballot box. Voters approved add- ing the death penalty to the Oregon state constitution in 1984. Democratic Gov. Kate Brown extended a 2011 moratorium on using the death penalty. The state Department of Corrections says there were 30 people on death row as of Jan. 1, 2019. The last execu- tion was in 1997. Forgery operation produced over 10,000 fake documents SALEM (AP) — A man from primarily Woodburn has pleaded guilty to con- spiracy to produce false doc- uments after agents found a document-forging lab in his apartment that had allegedly produced over 10,000 fake Social Security cards, driv- er’s licenses and immigra- tion-related documents. Federal prosecutors say Miguel Merecias-Lopez, 24, was part of a criminal con- spiracy based in Oaxaca, Mexico. The U.S. attorney’s office in Oregon said Mere- cias-Lopez pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count each of conspiracy to pro- duce false identification documents and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Clackamas County Inter- agency Task Force mem- bers arrested Merecias-Lo- pez on September 21, 2017, in a parking lot in Wood- burn. More than 2.2 pounds of methamphetamine was allegedly found on him. Snowstorm costs to surpass Bend’s snow plow budget BEND (AP) — A mon- ster snowstorm that pum- meled the central Oregon city of Bend last week will likely push the city’s snow removal costs way past the budgeted amount. The Bulletin reports Tuesday that bills from pri- vate snow removal contrac- tors are expected to total up to $300,000 and the city budgeted for $250,000 for snow contractors. More than 25 inches of snow fell over three days last week, bringing total February snowfall to a record-breaking 30 inches. The previous monthly record was just over 23 inches in February 1917. The city spent four times its budget on snow removal contractors in the winter of 2016-17 when a series of snow storms dumped more than 60 inches in the area. But last year’s weather was relatively tame and snow plows sat mostly idle. Refuge occupier accused of violating supervised release PORTLAND (AP) — An Oregon refuge occupier was briefly back in custody and appeared before a fed- eral magistrate judge on an accusation of violating the conditions of his supervised release. The Oregonian/Ore- gonLive reports Jason Pat- rick was sentenced in Feb- ruary 2017 to one year and nine months in prison in the armed occupation of Mal- heur National Wildlife Ref- uge. A jury convicted Pat- rick of conspiracy to impede federal workers through intimidation, threat or vio- lence, a felony. A judge con- victed him of trespass, tam- pering with vehicles and equipment and destruction or removal of property, all misdemeanors. At the time of his sen- tence, he had already served 16 months. He was released from federal prison March 30. Most recently, he has been living in a trailer in Baker City. Court-appointed lawyer Thomas Price said Mon- day that Patrick denies the allegations. 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 E AST O REGONIAN — Founded Oct. 16, 1875 — 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 EastOregonian.com To subscribe, call 1-800-522-0255 or go online to EastOregonian.com and click on ‘Subscribe’ 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. 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