WEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Growing number of states
Case of abandoned foster
move to shield lottery winners child raises lawmakers’ ire
spokesman saying Demo-
cratic Gov. Michelle Lujan
Grisham decided to priori-
tize transparency.
“To be sure, the governor
is clear about the concerns
raised by proponents, i.e.,
that certain bad actors could
take advantage of lottery
winners if their names are
made public,” spokesman
Tripp Stelnicki said in a
statement. But “New Mexi-
cans should have every con-
fidence in the games run by
the lottery.”
Arizona’s
governor
hasn’t weighed in on the
proposal before him.
The Arizona Lottery
took no official position,
but spokesman John Gillil-
and said “it is important that
we have that transparency,
because the lottery is noth-
ing without integrity.”
“And the only way the
public has an absolute guar-
antee of integrity as far as
real people winning these
prizes is to be able to know
who wins these prizes,” he
said this week.
Republican state Rep.
Nancy Barto introduced the
measure, saying she wanted
to protect winners from
harassment. State Rep. John
Kavanagh pushed for cur-
rent law that shields win-
ners’ names for 90 days but
By BOB CHRISTIE
Associated Press
PHOENIX — A grow-
ing number of states are
moving to allow the win-
ners of big lottery jackpots
to stay anonymous as pri-
vacy concerns are increas-
ingly trumping lottery
groups’ wishes to publicize
winners to boost sales and
show that the games are fair.
Arizona could be the
next state to join at least
nine others with laws that
let winners keep their
names secret under a pro-
posal headed to Republi-
can Gov. Doug Ducey. Four
years ago, just five states
allowed anonymous win-
ners, and a handful of oth-
ers allowed trusts to claim
prizes.
At least eight state leg-
islatures considered mea-
sures shielding winners’
names this year. Virginia’s
governor signed legislation
allowing winners of $10
million or more to remain
anonymous. Proposals in
Arkansas and Connecti-
cut failed, while efforts in
Massachusetts, Minnesota
and Oregon are still being
considered.
New Mexico’s gov-
ernor last week axed a
similar proposal, with a
said this week that it doesn’t
go far enough.
“After 90 days, the per-
son is then subjected to all
sorts of people hitting them
up for loans, investment
advisers trying to make
them a client and the poten-
tial to be victimized by a
burglar or, if it’s a massive
amount, having their kid
kidnapped,” the Republican
said.
Balancing those con-
cerns against the Lottery’s
interests in transparency
isn’t a close call, he said.
That’s in line with a New
Hampshire judge’s decision
last year to allow the win-
ner of a nearly $560 million
Powerball jackpot to stay
anonymous. The woman
signed the ticket before
she realized that state law
would let her create a trust
to shield her identity. The
judge noted that she could
be harassed or solicited for
money.
Trusts are allowed in
at least two other states
besides New Hampshire,
while a policy from South
Carolina’s lottery board
allows anonymity. The win-
ner of a $1.5 billion ticket
bought at a South Carolina
convenience store last year
remains unknown under
that policy.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
Spotty afternoon
showers
Mostly cloudy, a
shower; breezy
Mainly cloudy, a
shower; cool
Some sun, then
clouds, a shower
Partly sunny
56° 38°
52° 38°
SALEM (AP) — Ore-
gon lawmakers are demand-
ing answers from the state’s
child welfare agency after a
report that a 9-year-old girl
in foster care was sent to
a Montana facility for six
months and injected with
Benadryl to control her
behavior.
A legislative hearing
Thursday largely focused on
the news report this week by
Oregon Public Broadcasting
that also revealed casework-
ers didn’t visit the girl for
months. OPB learned of the
case through the child’s pub-
lic defender.
Officials are now working
to bring the girl back amid
growing concern over the
state’s embattled foster care
system. Eighty-five children
are currently living in out-
of-state facilities, a num-
ber that’s more than doubled
since 2017, OPB reported.
Sen. Sara Gelser, a Cor-
vallis Democrat, said when
she first received the list of
the providers housing Ore-
gon’s children, she started
searching the names online.
Stories of licensing viola-
tions, arrests, sexual assaults
and overuse of restraints all
started coming up.
Gelser also wondered
how the state would know if
there were other foster care
children housed out-of-state
who had similar experiences
to the 9-year-old child. That
case came to light because
the child’s family remains
involved and because her
public defender made per-
sonal contact with her in
Montana and learned about
the injections.
AP Photo/Anna Reed, File
In this March 3, 2016, file photo, Oregon state Sen. Sara Gels-
er listens to a live stream as members of the House of Repre-
sentatives finish business before adjourning the 2016 legis-
lative session at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.
The state is spending
about $35,000 a day on the
foster care kids out of the
state, she said.
“Something here has
gone very, very wrong,” said
Gelser, who chairs the Sen-
ate Committee on Human
Services and convened the
hearing. “We cannot ignore
it and we have to keep this
issue front and center until
we are satisfied each of these
kids are safe.”
During the hearing, fos-
ter care officials announced
they plan to stop sending
children to facilities owned
by Tennessee-based Acadia
Healthcare, an organization
facing several accusations of
neglect and abuse, although
some children still remain
there.
Gretchen
Hommrich,
Acadia’s director of investor
relations, didn’t immediately
return a call Friday.
Fariborz Pakseresht, the
head of the state Department
of Human Services, said
her agency had “dropped
the ball” in the girl’s case.
“I own the mistake. We did
make a mistake,” she said at
the hearing.
Pakseresht told lawmak-
ers that part of the issue has
been a reduced number of
treatment beds available in
Oregon.
Sen. Tim Knopp, a Bend
Republican, asked why Child
Welfare officials didn’t bring
that to lawmakers’ attention
earlier.
“I don’t think there is any-
body up here in this Legisla-
ture that isn’t incredibly con-
cerned this happened and we
didn’t know it was happen-
ing,” he said.
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
55° 38°
60° 40°
58° 43°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
59° 41°
57° 40°
59° 41°
66° 40°
63° 45°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
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TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
52/41
51/37
59/35
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
57/41
Lewiston
58/42
51/39
Astoria
52/42
Pullman
Yakima 57/40
51/37
59/43
Portland
Hermiston
54/41
The Dalles 59/41
Salem
Corvallis
53/40
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
57/35
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
54/41
57/33
58/37
Ontario
66/46
Caldwell
Burns
63°
48°
64°
39°
89° (1936) 23° (2011)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Albany
51/39
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
67/45
Trace
0.21"
0.29"
3.80"
3.48"
3.40"
WINDS (in mph)
65/47
61/38
0.03"
1.19"
0.51"
7.27"
4.61"
4.47"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 54/33
54/41
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
56/38
58/42
57°
43°
61°
39°
85° (1934) 23° (1903)
By SCOTT SONNER
Associated Press
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
51/38
Aberdeen
47/35
55/40
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
53/42
U.S. agency reconsidering
status of bistate sage grouse
Today
Sun.
WSW 8-16
WSW 7-14
WSW 10-20
WSW 10-20
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
62/36
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
6:14 a.m.
7:39 p.m.
12:42 p.m.
3:15 a.m.
Full
Last
New
First
Apr 19
Apr 26
May 4
May 11
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 91° in Immokalee, Fla. Low -1° in Burgess Junction, Wyo.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
RENO, Nev. — The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
vice is revising its plans to
protect a type of imperiled
game bird found only along
the California-Nevada line
after a federal judge struck
down its earlier decision to
rescind a proposal to list it
as threatened.
The agency announced
late Thursday it will reopen
the public comment period
and reconsider whether
to protect the bistate sage
grouse under the Endan-
gered Species Act through
June 11.
A judge ruled last May
that the agency acted ille-
gally in 2015 when it with-
drew an earlier proposal
to list the bistate grouse as
a distinct, threatened seg-
ment of the larger popu-
lation of the greater sage
grouse.
The greater sage grouse
is at the center of a dispute
over Trump administration
efforts to roll back protec-
tions adopted under Presi-
dent Barack Obama across
11 western states.
The U.S. Forest Service
also is currently being sued
over the bistate grouse by
off-road enthusiasts in Cal-
ifornia and Nevada who
say that agency’s protection
plans unnecessarily restrict
motorized travel and could
increase fire danger across
rangeland habitat in the
Humboldt-Toiyabe National
Forest on the Sierra’s east-
ern front.
Scientists say both types
of ground-dwelling, chick-
en-sized birds need mul-
tiple miles of undisturbed
habitat around their tradi-
tional breeding grounds
known as “leks” free from
oil and gas drilling, live-
stock grazing, mining and
other development. But
they say the bistate grouse
is more at risk than greater
sage grouse with as few
as 5,000 remaining across
7,000 square miles of
high-desert sagebrush.
The Fish and Wildlife
Service announced Thurs-
day it was reopening a
60-day comment period
on the bistate grouse’s sta-
tus and plans to publish a
final listing determination
by Oct. 1.
In the meantime, the bird
reverts to proposed listing
status, which means other
federal land managers must
consult with Fish and Wild-
life about any development
or management plans that
could encroach on its habi-
tat, the agency said.
Pressed by conserva-
tionists in court, the Fish
and Wildlife Service orig-
inally published a proposal
in October 2013 to list the
bistate grouse as a distinct
population segment of the
greater sage grouse that was
threatened with extinction
in California and Nevada.
But in April 2015, the
agency withdrew that deci-
sion based on its conclusion
threats to the bistate grouse
were “no longer as signifi-
cant as believed” and that
“conservation plans were
ameliorating threats” to
the bird, the agency said in
Thursday’s notification.
Desert Survivors, the
Center for Biological Diver-
sity, WildEarth Guardians
and Western Watershed
Projects filed suit over that
decision in March 2016 and
U.S. District Chief Magis-
trate Judge Joseph Spero
ruled May 2018 in San
Francisco there were “no
rational grounds for the ser-
vice’s conclusion.”
Ileene Anderson, des-
ert public lands director
at the Center for Biologi-
cal Diversity, said Friday
the bistate sage grouse “are
in deep trouble” and need
urgent protection from the
Endangered Species Act to
survive.
“We’re counting on the
Trump administration do
the right thing and shield
these beautiful birds from
extinction,” she said. “The
goal is to increase the num-
ber of birds throughout
their range and that means
protecting their habitat.”
A lawyer for the plain-
tiffs in the Forest Service
suit didn’t immediately
respond to a request for
comment.
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