BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, MAY 31, 2022 A5
LOCAL & STATE
USS Oregon officially joins U.S. Navy fleet
McLeod-Skinner
defeats incumbent
Kurt Schrader in
Democratic primary
BY GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Seven-term
U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, a
centrist who was endorsed
by President Joe Biden, has
been ousted in the Demo-
cratic primary in Oregon by
progressive challenger Jamie
McLeod-Skinner after results
were delayed more than a
week by a ballot-printing is-
sue.
The vote count in the
state’s 5th Congressional
District was slowed because
tens of thousands of ballots
were printed with blurry bar
codes, making them unread-
able by vote-counting ma-
chines. Workers in Clackamas
County, the state’s third-larg-
est county, had to transfer
votes by hand to fresh ballots
so they could be tallied. That
process continued Friday for
other races yet to be called.
McLeod-Skinner had the
backing of the local Demo-
cratic parties in all four coun-
ties covered by the redrawn
seat, which now leans a little
less blue. In her campaign, she
urged stronger action to com-
bat climate change and com-
plained that Schrader was too
conservative. She also por-
trayed Schrader as a politician
who had lost touch with his
party’s base and in the pocket
of large pharmaceutical com-
panies on issues like prescrip-
tion drug prices.
McLeod-Skinner will face
Republican Lori Chavez-
DeRemer in November.
Chavez-DeRemer is the for-
mer mayor of Happy Valley.
She has said she will support
businesses and police and ad-
dress “the crisis on our south-
ern border.”
In a statement on Twitter,
McLeod-Skinner thanked
Schrader for his years of ser-
vice and said Oregon Demo-
crats should see the contest’s
outcome as “an evaluation of
our ideas and as a confirma-
tion of our values.”
“From Sellwood to Sunri-
ver, Oregonians never stopped
believing we can protect our
families, our climate and our
civil rights,” she wrote. “Or-
egonians — this is your vic-
tory.”
Biden made Schrader his
first endorsement of the year
but it didn’t help the mod-
erate Democrat in a district
that now includes Bend, one
of the state’s fastest-growing
Democratic areas where Mc-
Leod-Skinner had more name
recognition.
Schrader has voted against
some of Biden’s priorities, in-
cluding a money-saving plan
to let Medicare negotiate the
price it pays for prescription
drugs. A year ago, he was one
of only two members of his
party to vote against a $1.9
trillion pandemic relief bill
because, among several rea-
sons, he did not support in-
cluding an increase to the
minimum wage.
Those decisions may be
what cost him re-election,
said John Horvick, political
director at the nonpartisan
public opinion firm DHM Re-
search.
“He’s a moderate, but it’s
more specific to the issues
where he went against the
party,” he said. “The big one
is really his reluctance to sup-
port Democrats on prescrip-
tion drugs. You can break
with your party in a lot of dif-
ferent areas but a highly sa-
lient, deeply held position in
the party — that was a deal
breaker.”
What remains to be seen is
if McLeod-Skinner will com-
pete well in the general elec-
tion in a district that is split
fairly evenly between Repub-
licans and Democrats. Dem-
ocrats’ hold on the seat could
be at risk if moderate voters
perceive her as too progres-
sive, he said.
The Republican nomi-
nee, Chavez-DeRemer, is en-
dorsed by the third-ranking
House Republican, U.S. Rep.
Elise Stefanik of New York
— an endorsement Chavez-
DeRemer highlighted in
her primary campaign in a
crowded field. That might
play well in more conservative
parts of the redrawn district
that stretches from the Port-
land suburbs toward rural
central Oregon.
“To me, it’s a toss-up race
going forward and candidate
quality is going to matter,”
Horvick said. “The opportu-
nities for Oregon to be central
in the national conversation
is higher this cycle than any
cycle I can think of in re-
cent memory.”
Oregon measure aims to
limit legislative walkouts
Storm
Continued from Page A1
A slow-moving storm
moved into Oregon from the
Pacific Ocean the next day,
Friday, May 27, and the signif-
icant rain started in earnest.
That day’s total was 0.33 at
the airport.
Saturday, with 0.57 of an
inch, and Sunday, with 0.40,
were both wetter still.
The three-day total of 1.3
inches nearly matched May’s
monthly average of 1.42
inches, and was the wettest
three-day period since July
2015.
May is the wettest month,
statistically speaking, at the
airport. May hasn’t been liv-
ing up to that reputation for
the past several years, how-
ever.
Through 11 a.m. on Mon-
day, May 30, the current ver-
sion was already the wettest
May, with 2.05 inches, since
2015, when the monthly total
was 1.98 inches.
This May will be the damp-
est since 2011, when the rain-
fall total was 3.24 inches.
(The all-time May record is
4.2 inches, set in 1998.)
The persistent periods of
wet weather that started in
early April have reversed what
had been an exceedingly dry
start to 2022.
The total precipitation at
the airport for January, Febru-
ary and March was a meager
0.67 of an inch — just 30% of
average for that period.
April, with 1.26 inches, not
only surpassed its average of
0.80, but it was the first month
at the airport with more than
an inch of rain since May 2020
(1.11 inches).
April and May mark the
first consecutive months with
more than one inch of rain at
the airport since February and
March 2014, when the totals
were 1.19 and 1.04 inches, re-
spectively.
The storms of April and
May have boosted the 2022
rainfall total to 3.96 inches
through 9 a.m. on May 30 —
89% of average.
The copious quantities of
rain during the holiday week-
end stem largely from the
type of storm and its relatively
sluggish movement, accord-
ing to the National Weather
Service.
Unlike a typical spring cold
front, which is propelled by
powerful winds in the up-
per atmosphere and brings a
brief burst of rain, the holi-
day weekend storm was what
meteorologists call an “upper
level low.” These storms move
much more slowly, and this
particular version was nearly
stationary, in Western Idaho,
for many hours.
That allowed some of the
moisture to move back into
Eastern Oregon even after
the center of the storm had
moved into Idaho, a relatively
rare situation when precipita-
tion moves from east to west.
This pattern led to signif-
icant three-day (Friday, May
27, through Sunday, May
29) rain totals in addition
to the Baker City Airport’s
1.3 inches:
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
A Memorial Day weekend storm pushed the May rainfall total in Baker City to its highest total since
May 2011.
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Rain on an avalanche lily in the Elkhorn Mountains on Sunday, May 29, 2022.
The holiday weekend storm was what
meteorologists call an “upper level low.” These
storms move much more slowly, and this
particular version was nearly stationary, in
Western Idaho, for many hours.
• Morgan Mountain, north-
west of Huntington, 0.93 inches.
• Blue Canyon, near Old
Auburn Road south of Baker
City, 0.97.
• Flagstaff Hill, just east of
Baker City, 1.06 inches.
• Yellow Pine campground
northwest of Unity, 1.18
inches.
Abnormally chilly, too
The weekend storm also
caused temperatures to
plummet to levels more typi-
cal of March than late May.
The high temperature
on Sunday, May 29, at the
Baker City Airport was 52
degrees. That’s only one de-
gree warmer than the record
lowest high temperature for
that day, set in 1988. Mon-
day, May 30, was likely to
set a record, as the National
Weather Service was forecast-
ing a high of 48 degrees. The
lowest high temperature re-
corded on that date is 52, set
in 1967.
The average high tempera-
ture for both May 29 and
May 30 is 70 degrees.
Snow fell in the mountains
during the weekend, with
the Wallowa Lake Tramway
reporting 18 inches of new
snow atop Mount Howard,
which is slightly over 8,000
feet, on Sunday.
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rine to enter service. The Navy
said the sub is designed to con-
duct anti-submarine warfare,
anti-surface warfare, delivery of
special operations forces, strike
warfare, irregular warfare, intel-
ligence, surveillance, and recon-
naissance, and mine warfare.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumen-
thal, D-Conn. called the new
submarine “one of the techno-
logical marvels of the world.”
’S
will need to determine that at
least 149,360 of those signa-
tures are from registered Ore-
gon voters.
“It’s long past time that there
were rules in place to make
sure politicians show up to do
their jobs,” Oregon Education
Association President Reed
Scott-Schwalbach, one of two
chief petitioners, said in a
statement Friday.
Because of the proposal’s
reliance on unexcused ab-
sences, the law would place a
lot of power in the hands of
the speaker of the House and
the Senate president, the two
presiding officers who decide
whether or not a lawmakers’
absence is excused.
Excused absences are fairly
routine in Salem, with law-
makers filing requests with
presiding officers explaining
why they are unable to attend.
They are not granted in cases
where lawmakers are absent in
order to block legislation.
residents possess, including a
sense of adventure as well as
being courageous, collabora-
tive and compassionate.
“May this crew remember
that at the heart of service is
compassion and love: love of
this country, love of this peo-
ple, love of her values,” said
Brown, a Democrat.
The Oregon is the second
Block IV Virginia-class subma-
N
SALEM (AP) — Oregon’s
public sector unions are push-
ing a ballot measure that would
limit the ability of the minority
party in the Legislature to use
walkouts to block legislation.
Republicans have used the
tactic frequently at the Capitol
in recent years to try to thwart
the agenda of Democrats, who
have firm control of both the
state House and Senate.
Oregon Public Broadcast-
ing reports that under the
proposal, a lawmaker who is
marked unexcused by a cham-
ber’s presiding officer 10 or
more times in a single legisla-
tive session would be barred
under the state Constitution
from seeking re-election.
On Friday, May 27, backers
of Initiative Petition 14, dubbed
“Legislative Accountability 1,”
said they submitted 183,942
signatures to the Oregon secre-
tary of state.
To qualify for the November
ballot, state elections officials
It marked the Navy’s first
in-person commission cere-
mony since 2019, due to the
pandemic. There was, how-
ever, a christening ceremony
for the USS Hyman Rickover
in August 2021.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown,
who said she felt at home with
the mist and overcast skies,
urged the crew members to
embrace the traits Oregonian
2
Progressive ousts
Biden-backed Schrader
in Oregon primary
every day and did your job,”
Courtney told the crew of
approximately 136 Navy per-
sonnel during Saturday’s cere-
mony, held at the U.S. Subma-
rine Base in Groton.
“Please know that as you em-
bark on your deployments, the
people of this state in Rhode Is-
land will be 100% behind you,
and you will always be wel-
come here,” Courtney said.
RD
COVID-19 pandemic created
some “slips in schedule” for the
crew, said U.S. Rep. Joe Court-
ney, D-Conn., whose district
includes General Dynamics
Corp.’s Electric Boat Shipyard
where the 377-foot submarine
was constructed.
“But I think the record
should be clear that despite
that unprecedented disrup-
tion, you showed up for work
TH
GROTON, Conn. (AP) —
The USS Oregon officially
joined the U.S. Navy fleet on
Saturday, May 28, marking the
first submarine named after
the Beaver State in more than
a century.
The newest Virginia-class
fast attack submarine, which
can dive to depths greater
than 800 feet, was originally
christened in 2019. But the
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