The BulleTin • Thursday, FeBruary 4, 2021 A3
TODAY
Today is Thursday, Feb. 4, the
35th day of 2021. There are 330
days left in the year.
Today’s Highlight in History:
In 1945, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill and Soviet
leader Josef Stalin began a war-
time conference at Yalta.
In 1783, Britain’s King George III
proclaimed a formal cessation of
hostilities in the American Revo-
lutionary War.
In 1789, electors chose George
Washington to be the first presi-
dent of the United States.
In 1861, delegates from six
southern states that had recent-
ly seceded from the Union met
in Montgomery, Alabama, to
form the Confederate States of
America.
In 1913, Rosa Parks, a Black
woman whose 1955 refusal to
give up her seat on a Montgom-
ery, Alabama, city bus to a white
man sparked a civil rights rev-
olution, was born Rosa Louise
McCauley in Tuskegee.
In 1944, the Bronze Star Medal,
honoring “heroic or meritorious
achievement or service,” was
authorized by President Franklin
D. Roosevelt.
In 1962, St. Jude Children’s Re-
search Hospital was founded in
Memphis, Tennessee, by enter-
tainer Danny Thomas.
In 1974, newspaper heiress Pa-
tricia Hearst, 19, was kidnapped
in Berkeley, California, by the
radical Symbionese Liberation
Army.
In 1976, more than 23,000 peo-
ple died when a severe earth-
quake struck Guatemala with a
magnitude of 7.5, according to
the U.S. Geological Survey.
In 1997, a civil jury in Santa
Monica, California, found O.J.
Simpson liable for the deaths
of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown
Simpson, and her friend, Ronald
Goldman.
In 1999, Amadou Diallo, an un-
armed West African immigrant,
was shot and killed in front of his
Bronx home by four plainclothes
New York City police officers.
(The officers were acquitted at
trial.)
In 2004, the Massachusetts high
court declared that gay couples
were entitled to nothing less
than marriage, and that Ver-
mont-style civil unions would
not suffice.
Ten years ago: President Barack
Obama appealed to Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak to
focus on his legacy and begin
an orderly process to relinquish
the power he’d held for 30
years; however, Obama stopped
short of calling for Mubarak’s
immediate resignation. Iraq’s
prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki,
said he would return half of his
annual salary to the public trea-
sury in a symbolic gesture that
appeared calculated to insulate
him against anti-government
unrest spreading across the
Middle East.
Five years ago: Infuriating
members of Congress, a smirk-
ing Martin Shkreli took the
Fifth at a Capitol Hill hearing on
his practice of jacking up drug
prices as CEO of Turing Pharma-
ceuticals.
One year ago: Thousands of
medical workers in Hong Kong
were on strike for a second day
to demand that the country’s
border with China be com-
pletely closed to help prevent
the spread of the coronavirus;
the territory reported its first
death from the virus and the
second known fatality outside
China. Addressing a nation and
a Congress sharply divided over
his impeachment, President
Donald Trump delivered a State
of the Union address in which he
hailed a “Great American Come-
back” on his watch; Republican
legislators chanted “Four More
Years,” while House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi ripped up her copy
of Trump’s speech as he ended
the address.
Today’s Birthdays: Actor Jerry
Adler is 92. Former Argentinian
President Isabel Peron is 90.
Rock musician John Steel (The
Animals) is 80. Former Vice
President Dan Quayle is 74.
Rock singer Alice Cooper is 73.
Football Hall of Famer Lawrence
Taylor is 62. Rock musician Noo-
dles (The Offspring) is 58. Actor
Rob Corddry is 50. Actor Michael
Goorjian is 50. TV personality
Nicolle Wallace is 49. Olympic
gold medal boxer Oscar De La
Hoya is 48. Rock musician Rick
Burch (Jimmy Eat World) is 46.
Rapper Cam’ron is 45. Rock
singer Gavin DeGraw is 44. Rock
singer Zoe Manville is 37. Actor/
musician Bashy, AKA Ashley
Thomas, is 36. Actor Charlie Bar-
nett is 33. Olympic gold medal
gymnast-turned-singer Carly
Patterson is 33. Actor Kyla Kene-
dy (TV: “Speechless”) is 18.
— Associated Press
LOCAL, STATE & REGION
Democrats want investigation into
removal of spotted owl protections
U.S. lawmakers allege “potential
scientific meddling” by Trump
administration Interior secretary
A northern spot-
ted owl flies
after an elusive
mouse jumping
off the end of a
stick in the De-
schutes National
Forest near
Camp Sherman
in 2003. Eight
Democratic law-
makers called
Tuesday for an
investigation
into “potential
scientific med-
dling” by for-
mer President
Donald Trump’s
administration
in its rule to re-
move critical
habitat protec-
tions.
BY SARA CLINE
The Associated Press/Report for America
PORTLAND — Eight Democratic
lawmakers called Tuesday for an in-
vestigation into “potential scientific
meddling” by the Trump adminis-
tration in its rule to remove critical
habitat protections for the imperiled
northern spotted owl in the Pacific
Northwest.
The group of federal lawmakers,
led by Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon,
says former Interior Secretary David
Bernhardt “appeared to unilaterally
act” on his way out of office to re-
move millions of acres of protected
habitat designated for the owl.
“In less than two brief years un-
der David Bernhardt’s leadership,
the department has been mired in
one ethical scandal after another,” the
lawmakers said in a letter to Interior
Department Inspector General Mark
Greenblatt seeking a review.
“Bernhardt and his loyalists have
demonstrated a willingness to insert
themselves into the scientific process
in order to achieve preferred policy
outcomes, withhold information
from the public, and even mislead
Congress,” the letter said.
In mid-January, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service under then-Pres-
ident Donald Trump announced
it would remove 3.4 million acres
in Oregon, Washington state and
Northern California from federal
protections.
The lawmakers called that deci-
sion “as bewildering as it is damag-
ing.” Fish and Wildlife, which is over-
Don Ryan/AP file
seen by the Interior Department,
didn’t immediately respond to an
email seeking comment on the letter.
Environmentalists accused Fish
and Wildlife of taking a parting shot
at protections designed to help re-
store the owl in favor of the timber
industry. The tiny owl is listed as
threatened under the Endangered
Species Act and was rejected for an
upgrade to endangered status last
year by the agency despite losing
nearly 4% of its population annually.
Timber groups applauded the de-
cision. Loss of the ability to log in
areas protected for the spotted owl
has devastated rural communities,
experts say.
“While the Biden administration
has taken actions to mitigate the ef-
fects of this rule, we ask that you
quickly review this decision and to
determine whether USFWS contra-
dicted or ignored scientific recom-
mendations made by career staff,”
lawmakers wrote to the inspector
general.
The northern spotted owl, which
prefers to nest in old-growth forests,
received federal protections in 1990
— a listing that dramatically redrew
the economic landscape for the Pa-
cific Northwest timber industry and
launched a decadeslong battle be-
tween environmentalists and loggers.
Old-growth Douglas firs, many 100
to 200 years old, that are preferred
by the owl are also of great value to
loggers.
After the owl got protections, U.S.
officials halted logging on millions
of acres of old-growth forests on fed-
eral lands to protect
the bird’s habitat. But the popula-
tion kept declining. It faces another
threat: competition from the barred
owl.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has
since said the northern spotted owl
warrants the more robust “endan-
gered” status because of continued
population declines but refused to
grant it last year, saying other species
took higher priority.
Joining Wyden in the request for
an inspector general’s review were
U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein of Cali-
fornia, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Maria
Cantwell of Washington and Patty
Murray of Washington as well as U.S.
Reps. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, Earl
Blumenauer of Oregon and Jared
Huffman of California.
Presented By
Idaho Senate OK’s
constitutional ban
on legal marijuana
BY KEITH RIDLER
The Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — A pro-
posed constitutional amend-
ment that would prevent the
legalization of pot and other
psychoactive drugs cleared
the Idaho Senate on Wednes-
day and is headed to the
House.
The Senate mustered the
two-thirds needed with a 24-
11 vote to approve a joint res-
olution that bans all psycho-
active drugs not already legal
in the state.
Backers said it’s needed be-
cause surrounding states have
legalized pot and other drugs,
and it could happen in Idaho.
Senators argued those states
have seen a decline in health
and an increase in crime.
Those opposed to the con-
stitutional amendment say, if
approved by voters, it would
permanently ban medical
marijuana patients with ter-
minal illnesses or chronic
pain.
If the House approves the
legislation, it would go before
voters in 2022 where it would
need a simple majority.
Idaho is one of only three
states without some sort of
policy allowing residents to
possess products with even
low amounts of THC, the psy-
choactive chemical in mari-
juana.
Residents can cross the
state border in nearly every
direction and find themselves
in a place where marijuana
can be bought for recreational
or medicinal purposes.
Support for Idaho medici-
nal marijuana use is growing,
with legalization activists try-
ing to get an initiative on the
ballot in 2022.
State fairgrounds used
for homeless shelter as
events have dried up
The Associated Press
SALEM — A temporary
homeless shelter opened this
week at the Oregon State
Fairgrounds in Salem.
The Pavilion at the fair-
grounds can house 100 peo-
ple and has been largely un-
used after the coronavirus
pandemic forced the cancel-
lation of events, The States-
man Journal reported.
An undetermined num-
ber of people also will be able
to use the adjacent parking
lot as a safe vehicle camping
spot.
The temporary shelter is
partly being paid for by the
city of Salem, which allocated
$733,000 in November for
homeless shelters, and the
Mid-Willamette Valley Com-
munity Action Agency.
The shelter is being run
by Church at the Park, a Sa-
lem Leadership Foundation
program that also provides
homeless services at a city
park.
Church at the Park will
have five staff members oper-
ating the shelter 24/7, and se-
curity will be provided.
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