The BulleTin • Monday, april 5, 2021 A3
TODAY
Today is Monday, April 5, the
95th day of 2021. There are 270
days left in the year.
Today’s Highlights in History:
On April 5, 2010, an explosion
at the Upper Big Branch mine
near Charleston, West Virginia,
killed 29 workers. In a televised
rescue, 115 Chinese coal miners
were freed after spending eight
days trapped in a flooded mine,
surviving an accident that had
killed 38.
In 1621, the Mayflower sailed
from Plymouth Colony in
present-day Massachusetts
on a monthlong return trip to
England.
In 1792, President George Wash-
ington cast his first veto, reject-
ing a congressional measure for
apportioning representatives
among the states.
In 1887, in Tuscumbia, Alabama,
teacher Anne Sullivan achieved
a breakthrough as her 6-year-
old deaf-blind pupil, Helen
Keller, learned the meaning of
the word “water” as spelled out
in the Manual Alphabet.
In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosen-
berg were sentenced to death
following their conviction in
New York on charges of conspir-
ing to commit espionage for the
Soviet Union.
In 1955, British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill resigned his
office for health reasons.
In 1976, reclusive billionaire
Howard Hughes died in Houston
at age 70.
In 1986, two American service-
men and a Turkish woman were
killed in the bombing of a West
Berlin discotheque, an incident
that prompted a U.S. air raid on
Libya more than a week later.
In 1987, Fox Broadcasting Co.
made its prime-time TV debut
by airing the situation comedy
“Married with Children” fol-
lowed by “The Tracey Ullman
Show,” then repeating both pre-
miere episodes two more times
in the same evening.
In 2015, Rolling Stone magazine
apologized and officially retract-
ed its discredited article about
an alleged gang rape at the
University of Virginia.
In 2019, inspecting a refur-
bished section of fencing at the
Mexican border in California,
President Donald Trump de-
clared that “our country is full,”
and that illegal crossings must
be stopped.
Ten years ago: Texas A&M won
its first national women’s basket-
ball championship with a 76-70
victory over Notre Dame.
Five years ago: UConn won an
unprecedented fourth straight
women’s national championship,
capping another perfect season
by routing Syracuse 82-51.
One year ago: Surgeon General
Jerome Adams told CNN that
the coming week would be “the
hardest and saddest week of
most Americans’ lives” because
of the increasing toll from the
coronavirus.
Today’s Birthdays: Movie
producer Roger Corman is 95.
Former U.S. Secretary of State
and former Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell is 84.
Country singer Tommy Cash is 81.
Actor Michael Moriarty is 80. Pop
singer Allan Clarke (The Hollies)
is 79. Singer Agnetha Faltskog
(ABBA) is 71. Rock musician Mike
McCready (Pearl Jam) is 55. Singer
Paula Cole is 53. Actor Krista Allen
is 50. Rapper-producer Pharrell
Williams is 48. Rapper/producer
Juicy J is 46. Actor Sterling K.
Brown is 45. Actor Lily James is 32.
— Associated Press
LOCAL, STATE & NATION
Governors urge
Biden to lift $10K
cap on deductions
called the deduction limit en-
acted by Trump “devastating” to
WASHINGTON — Dem-
taxpayers in her home state of
ocratic governors from seven
California.
states, including Oregon, New
The administration has been
York and California, wrote to
cool to the idea of including a
President Joe Biden urging him
SALT-limit repeal in the bill,
to remove the cap on state and
which would add to the deficit.
local tax deductions enacted by
“If Democrats want to pro-
Donald Trump.
pose a way to eliminate SALT
The governors said in Fri-
— which is not a revenue raiser,
day’s letter that the
as you know, it
$10,000 limitation
would cost more
on state and local
money — and they
tax, or SALT, deduc-
want to propose a
tions “dispropor-
way to pay for it,
tionately” hit Dem-
The cost of eliminating the and they want to
ocratic-run states.
put that forward,
SALT deduction over the
“We must go further
we’re happy to hear
course of 2021, according
and undo the cap
their ideas,” White
to a nonpartisan estimate
placed on state and
House Press Secre-
local tax deductions
tary Jen Psaki said
by the Trump administration”
at a briefing on Thursday.
through the 2017 tax law, they
Repealing the SALT deduction
wrote.
cap is an expensive proposition.
The letter was signed by New
Fully eliminating the cap for one
York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New
year would cost $88.7 billion in
Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, Califor- 2021, according to the nonpar-
nia Gov. Gavin Newsom, Con-
tisan congressional tax score-
necticut Gov. Ned Lamont, Ha-
keeper, the Joint Committee on
waii Gov. David Ige, Illinois Gov. Taxation. And more than half
J.B. Pritzker and Oregon Gov.
of those tax savings would go to
Kate Brown.
households earning $1 million
The SALT cap is a prime fo-
or more, according to the com-
cus for several Democrats in
mittee.
Congress, who’ve said they won’t
Alternatives to full repeal, such
support Biden’s tax hikes to fund
as raising the amount of the lim-
his infrastructure proposal un-
itation, have also been floated,
less the plan includes a repeal of
which would be significantly less
the cap.
costly and also give fewer benefits
Rep. Lee Zeldin, who rep-
to the richest Americans.
resents a Long Island, New York,
The debate about how to ad-
district and is a close ally of for-
dress SALT is likely to increase
mer President Donald Trump, is
in the coming weeks, with Biden
one of the few Republicans who
set to introduce a second eco-
also support repealing the SALT
nomic agenda proposal focusing
cap.
on social welfare paid for by tax
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
increases on the wealthy. Even if
on Thursday signaled support
SALT isn’t addressed in Biden’s
for a move to put a repeal of the
plan, it’s likely to be hotly debated
cap in the infrastructure and
when the bill is being negotiated
social-spending program. She
in the House.
BY YUEQI YANG
Bloomberg News
$88.7
billion
Zach Urness/(Salem) Statesman Journal file
Elowah Falls, in the Columbia River Gorge near Dodson, in an archive photo. The water-
fall drops 289 feet.
NO ACCESS
Rockslide wipes out footbridge at Elowah Falls
BY JANET EASTMAN
The Oregonian
A
large rockslide at the base of
Elowah Falls in the Columbia
River Gorge has added to the
inaccessibility of one of the most beau-
tiful and secluded waterfalls in the
area, which continues to recover from
the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire.
Steve Kruger, Trailkeepers of Ore-
gon‘s executive director, said Saturday
the area is closed to the public until
further notice and there’s no access to
Gorge Trail 400 to Elowah Falls and
the Upper McCord Creek Falls Trail.
Kruger said that Trailkeepers vol-
unteer Drew Stock was scouting for
sites for upcoming trail work parties
and a weekend training program for
new volunteers on Friday when he was
stopped by rocks and debris, which
wiped out a footbridge that crosses
the 213-foot waterfall along McCord
Creek.
The rocks and debris completely
buried a section of trail and was
“enough to fill about three dump
trucks,” according to Kruger.
“Only a part of the bridge handrail
could be seen above debris,” he said.
The rockslide did not dam McCord
Creek, so water won’t affect the His-
toric Columbia River Highway State
Trail or Interstate 84, he said.
Trailkeepers of Oregon will watch
how the debris settles and will work
with Oregon State Parks to conduct
restoration work, realign the trail or
find another solution, Kruger said.
The debris will have to be moved by
hand because of its location, said Clay
Courtright of Oregon State Parks. He
said the area has not yet been fully as-
sessed and is not safe for visitors.
The closure adds to a list of road-
blocks spring hikers face in the gorge.
A landslide has closed part of the
Historic Columbia River Highway, for
example.
And the John B. Yeon parking area,
which offers access to the Elowah Falls
trailhead, was closed intermittently in
March because of frequent landslides
that dumped mud, water, rocks and
debris onto the highway. Other exits
on I-84 were also intermittently closed.
Kruger said that although the rock-
slide discovered Friday is separate
from ongoing landslides, the area, part
of the John B. Yeon State Scenic Cor-
ridor, is still fragile after being severely
burned in the Eagle Creek fire.
The scenic corridor had reopened to
the public in January for the first time
since the 2017 fire.
Due to landslides, the scenic corri-
dor is now only accessible by taking
the Historic Columbia River Highway
State Trail west from the Toothrock
Trailhead by foot or bike, according
to updates on the Oregon State Parks
website.
‘Hundreds’ of pounds of marijuana,
guns, cash seized in Lane County
The Oregonian
Sheriff’s deputies seized a mas-
sive amount of drugs, more than
a dozen guns and tens of thou-
sands in cash after they raided a
large-scale production facility in
Lane County, officials said.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Of-
fice responded to reports of a sto-
len vehicle on Thursday outside
of the town of Elmira, about 15
miles west of Eugene.
While deputies were investigat-
ing the vehicle, they came upon
a large butane marijuana hash oil
extraction lab, officials said. These
types of labs, which are illegal in
Oregon unless the operator has a
license, can be dangerous because
of the potential for explosions as-
sociated with butane.
Investigators obtained a search
warrant for the rest of the prop-
erty and another address in
nearby Veneta. They discovered
a home that was being used en-
tirely for the cultivation of sus-
pected psilocybin mushrooms.
Between the two properties,
deputies seized 16 firearms, one
of which was stolen; a “large
amount of cash, packaged in
$10,000 bundles; more than 450
bags of psilocybin mushrooms;
more than 20 pounds of finished
hash oil extract; “hundreds” of
pounds of dried marijuana; and a
stolen truck.
“Several people were contacted
on the property and identified,”
the sheriff’s office said, but no ar-
rests were made.