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About The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2021)
A2 The BulleTin • Tuesday, decemBer 21, 2021 The Bulletin LOCAL, STATE & REGION how to reach us CIRCULATION didn’t receive your paper? start or stop subscription? 541-385-5800 PHONE HOURS 8 a.m.-4 p.m. monday-Friday 7 a.m.-11 a.m. saturday-sunday and holidays GENERAL INFORMATION 541-382-1811 8 a.m.-5 p.m. mon.-Fri. ONLINE www.bendbulletin.com EMAIL bulletin@bendbulletin.com AFTER HOURS Newsroom ................................541-383-0348 Circulation ................................541-385-5800 NEWSROOM EMAIL Business ........business@bendbulletin.com City Desk .............news@bendbulletin.com Features.................................................................. communitylife@bendbulletin.com Sports ................. sports@bendbulletin.com NEWSROOM FAX 541-385-5804 OUR ADDRESS Street .............. 320 sW upper Terrace drive suite 200 Bend, Or 97702 Mailing ........... P.O. Box 6020 Bend, Or 97708 B ADMINISTRATION Publisher heidi Wright ..............................541-383-0341 Editor Gerry O’Brien .............................541-633-2166 DEPARTMENT HEADS Advertising Brian naplachowski .................541-383-0370 Circulation/Operations Jeremy Feldman ......................541-617-7830 Finance anthony Georger ....................541-383-0324 Human Resources ................541-383-0340 TALK TO AN EDITOR City Julie Johnson ...................541-383-0367 Business, Features, GO! 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Box 6020 Bend, Or 97708 Phone ......................................... 541-617-7829 CORRECTIONS The Bulletin’s primary concern is that all stories are accurate. if you know of an error in a story, call us at 541-383-0367. TO SUBSCRIBE Call us ......................541-385-5800 • Home delivery and E-Edition ..........................$7 per week • By mail .................................$9.50 per week • E-Edition only ...................$4.50 per week To sign up for our e-editions, visit www.bendbulletin.com to register. TO PLACE AN AD classified ......................................541-385-5809 advertising fax ..........................541-385-5802 Other information ....................541-382-1811 OBITUARIES no death notices or obituaries are published mondays. When submitting, please include your name, address and contact number. call to ask about deadlines, monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Phone ..........................................541-385-5809 Fax .................................................541-598-3150 email .......................obits@bendbulletin.com Wyden: Path still open to social, climate proposals BY PETER WONG Oregon capital Bureau U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden says there is still a path toward social supports and climate change proj- ects, despite comments by another senator that appear to doom the prospects of the Build Back Better agenda laid out by President Joe Biden. The Oregon Democrat leads the Senate Fi- nance Committee, which he said has proposed a menu of revenue options that will fully fund pri- orities in Biden’s agenda. Wyden did not point any fingers at West Vir- ginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, whose vote would be needed to pass any budget resolution in the evenly split Senate, given Republican op- position to Biden’s agenda. Manchin said on Sunday he could not support the plan. “Failure is not an option here,” Wyden said in a statement issued after Manchin’s comments. “A package that addresses critical priorities over the long-term, like providing financial se- curity for families, lowering the costs of health care and prescription drugs for seniors, and cre- ating clean energy jobs by combating the climate crisis would go a long way toward addressing our challenges. The Finance Committee has put forward a revenue menu with more than enough options to permanently pay for these priorities.” Child tax credit Wyden focused on three priorities on the agenda. He spoke in the Senate last week, when the fi- nal of six monthly payments went out under the expanded child tax credit that Biden proposed and Congress approved earlier this year as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, Biden’s pan- demic recovery plan. The credit was increased from $2,000 per child to $3,000 for children between ages 6 and 17, and $3,600 for children under age 6. Half the money went to parents in the form of payments from the Internal Revenue Service — the final of six payments was Dec. 15 — and the other half will go to parents when 2021 tax returns are filed in the spring, even if they owe no taxes. But the expanded credit was good only for 2021. The House version of Build Back Better proposed to extend it another year. Manchin op- poses the extension, although there are income limits for qualifying families. “Families … have come to depend on these pay- ments to cover the essentials like rent, groceries, heat and clothing for their children. Food insecu- rity among families dropped by about 25 percent since these payments began. Child poverty has been cut nearly in half,” Wyden said. “This pro- gram is Social Security for our children, and Dem- ocrats must keep it going over the long term.” Clean energy incentives The Finance Committee also has authority over tax incentives and financing of the largest federal health insurance programs. COVID-19 data for Monday, Dec. 20 Deschutes County cases: 24,694 (161 new cases) Deschutes County deaths: 207 (zero new deaths) Crook County cases: 3,542 (3 new cases) Crook County deaths: 60 (zero new deaths) Jefferson County cases: 4,343 (15 new cases) Jefferson County deaths: 69 (zero new deaths) Oregon cases: 407,153 (1,941 new cases) Oregon deaths: 5,534 (3 new deaths) COVID-19 patients hospitalized at St. Charles Bend: 21 (5 in icu) *Monday’s report included new cases and deaths since Friday. LOCAL BRIEFING Redmond Police seek driver who hit pedestrian aP file photo “A package that addresses critical priorities over the long-term, like providing financial security for fam- ilies, lowering the costs of health care and prescrip- tion drugs for seniors, and creating clean energy jobs by combating the climate crisis would go a long way toward addressing our challenges,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in a statement. Wyden spoke to objections by Manchin, whose state produces coal, about the incentives in Build Back Better to reduce greenhouse gas pollutants. Wyden said time is running out to avert the worst effects of climate change. “The linchpin of the clean energy package is permanent, technology-neutral incentives tied to carbon emissions reductions. Fossil fuels that get cleaner are eligible for incentives, just like so- lar or wind,” Wyden said. “This package is sup- ported by utility companies and environmental advocates alike, and it’s the only path forward that can secure 50 votes and achieve significant emissions reductions in the power sector. “Sen. Manchin has long said he would only support technology-neutral incentives,” he added. “That’s exactly what this package is struc- tured around.” Health care Wyden also said it’s time to enable the federal government to negotiate prices with drugmakers under Medicare and to continue expanded tax credits that enable people to obtain insurance coverage under the 2010 Affordable Care Act. “Drug companies have been mugging Amer- icans at the pharmacy window for too long, and there may not be another opportunity any time soon for Democrats to put a stop to it,” Wyden said. “Fifty million seniors in Medicare have a lot of bargaining power, and it’s long past due to put it to use.” The enhanced tax credits included in the American Rescue Plan Act were the first signifi- cant changes in the Affordable Care Act since its passage in 2010 under President Barack Obama. “It’s vital that we extend those subsidies to make coverage affordable,” Wyden said. “At a time when many American families are con- cerned about basic costs of living going up, Democrats cannot allow their health care costs to increase unnecessarily.” e pwong@pamplinmedia.com Redmond Police are asking for help finding the driver who struck and killed Redmond resident Cleland Weber, 54. Weber was hit while he crossing SW Highland Avenue at SW 15th Street around 9:52 p.m. July 2. He died Oct. 15 from complications of injuries sustained in the crash. Police say Weber was struck by a vehicle traveling west on Highland Avenue. “The Redmond Police Department is asking the community for any information they may have regarding this incident,” reads a statement sent Monday afternoon by the department. The department asks anyone who witnessed the incident or has information to contact the nonemergency dispatch line at 541-693-6911. — Bulletin staff report Kristof makes his bid for governor official associated Press Former New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof said Monday he has officially filed to run for Oregon gov- ernor in the Democratic pri- mary. Kristof, who an- nounced his candi- dacy in October and raised more than $1 million in less than a month, said the state needs a politi- Kristof cal newbie to solve problems like home- lessness and rural despair. Kristof joins a crowded field of Democrats in the 2022 gubernatorial election, including Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek and state Treasurer Tobias Read. Dem- ocrats have held the gover- nor’s office since 1987. Republicans seeking their party’s nomination include state Rep. Christine Drazan, R-Canby, former Republi- can nominee Bud Pierce and Sandy Mayor Stan Pulliam. Former Democratic state Sen. Betsy Johnson is run- ning as an independent. Kristof has faced questions of whether he’s eligible to run for governor. According to the law, a candi- date must have been a resident of the state for at least three years before an election. Kristof voted in New York state in November 2020. A legal opinion by lawyers working for Kristof said Kris- tof has always considered Or- egon his home, even though his job required him to live around the world. Kristof and his wife, Sheryl WuDunn — who also was a New York Times reporter — bought a 150-acre property in Yamhill in 1993. HERMISTON Bank robbery suspect was released from prison due to COVID BY PHIL WRIGHT east Oregonian HERMISTON — About three weeks before his arrest Friday in a Hermiston bank robbery, Clifford Uptegrove, was let out of federal prison under a compassionate release because of COVID-19. Uptegrove, 58, of Yakima, Washington, remains in the Umatilla County Jail in Pendle- ton on suspicion of first-degree robbery, first-degree theft and felony fleeing. The robbery occurred just before 3 p.m. at Umpqua Bank, according to Hermiston Police Chief Jason Edmiston. Moments after the robbery, a Umatilla County sheriff’s deputy spotted the suspect in a vehicle, he said. That led to a vehicle chase, but the suspect eventually pulled over. Records show Uptegrove has a history of robbing banks. In 2005, he was sentenced to federal prison for more than 20 years after he pleaded guilty to armed bank robbery and using a firearm during a crime of vi- olence, according to a news re- lease issued that year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the West- ern District of Washington. According to the news re- lease, police caught Uptegrove in March 2004 after a robbery at the Riverview Community Bank in Hazell Dell, Washing- ton, and during questioning he admitted to nine robberies of credit unions from 2001-04, in- cluding hitting the Kennewick Community Federal Credit Union twice and robbing the Oregon Central Credit Union in Portland three times. Federal court records show Uptegrove was serving time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, New York, and had a release date of March 17, 2022. But last year, Uptegrove sought a compas- sionate release. Uptegrove suffers from asthma, according to court doc- uments, and was at an increased risk of developing COVID-19. According to the release or- der, the court found Uptegrove took “commendable strides to grow and change while in prison, completing a number of self-help and educational programs in anticipation of his eventual release and maintain- ing a clean disciplinary record for the last nine-plus years.” The court also ordered him to live with his sister in Yakima, where he could “rehabilitate in a smaller community with family nearby, while offering his sis- ter, who is struggling with lym- phoma, the help she needs.” U.S. Senior District Judge Marsha J. Pechman signed the release order Nov. 17, 2020, freeing Uptegrove from prison 14 days after and immediately placing him under supervised release. As far as the Hermiston robbery goes, Edmiston said, police were planning on ob- taining a search warrant for the vehicle Uptegrove drove to look for evidence from the bank robbery. Give the Gift of Bird Feeding OTHER SERVICES Back issues ................................541-385-5800 Photo reprints .........................541-383-0366 Apply for a job ........................541-383-0340 all Bulletin payments are accepted at the drop box at city hall or at The Bulletin, P.O. Box 6020, Bend, Or 97708. check payments may be converted to an electronic funds transfer. The Bulletin, usPs #552-520, is published daily by central Oregon media Group, 320 sW upper Terrace drive, Bend, Or 97702. Periodicals postage paid at Bend, Or. Postmaster: send address changes to The Bulletin circulation department, P.O. Box 6020, Bend, Or 97708. The Bulletin retains ownership and copyright protection of all staff-prepared news copy, advertising copy and news or ad illustrations. They may not be reproduced without explicit prior approval. Reverse Mortgages Life in reverse…financial longevity and peace of mind. Debbie Tallman Reverse Mortgage Advisor NMLS-248704 (541) 390-0934 debbie.tallman@financeofamerica.com ©2020 Finance of America Mortgage LLC is licensed nationwide | Equal Housing Opportunity | NMLS ID #1071 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org) | 300 Welsh Road, Building 5, Horsham, PA 19044 |(800) 355-5626. For licensing information go to: www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org. This is not a commitment to lend. Prices, guidelines and minimum requirements are subject to change without notice. Some products may not be available in all states. Subject to review of credit and/or collateral; not all applicants will qualify for financing. It is important to make an informed decision whenselecting and using a loan product; make sure to compare loan types when making a financing decision. This document is provided by Finance of America Mortgage. Any materials were notprovided by HUD or FHA. It has not been approved by FHA or any Government Agency.When the loan is due and payable, some or all of the equity in the property that is the subject of the reversemortgage no longer belongs to borrowers, who may need to sell the home or otherwise repay the loan with interest from other proceeds. The lender may charge an origination fee, mortgageinsurance premium, closing costs and servicing fees (added to the balance of the loan). The balance of the loan grows over time and the lender charges interest on the balance. Borrowers areresponsible for paying property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, maintenance, and related taxes (which may be substantial). We do not establish an escrow account for disbursements of thesepayments. A set-aside account can be set up to pay taxes and insurance and may be required in some cases. Borrowers must occupy home as their primary residence and pay for ongoingmaintenance; otherwise the loan becomes due and payable. The loan also becomes due and payable (and the property may be subject to a tax lien, other encumbrance, or foreclosure) when thelast borrower, or eligible non-borrowing surviving spouse, dies, sells the home, permanently moves out, defaults on taxes, insurance payments, or maintenance, or does not otherwise comply withthe loan terms. Interest is not tax-deductible until the loan is partially or fully repaid. Forum Center Bend · 541-617-8840 · www.wbu.com/bend BIRD FOOD · FEEDERS · GARDEN ACCENTS · UNIQUE GIFTS
