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No script, no problem at Marshfield School improv club boosts class participation, student confidence ■
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
COOS BAY — Screams, squawks and sobs escape Marshfield High’s Drama Lab every Thursday, noises that have translated into confidence and higher participation in
theater classes. On average, 60 students have packed the Drama Lab during lunch every Thursday this school year to work on their improvisation skills. Allison Bassett, Marshfield’s performing arts teacher, started the club as a way to give theater more exposure. “I was trying to get more kids to come in to the Drama Lab who usually didn’t,” Bassett said. “I needed to figure out ways to expose kids to something I thought might help
them be more successful in other areas.” It showed in her class sizes, which spiked from first to s e c o n d s e m e s t e r. See the video for this Students who story online at walltheworldlink.com/video were f l o we r s before have started speaking up in class. “There were a lot of kids who hadn’t done theater before, some
who were coming to improv, who decided to try out for theater,” she said. “At the beginning, it was the same people, but as time went on, those who typically just watched started participating.” Improv boosts students’ confidence, she said, and rids them of public speaking nerves. Bassett taught her improv kids several sketches at the beginning of the year, but as the semester wore on, the students started taking the lead.
“This is what I wanted in the end, was for the students to run it,” she said. On Thursday, improv was completely student-run, since Bassett was on the road with some of her choir students. Daylin Bibey, a senior, led the group, calling on students to act out different sketches. Bibey introduced a new sketch — sound effects — this semester, SEE IMPROV | A10
Wastewater plan revision pays dividends
Blessing of the fleet
Going the extra mile in preparation of wastewater treatment upgrades saves millions for Coos Bay residents ■
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
Photos by Thomas Moriarty, The World
Service-goers at the annual Blessing of the Fleet in Charleston on Monday morning carry flowers to the waiting U.S. Coast Guard motor lifeboat Intrepid. The Intrepid carried flowers out to sea to pay respect to fallen members of the Charleston fishing fleet. A U.S. Coast Guard color guard detail leads the procession ending the 24th annual Blessing of the Fleet in Charleston on Monday morning. The event, held every Memorial Day, recognizes fallen members of the Charleston fishing community.
COOS BAY — Amid all of the talk about costly needed upgrades to the infrastructure in Coos Bay, a bit of good news bubbled to the surface. City staff found a way to save millions of dollars in one part of the needed upgrade to the city’s wastewater treatment plants. At the last City Council meeting May 20, councilors voted to approve an amendment for the biosolids design for wastewater treatment plant 2. As part of the needed upgrades, a new facility is being built near the current Empire area plant located near Fulton Avenue. The plans, however, called for it to be constructed to the east, on the other side of Cape Arago Highway. Coos Bay Public Works Director Jim Hossley says initial planning indicated the need for a portion of the older structure to stay standing. These new developments now allow them to completely level the old plant. While that is more aesthetically pleasing, the bigger news is the related savings. Hossley says due diligence helped uncover a better way of doing things. While the design team of SHN/CH2M Hill worked on those original designs, the city contracted with Dyer Partnership to see if there was a more costeffective way to handle the biosolids. Currently, what wastewater plant workers refer to as SEE UPGRADES | A10
States face new cost concerns with Medicaid surge BY RICARDO ALONSO-ZADIVAR
Obama leads country in observing Memorial Day
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WASHINGTON — From California to Rhode Island, states are confronting new concerns that their Medicaid costs will rise as a result of the federal health care law. That’s likely to revive the debate about how federal decisions can saddle states with unanticipated expenses. Before President Barack Obama’s law expanded Medicaid eligibility, millions of people who already were entitled to its safety-net coverage were not enrolled. Those same people are now signing up in unexpectedly high numbers, partly because of publicity about getting insured under the law. For states red or blue, the catch is that they must use more of their own money to cover this particular group. In California, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s recent budget projected an additional $1.2 billion spending on Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, due in part to surging numbers. State officials say about 300,000 more already-eligible Californians are expected to enroll than was estimated last fall.
SEE MEMORIAL | A10
SEE MEDICAID | A10
Troops in Afghanistan George Berger, North Bend Robert Clendenen, North Bend
Obituaries | A5
President Obama will ask to keep a force of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan past the 2014 withdrawal deadline. Page A7
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The president made a fleeting reference to the widening scandal involving reports of poor performance by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which is facing allegations of delayed treatments, and even deaths in Arizona. “As we’ve been reminded in recent days — we must do more to keep faith with our veterans and their families, and ensure they get the care and benefits and opportunities that they’ve earned and that they deserve,” said the president. “These Americans have done their duty,” Obama said. “They ask nothing more than that our country does ours — now and for decades to come,” he added, drawing more applause.
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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama led the nation in commemorating Memorial Day, declaring the United States has reached “a pivotal moment” in Afghanistan with the end of war approaching. Obama, who returned just hours earlier from a surprise visit with U.S. troops at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, paid tribute to those lost in battle there and elsewhere over history. He called them “patriots who made the ultimate sacrifice” for their country. “Early this morning, I returned from Afghanistan,” Obama told the audience of several thousand people. “Yesterday, I visited with some of our men and women
DEATHS
BY PETE YOST The Associated Press
serving there — 7,000 miles from home. For more than 12 years, men and women like those I met with have borne the burden of our nation’s security. Now, because of their profound sacrifice, because of the progress they have made, we’re at a pivotal moment.” “Our troops are coming home. By the end of this year, our war in Afghanistan will finally come to end,” the president said to applause. “And yesterday at Bagram, and here today at Arlington, we pay tribute to the nearly 2,200 American patriots who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. We will honor them, always.” Obama has said it was likely that a small contingent of U.S. forces would stay behind for counterterrorism missions, as well as to train Afghan security forces.
The Associated Press
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