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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2013
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Oregon minimum wage up to $9.10 BY NIGEL DUARA The Associated Press
PORTLAND — In his State of the Union address in February, President Barack Obama called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $9. On Tuesday, Oregon announced plans to exceed that, setting a minimum wage of $9.15. It’s part of a scheduled increase charted to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index and takes effect in January. The change is expected to keep Oregon as the state with the nation’s secondhighest minimum wage, trailing only Washington state. Oregon’s minimum wage will be 15 cents higher in 2014 after also climbing 15 cents from 2012 to this year for approximately 98,000 workers. Advocates for Oregon’s increase and its tie to the price index praised the increase as sign the state supports its lowest-paid residents, while the association that represents employers of many minimum wage earners castigated it as a job-killer. Restaurants “are going to be concerned over the cost of doing business in Oregon,” said Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association spokesman John Hamilton. Hamilton said the minimum-wage increase, coupled with requirements to provide health care and label menus, will create a difficult situation for small businesses, including restaurants. “Raising wages, with other things going on including higher beef costs, will make it harder than it already is,” Hamilton said. The left-leaning Oregon Center for Public Policy was decidedly more sunny on the wage increase’s prospects. “We think it’s very good that Oregon voters decided to (increase) the minimum wage so the lowest paid Oregonians don’t get left behind,” said OCPP spokesman Juan Carlos Ordonez. Labor commissioner Brad Avakian, a former Democratic candidate for a Congressional SEE WAGES | A8
North Bend shuts out Pacific in boys soccer, B1
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Crime dips across Coos County North Bend sees uptick in property crimes; others fall ■
BY THOMAS MORIARTY The World
COOS BAY — An annual report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday showed that the Bay Area’s crime trends for the past year largely mirror those of Oregon cities with 100,000 or
more people. The 2012 Crime in the United States report shows a slight decrease in the rate of violent crime across the state and a just more than 2 percent increase in property crime. The FBI compiles the statistics through its Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which solicits annual data from state, county and local law enforcement agencies. The Coos County Sheriff ’s Office reported 28 violent crimes and 473 property crimes for the
2012 reporting period. That’s a noticeable drop from the 57 violent crimes and 589 property crimes reported in 2011. North Bend saw a noticeable jump in property crimes, from 457 to 579. It’s violent crime numbers barely changed, from 10 in 2011 to 11 in 2012. Official 2012 numbers for the Coos Bay Police Department weren’t immediately available Monday. SEE CRIME | A8
By the numbers City North Bend Coos Bay Coos County
Violent crimes 2011 10 89 57
2012 11 N/A 28
City North Bend Coos Bay Coos County
Property crimes 2011 457 815 589
2012 579 N/A 473
Source: 2012 Crime in the United States
Online public charter school
By Chelsea Davis, The World
Oregon Virtual Academy students met for the first time Friday at Ferry Road Park. K-12 students from Coos Bay and North Bend are taking a different academic route through the online education program launched by the North Bend School District several years ago.
Virtual education a ‘whole different world’ BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
NORTH BEND — School started two weeks ago, but some South Coast students are just now meeting face-to-face. Twenty of Oregon Virtual Academy’s Coos Bay and North Bend students met for the first time Friday morning at Ferry Road Park, where they played games and got to know each other outside of the classroom.
The online public charter school was launched by the North Bend School District six years ago to provide K-12 students statewide with an alternative education option through flexible, individualized learning plans. Parents need to look at what’s best for their child, said Steven Moore, who has a high school freshman daughter enrolled in the online school while his fourth-grade son attends Hillcrest Elementary.
“Whether it’s a brick and mortar school or online, I think parents should have the right to choose the education that’s right for them,” he said. While the school setting is non-traditional, students still have to have the same number of required instructional hours and pass the same Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests that all Oregon students take. SEE VIRTUAL | A8
Obama seeks Congress’ support for Syria plan Associated Press
The Associated Press
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6 killed as Canada train, bus collide
STATE
INSIDE
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant and U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power confer in the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday. Moscow insisted on Tuesday that a new Security Council resolution on Syria not allow the use of force, while the Arab country's main opposition group demanded a swift international response following the U.N. report that confirmed chemical weapons were used outside Damascus last month.
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress on Tuesday that the United States will closely monitor every step of the plan for eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons while maintaining a credible military threat against
Bashar Assad’s government. Meeting behind closed doors, Kerry briefed members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the chemical weapons strategy he negotiated with Russia last week in Geneva. One of Kerry’s deputies, Wendy Sherman, spoke by telephone with House Foreign Affairs Committee members. “He (Kerry) said that the watch-
A double-decker bus collided with a passenger train in Canada’s capital Wednesday, ripping off the front of the bus and killing six people, police said. Page A6
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words are not ‘trust but verify,’ they are ‘verify and verify,’” Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in summing Kerry’s message at the session. “I think it reflects the fact that we’re dealing with a war zone, civil war under way, which makes it extremely difficult and we’re dealing with questionable allies in this SEE SYRIA | A8
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