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THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2014
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Larvicide mutes mosquitoes
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Audit: ODOT losing funds for highway, bridge projects
Egyptian Theatre reopening
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
BANDON — Officials say larvicide application is successfully squashing Bandon’s mosquito population. Coos County Commissioner John Sweet said at Tuesday’s meeting that the larvicide Vector Disease Control International is applying to ponds within the Ni-les’tun Unit of the Bandon Marsh National Wildlife Refuge is working. A fixed-wing aircraft applied Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis, or Bti, to areas of concern Sunday, according to the Vector Assessment and Control Committee’s website. The areas that couldn’t be reached by air were treated on foot Monday and Tuesday using gas-powered blowers. The goal is to prevent the Aedes dorsalis larvae
BY HANNAH HOFFMAN Statesman Journal
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Social Security closes offices as millions retire BY STEPHEN OHLEMACHER The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Budget cuts have forced the Social Security Administration to close dozens of field offices even as millions of baby boomers approach retirement, swamping the agency with applications for benefits, a senior agency official told Congress on Wednesday. Better Internet access and more online services are easing the transition, said Nancy Berryhill, the agency’s deputy commissioner for operations. “We are fully committed — now and in the future — to sustaining a field office structure that provides fa c e - to - fa c e service for those customers who need or prefer such service,” The Associated Press Berryhill told Nancy A. Berryhill, the Social Security the Senate Administration’s deputy commissioner S p e c i a l for operations, testifies Wednesday on Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Aging. “We also Senate Aging Committee. understand, however, that customer expectations are evolving due to changes in technology, demographics and other factors.” Senators appeared unconvinced. “The fact of the matter is, millions of seniors and disabled Americans are not accustomed to doing business online,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the top Republican on the Aging Committee. “Even as computer and broadband technologies become more widespread, the idea that the Social Security Administration can serve beneficiaries primarily online ignores the very real needs of the senior and disabled populations.” The committee held a hearing Wednesday after issuing a bipartisan report showing that Social Security has
By Lou Sennick, The World
J.W. White paints some trim on the front of the Egyptian Theatre in downtown Coos Bay on Wednesday afternoon as things are in their final push for the grand reopening Friday. After being closed since March 2011 because of safety concerns in the structure, it is set to reopen Friday evening with tours, music from the Mighty Wurlitzer and a silent film with live music.
Coming back to life Mummified since 2011, a new dynasty for historic theater will dawn this weekend ■
More online: See the special video package today, with more videos coming this weekend at theworldlink.com.
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
COOS BAY — The Egyptian Theatre building in downtown Coos Bay, at 229 S. Broadway on U.S. Highway 101, has existed in many forms since its creation in 1922. It will add one more when the Egyptian Theatre Preservation Association holds a “grand reopening” this weekend. The new SEE EGYPTIAN | A8
SEE CLOSURES | A8
The trend toward fuel-efficient cars is reducing the gas tax revenue traditionally used to pay for the Oregon Department of Transportation’s highway projects, forcing the department to rely on short-term bonds and hurting its ability to plan, according to an audit released Tuesday by the Oregon Secretary of State’s office. The problem is that revenue has dropped just as Oregon is on the cusp of needing to repair and replace most of its bridges and highways. At the same time, the department is in the midst of cutting staff by 5 percent over the next five years in response to the decline in revenue, and it is relying more heavily on temporary employees, whose positions are easier to pay for with limited-duration bond funds. The result is a possible loss of the skills and labor needed to complete all the bridge and highway projects the state needs to do over the coming decades, according to the audit. “Oregon, like much of the country, faces a significant transportation infrastructure challenge,” the audit said. “During the 1950s and 1960s, the country made a huge investment in highways and bridges, including Interstate 5 through Oregon. As these investments age, repair and replacement needs increase.” By 2030, the state will need to put nearly $6 billion into replacing infrastructure, the audit found. By 2040, repairs and replacements will together cost nearly $7 billion. Oregon does not have that kind of money for infrastructure projects. The federal gas tax has not been raised since 1993, and average fuel economy has increased by 22 percent over the past decade. Congress has passed legislation to temporarily supplement that lost revenue, and Oregon has passed three bonding packages in 2001, 2003 and 2009. (The most recent package included an increase to Oregon’s gas tax.) Today, bonds make up 40 percent of ODOT’s $1.9 billion budget and pay for dozens of projects, which has increased the department’s workload at the same time it has had to cut staff. In short: Fewer people are doing more work. For example, work in the Salem-Metro Region is expected to exceed staff capacity in each of the next five years. Go to StatesmanJournal.com to see the entire Secretary of State’s audit of the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Yellen: US economy still needs help from Federal Reserve
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about when it will start raising its benchmark short-term rate. appeared investors Stock pleased with the message that rates would remain low. Major indexes surged more than half a percentage point, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 index reaching a record. And the yield on the 10-year Treasury note dipped to 2.59 percent from 2.65 percent late Tuesday.
Graham Wilkins Sr., White City Josephine Ludwick, Bandon Martin Earle, Coquille Olga Crnkovich, North Bend Harold Conrad, North Bend
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The Associated Press
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's news conference appears on a television monitor on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Phillip Smith, Coos Bay John Clauson, Powers Joanne Mulkey, Myrtle Point
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signs of creeping inflation, the Fed sees no need to raise short-term interest rates from record lows anytime soon. Her remarks followed a statement from the Fed that it would further slow the pace of its longterm bond purchases. The bond purchases have been intended to keep long-term loan rates low. But the Fed offered no clear signal
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy still isn’t healthy enough to grow at a consistently strong pace without the Federal Reserve’s help. That was the message Fed Chair Janet Yellen sent Wednesday at a news conference after the central bank ended a two-day policy meeting. Yellen made clear that despite a steadily improving job market and
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