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MONDAY, JULY 28, 2014
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Schools tweak transfer limits NB letting in transfers in each upper-level grade; CB halts transfers because of bursting classrooms
BY CHELSEA DAVIS
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The World
COOS BAY — Coos Bay school officials are holding off on transfer requests since class sizes are already pushing the limit. “At this point, we have no room in K-7 ... because our numbers are high,” said Coos Bay schools
Superintendent Dawn Granger. “We do have some families, unfortunately, waiting on word from us for K-7 placement because of our numbers.” Class projections are already pushing 23 to 28 students in the lower grades, even approaching 30 in seventh grade at Sunset Middle School. These classes include students from this spring, nonresident
students who have been grandfathered in and families who moved here this summer. But students are always coming and going; what if a family moved to the district with third grade triplets? Granger asked at the July 14 school board meeting. “I would hate to roll the dice when it comes to class size,” she
said. “Do we want to do that to our teachers?” Any nonresident families who apply for a transfer to grades K-7 in Coos Bay will be put on a waiting list until further notice. The board will have a better idea of fall enrollment following registration Aug. 20-22. SEE TRANSFERS | A8
Misplacing a burden on hospices
Coos County Fair rides into the sunset
South Coast Hospice helps reverse a federal order that could have caused some end-of-life care programs to close ■
BY TIM NOVOTNY The World
administration wants to measure, or even talk about. “This is the single biggest flaw in U.S. climate policy,” said Roger Martella, the former general counsel at the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush. “Although the administration is moving forward with climate change regulations at home, we don’t consider how policy decisions in the United States impact greenhouse gas emissions in other parts of the world.” Over the past six years, American energy companies have sent more coal than ever before to other parts of the world, in some cases to places with more lax environmental standards. The consequence: This global shell game makes the U.S. appear to be making more progress than it is on global warming. That’s because it shifts some pollution —
COOS BAY — Hospice programs all over the country are still breathing a sigh of relief, after proving that an organized message can work wonders. Hospices across the country received a federal guidance document earlier this year that sent them, many felt, down a dangerous road. In June, with two local workers being asked to take part, hospices organized a mission to Washington, D.C., to try and change that direction. A guidance is typically a set of instructions from a regulatory agency. In this case, it came from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, also known as CMS. Linda Furman Grile, the director of South Coast Hospice in Coos Bay, says the order ended up putting an undue burden on hospice programs by forcing them to pay for extra medications that were not related to the patients terminal condition. According to documents delivered to CMS officials, in protest of the guidance, the order basically established a procedure that intended to limit instances where Medicare Part D was being forced, inappropriately, to cover prescription medications that were related to the patients terminal condition. Oregon Rep. Peter DeFazio was among the Congressmen in Washington who came to the aid of the hospices, helping to secure a reversal of the guidance order earlier this month. In an email to The World last week, the congressman said he “went to bat for organizations such as South Coast Hospice” to prevent federal policy from interrupting or delaying a patient’s access to appropriate medical care. “These nonprofits are doing good work in their communities and the federal government should help them, not hurt them,” he wrote. “There have been rare instances of fraud but in the effort to go after the bad guys we shouldn’t be punishing those organizations providing good services.” That punishment, some hospice officials say, would have likely
SEE POLLUTION | A8
SEE BURDEN | A8
By Alysha Beck, The World
Wylie Farmer from Myrtle Point hangs on while riding a calf during the kids rodeo events Friday night at the Coos County Rodeo. See more photos from the rodeo on Page A3.
After 6 weeks, finally a deal on VA health care
BY MATTHEW DALY The Associated Press
INSIDE
WASHINGTON — After more than six weeks of sometimes testy talks, House and Senate negotiators have agreed on a compromise plan to fix a veterans health program scandalized by long patient wait times and falsified records covering up delays. The chairmen of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees have scheduled a news conference Monday afternoon to unveil a plan expected to authorize billions in emergency spending to lease 27 new clinics, hire more doctors and nurses and make it easier for veterans who can’t get prompt appointments
Police reports . . . . A2 What’s Up. . . . . . . . A2 Fair photo page . . . A3 Opinion. . . . . . . . . . A4
with VA doctors to obtain outside care. An agreement reached Sunday by Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was a long time coming. The House and Senate approved bills on veterans health care in early June, and lawmakers from both parties said they expected a final bill by July 4. Instead, negotiators met once in public, then disappeared or held private meetings that produced few results. Talks reached a low point last Thursday, as Sanders and Miller had a public spat that appeared to leave the two sides far apart, with only days remaining until Congress goes on a five-week recess. Sanders, who chairs the Senate veterans panel, and Miller, chairman of the House panel, repeatedly lashed out at each SEE VETERANS | A8
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U.S. is sending dirty coal to countries with less stringent guidelines ■
BY DINA CAPPIELLO The Associated Press
NEWPORT NEWS, Va.— As the Obama administration weans the U.S. off dirty fuels blamed for global warming, energy companies have been sending more of America’s unwanted energy leftovers to other parts of the world where they could create even more pollution. This fossil fuel trade threatens to undermine President Barack Obama’s strategy for reducing the gases blamed for climate change and reveals a little-discussed side effect of countries acting alone on a global problem. The contribution of this exported pollution to global warming is not something the
Western wildfires
NEWS OF THE WEST
Agreement reached just days before 5-week recess for Congress ■
Exporting our pollution problems abroad
Fires in California and Washington rage on, while firefighters in Oregon get a handle on biggest fire. Page A5
FORECAST
More online: See daily photo galleries of the Coos County Fair, including the rodeo at theworldlink.com.
Mostly sunny 64/56 Weather | A8
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