BAD START
US INVOLVEMENT CONTINUES
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9/11 anniversary nears, A6
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2014
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Police recover woman’s body
Obama outlines new US mission Effort against Islamic State may include airstrikes in Syria
Yet, only half of third graders in five schools passed reading ■
BY JULIE PACE The Associated Press
BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
COOS BAY — Oregon students didn’t show dramatic improvement on state tests last year, new data shows, though there were a few bright spots of success on the South Coast. The Oregon Department of Education released the 2013-2014 Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills results Wednesday. D e p u t y Superintendent Rob Saxton OAKS glossed over the report, noting scores there were no Go to theglaring increasworldlink.com es or decreases to see the from the year breakdown of prior. student OAKS By this time scores in next year, school graphs, charts districts will be and databases. poring through an entirely new set of data, since students will take the Smarter Balanced assessments instead of OAKS this spring. That doesn’t mean this data isn’t important, said Christopher Mazzeo, Education Northwest director of evidence use and policy. “They matter as a snapshot of one data source about performance in the last year,” he said. “With a new test next year, it will take some time to fully understand. “It will be very hard to compare from previous years’ data on OAKS to Smarter Balanced and I would discourage people from trying. Eventually, we’ll have more Smarter Balanced data, so we can understand what that means.” There were impressive gains and plummeting OAKS scores on the South Coast: ■ Nearly every single high school enjoyed increased writing scores. ■ Only half of third-graders in five schools passed reading. ■ Science and math scores are all over the board, though a few high schools have made steady improvement over the last few years. Gov. John Kitzhaber and his supporting education agencies are laser-focused on his “40-40-20” goal. By 2025, Kitzhaber wants to see a 100 percent high school completion rate. Over the next 11 years, Oregon has a long way to go. During the 2012-13 school year, 69 percent graduated. With a 100 percent high school completion goal, the 40-40-20
Photos by Thomas Moriarty, The World
A U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer prepares to be lowered into the bay via helicopter Tuesday afternoon near the oil tanks on U.S. Highway 101 in North Bend.The Coast Guard was called to assist police and fire personnel after a car went into the water around 3 p.m.
Stolen car plunges into the bay
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BY THOMAS MORIARTY The World
The proposed Pacific Gales golf course near Port Orford is back before the Curry County Planning Commission this week. The commission approved a conditional use permit for the project early this year, but Elk River Property Development LLC withdrew the proposal after it was appealed to the Land Use Board of Appeals by Oregon Coast Alliance. The developers revamped the proposal, and hope this time they can get the project through the permitting process and past any objections from ORCA. “We’re pretty positive this could happen,” said Troy Russell, the project manager. “We’ve spent a lot of time cleaning this up.” Because the land is zoned exclusive farm use, a conditional use permit is required to build the
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He said the woman hasn't been identified, but Ken Ware told police the car had been stolen from their lot.
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New fishing rule protects endangered seabird BY JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press GRANTS PASS — Federal fisheries managers have proposed a new rule requiring West Coast commercial fishermen who unroll long lines of baited hooks on the ocean bottom also put out long lines of fluttering plastic to scare off seabirds trying to steal the bait. The proposed rule published Tuesday in the Federal Register is designed to protect the endangered short-tailed albatross, which once numbered in the millions but is
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down to about 1,200 individuals. The West Coast is the last piece of U.S. waters within the range of the short-tailed albatross to adopt the protective measures, which are already in effect for waters off Alaska and Hawaii, said Rob Suryan, a research associate professor of fisheries at Oregon State University. The public has 30 days to comment on the proposed rule, which is expected to take effect in November. The protective measures are known as streamer lines, which are
towed in the water from a high point on the boat. Brightly colored tubing hanging from the lines flutters, scaring off the birds. The new rule affects about 270 fishing boats using longlines to target primarily sablefish, also known as black cod, a fishery with average West Coast landings of $33 million a year. Albatross tend to flock behind fishing boats in the deep waters at the edge of the Continental Shelf where sablefish are caught, Suryan said. Dave Hedrick, who fishes for black cod out of Seattle, says he has
Young inventor Muriel Paulsen, Coquille Charles McInerney, North Bend
Obituaries | A5
Salem girl’s solar water filtration system could help in emergencies. Her project is in the semifinals of a national contest. Page A5
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Paramedics wrap themselves in towels after diving into the bay by the oil terminals in North Bend on Tuesday afternoon to search for the occupant of a car that went into the water around 3 p.m.
STATE
BY JOHN GUNTHER
NORTH BEND — Police say they recovered a woman’s body from a stolen car that went into Coos Bay on Tuesday afternoon. Sgt. Curt Bennett of the North Bend Police Department said witnesses saw the red Chevrolet Cruze sedan speed down Newmark Street into the bay around 3 p.m. The first paramedics on scene quickly donned life jackets and jumped into the water to attempt a rescue. A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and rescue swimmer arrived on scene within minutes, and the swimmer was dropped into the water to retrieve the body. North Bend Fire and Rescue also deployed a boat as part of their response. Bennett said dispatchers had gotten a report of a suicidal subject in the area of the Coca-Cola bottling plant shortly before the crash.
DEATHS
Pacific Gales goes back to planning commission
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South Coast scores improve
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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will outline in an address to the nation Wednesday night an expanded military and political effort to combat Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, possibly including airstrikes in Syria, officials said. The president will also urge Congress to quickly give him authority to arm moderate Syrian opposition forces fighting President Bashar Assad. But administration officials said Obama will press forward with other priorities without formal authorization from lawmakers. That could include wide-ranging airstrikes in Iraq and perhaps Syria as well. Other elements of Obama’s plan included increased support for Iraqi security forces, as well as military and diplomatic commitments from partners in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. After an hour-long discussion leaders with congressional Tuesday, the White House said Obama told lawmakers that he “has the authority he needs to take action” against the Islamic State militants. The White House added that the president still would welcome action from Congress that would “aid the overall effort and demonstrate to the world that the United States is united in defeating the threat.” For Obama, a sustained U.S. intervention in the Middle East is at odds with the vision he had for the region when he ran for president on a pledge to end the war in Iraq, where the role of American fighting forces drew to a close nearly three years ago. The timing of his announcement Wednesday night was all the more striking, scheduled in prime time just hours before anniversary commemora-
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been required to use streamer lines for years in Alaska, and they work well, but he expects that some fishermen will not like making the change. “Nobody really likes changes to how they are doing things,” said Hedrick. “But as an industry, we don’t really want to catch birds. It’s not socially OK. It’s not environmentally OK.” And it’s bad for business because fishermen can be plagued by flocks of fulmars and gulls, and “baits
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