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MONDAY October 26,2015
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bendbulletin.corn TODAY' S READERBOARD
Clean Fuels
OREGON STATEPOLICE FORENSIC PROBE
World Series — New faces
rin
have helped theRoyals reach the World Series for a second consecutive season.B1
program's
I n:
next threat: disputed science
4
By Claire Withycombe
By Taylor W. Anderson
The Bulletin
The Bulletin
S'trnng armS —Thestate' s
A multiagency inquiry
top arm-wrestlers battle it out at the World Wrestling League Oregon State Championships.
into allegations that an Or-
B1
A need for nitpickersCases of lice are onthe rise, and so is the needfor lice removal professionals.A3
PORTLAND — Before starting to implement
egon State Police forensic analyst tampered with evidence at the agency's Bend crime lab grew last week to include evidence in cases
Oregon's low-carbon fuel standard, the state must first deal with some math
that is both complicated and controversial.
the analyst wasn't assigned
To make sure the pro-
to and evidence processed during her employment at
gram actually cuts as many emissions as pur-
another lab.
ported under the complex
Nika Larsen, 35, a forensic analyst with the agency
renewable fuel policy, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is considering adopting models that account for the greenhouse gases indirectly emitted by renewable fuels when land is used to
Tee to Green — Getting
since 2007, has been placed
the competitive juices flowing again — after 27 years. B1
on administrative leave pending an internal investigation into the allegations
And a Webexclusive
— Lasers mayeasepain for "napalm girl," who through a photograph became a living symbol of the VietnamWar. bentfbulletin.cern/extras
by Oregon State Police, announced last month. Deschutes County District
El Nino is spreading mayhem worldwide
of food. The concept is
tified local defense attorneys
Wednesday his office may need to expand its inquiry to include cases Larsen wasn' t
EDITOR'SCHOICE
produce biofuels instead
Attorney John Hummel no-
assigned to. Larsen had worked at the
known as indirect land use
change, or ILUC. That type of accounting is a new and disputed science between climate experts and the companies
Photos by Andy Tuiiis/The Bulletin
Brian Medlock, director of the Oregon State Police forensic lab in Bend, places a vial into a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer instrument, which is designed to confirm a substance of interest.
Bend lab since 2012.
Hummel has released a list of active and closed cases — more than 500 total — in Deschutes County that
include evidence that was submitted to the lab for anal-
ysis by Larsen. State police maintain the ongoing inves-
that must comply with the
tigation prevents them from what could have prevented it. according to OSP's Forensic releasing a broader list of the The lab in Bend conducts Services Division. As a rule, cases Larsen was assigned biological processing, analy- the lab documents who has to since 2012. sis of controlled substances, access to what evidence to And while Larsen has not field investigations and maintain the integrity of the been convicted of any crime, latent fingerprint analysis evidence, said the lab's direcif the tampering did take for law enforcement agentor, Brian Medlock. cies throughout the region, See Impact/A6 place, it remains to be seen
low-carbon fuel program. It is maligned by some biofuels companies and revered by climate scientists
who say it's the only way to potentially cut emissions
through the low-carbon fuel standard. See Fuels /A6
Debt and low polls: - campaign kryptonite
By Brian Sullivan Bloomberg News
It has choked Singapore with smoke, triggered Pacific typhoons and left Vietnamese coffee growers staring nervously at dwindling reservoirs. In Africa, cocoa farmers are blaming it for bad harvests, and in the Americas, it has
Argentines bracing for lower milk production and Californians believing that rain is finally, mercifully on the way.
By Noah Bierman Tribune Washington Bureau
Hatt pro @,
El Nino is back and in a
big way. Its effects are just beginning in much of the world — for the most part, it hasn't really reached
WASHINGTON-
Dropping out of a presidential race is a humbling experience. Consider Scott Walker.
The Wisconsin governor spent August and September outlining plans to remake the nation's economy and pontificating on the
North America — and yet
it's already shaping up potentially as one of the three
global threat of Russian
strongest El Nino patterns
aggression. Then his campaign
since record-keeping began
crashed.
in 1950. It will dominate weather's many twists and
A week later, he was back at his day job and honoring Hilda the Holstein at the state's Cow of
turns through the end of this year and well into next. And it's causing gyrations in everything from the
Brian Medlock, director of the Oregon State Police forensic leb in Bend, works in the chemistry area of the lab Thursday.
the Year presentation.
See Candidates /A4
price of Colombian coffee to the fate of cold-water fish.
Expect "major disruptions, widespread droughts and floods," Kevin Trenberth, distinguished senior scientist at the National
Russia's young patriots are training for the military
Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. In principle, with advance warning, El Nino can be managed and pre-
By Carol J. Williams
Related
Los Angeles Times
• Russian presence nearundersea cables a concern for U.S.,A2
pared for, "but without that
warren of cinder-block
knowledge, all kinds of mayhem will let loose."
apartments in north Moscow, children play on swings and
knife-throwing nearby. Thirteen-year-old Andrei Polivoi is aiming his knife at
In the simplest terms, an El Nino pattern is a warm-
climbing bars as Stepan Zotov
a foam cushion about the size
instructs a squad of teens in
and shape of a human chest
MOSCOW — In a playground outside a shabby
that's propped up on a metal stair landing. Four of his five throws miss and clatter noisily
"Service to the fatherland, Zotov founded Our Army, one of thousands of "military-pamilitary honor and fortitude
onto the stairs. "Not bad for your first try
triotic youth organizations" answering President Vladimir
— attaboy!" Zotov proclaims withanencouragingclap on the disheartened boy' s shoulder.
It's been five years since
Putin's call for preparing the next generation of Russian soldiers as the Kremlin flex-
es its reinvigorated military
muscle abroad. are the best prevention against
any socially dangerous conduct," says the 30-year-old, a lawyer and activist with the
nationalist Rodina party. See Patriots /A3
ing of the equatorial Pacific caused by a weakening of the trade winds that nor-
mally push sun-warmed waters to the west. This
triggers a reaction from the atmosphere above. See El Nino/A4
TODAY'S WEATHER Partly sunny High 55, Low 29 PageBS
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