Bulletin Daily Paper 01/29/10

Page 1

Sing along with ‘Oz’

Talking to your kids about bad news

You won’t be told to keep quiet during this Tower screening

FAMILY, E1

WEATHER TODAY

FRIDAY

Mostly cloudy, isolated showers High 45, Low 29 Page C8

• January 29, 2010 50¢

Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com

State, counties Stalled Bend solar project revived feel ‘urgency’ to find ways of being leaner By Nick Budnick The Bulletin

SALEM — Several separate efforts in Salem are seeking to make government more efficient, as the state faces a future of continuing budget shortfalls. There’s a cabinet set up by Gov. Ted Kulongoski, two legislative efforts and more, all with one goal: making government work better and cheaper. True, voters bailed out the current state budget as well as the county services it funds on Tuesday by passing two tax increases. But “there’s still a sense of urgency,” said Rep. Nancy Nathanson, DEugene, “in some counties in particular.” Counties are concerned that federal payments intended to replace lost timber revenues are scheduled to run out in 2011. But there’s urgency for state officials as well. Despite the passage of $730 million in tax increases, state budget analysts have prepared draft projections that the state’s expenses will grow an average 7.5 percent per year through 2019, even as revenue grows just 4 to 5 percent each year. Maintaining current government programs would lead to a potential fiscal hole of more than $4 billion by 2017. But deficits are not an option because unlike in Washington, D.C., the Oregon constitution requires a balanced budget. The governor’s group has been meeting regularly to find ways to make the demand for funds meet the supply. It’s about to go public in soliciting feedback on ideas that range from reforming K-12 education and criminal sentencing to splitting off the state’s university system into a separate entity. Tim Nesbitt, the governor’s chief of staff, said the task of prioritizing services is an ambitious one. “We have to reconsider all that we’ve been committing to do, and we have to find more efficient ways of meeting these responsibilities,” he said. See Efficient / A7

THE FUTURE OF NASA

By Kenneth Chang

Lake, and its north-facing slopes entice snowriders seeking

MON-SAT

We use recycled newsprint

Three Sisters Backcountry guides Shane Fox, left, and Jo-

U|xaIICGHy02329lz[

Vol. 107, No. 29, 68 pages, 7 sections

Wa ll

St.

Br

oo

Or

Mi nn

Av e.

La va

nA ve .

on Av e.

Ro ad

ta

kli

St.

t.

eso

Fra n

eg

Harriman St.

ks S

t.

DOWNTOWN BEND Greenwood Ave.

Parking garage

Greg Cross / The Bulletin

It is quickly becoming a mecca for Central Oregon backcountry skiers and snowboarders.

McArthur Rim near Sisters.

“Until you get up close to it, and stand there at the base of

The rim rises 1,500 feet above snow-covered Three Creek the rim, it’s hard to understand it’s a pretty magical spot,” Fox said.

deep, untouched powder.

For more about the trek, see Sports, Page D1.

Mother of rescued girl never gave up hope By Vivian Sequera and Michelle Faul

• The latest from Haiti, Page A4

Kerline Dorcant, 39, the mother of earthquake survivor Darlene Etienne, shows her daughter’s picture Thursday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — She is amazing her doctors, the 16-year-old choir girl who came close to dying but wouldn’t, in the crumbled concrete graveyard of Port-au-Prince. More than two weeks after the earthquake brought down her school — and a day after she was lifted from the ruins — Darlene Etienne was eating yogurt, talking and regaining her strength Thursday. “We are very surprised at the fact that she is still alive,” said

Dr. Evelyne Lambert, who is caring for her on a French hospital ship offshore. One who didn’t seem surprised was the girl’s mother, a poor rice-and-vegetable peddler. “I never thought she was dead,” Kerline Dorcant, 39, told The Associated Press. “I always thought she was alive.” Why? “It’s God” hearing a mother’s nonstop prayers, she said. See Haiti / A7

Abby

Classified

F1-6

Editorial

Comics

E4-5

Family

Andres Leighton / The Associated Press

Business

B1-4

Calendar

E3

Crossword

E5, F2

Horoscope

Photos by The Associated Press

J.D. Salinger, top, and Howard Zinn, two bestselling authors, were mourned by their fans as news of the authors’ deaths spread Thursday.

TOP NEWS INSIDE

INDEX E2

OBITUARIES, PAGE C4

Inside

The Associated Press

The Bulletin An Independent Newspaper

Av e.

Andy Tullis / The Bulletin

Clarification In a McClatchy-Tribune News Service story headlined “This is nuclear’s year,” which appeared Sunday, Jan. 24, on Page A1, an accompanying photo implied a nuclear power plant in Elma, Wash., was functioning. The plant, part of a failed nuclear energy project in the 1970s, was never finished.

ort

A little hard work leads to a whole lot of fun nas Tarlen, both of Bend, skin up a ridge Wednesday on Tam

President Barack Obama will end NASA’s return mission to the moon and turn to private companies to launch astronauts into space when he unveils his budget request to Congress next week, an administration official said Thursday. The shift would “put NASA on a more sustainable and ambitious path to the future,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. But the changes have angered some members of Congress, particularly from Texas, the location of the Johnson Space Center, and Florida, the location of the Kennedy Space Center. “My biggest fear is that this amounts to a slow death of our nation’s human space flight program,” Rep. Bill Posey, R-Fla., said in a statement. Obama’s request, which will be announced on Monday, would add $6 billion over five years to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s budget compared with projections last year. See NASA / A6

Ne wp

ADVENTURE SPORTS: TAM MCARTHUR RIM

Obama plan ditches return to the moon, privatizes missions New York Times News Service

lic entities have teamed with private companies, which can benefit from tax credits aimed at encouraging renewable energy projects. Public entities don’t pay taxes, so they can’t receive federal or state tax credits. The Oregon Public Utility Commission gave its OK to projects like Bend’s, but the economic downturn further delayed it. At one point, city officials thought they might have to return the grant money, but last year, they decided to push ahead with their plans. See Solar / A6

nd

By this summer, Bend’s downtown parking garage will be powered — at least in part — by the sun. After a more than two-year delay, the city is moving forward with plans to install solar panels on the roof of the garage and expects to begin construction within the next two months. Once they go up, the panels are expected to generate 200 kilowatts of electricity, which will help the city cut energy costs and provide about 50 percent of the power the garage needs to operate.

Downtown Manager Jeff Datwyler said the city started talking about a solar project in 2006, when it agreed to partner with SunEnergy Power Corp., a Bend company that planned to install the solar panels. The following year, the city received a $400,000 grant from Pacific Power and moved forward with design plans for the project. But plans stalled after SunEnergy struggled to come up with financing, and PacifiCorp, the parent company of Pacific Power, challenged publicprivate energy partnerships like the one between Bend and SunEnergy. Around the state, cities and other pub-

Bo

The Bulletin

Wa ll S

By Erin Golden

C6 E1-6 E5

Movies Obituaries Sports

GO! 30 C4 D1-4

Stocks

B2-3

TV listings

E2

Weather

C8

OBAMA: White House hints at plans while GOP wants change, Page A3


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.