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Mostly cloudy with scattered showers High 67, Low 39 Page C6
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‘Partial closure’ in Burkhart case
BEND-LA PINE
School district moves to cut days Money-saving measures await union approval
Police have identified a body pulled from the Deschutes River as that of Justin Burkhart, who had been missing for 11 months.
• Body ID’d as 28-year-old Bend man • Drowning suspected, but not foul play • Friends, co-workers say news is bittersweet; ‘We won’t have that hope anymore’ By Erin Golden The Bulletin
The body recovered from the Deschutes River near the Newport Avenue Bridge on Monday was that of a 28-year-old Bend man who went missing in August, police said Tuesday. Justin Burkhart was last seen in the
early morning hours of Aug. 1, when he left his apartment on Broadway Street in downtown Bend and headed to the Pita Pit for a snack. He was reported missing on Aug. 3 after he didn’t show up for work at Allyson’s Kitchen in The Old Mill District. After his disappearance, police
interviewed dozens of people, and search-and-rescue divers scoured Mirror Pond and nearby sections of the river, but found no sign of Burkhart. On Monday, officials finally got a break in the case when a group of Bend Park & Recreation District em-
ployees working in and around the river spotted what they thought was a body. Rescue workers pulled the body from the water, and it was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Clackamas, where an autopsy was performed Tuesday. See Burkhart / A4
Bubble-blowing weather
By Sheila G. Miller The Bulletin
The Bend-La Pine Schools board on Tuesday approved a memorandum of understanding that would, with union approval, cut the final two days of this school year and between five and 10 days for employees in the 2010-11 school year. “It’s unfortunate we have to do that,” Board chairman Peggy Kinkade told board members after the vote. The eliminated days are part of the district’s plan to deal with a $6.5 million shortfall brought on by a May 25 announcement from Gov. Ted Kulongoski, in which state agencies supported by taxes, like K12 schools, community colleges and universities were told they’d have to cut about 9 percent for the final 12 months of the 200911 biennium in order to deal with an expected half billion dollar shortfall.
By Nick Budnick The Bulletin
Cuts made statewide For K-12 education statewide, that means a reduction of $243 million, and for Bend-La Pine Schools that means $6.5 million from its approximately $120 million budget, which the board approved in May with various union concessions and funding cuts. Superintendent Ron Wilkinson told board members the teachers union is expected to finish voting on the proposed package, which will cut two days from the end of this school year as well as five school days next year for teachers. See Schools / A5
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Bend resident Sarah Bolling, 33, blows bubbles for her 21-month-old daughter, June, while playing in the warm weather in Bend on Tuesday.
Anti-incumbent rage bypasses Arkansas New York Times News Service
CHINA: Officials accuse North Korean guard in shootings, Page A3
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WASHINGTON — On a primary election night when the heralded anti-incumbency sentiment was expected to again demonstrate its strength, Sen. Blanche Lincoln proved there were clear limits to its power. Virtually written off as a likely victim of voter outrage at veteran politicians, Lincoln, a two-term Arkansas Democrat, showed that an experienced officeholder with money, message and determination still had a chance to prevail even in a toxic environment. “Blanche has proven once again she is a true independent voice for the people of Arkansas, but she is also a fighter for what she believes in and will never stop standing up for her convictions or for her state,” said Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
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Danny Johnston / The Associated Press
Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., greets supporters after claiming victory in the Democratic primary runoff election in Little Rock, Ark., on Tuesday.
A N A LY S I S
Not so fortunate While Lincoln survived to fight on in the general election, incumbents in both parties could not take much solace from the outcome in Arkansas. In South Carolina, Rep. Bob Inglis, a veteran Republican, was forced into a runoff election af-
ter finishing a distant second in the battle to hold on to his seat. And Gov. Jim Gibbons, Republican of Nevada, lost his primary. Inglis has broken with his party on occasion, and his status provided more evidence that the anger against incumbents
applied to both parties heading into November. Should he lose in the June 22 contest, he would be the third House incumbent to fall this year; two of those would be Republicans. “Both parties are having civil wars with their Washington establishments,” said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist. See Primary / A3
SALEM — Gov. Ted Kulongoski says the state’s new budget crunch shows that the Legislature needs to get serious about reforming government. Late last month, state economists released a forecast showing a $577 million gap between projected costs and revenues for the state’s general fund in the current 2009-11 budget cycle, because state income taxes won’t meet expectations. Kulongoski, whose agency heads are now preparing to cut 9 percent from their budget because of the news, said the drastic cuts — coming on top of cuts of nearly 15 percent made last year — merely underline the point he’s been making for a year now: The state needs to dramatically change the way it does business, and lawmakers cannot afford to wait. See Governor / A4
MIDDLE EAST
Turkey’s regional pursuits Leave West with questions By Mary Beth Sheridan The Washington Post
By Carl Hulse
TOP NEWS INSIDE
Governor touting reform
ISTANBUL — The women wore veils. The men donned green Hamas headbands with swirling Arabic script. They gathered by the thousands in a sunny, working-class plaza in Istanbul, bellowing: “Damn Israel!” The Saturday demonstration seemed incongruous with the image Turkey has long had in the West as a secular friend of Israel and the United States. But in recent days, public anger has flared over Israel’s bloody seizure of a Turkishflagged aid ship headed to the Gaza Strip, which is under an Israeli blockade. The incident occurred as Turkey has been strengthening ties with Muslim governments in the region — becoming more vocally pro-Palestinian and trying to head off new U.N. sanctions on Iran. That has prompted worried speculation at home and abroad: Is Turkey turning away from the West?
Independent policy Turkey’s Islamic-oriented government says no. And some analysts say the question is too simplistic. With a growing economy and self-assured leaders, this NATO member is emerging as a regional power
Inside • Turkey, Russia and Iran meet for summit, Page A6 with a more independent foreign policy, they say. “They want to be the big kid on the block,” said Henri Barkey, a Turkey expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. “They have essentially a very inflated sense of their own importance.”
‘Zero problems’ Turkey’s leaders have dubbed their foreign policy “zero problems with neighbors.” The country has dramatically improved relations with such one-time rivals as Syria, which used to harbor Turkish Kurdish guerrillas, and Iran, once feared for its potential to export Islamist radicalism. The new policy is based, in part, on expanding business ties. Turkey’s former state-dominated economy has grown rapidly, with the emergence of dynamic export centers — termed the Anatolian Tigers. Turkey’s trade with its neighbors grew more than 20 times from 1991 to 2008. See Turkey / A5