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• July 27, 2010 50¢
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TAKE COVER! Courtesy Oregon Department of Agriculture
More than 20 counties in Oregon have been infected by the cereal leaf beetle.
Fighting bugs with bugs: a tough sell to struggling local farmers
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ABOVE: Caitlyn Sakelik, 19, front, and Ashley Davis, 20, right, attempt to use a raft and float tubes to protect themselves from a sudden hailstorm Monday afternoon near the Bend Park & Recreation District office on the Deschutes River. Others behind them take shelter under surfboards, towels and a tarp. “We knew there was a chance (of a storm),” Sakelik said, “But we decided to take a chance (and float the river.) You never know.” More thunderstorms are in the forecast for today. RIGHT: Cars and trucks drive through floodwater Monday under an overpass on Third Street in Bend. City officials said a section of the street was closed for about an hour after a quick thunderstorm filled it with water. Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Is fresher blood better? Tests aim to settle issue By Lauran Neergaard The Associated Press
OIL SPILL: With well capped, surface oil now ‘moderate,’ Page A3
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Vol. 107, No. 208, 42 pages, 7 sections
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Distance to new schools irks some families By Patrick Cliff
By Lauren Dake It was first spotted in Crook County, threatening to wipe out farmers’ fields. The cereal leaf beetle can have a devastating impact. It attacks grains — oats, wheat, barley — and farmers can quickly lose the majority of their crop. In 2005, Madras farmer Bob Crocker lost about 40 percent of his wheat in three weeks. But the beetle has an enemy: a tiny parasitic wasp. The wasp hatches and grows inside the beetle’s larvae, killing the beetle. About four years ago, agriculture officials introduced the wasp to Central Oregon fields. For farmers in other parts of the state, the biological-control project has produced positive results. But for Central Oregon farmers, already battling the rough economy, fighting insects with insects seemed risky, and many were reluctant to experiment with biological control when times are already difficult. When officials first started introducing the tiny wasp, they told growers they needed to hold off on spraying insecticide for the project to work effectively. Enough beetles have to survive to host the wasp, and insecticides kill both the beetles and the host. But holding off on spraying can mean losing crops. “By the time you see you have damage, it’s too late to spray,” Crocker said. See Beetles / A5
REDMOND
WASHINGTON — Facing surgery? You could receive blood that’s been stored for a week, or three weeks, or nearly six — and there’s growing concern that people who get the older blood might not fare as well. It’s a question with big implications for the nation’s already tight blood supply. Blood is rotated almost like milk on the grocery shelf: The Food and Drug Administration allows red blood cells to be stored for 42 days, and hospitals almost always use the oldest in their refrigerators first to ensure none expires. How old the blood you receive is depends on how much the hospital has of your type that day. The average age of transfused blood is just over 16 days. This summer, hospitals around the country are launching major new research to try to settle if fresher blood really is better for at least some patients. And if so, they’re hunting ways to turn back the clock for older blood — like the University of Miami’s work to wash away some cellular debris — and offset any deterioration. Donated blood “saves lives every day. We certainly do not want to run out of it,” says Dr. Simone Glynn of
Richard Breitling has two children who, until last year, went to Tom McCall Elementary School in Redmond, less than four miles from the family home. But his kids are among about 1,300 — or about 50 percent — of the district’s elementary students who start at new schools in September. The district redrew its boundaries in January because Sage Elementary is opening this year, replacing Evergreen Elementary. Inside The Bre• What school itlings live will your in Tetherow child attend? Crossing, a Page A4 rural area northwest of Redmond that has about two dozen children who will go to Sage Elementary beginning in 2010-11. Now, the Breitlings’ ride to school will be about 7 miles. The changes have upset some families, whose children may attend a new school or have to ride the bus farther than in years past. And the changes may only be temporary. The district will have to redraw its boundaries again as it prepares to open the new high school in September 2012 and possibly convert the Hugh Hartman campus into a K-8 school. Some families in Tetherow Crossing were upset by the decision, but declined to speak for this story. District officials said the impact was minimal, though the bus ride will likely increase from about seven minutes to roughly 15 minutes. The district’s longer bus rides — Alfalfa to Tumalo, for instance — can take more than an hour. Breitling understands why the district redrew the boundaries, but he still is irritated by the decision. “A stone’s throw away is where the school (McCall) is now, and we’re going clear across town,” Breitling said. See Redmond / A4
Terrorism case baffles remote Alaska town Wikileaks flexes its growing clout By Kim Murphy
Los Angeles Times
J. Pat Carter / The Associated Press
Bags of blood wait to be checked and washed last week at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, part of the University of Miami’s work to wash away cellular debris and offset deterioration. the National Institutes of Health, which is spearheading the multimillion-dollar studies. See Blood / A4
KING SALMON, Alaska — He was the local weatherman, sending up weather balloons twice a day above this remote community of 450 fulltime residents near Bristol Bay and preparing short-term forecasts for pilots and fishermen. She was a stay-at-home mom who drove their 4-yearold to preschool, sang in the town choir and picked berries with her girlfriends. She took part in the community play, in which she portrayed a fairy godmother who acted as a prosecutor in court, confronting the Big Bad Wolf. So beloved were Paul Rockwood Jr. and his wife, Nadia, that when they left King Salmon in May to move to England, where Nadia was born, more than 30 people showed up at the Paul and airport. The choir sang “Wher- Nadia ever You Go,” and “people were Rockwood just bawling,” said Rebecca Hamon, a friend of the couple. What none of them could have known was that FBI agents were meeting the small turboprop plane in Anchorage to question the Rockwoods on suspicion of domestic terrorism. See Terrorism / A5
By Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick The Washington Post
Wikileaks’ decision to transfer tens of thousands of raw classified field reports on the Afghan war to The New York Times and two European news organizations reflects Inside the growing • Pressure strength and mounts on sophistication White House, of the small Page A3 nonprofit website, founded three years ago to fight what it considers excessive secrecy. Wikileaks.org founder Julian Assange called the release of nearly 92,000 individual reports portraying a sputtering Afghan war effort “the nearest analogue to the Pentagon Papers.” See Wikileaks / A4