Northwest Public Radio News

Alaska's Cleveland Volcano Spews Ash

Posted: Thursday, December 29, 2011

The Alaska Volcano Observatory has raised the alert level for that state's Cleveland Volcano. Chris Nye works for the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Fairbanks. He says his agency detected an ash cloud drifting from the Cleveland early Thursday morning.

Chris Nye: "Cleveland is a volcano that has been sputtering on and off for several months without exploding and producing an ash cloud. And so it's sort of the ash cloud that ups the ante and causes the increase from yellow to orange."

Nye says satellite images show the ash cloud is drifting Southeast at about 15,000 feet. He says it does not pose any threat to international air traffic. The volcano's most recent significant eruption was in 2001 ... and produced three explosive events with ash clouds as high as 39,000 feet.

Copyright 2011 Alaska Public Radio Network

Alaska's Cleveland Volcano Spews Ash

Oregon's Minimum Wage Workers Get a Raise In 2012

Posted: Thursday, December 29, 2011

The New Year brings a boost in Oregon's minimum wage. It's going up 30 cents, to $8.80 an hour.

Bob Estabrook is with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. He says state law requires his agency to adjust minimum wage each year according to the consumer price index.

Estabrook: "Comparing August of this year to August of last year, which is our time period we're supposed to look at, there was almost a 3.8 % increase in the CPI, so 3.8 % inflation. So we adjust the minimum wage to keep pace with that, round it off to the nearest nickel."

Estabrook says more than 144,000 Oregonians were making minimum wage in 2011. Washington's minimum wage is also going up, to $9.04 an hour. It's the highest in the nation.

Copyright 2011 KLCC.

Oregon's Minimum Wage Workers Get a Raise In 2012

Hedwig’s Brethren Make Rare Trip To Northwest

A Snowy owl. Photo by Pat Gaines/fws.gov

Posted: Thursday, December 29, 2011

Birder message boards are lighting up this winter over a rare migration of Arctic bird into the Northwest. Snowy owls -- made famous by the Harry Potter series -- have been sighted in Washington, Oregon and even parts of Idaho. And our lack of snow this year is making the imposing white bird even easier to spot in Northwest evergreens.

Harry Potter's snowy owl Hedwig is the closest most of us in the U.S. ever come to a sighting. Until this year. North America is experiencing a snowy owl irruption – that's an ecological irruption with an “i,” not the volcanic kind with an “e.”

Roy Lowe works for the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex where there have already been a handful of big white owl sightings. He says a boom year for lemmings in the Arctic inspired massive snowy owl breeding last spring.

Roy Lowe: “And then of course as winter approaches, you have all these young birds looking for food, and not able to make a go of it, so they move south.”

The regional hotspot for snowy owls is Damon Point near Ocean Shores, Wash. Though carloads of birdwatchers reportedly flocked to see one recently in Albany, Ore. A few of the birds have also made stops in Idaho, according to the national bird observation site eBird.

The young and hungry snowy owls are expected to stick around, snacking on Northwest rodents through March.

Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network

On the Web:

Snowy owl observation map
http://ebird.org/ebird/map/snoowl1?neg=true&env.minX=&env.minY=&env.maxX=&env.maxY=&zh=false&gp=false&mr=on&bmo=10&emo=12&yr=2011-2011&byr=2011&eyr=2011

The Oregon Birding List
http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/OBOL.html

Tweeters (Washington bird sightings)
http://www.scn.org/tweeters/

Snowy Owls

Commission Recommends More Judicial Discretion Over Oregon Sentencing

Posted: Thursday, December 29, 2011

A commission on public safety is recommending that Oregon judges have more discretion over prison sentences. The blue ribbon panel has been looking at ways to trim corrections spending. It will submit its report to the governor on Friday. The draft document says that ballot measures -- instead of what commissioners call “business principles” -- dominate prison sentencing in Oregon. Democratic state Senator Floyd Prozanski helped draft the report with fellow commissioners on a conference call.

Floyd Prozanski: "We are looking at how do we allow the third branch of government, in this instance and specifically the judiciary and the judges within there, to exercise the power that was given to them under the founding fathers in the constitution."

Oregon's prison population has risen significantly over the past 20 years and so have the costs of incarceration. The commission recommends using a cost-benefit analysis when considering sentencing reforms. The latest forecast the state’s prison population shows Oregon will need for an additional 2,000 prison beds by the end of this decade.

Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network

Commission Recommends More Judicial Discretion Over Oregon Sentencing

Washington Marijuana Legalization Initiative Signatures Turned In

Posted: Thursday, December 29, 2011

A group that supports the legalizing marijuana says it turned in about 355,000 signatures to Washington’s secretary of state Thursday. That’s more than enough to qualify an initiative. But as correspondent Anna King reports, those within the legalize marijuana community are split on the measure.

New Approach Washington is the group backing a state initiative called I-502. It would legalize small amounts of marijuana for those 21 or older. It would also put controls on driving under the influence, regulate sales and tax the drug. Big names are backing this initiative: Rick Steves the travel guru, Democratic state Representative Mary Lou Dickerson and Pete Holmes, Seattle’s City Attorney. Holmes says marijuana would be a huge cash crop for the state of Washington.

Pete Holmes: “Let’s stop handing over this incredible market to international criminal drug cartels and instead regulate it, make sure it stays out of the hands of children, that people are not driving while stoned and that we are taxing it.”

A group called November Coalition is against the initiative. It argues the proposed regulations are too strict and that marijuana should be available in more than just state-licensed stores.

I’m Anna King reporting.

Copyright 2011 Northwest Public Radio

On the web:

http://www.newapproachwa.org

Washington Marijuana Legalization Initiative Signatures Turned In

Redistricting Commission At Impasse Over Latino Population

Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The bipartisan commission in charge of redrawing Washington's political boundaries is mulling over a new draft Congressional map. But when it comes to redrawing state legislative boundaries, the commission is at an impasse. The issue is how to apportion the Latino population east of the Cascades.

Washington's Latino population grew by 70 percent between 2000 and 2010. But commissioners are split over how to reflect that change in the legislative map – particularly in the Yakima Valley. Dean Foster is the Democrat who's been working on the map:

Dean Foster: “What is on the table here is one district that is a higher percentage Hispanic and minority or two districts that are a little bit lower Hispanic percentages. Maybe not even 50 percent.”

Foster and his Republican colleague Tom Huff agree on the concept of making a largely Hispanic legislative district, but Huff says they haven’t been able to agree on the details.

Tom Huff: “I'm pro-Hispanic. My history indicates that, my record indicates that, and my maps indicate that.”

Meanwhile, the commission is also working on Washington's new Congressional map. A bipartisan proposal would create a district that would cover a largely minority population between Seattle and Tacoma. It also puts a new 10th Congressional district squarely over Olympia.

Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network

Redistricting Commission At Impasse

Washington State Receives Federal Bonus

Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Washington State received more than $16 million in what the feds call a performance bonus. The money rewards states for signing up low income children for publicly funded programs. In Washington, kids who qualify are enrolled in either Medicaid, or Apple Health for Kids.

Cindy Mann is deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. She says the dollars that each state gets are tied to the number of children and to state costs for covering those kids.

MANN: “Part of the reason for the bonus is that it helps defray the costs of the state has already incurred by adding more kids to its program.”

The bonus payment also rewards states for streamlining the enrollment process. For example, Washington does not require applicants to appear in person for a face-to-face interview when renewing their coverage.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of kids in the U.S. with health coverage has increased by more than a million since the Children’s Health Insurance Program was reauthorized in 2009.

Other Northwest states were awarded bonus payments. They include Oregon, which received more than $22 million, and Idaho, which received $1.3 million.

I’m Ruby de Luna, reporting.

Washington State Receives Federal Bonus

First Bipartisan Agreement Reached On Washington's Congressional Map

Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Washington’s political redistricting commission has its first Congressional map that at least one Democrat and one Republican can agree on. The two have not released details yet.

Members of the Washington Redistricting Commission plan to release a map Wednesday that could demarcate the state's Congressional boundaries for the next 10 years.

It was a breakthrough for Washington's Redistricting Commission: the first bipartisan Congressional district plan. Population growth in the 2010 Census earned Washington another House seat –- bringing it to an even 10.

Democratic commissioner Tim Ceis says he and his Republican colleague, Slade Gorton, reached a compromise on how to carve that seat out of Washington's political map.

“Hopefully the other commissioners will see it as we do, that it's a good fair equal plan,” Ceis says.

One of the questions that proved contentious at earlier public meetings is whether to create a “majority-minority” district. That is, a district largely made up of minority voters, likely around the Renton-Kent-South Seattle area. It’s not clear yet how this plan addresses that question.

The Washington Redistricting Commission has until Sunday to come up with maps both for the state's new Congressional and legislative lines.

On the Web:

Washington State Redistricting Commission
http://www.redistricting.wa.gov/

Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network

Download 122711_Redistricting

Airbus On Track to Beat Boeing 9th Year In A Row

Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Boeing rival Airbus is set to finish 20-11 with a record number of aircraft orders, beating out Boeing for the ninth year in a row. But analysts say Boeing is poised to gain ground against its European competitor in 20-12. That's because of a new product that will be built in Puget Sound. From France, Liam Moriarty has more.

Airbus is expected to end the year with more than 16-hundred aircraft orders, compared with just over 9-hundred for Boeing. That'll give Boeing its lowest market share ever against the Toulouse-based Airbus. Airbus' surge is due in large part to the popularity of its re-vamped A-3-20 neo jet. The updated version of Airbus' workhorse model features new energy-efficient engines that promise 15% fuel savings. Boeing waited to see if the market responded to that idea before jumping in with its own version, the re-worked 7-37 MAX. Analysts say Boeing's delay let Airbus get a jump on that lucrative market. But the new product is picking up speed and is expected to boost the American planemaker in the coming year. Boeing recently committed to building the 7-37 MAX in the Puget Sound area as part of a new contract with its machinists' union.
I'm Liam Moriarty in Normandy, France

Copyright 2011 KPLU

Airbus on track to beat Boeing 9th year in a row

Redistricting Map Creates Minority District, Shakes Up Political Geography

Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A new bipartisan proposal for Washington’s Congressional map would create a new district and shake up some old political geography in the state. The Washington Redistricting Commission Wednesday revealed the first bipartisan plan for redrawing the state's Congressional districts.

The proposal would make the Ninth District a majority-minority district that stretches from Tacoma to South Seattle. That means it would be made up largely of minority voters.

At the same time, Republican commissioner Slade Gorton says the new map would reduce Democratic influence in Washington’s First Congressional District, the seat now held by Jay Inslee.

“I think I can say, while we use different tests for it, it may easily be the most evenly divided district in the United States of America,” Gorton says.

Democrat Jay Inslee has announced he's running for governor in 2012. That leaves his seat open to a potentially heated battle.

In addition, Washington is gaining a 10th Congressional seat this year. According to the proposed map, that district would be centered over Olympia, unifying the city with its outlying communities.

The commission has until Sunday to agree on Washington's new political boundaries for the next 10 years.

On the Web:

Washington redistricting plans:
http://www.redistricting.wa.gov/maps_draft.asp

Copyright 2011 Northwest News Network

Redistricting Map