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Bandon superintendent will resign in June Developing COVID-19 metrics to determine in-person learning after winter break JILLIAN WARD For The World

BANDON ─ Two topics shook Bandon School District’s regular school board meeting on Monday.

Not only will students continue distance learning until new COVID-19 metrics can be evaluated Jan. 4, but the school board unanimously approved Superintendent Doug Ardiana’s resignation.

“I want to make it clear to anyone in the public that this has no reflection on anything that transpired recently,” Ardiana said when he announced his resignation, his last day being the end of the school year in June. “This

was done before any controversy hit our community.”

Watching the metrics Since last week’s emergency school board meeting, it was clear that the community was split on wanting students in the classroom versus distance learning.

On Dec. 14, Ardiana explained to the school board the district will need to keep a close eye on the COVID-19 metrics as they are released between now and Jan. 4. These numbers will determine whether students can return to the classroom or if families will need to brace for more remote learning. These numbers will also dictate which grades can come back and when.

The guidelines, he said, are set by the Oregon Department of Education.

“Every Monday, metrics are posted by ODE,” he surmised.

“If a family is watching that data and can see we are at 185 cases

and then next week we are at 165 … we will bring students back in that scenario. If we look at cases and they are at 160 then go to 175, we will not bring kids back because we have an increase and after Christmas exposures (cases) will spike again…

It is imperative to monitor local metrics to see if it is increasing or not.”

The categories the district is looking for include the Red Zone, which the community is already in and does not allow in-person learning. This is determined by having more than 200 local COVID-19 cases per 100,000.

The Orange Zone is when there are 100 to 200 local cases.

If Bandon enters that category and shows a continuous decline in numbers, kindergarten through 5th grade may return to the classroom. However, if there is an increase while in the Orange Zone, no one will return to in-person learning.

World File Photo

Bandon Superintendent Doug Ardiana speaks during the 2018 graduation ceremony.

The Yellow Zone is when there are 50 to 100 cases. If this happens, kindergarten through 5th grade will return to the classroom. If Bandon remains in the Yellow Zone for four weeks, then 6th through 8th grade can return.

If there is another four weeks in the Yellow Zone after that, then

9th through 12th grade can return to in-person learning.

If high school grades can return to the classroom, it would be a hybrid learning model that would still use some remote learning, he said.

Please see Bandon, Page 2

Bringing Christmas cheer to downtown Coos Bay

Zack Demars, The World

A quartet of holiday revelers wanders through downtown Coos Bay Monday, spreading Christmas cheer to passing cars. “Christmas is here,” Mrs. Claus said. The group has been stopping in locations around Coos County to bring some joy during a difficult holiday season, they said.

Electoral College makes Biden’s win official Biden: WASHINGTON (AP) — The Electoral College decisively confirmed Joe Biden as the nation’s next president, ratifying his November victory in an authoritative state-by-state repudiation of President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede he had lost.

The presidential electors on Monday gave Biden a solid majority of 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232, the same margin that Trump bragged was a landslide when he won the White House four years ago.

Heightened security was in place in some states as electors met to cast paper ballots, with masks, social distancing and other pandemic precautions the order of the day. The results will be sent to Washington and tallied in a Jan. 6 joint session of Congress over which Vice President Mike Pence will preside.

For all Trump’s unsupported claims of fraud, there was little suspense and no change as every one of the electoral votes allocated to Biden and the

president in last month’s popular vote went officially to each man.

On Election Day, the Democrat topped the incumbent Republican by more than 7 million in the popular vote nationwide.

California’s 55 electoral votes put Biden over the top. Vermont, with 3 votes, was the first state to report. Hawaii, with 4 votes, was the last.

“Once again in America, the rule of law, our Constitution, and the will of the people have prevailed. Our democracy — pushed, tested, threatened — proved to be resilient, true, and strong,” Biden said in an evening speech in which he stressed the size of his win and the record 81 million people who voted for him.

He renewed his campaign promise to be a president for all Americans, whether they voted for him or not, and said the country has hard work ahead on the virus and economy.

But there was no concession from the White House, where Trump has continued to make

unsupported allegations of fraud.

Trump remained in the Oval Office long after the sun set in Washington, calling allies and fellow Republicans while keeping track of the running Electoral College tally, according to White House and campaign aides. The president frequently ducked into the private dining room off the Oval Office to watch on TV, complaining that the cable networks were treating it like a mini-Election Night while not giving his challenges any airtime.

The president had grown increasingly disappointed with the size of “Stop the Steal” rallies across the nation as well as efforts for the GOP to field its own slates of electors in states.

A presidential wish for a fierce administration defense led to TV appearances early Monday by Stephen Miller, one of his most ferocious advocates, to try to downplay the importance of the Electoral College vote and suggest that Trump’s legal challenges would continue all the way to

Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.

Late in the day, he took to Twitter to announce that Attorney General William Barr was leaving the administration before Christmas. Barr’s departure comes amid lingering tension over Trump’s unsupported fraud claims, especially after Barr’s statement this month to The Associated Press that the election results were unaffected by any fraud.

In a Fox News Channel interview taped over the weekend, Trump said that “I worry about the country having an illegitimate president, that’s what I worry about. A president that lost and lost badly.”

On Monday in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — the six battleground states that Biden won and Trump contested — electors gave Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris their votes in low-key proceedings.

Please see Electoral, Page 3

Democracy prevailed WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden pointedly criticized President Donald Trump on Monday for threatening core principles of democracy even as he told Americans that their form of self-government ultimately “prevailed.”

Speaking from his longtime home of Wilmington, Delaware, on the day that electors nationwide cast votes affirming his victory, Biden was blunt in critiquing the damage done by Trump’s baseless allegations that the contest was stolen. Such arguments have been roundly rejected by judges across the political spectrum, including the justices at the Supreme Court.

Democracy, Biden said, has been “pushed, tested, threatened.” But he said it proved to Please see Biden, Page 3

eEdition

Oregon goes over 95,000 total COVID-19 cases The World

The state went over 95,000 confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic Monday when 1,180 new cases were reported by the Oregon Health Authority.

In addition, six new deaths were reported. As of 12:01 a.m. Monday, the state had 1,161 deaths and 95,010 cases.

The new cases were reported in the following counties: Baker (1), Benton (11), Clackamas (97), Clatsop (3), Columbia (10), Coos (8), Crook (4), Curry (4), Deschutes (43), Douglas (5), Gilliam (1), Grant (1), Hood River (11), Jackson (40), Jefferson (4), Josephine (17), Klamath (27), Lane (72), Lincoln (7), Linn (34), Malheur (6), Marion (190), Morrow (1), Multnomah (248), Polk (26), Sherman (1),

Tillamook (5), Umatilla (23), Union (4), Wasco (4), Washington (234), Yamhill (38).

Oregon’s 1,156th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Nov. 15 and died Dec. 2 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,157th COVID-19 death is a 97-year-old woman in Clackamas County who tested positive on Nov. 12 and died Nov. 19 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,158th COVID-19 death is an 80-year-old man in Deschutes County who tested positive on Dec. 2 and died Dec. 13 at his residence.

He had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,159th COVID-19 death is an 88-year-old man in Doug-

las County who tested positive on Nov. 30 and died Dec. 12 at Mercy Medical Center. Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

Oregon’s 1,160th COVID-19 death is a 77-year-old woman in Hood River County who tested positive on Dec. 3 and died Dec. 14 at her residence. She had underlying conditions.

Oregon’s 1,161st COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old man in Washington County who tested positive on Dec. 8 and died Dec. 9 at his residence.

Presence of underlying conditions is being confirmed.

NOTE: Updated information is available for Oregon’s 1,108th death.

She is an 82-year-old woman from Multnomah county. She was originally reported as a Washington County resident.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal and state authorities say they are cracking down on a wave of illegal schemes that have proliferated during the pandemic and prey upon the desperation of people who have lost jobs in the outbreak’s economic upheaval.

The scams have ranged from the work-from-home reselling of luxury products, to pyramid schemes soliciting cash and that play on cultural norms in immigrant communities, to fraudulent investment rackets promising quick profits.

Regulators on Monday unveiled what they are calling “Operation Income Illusion,” a yearlong nationwide law-enforcement sweep targeting the scammers. Consumers lost an estimated $1 billion in the schemes since the start

of 2020.

Especially vulnerable targets are seniors and retirees, immigrants, Black and Latino people, students and military families.

Losses reported by consumers from the schemes rose to the highest level on record in the first nine months of the year at more than $150 million, Andrew Smith, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer protection bureau, told reporters in a conference call. Officials estimate only a small fraction of the burned consumers report their losses to authorities.

The FTC conducted the sweep along with nine states, federal prosecutors in Arkansas, Arizona and California, several local law enforcement agencies, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures

Trading Commission.

“There are people out there whose job it is to steal your money,” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said on the conference call.

He said his office is seeing growing numbers of cases involving affinity fraud, a form of pyramid scheme in which consumers are urged to tap friends, family, and church or ethnic-community members for money in addition to their own payment. A scam promoting investments in bitcoin was among them, Frosh said. His office also has brought several cases against sellers of phony franchises.

In addition to Maryland, the states participating in the sweep are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, New Hampshire, Oregon and Pennsylvania.

States, feds crack down on scams bilking Americans

County files complaint over pot tax revenue BEND (AP) — A county in Central Oregon has filed a complaint against the state over marijuana tax revenue the county believes it should be paid, despite its moratorium on marijuana processing and growing facilities.

Deschutes County’s legal department filed a complaint in state tax court against the Oregon Department of Revenue, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission and Department of

Administrative Services, The Bulletin reported.

Marijuana tax revenue has not been paid to the county since the Deschutes County Commission placed a moratorium on approving new marijuana processing and producing facilities in August 2019. And in November, residents voted to uphold the moratorium.

But, a county only receives the tax revenue if it allows all licensed recreational marijuana

activity to happen in the county, according to Mark Pettinger, a spokesman for the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

In response to the legal complaint, Pettinger said Friday the commission did not have a comment “because it’s a legal matter.”

Before the moratorium, the county was receiving about 4% of the revenue from the state’s marijuana revenue fund that gets shared with the counties.

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Governor calls for special session to discuss relief Oregon Gov. Kate Brown will convene a special session of the Oregon Legislature at 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 21, to address Oregonians’ most pressing needs given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which have only been compounded by Oregon’s horrific wildfires. Brown will ask the legislature to consider both critical policies and $800 million in relief to support Oregonians during a one-day special session on COVID-19 and wildfires.

“Oregonians are making tremendous sacrifices to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” said Brown.

“While the risk reduction measures we have put in place are working to slow the spread, many Oregon families are struggling with unemployment, housing,

food insecurity and paying their bills — and those most impacted are the same people who are often left behind, including rural, Black, Indigenous, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander and Tribal communities.

“I continue to call on Congress to pass another robust coronavirus relief bill to bring support to the American people. But these calls have not yet been heeded. It is clear that states must act on their own to provide a bridge until federal help arrives.

This is why I am calling on legislators from both sides of the aisle to come together in the best interests of the state.

“We must protect Oregonians now, as we face some of our hardest days, whether by getting critical resources into the hands of

those most in need, keeping a roof over people’s heads or recognizing the incredible toll of this virus on our small businesses and restaurants. Oregon must act to bridge the gap as we continue to wait to see federal relief. I thank legislators for their work in addressing these critical issues next week, and I look forward to our progress.”

Included in the governor’s budget priorities is aid for tenants and landlords, funding for vaccine distribution and contact tracing, wildfire prevention and community preparedness and support for reopening schools.

To help ensure a healthy and safe environment for conducting session, legislative officials are consulting the state epidemiologist Dr. Dean Sidelinger.

Bandon

added. “We will have a team effort to make this the best possible spring we can and get through this together, which is the Bandon way.”

Ocean Crest Elementary Principal Becky Armistead, thanked Simonds for her statement. “…We are all advocating for the people we are entrusted to serve,” Armistead said. “Your K-5 staff is united. None of us are looking forward to (remote learning) but we are ready to give families the very best we can.”

Acknowledging the difficulty of remote learning, Armistead explained plans to help ease the burden on families and students.

“We have live opportunities for student engagement during (Comprehensive Distance Learning),” she said. “…

They are simply opportunities throughout the day for families to connect with staff to get the support they need. If our families need to do CDL at night and need support, I’m available. Our teachers are ready to do that as well to get kids what they need to make this work for them the best they can.”

She added beginning Jan. 11, the district is starting limited in-person instruction. Students with significant and identified learning needs will be prioritized.

“If we’re still in CDL in February, we will expand that offering to the next tier of students because we know that it’s not just students with learning needs that need the opportunity,” she said. “We are already planning for how to expand that should we remain in distance learning.”

“…We’re all having to play the game with the worst cards possible,” said Angela Cardas, school board chair. “I will take it Monday by Monday and see how we go. Hopefully (the metrics) will go our way some day.”

From Page 1

A letter written by a parent in the district, Paula McMillan, was read into the record during the meeting on the issue. She addressed the emergency meeting from last week, which “plainly speaking, it sucked,” she said.

“I understand emotions were high with the news and the ever-changing metrics (that) tossed our children back into distance learning,” the letter read. “I, along with many parents, hoped the special session would introduce a pathway … to bring our students back to the classroom Jan. 4… Many of us … came away with an impression the school board supported a parent’s vs teacher showdown.”

McMillan urged the school board to clarify its intention behind not using the Safe Harbor provision to bring kindergarten through 5th graders back to the classroom, to which one board member responded saying, “We aren’t at war with the teachers or administration. It’s the opposite. We want to be the most supportive ...”

“I don’t think there are any sides,” said Marie Simonds, board member.

“We want what is best for students, staff and community.”

Ardiana said he took full responsibility in moving students to remote learning as the pandemic numbers spiked in the community.

He also apologized for “any lack of communication to the board.”

“I think our district has worked hard to do the best we can for students,” he

Superintendent resignation Ardiana, who has been with the district for almost six years, said this move is part of his long-term plan and unassociated with the recent upheaval with the district.

“It’s a sad day,” he said. “…The main thing is that being in Bandon has been an outstanding opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children. I appreciate the experience with the school and community.

Until my resignation date, I will make this transition as smooth as possible for the district and work diligently to get the best person we can to continue to lead this school.”

He presented a proposal from the Oregon School Board Association to aid in the search for his replacement, which he recommended. To have OSBA’s help would cost the district $7,250.

“I believe the board will need assistance with this,” Ardiana said. “(OSBA) will help with community meetings and (candidate) screening.”

His letter of intent to resign at the end of the school year was passed unanimously.

Members of the board expressed their appreciation for Ardiana and thanked him for his efforts.

“You will be a hard act to follow,” one board member said.

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eEdition

McConnell finally acknowledges Biden win WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated Democrat Joe Biden as president-elect on Tuesday, saying the Electoral College “has spoken.”

The Republican leader’s statement, delivered in a speech on the Senate floor, ends weeks of silence over President Donald Trump’s defeat. It came a day after electors met and officially affirmed Biden’s election win.

“I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said.

“Many of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result,” he said. “But our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20. The Electoral College has spoken.”

McConnell called Biden someone “who has devoted himself to public service for many years.”

He also congratulated Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, saying “all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time.”

McConnell prefaced his remarks with sweeping praise for what he characterized as Trump’s “endless” accomplishments during four years in office.

He said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence “deserve our thanks.”

The Senate leader cited Trump’s nomination and ensuing Senate confirmation of three Supreme Court justices, among other accomplishments.

McConnell’s remarks follow a groundswell of leading Republicans who said Monday for the first time that Biden is the winner of the presidential election, essentially abandoning President Donald Trump’s assault on the outcome after the Electoral College certified the vote.

For his part, Trump continued to push his baseless claims of “voter fraud” in a new tweet on Tuesday.

With states affirming the results, the Republicans faced a pivotal choice — to declare Biden the president-elect, as the tally showed, or keep standing

silently by as Trump waged a potentially damaging campaign to overturn the election.

“At some point you have to face the music,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the NO. 2 GOP leader. “Once the Electoral College settles the issue today, it’s time for everybody to move on.”

Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the chairman of the inaugural committee, said the panel will now “deal with Vice President Biden as the president-elect.”

Just last week, the Republicans on the inauguration committee had declined to publicly do so. He said Monday’s Electoral College vote “was significant.”

The turnaround comes nearly six weeks after Election Day. Many Republicans rode out the time in silence, enabling Trump to wage an unprecedented challenge to the nation’s cherished system of voting.

Some GOP lawmakers have vowed to carry the fight to Jan. 6 when Congress votes to accept or reject the Electoral College

results. Others have said Trump’s legal battles should continue toward resolution by inauguration day, Jan. 20.

“It’s a very, very narrow path for the president,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a top Trump ally. “But having said that, I think we’ll let those legal challenges play out.”

Historians and election officials have warned that Trump’s unfounded claims of voter fraud threaten to erode Americans’ faith in the election system, and that lawmakers have a responsibility under the oath of office to defend the Constitution.

“The campaign to overturn the outcome is a dangerous thing,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public policy at Princeton.

“This is a Republican operation, not a presidential operation,” Zelizer said. “Without their silence, he couldn’t do what he is doing.”

Trump is trying to throw out the ballots of thousands of Americans, particularly those

Oregon gives Biden seven electoral votes

election “irregularities.”

Johnson has questioned why Congress wasn’t informed that the taxes of Biden’s son Hunter were under federal investigation during Trump’s impeachment trial last year.

The president was acquitted in a Senate trial that centered on Trump’s dealings with Ukraine’s president and on whether he abused his office by seeking an investigation into the Bidens. Hunter Biden served on the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company.

The younger Biden said in a statement last week that he just recently learned that he was under investigation. He also said he committed no wrongdoing.

Biden’s deputy chief of staff, Jen O’Malley Dillon, downplayed the notion that the investigation could hamper Biden’s ability to pursue his agenda.

“The president-elect himself has said this is not about his family or Donald Trump’s family,” O’Malley Dillon said. “It is about the American people’s families. And I think we’re going to continue to stay focused on the issues that are impacting their daily lives.”

Nevada’s electors met via Zoom because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump’s efforts to undermine the election results also led to concerns about safety for the electors, virtually unheard of in previous years. In Michigan, lawmakers from both parties reported receiving threats, and legislative offices were closed over threats of violence. Biden won the state by 154,000 votes, or 2.8 percentage points, over Trump.

Georgia state police were out in force at the state Capitol in Atlanta before Democratic electors pledged to Biden met. There were no protesters seen.

Even with the Electoral College’s confirmation of Biden’s victory, some Republicans continued to refuse to acknowledge that reality. Yet their opposition to Biden had no practical effect on the electoral process, with the Democrat to be sworn in next month.

Republicans who would have been Trump electors met anyway in a handful of states Biden won. Pennsylvania Republicans said they cast a “procedural vote” for Trump and Pence in case courts that have repeatedly rejected challenges to Biden’s victory were to somehow still determine that Trump had won.

In North Carolina, Utah and other states across the country where Trump won, his electors turned out to duly cast their ballots for him. Electors in North Carolina had their temperatures checked before being allowed to enter the Capitol to vote. Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes withdrew as a Trump elector and was in quarantine because he was exposed to someone with COVID-19.

Former President

Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated four years ago, were among New York’s 29 electors for Biden and Harris.

In New Hampshire, before the state’s four electors voted for Biden at the State House in Concord, 13-yearold Brayden Harrington led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance. He had delivered a moving speech at the Democratic National Convention in August about the struggle with stuttering he shares with Biden.

Following weeks of Republican legal challenges that were easily dismissed by judges, Trump and Republican allies tried to persuade the Supreme Court last week to set aside 62 electoral votes for Biden in four states, which might have thrown the outcome into doubt.

The justices rejected the effort on Friday.

The Electoral College was the product of compromise during the drafting of the Constitution between those who favored electing the president by popular vote and those who opposed giving the people the power to directly choose their leader.

Each state gets a number of electors equal to its total number of seats in Congress: two senators plus however many members the state has in the House of Representatives. Washington, D.C., has three votes, under a constitutional amendment that was ratified in 1961. With the exception of Maine and Nebraska, states award all their Electoral College votes to the winner of the popular vote in their state.

The bargain struck by the nation’s founders has produced five elections in which the president did not win the popular vote.

Trump was the most recent example in 2016.

they are leaving.

Trump has also has previously claimed he fired staffers who resigned to make himself appear more powerful, and others, like former attorney general Jeff Sessions, were mocked by the president for weeks before they left office.

But despite Trump’s obvious disdain for those who publicly disagree with him, Barr had generally remained in the president’s good graces and has been one of the president’s most ardent allies. Before the election, he had repeatedly raised the notion that mail-in voting could be especially vulnerable to fraud during the coronavirus pandemic as Americans feared going to polls.

But Trump has a low tolerance for criticism, especially public criticism, from his allies and often

fires back in kind. The two had been at odds in the past few months and Barr was said to have been frustrated

by Trump’s tweeting.

Trump said on Fox News over the weekend that he was disappointed that the Hunter Biden investigation had not been disclosed.

Hunter Biden himself announced it last week.

“Bill Barr should have stepped up,” Trump said.

One senior administration official not authorized to speak publicly and speaking to The AP on condition of anonymity said Barr had resigned of his own accord and described the meeting as amicable.

Barr, who was serving in his second stint as attorney general, sought to paint himself as an independent leader who would not bow to political pressure. But

Democrats have repeatedly accused Barr of acting more like the president’s personal attorney than the attorney general, and Barr had proved to be a largely reliable Trump ally and defender of presidential power.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the Republican leader of the judiciary committee, told reporters at the Capitol he was surprised by the news.

“I think he did an incredibly good job trying to repair damage done to the Department of Justice, trying to be fair and faithful to the law. I think he’s got a lot to be proud of,” Graham said. “He fought for the president where he could, as every attorney general and administration should, but he also didn’t cross lines that he shouldn’t have crossed.”

SALEM (AP) — Meeting on the Senate floor in the Oregon State Capitol, Oregon’s electors on Monday gave their seven votes to Joe Biden.

Oregon Secretary of State Bev Clarno, a Republican, said before the vote that it came amid an “incredibly difficult” year, citing the coronavirus pandemic, catastrophic wildfires and racial injustice.

“All of this on top of the 2020 general election

that was rife with misinformation, leading to mistrust in our democracy and division among our citizens,” Clarno said from the podium. She did not name Trump, who has undermined public faith in America’s democracy by claiming, without any basis, that the election was rigged.

The whole process, from Clarno’s remarks, to the electors being sworn in

by Oregon Chief Justice Martha Walters, and to

the voting, took less than 20 minutes. The delegates, wearing masks and keeping more than six feet of distance between themselves, clapped when it was over.

Shortly before the electors voted, four people circled the capitol building, much of which is fenced off amid construction work, with one carrying a flag that said “Don’t Tread on Me.” It was a big contrast to pro-Trump “stop the steal” rallies held after

the November election and that attracted more than one hundred people several times.

Oregon’s seven votes gave Biden 247 Electoral College votes, while Trump held steady at 232. When California electors cast their 55 votes a few minutes later, that put Biden over the threshold. At least 270 Electoral College votes were required for Biden to officially win the White House.

Biden be “resilient, true, and strong.”

“The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago,” Biden said. “And we now know that nothing, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power, can extinguish that flame.”

Biden and his team hope that the formal victory in the Electoral College combined with his record-setting 81 million-vote count will help the country unify and accept his presidency.

But the challenge facing Biden was evident as many congressional Republicans, including some of the party’s top leaders, refused to officially accept Biden’s win. Trump, meanwhile, shows no sign of conceding.

The president-elect acknowledged an irony in the circumstances, noting that he won with the same number of electoral votes — 306 — as Trump did four years ago. Trump hailed that win as a “landslide.”

“By his own standards, these numbers represent a clear victory then, and I respectfully suggest they

do so now,” Biden said.

A candidate needs to win 270 electoral votes to clinch the presidency.

The fact that Biden had to even give such a speech shortly after electors voted to make him the president — a usually routine and even mundane step — shows how extraordinary the post-election period has been, with Trump trying to thwart Biden at every turn.

Despite that, Biden struck a familiar theme of his presidential campaign, pledging to be “a president for all Americans” who will “work just as hard for those of you who didn’t vote for me as I will for those who did.”

“Now it is time to turn the page as we’ve done throughout our history,” he said. “To unite. To heal.”

He said that was the only way the country could overcome the worst health crisis in more than a century, saying that in the face of the pandemic, “we need to work together, give each other a chance and lower the temperature.”

Whether his message will have any effect remains to be seen. Top Republicans have mostly continued to back Trump and his unsubstantiated claims of a rigged election

and, even once Biden takes power, are unlikely to give him any of the traditional honeymoon period.

Biden recalled that one of his jobs as vice president four years ago was to formally recognize Trump’s electoral victory in the Senate after 2016, and he said he expected the same process to occur this time — saluting the small number of GOP senators who have acknowledged his victory. But there are many other leading Republicans who have continued to side with Trump.

And after losing dozens of legal challenges on the state and federal level, Trump is expected to push forward with new litigation this week. Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani says he expects five more lawsuits at the state level.

Even after he takes the White House, Biden faces a narrowly divided Senate.

Next month’s runoff elections in Georgia will decide which party controls the chamber. There’s also a thinned Democratic majority in the House as the GOP picked up seats even as Trump lost.

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is set to hold a hearing Wednesday on

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr, one of President Donald Trump’s staunchest allies, is departing amid lingering tension over the president’s baseless claims of election fraud and the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden’s son.

Barr went Monday to the White House, where Trump said the attorney general submitted his letter of resignation. “As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump tweeted.

Trump has publicly expressed his anger about Barr’s statement to The Associated Press earlier this month that the Justice Department had found no widespread fraud that would change the outcome of the election. Trump has also been angry that the Justice

Department did not publicly announce it was investigating Hunter Biden ahead of the election, despite department policy against such a pronouncement.

Barr told the AP that U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they’ve received, but “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”

Barr’s resignation leaves Trump without a critical ally as he winds down his final weeks in office, and it throws into question open Justice Department investigations, especially the probe into Hunter Biden’s taxes.

In his resignation letter, Barr said he updated Trump Monday on the department’s “review of voter fraud allegations in

the 2020 election and how these allegations will continue to be pursued.” He added that his last day on the job would be Dec. 23.

Trump said Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, whom he labeled “an outstanding person,” will become acting attorney general. As the current second in command at the Justice Department, Rosen’s appointment is not likely to change much in the final weeks before the administration departs.

Trump spent much of the day watching the Electoral College tally and calling allies but broke away to meet with Barr. His tweet about the Attorney General’s exit was a sober message from a president who is notoriously cold to his departing staff and quick to name-call and deride them once they say

From Page 1

who voted by mail, in dozens of lawsuits that have mostly failed. His legal team is claiming irregularities, even though Attorney General William Barr, who abruptly resigned Monday, has said there is no evidence of widespread fraud that would alter the election results. State election officials, including Republicans, have said the election was fair and valid.

In a decisive blow to Trump’s legal efforts, the Supreme Court last week declined to take up two of his cases challenging the election process in key states. Some 120 House Republicans signed on to that failed Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to take up the case seeking to throw out election results in the swingstates of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who volunteered to argue the case before the Supreme Court, was holding a telephone town hall Monday urging “participation in the fight to defend the integrity” of the election.

Electoral From Page 1

Trump: Barr resigning role as attorney general

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LIGHT RAIN 54 • 45 | TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2020 | theworldlink.com

Ducks get shot in Pac-12 title game Follow us online:

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington has pulled out of the Pac-12 football championship game due to COVID-19 issues in the Huskies program, and Oregon will now play No. 13 USC for the conference title on Friday instead.

Washington (3-1) announced Monday it is withdrawing from the championship game after determining the Huskies did not have at least 53 scholarship players available and did not meet the minimum number of scholarship athletes at specific positions.

Huskies coach Jimmy Lake said the entire team is isolating as a precaution and another round of testing for the entire team is scheduled for Tuesday.

Lake said Washington did not expect to have any offensive linemen — scholarship players or walk-ons — available to play this week because of positive tests and contact tracing.

Washington’s protocol requires consecutive days of no new

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positive tests before the team can resume football activities.

“We cannot play and we cannot practice,” Lake said. “We have not practiced since last Wednesday, our offensive line is completely unavailable until the following week. There is no way we could wait at all. We cannot play football. We couldn’t play football last week, and we cannot play football this week.”

Washington had to cancel its game last weekend against Oregon (3-2) that would have determined the Pac-12 North champion due to COVID-19 cases in the program. Rob Scheidegger, Washington’s associate athletic director for health and wellness, said that while the Huskies have dealt with sporadic positive cases for a couple of weeks, there was a spike last Tuesday that led to last week’s pause in practice.

“At that point, the reason why we were being super proactive is because we wanted to be able to

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play against Oregon and obviously we wanted to be able to play moving forward,” Scheidegger said. “But we want to do that the right way. ... Our path back was to wait until our tests brought back negative results and we just haven’t been able to get to the point where we have all negative results on our tests.”

Washington was named Pac12 North champ by virtue of having a better winning percentage than Oregon. The Huskies had games against California and Oregon canceled due to COVID-19 issues, and their game with Washington State became a game against Utah due to the Cougars’ virus problems.

Now the Ducks, the preseason Pac-12 favorites, will take a twogame losing streak into the title game, and Colorado is left without an opponent this weekend.

The Pac-12 scheduled games for its teams not involved in the championship and had planned to

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have Oregon and Colorado (4-1, 3-1 Pac-12), second to USC in the South, meet Saturday at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

If USC had not been able to play, Colorado would have been its replacement.

Currently there are no Pac-12 teams available for CU to play.

On Sunday, just a few hours after the Pac-12 released its final-week matchups, the game between Arizona and California was canceled due to virus-related issues with both schools.

Colorado could schedule another game outside the conference for Saturday, but the Buffaloes also need to remain on standby for the Pac-12 title game until later in the week.

Lake said the Huskies hope to be back in their facility by Monday and want to play in a bowl game. Lake estimated the Huskies could be able to play in a bowl game the final week of December.

“(The players) were completely crushed that we could not play last week, and they are devastated now that we cannot play this Friday,” Lake said. “So we’re extremely excited at the possibility of getting everybody healthy first and foremost, and then seeing which game that is and trying to go out there and bring that bowl game championship trophy back here.”

Meanwhile, Stanford on Sunday became the first Pac-12 team to say that it will not play in a bowl if invited. The Atlantic Coast Conference has already had three schools — Boston College, Pittsburgh and Virginia — announce they will opt out of bowl season.

In the Southeastern Conference, No. 10 Georgia’s final homecoming of the season against Vanderbilt was canceled because the Commodores fell below roster minimums due to COVID-19 protocols.

Ravens win thriller over Browns on Monday night CLEVELAND (AP) — Lamar Jackson’s only thought was to rescue his teammates.

Like any other superhero.

Jackson emerged from the locker room, saved the game and maybe Baltimore’s season with a 47-42 win over the Cleveland Browns in a wild, back-and-forth Monday night game in which the teams combined to tie a 98-year-old NFL record.

Back on the field after being sidelined by cramps, Jackson threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown and then set up Justin Tucker’s 55-yard field goal with two seconds left as the Ravens (8-5) stayed in the playoff picture.

A game dripping with playoff intensity delivered with endless drama and numerous twists, none bigger than Jackson running back onto the field for a fourth-down play after his backup, Trace McSorley, had suffered a knee injury.

Jackson, who missed a recent game with COVID-19, said he received fluids in the locker room and was getting stretched when he saw McSorley get hurt.

“I’m still stretching and I’m like, ‘We gotta go out there,’” he said. “It was fourth down, my guys were making great catches and we came out with the victory.

As soon as I saw him go down, I came out of the locker room.”

Jackson first hit Brown for the TD and then, after getting the ball back with 1:04 left, got Baltimore in position for Tucker, who made 70 straight field goals inside 40 yards before missing last week. He made this one look pretty routine, providing an uplifting moment for the Ravens after they spent the past two weeks dealing with a virus outbreak and numerous scheduling changes.

“It’s definitely good that we made that kick, given everything this team is going

Seahawks continue run of winning seasons SEATTLE (AP) — Eventually, Russell Wilson was going to check off his latest accolade.

Of all the bullet points on his career resume to date, this one might be the most meaningful.

As a result of Sunday’s 40-3 win over the lowly New York Jets, the Seahawks improved to 9-4 on the season, ensuring Seattle of a winning record for the ninth straight season.

That’s every year that Wilson has been under center directing the Seahawks offense, making him the only QB in league history to have a winning record in each of his first nine seasons.

He’s been surrounded by an avalanche of talent along the way. There’s been great performances by Wilson — such as Sunday when he threw four more TD passes — and some forgettable days.

But the longevity of consistently being successful is a staggering achievement. through right now,’” Tucker said. “It keeps us in the playoff picture. We definitely needed to have this one. What the world saw on Monday Night Football was a Ravens team playing with guts.”

It was a gut punch for the Browns (9-4), who had rallied from a 14-point deficit to take the lead while Jackson was out.

The Browns had one last chance after Tucker’s kick, but a series of laterals on the final play ended with a safety that affected gamblers all over the country.

The Ravens were favored by three on the opening line.

“There can either be good or bad to

“I think it means everything,” Wilson said. “I think the whole purpose of why we play, why I wake up and play this game is to win, get up and help our team win.”

Seattle rebounded from a shocking loss to the Giants exactly the way it hoped to stay in the middle of the NFC West title race with the Los Angeles Rams.

Wilson and the Seahawks offense learned from the issues that arose against the Giants, using a quicker passing game and relying on the combo of Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde to rush for 142 combined yards.

Defensively, the Seahawks continued to show progress, holding the Jets to 185 total yards and just 20 yards in the second half. New York didn’t run an offensive play in Seattle’s half of the field for the final 30 minutes.

“I think we’re hitting our stride at the right time,” Seattle safety Jamal Adams said. come from this,” said Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, whose 22-yard TD pass to Kareem Hunt with 1:04 left tied it. “You can start pointing fingers, but that’s not this team. We know that we need to fight and make the plays to win when we need to.”

The NFL’s top two rushing teams combined for nine rushing touchdowns, tying a league record set in 1922 by Rock Island and Evansville and then Racine and Louisville.

Jackson rushed for two touchdowns and 124 yards. He completed just 11 passes, but five of them came after he returned from the cramps.

With the Ravens down 42-35, Jackson came running back onto the field after McSorley suffered what looked like a serious leg injury when he slipped on a slick FirstEnergy Stadium field that was tough for players to cut on all night.

Jackson spent the first half slipping all over the place before changing cleats.

With no margin for error on fourthand-5, Jackson calmly rolled to his right — and after getting the Browns to think he was going to run — he found a wideopen Brown in the middle of the field.

“That was a big-time play. We needed that,” tight end Mark Andrews said.

“It’s hard to describe this game because everyone was doing their thing. Just a lot of fun.”

Even after Jackson’s throw, Mayfield wasn’t going to be denied. He drove the Browns 75 yards, hitting Hunt for the score.

Jackson then showed why he’s a superstar.

The reigning NFL MVP completed two straight passes to Andrews, who missed the past two games with COVID-19, for 28 yards and moved the Ravens in range for Tucker, one of the most accurate kickers in league history.

Mayfield had shaken off a costly interception and brought the Browns back, scrambling from the pocket a la Jackson and scoring on a run with 6:33 left.

The Browns were beaten 38-6 by the Ravens in Week 1, but Cleveland looked like a different team — like a playoff team.

“That’s a really good football team with a lot of heart,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “It’s a game that’s going to go down in history. Our guys had faith and trust and belief and sometimes that’s what it takes.”

Cleveland won’t change Indians nickname until after 2021 season CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cleveland Indians are changing their name — they just don’t know to what or when.

Expressing that “it’s time,” owner Paul Dolan said that after months of internal discussions and meetings with groups, including Native Americans who have sought to have the team stop using a moniker many deem racist, the American League franchise is dropping the name it has been known by since 1915.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Dolan said: “The name is no longer acceptable in our world.”

Dolan said the team will continue to be called Indians until a new name is chosen. That “multi-stage” process is in its early stages and the team will play — and be branded — as the Indians at least through next season.

“We’ll be the Indians in 2021 and then after that, it’s a difficult and complex process to identify a new name and do all the things you do around activating that name,” Dolan said. “We are going to work at as quick a pace as we can while doing it right.

“But we’re not going to do something just for the sake of doing it. We’re going to take the time we need to do it right.”

Dolan said the team will not adopt an interim name until choosing its new one.

“We don’t want to be the Cleveland Baseball Team or some other interim name,” he said, adding he hopes the new name “will hopefully take us through multiple centuries.”

Cleveland’s move follows a similar decision by the NFL’s Washington Football Team, previously known as the Redskins.

“It was a learning process for me and I think when fair-minded, open-minded people really look at it, think about it and maybe even spend some time studying it, I like to think they would come to the same conclusion: It’s a name that had its time, but this is not the time now, and certainly going forward, the name is no longer acceptable in our world,” Dolan said.

As Cleveland considers new names, Dolan said Tribe, the team’s popular nickname for decades, has been ruled out.

“We are not going to take a

half-step away from the Indians,” said Dolan, acknowledging Tribe was an early choice. “The new name, and I do not know what it is, will not be a name that has Native American themes or connotations to it.”

The decision was welcomed

by Native American groups that met with the club.

“The team made a genuine effort to listen and learn,” said Cynthia Connolly, executive board member of the Lake Erie Native American Council in the Cleveland Indigenous Coalition.

“We hope this serves as a blueprint for other professional teams and the 200-plus high school teams in the Ohio area. If there is a school or team that truly cares about fighting racism, these mascots cannot coexist.”

The name change by the Indians is the latest by an organization reacting to a national movement, which gained momentum in the wake of widespread civil rights protests last summer, to have prejudicial names and symbols removed.

Across the South, Civil War monuments were taken down, and in some cases names were

taken off buildings.

Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker agreed with the decision.

“I spent a lot of time with the Native Americans, especially the Cheyenne tribe in Montana, and I grew up with a lot of Navajo kids in Southern California,” he said.

“And so I think I think that it’s apropos. And it’s as good for the times and it’s been a long time coming.”

Dolan said his “awakening or epiphany” came following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died while being arrested by white Minneapolis police officers this summer.

Cleveland’s announcement was praised by Washington NFL coach Ron Rivera, who said his perspective changed after reading “The Real All-Americans,” a novel about a Native American football team.

Rivera said he received angry letters from Washington fans who were upset with the name change.

“But I’ve also gotten some notes from Native Americans that have said thank you for doing that and for respecting our

wishes,” Rivera said. “The one thing I hope is that we don’t forget them. We don’t ignore them.

We start paying attention to their plight and do right by them. They are Americans that do deserve the respect of us.”

Dolan knows there are plenty of Indians fans who disagree with the decision.

“I consider myself a fifth-generation Clevelander,” he said.

“It’s in our blood and baseball and the Indians are synonymous, and that goes to the whole intent versus impact thing. Nobody intended anything negative by our attachment to the name Indians, but the impact has been tough.”

Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. grew up in the Cleveland area and has always followed the Indians. He said the change is overdue.

“To me if the Native American people don’t appreciate that name, then it’s time to go,” Nance said. “I’m not just a fan of the Cleveland Indians, I’m a fan of Cleveland baseball. If they change their name to whatever it may be, the Spiders, the Guardians, whatever it is, I’m still going to be a fan.”