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Local schools show improvement Merkley expands on immigration comments By Sheila G. Miller The Bulletin
Several area districts have reasons to be pleased with the state test results released Monday by the Oregon Department of Education. Bend-La Pine Schools saw universal gains in math, reading and science, but students’ writing scores dropped. Other district results were more mixed, with districts like Crook County seeing a jump in the percent-
age of students meeting or ex- Inside ceeding high school writing • Where do districts stand in Central tests, but down Oregon? Page A5 in other areas. The Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (OAKS) tests measure whether students are at their grade level in writing, reading, science and math. Tests are given to students
in a variety of grades: high school sophomores take tests in all four areas, while math and reading tests are given to students in fourth through eighth grades. Science is tested in fifth and eighth grades, and writing assessments are given in fourth and seventh grades. Statewide, students overall made slight gains in all tests. On the math test, 74 percent of students tested passed, and 77 percent passed the
reading test. On the science tests, 69 percent met the state standards and 49 percent met the standards in writing. The greatest statewide gains came in 10th-grade reading, which saw a 5 percent jump. Members of the Class of 2012, 200910’s sophomore class, are the first who must show proficiency in reading — by passing the state’s reading test — in order to graduate. See Schools / A5
Improvised air
By Keith Chu The Bulletin
WASHINGTON — Stiff Republican opposition and a threatened Democratic majority make comprehensive immigration reform nearly impossible this year, many congressional observers agree. But you didn’t hear that from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. A Merkley comment to the Salem Statesman Journal in a Sunday article that “reform isn’t going to happen this year” drew attention from Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill and a handful of national websites, including the Sen. Jeff Washington Independent. AlMerkley though that sentiment amounts to conventional wisdom in Washington, D.C., Merkley’s spokeswoman said he was misquoted, when asked about the statement by The Bulletin. “It wasn’t an exact quote,” said Merkley spokeswoman Courtney Warner Crowell. “He said something more like, ‘It’s not likely to happen this year.’” See Immigration / A5
From outer space, a new dilemma for old-growth forests By Les Blumenthal McClatchy -Tribune News Service
WASHINGTON — A new study using laser pulses shot from satellites has found that the world’s tallest forests are those along the Pacific Northwest coast. Though the findings shouldn’t shock anyone who grew up in the region, they offer another indication of how important these ancient trees eventually could become. The temperate forests of Douglas fir, Western hemlock, redwoods and sequoias that stretch from northern California into British Columbia easily reach an average height of more than 131 feet. That’s taller than the boreal forests of northern Canada and Eurasia, tropical rainforests and the broadleaf forests common in much of the United States and Europe. The only forests that come close are in Southeast Asia, along the southern rim of the Himalayas and in Indonesia, Malaysia and Laos. As scientists try to unravel the mystery of missing carbon, increasing attention is focused on these forests. From 15 percent to 30 percent of the 7 billion tons of carbon that are released globally every year is unaccounted for, government scientists say. See Forests / A4
TOP NEWS INSIDE OBAMA: President to address nation on Iraq tonight at 5 p.m., Page A3
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Vol. 107, No. 243, 42 pages, 7 sections
Andy Tullis / The Bulletin
J
ohn Ragozzino, 27, of Bend, takes advantage of a recent snowfall and launches a jump on his snowboard while his friend Keith Griffin, 26, left, also of Bend, watches near Red Chair at Mt. Bachelor on Monday afternoon. After a few days of unseasonably cold weather, temperatures are expected to warm up through the week.
Making soldiers fit to fight Military employs new work-out strategy for flabby recruits By James Dao New York Times News Service
FORT JACKSON, S.C. — Dawn breaks at this, the Army’s largest training post, with the reliable sound of fresh recruits marching to their morning exercise. But these days, something looks different. That familiar standby, the situp, is gone, or almost gone. Exercises that look like Pilates or yoga routines are in. And the traditional bane of the new private, the long run, has been downgraded. This is the Army’s new physicaltraining program, which has been rolled out this year at its five basic training posts that handle 145,000 recruits a year. Nearly a decade in the making, its official goal is to reduce injuries and better prepare soldiers for the rigors of combat in rough terrain like Afghanistan. But as much as anything, the program was created to help address one of the most pressing issues facing the military today: overweight and unfit recruits. “What we were finding was that the soldiers we’re getting in today’s
Doctors seek to slow loss of muscle tone among the aging By Andrew Pollack New York Times News Service
Anne McQuary / New York Times News Service
Pvt. Allysa Leggat of New York does push-ups during basic training with Foxtrot Company at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. The Army launched a new training program this year with the goal to reduce injuries and better prepare recruits for the rigors of combat in rough terrain like Afghanistan. Army are not in as good shape as they used to be,” said Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who oversees basic training for the Army. “This is not just an Army issue. This is a national issue.” Excess weight is the leading reason the Army rejects potential recruits. And while that has been true for years, the problem has worsened as the waistlines of America’s youth have expanded. This year, a group of retired generals and admirals released a report titled, “Too Fat
to Fight.” “Between 1995 and 2008, the proportion of potential recruits who failed their physicals each year because they were overweight rose nearly 70 percent,” the report concluded. Although the Army screens out the seriously obese and completely unfit, it is still finding that many of the recruits who reach basic training have less strength and endurance than privates past. See Fitness / A4
Bears emerge from months of hibernation with their muscles largely intact. Not so for people, who, if bedridden that long, would lose so much muscle they would have trouble standing. Why muscles wither with age is captivating a growing number of scientists, drug and food companies, let alone aging baby boomers who, despite having spent years sweating in the gym, are confronting the body’s natural loss of muscle tone over time. Comparisons between age groups underline the muscle disparity: An 80year-old might have 30 percent less muscle mass than a 20-year-old. See Muscle / A4