Agile dogs compete • B1
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JUNE 4, 2012
MONDAY 75¢
Serving Central Oregon since 1903 www.bendbulletin.com
UNIVERSITIES
PRONGHORN
Buckle up: Road projects start now
‘Super seniors’ pushed to graduate
State owns slice of resort property
By Daniel de Vise
By Lauren Dake
The Washington Post
The Bulletin
MADISON, Wis. — Some of the nation’s signature public universities are gently prodding slackers and fifth-year “super seniors” toward the graduation stage, moving to reinvent a campus culture that treats on-time completion as the exception rather than the rule. At 33 of the 50 state flagships, fewer than half of students graduate in four years. The overall four-year graduation rate is 31 percent for public colleges and 52 percent for private ones, the federal government reported this year. University leaders are embracing on-time completion amid mounting concern about wasted tax dollars, spiraling tuition and America’s plummeting global rank in college attainment. Four years and out is a long tradition at private colleges, a value reinforced by the parents who pay the bills. Public universities, by contrast, have long tolerated the five- or six-year degree. But too often, experts say, the slow track leads nowhere. “The longer it takes people to graduate, the less likely they are to graduate, ever,” said William Bowen, former Princeton University president and co-author of the book “Crossing the Finish Line.” Here at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, about half the students graduate on time. Nick Korger said he arrived in Madison four years ago “with absolutely no clue what I wanted to do.” See Universities / A4
SALEM — The state of Oregon owns a small but integral 6.5-acre piece of property at the Pronghorn golf resort. The state foreclosed on the property in December after the resort defaulted on a $1.2 million loan from the Department of Energy. The money was meant to go toward building a solar electricity generation facility on the property. The state is leasing the land, which has four maintenance and administrative buildings and two 1,000-pound gas tanks, to the resort’s current owners for $6,570 a month. A Honolulu-based company, The Resort Group, took ownership of the resort in February. Randy Koss, the managing partner, said the new owners intend to buy the property back from the state. Solar panels were placed on the property but never installed, Koss said. That’s in part because Pronghorn paid New Path Renewables to work on the project. The company went out of business, and New Path’s owner, Eric Wisehart, was convicted in 2011 of racketeering, aggravated theft and unlicensed construction work. He was sentenced to six years in prison. Anthony Buckley, the administrator who oversees the energy development services for the Department of Energy, said the state eventually would like to sell the property for the value of what was left to be paid on the loan, or $1.2 million. See Pronghorn / A4
Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin
Traffic navigates a temporary gravel diversion road last week around the construction zone for a pedestrian tunnel near Forest Service Road 41 and Century Drive. The tunnel is being installed before the planned repaving of Century Drive from the Bend city limits to the Mt. Bachelor ski area. By Scott Hammers
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landowner adjacent to the Mt. Washington and Simpson roundabout site, but it is not expected to significantly delay construction. Construction on the other two roundabouts to be built this year, at Brookswood and Powers Road and at 18th Street and Empire Avenue, is likely to begin in early July. Arnis said the city intends to schedule informational meet-
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Drive and Simpson Avenue is scheduled to begin within a few weeks and will continue through October. An informational meeting on the project will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday in the Bend City Council chambers. City transportation engineering manager Nick Arnis said the city has encountered some difficulty securing right-of-way from a private
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ings in the coming weeks for residents likely to be affected by the construction. Starting today, on Brookswood, crews will be conducting the first stage in a two-year process to resurface the road between Bond Street and Powers Road. See Roadwork / A4
“I see major advances being made in big diseases.”
BANK OF AMERICA
— Dr. Richard Pazdur, cancer drug chief, Food and Drug Administration
Loss forecast hidden before Merrill vote
More advanced therapies aimed at cancer By Marilynn Marchione The Associated Press
CHICAGO — New research shows a sharp escalation in the weapons race against cancer, with several high-tech approaches long dreamed of but not possible or successful until now. At a weekend conference of more than 30,000 cancer specialists, scientists reported: • New “smart” drugs that deliver powerful poisons directly to cancer cells while leaving healthy ones alone. • A new tool that helps the immune system attack a broad range of cancer types. • Treatments aimed at new
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• A map of upcoming projects, A4
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The city will be posting detour information and updates on the progress of construction on its website. See www.ci.bend.or.us/ streets for the latest news.
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Summer road construction swings into action today, with Bend’s first major project of the year set to begin on Brookswood Boulevard. Motorists will see more construction as a result of a bond measure approved by voters in May 2011. The $30 million bond funds three new roundabouts this year, and next year will bring improvements to Reed Market Road, Northeast 27th Street and — if the money is available — Northwest 14th Street. Construction on a roundabout at Mt. Washington
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The Bulletin
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genes and cancer pathways, plus better tests to predict which patients will benefit from them. “I see major advances being made in big diseases” such as breast and prostate cancers, said Dr. Richard Pazdur, cancer drug chief at the federal Food and Drug Administration, which on Wednesday announced a new policy intended to speed breast cancer drugs to the market. The field continues to move toward more precise treatments with fewer side effects and away from old-style chemotherapy that was “like dropping a bomb on the body,” he said. See Cancer / A3
By Gretchen Morgenson New York Times News Service
The Associated Press file photo
A lab officer cuts a DNA fragment under UV light for DNA sequencing as part of research to determine genetic mutation in a blood cancer patient in Singapore.
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Vol. 109, No. 156, 30 pages, 5 sections
INDEX Calendar Classified Comics
C3 E1-6 C4-5
Crosswords C5, E2 Dear Abby C3 Editorials B4
Green, Etc. C1-6 Local News B1-6 Obituaries B5
Days before Bank of America shareholders approved the bank’s $50 billion purchase of Merrill Lynch in December 2008, top bank executives were advised that losses at the investment firm would most likely hammer the combined companies’ earnings in the years to come. But shareholders were not told about the looming losses, which would prompt a second taxpayer bailout of $20 billion, leaving them instead to rely on rosier projections from the bank that the deal would make money relatively soon
TODAY’S WEATHER Sports D1-6 Sudoku C5 TV & Movies C2
Rain showers High 57, Low 38 Page B6
after it was completed. What Bank of America’s top executives, including its chief, Kenneth Lewis, knew about Merrill’s vast mortgage losses and when they knew it emerged in court documents filed Sunday evening in a shareholder lawsuit being heard in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The disclosure, coming to light in private litigation, is likely to reignite concerns that federal regulators and prosecutors have not worked hard enough to hold key executives accountable for their actions during the financial crisis. See BofA / A2
TOP NEWS BRITAIN: Diamond jubilee, A3 MASSACRE: Syria denies role, A3