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MOSTLY SUNNY 61 • 41 | WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2020 | theworldlink.com

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Trump, Biden final debate WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hopping from one must-win stop on the electoral map to the next in the leadup to a final presidential debate that may be his last, best chance to alter the trajectory of the 2020 campaign. Democrat Joe Biden has been taking the opposite approach, holing up for debate prep in advance of Thursday’s faceoff in Nashville, Tennessee. Trump, trailing in polls in most battleground states, stopped in Pennsylvania on Tuesday and was bound for North Carolina on Wednesday as he delivers what his campaign sees as his closing message. “This is an election between a Trump super recovery and a

Biden depression,” the president said in Erie, Pennsylvania. “You will have a depression the likes of which you have never seen.” He added: “If you want depression, doom and despair, vote for Sleepy Joe. And boredom.” But the Republican president’s pitch that he should lead the rebuilding of an economy ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic has been overshadowed by a series of fights. In the last two days he has attacked the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and a venerable TV newsmagazine while suggesting that the country was tired of talking about a virus that has killed more than 221,000 people in the United States. Before leaving the White

House for Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Trump taped part of an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that apparently ended acrimoniously. On Twitter, the president declared his interview with Lesley Stahl to be “FAKE and BIASED,” and he threatened to release a White House edit of it before its Sunday airtime. Also trailing in fundraising for campaign ads, Trump is increasingly relying on his signature campaign rallies to maximize turnout among his GOP base. His trip to Pennsylvania on Tuesday was one of what is expected to be several visits to the state in the next two weeks. “If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing,” Trump said in Erie.

Erie County, which includes the aging industrial city in the state’s northwest corner, went for President Barack Obama by 5 percentage points in 2012 but broke for Trump by 2 in 2016. That swing, fueled by Trump’s success with white, working-class, non-college-educated voters, was replicated in small cities and towns and rural areas and helped him overcome Hillary Clinton’s victories in the state’s big cities. But Trump will probably need to run up the score by more this time around as his prospects have slipped since 2016 in vote-rich suburban Philadelphia, where he underperformed by past Republican measures. This raises the stakes for his campaign’s more

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North Bend High School

NBHS reports COVID-19 case ZACK DEMARS The World

NORTH BEND — A staff member at North Bend High School has tested positive for COVID-19, and a small group of impacted students is quarantining, school officials announced Monday. “As members of the school community, we understand that this might raise concerns alongside a caring response,” North Bend School District Superintendent Kevin Bogatin wrote in a message to district families. “We are working closely with Coos

Health & Wellness to respond to this news and protect the health of our community.” The school district plans to continue its cleaning and disinfecting protocols, as well as conduct an electrostatic cleaning of the impacted area. Staff and students impacted by the case will be quarantined through Nov. 2 and will coordinate with Coos Health & Wellness contact tracers and investigators, according to the release. The staff member worked with a limited number of students, so only a few people are impacted, Bogatin said in an interview.

In his statement, Bogatin also reminded district families about the importance of following public health precaution recommendations. Families in the district should be sure to wear face coverings, wash their hands frequently, physically distance and remain at home when sick, he wrote. “Protect the community by following the Governor’s safety requirements,” Bogatin wrote. Individuals who are concerned about possible exposure can contact Coos Health & Wellness at 541-266-6700. The case is one of several in

county schools since they’ve reopened for limited in-person instruction, including two Coos Bay elementary schools and a North Bend Christian school. As far as Bogatin knows, its the first case in North Bend School District. He thinks the district’s response procedures are working as they’re supposed to — though contact tracing for less formal, impromptu interactions can be a challenge. “We’re still trying to figure out, since this is the first case, how we communicate this information,” Bogatin said. “Everyone has to do their part.”

McConnell warns against COVID relief deal WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington negotiations on a huge COVID-19 relief bill took a modest step forward on Tuesday, though time is running out and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, President Donald Trump’s most powerful Senate ally, is pressing the White House against going forward. McConnell on Tuesday told fellow Republicans that he has warned the White House not to divide Republicans by sealing a lopsided $2 trillion relief deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before the election — even as he publicly said he’d slate any such agreement for a vote. Pelosi’s office said talks with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Tuesday were productive, but other veteran lawmakers said there is still too much work to do and not enough time to do it to enact a relief bill by Election Day. McConnell made his remarks during a private lunch with fellow Republicans on Tuesday,

three people familiar with them said, requesting anonymity because the session was private. The Kentucky Republican appears worried that an agreement between Pelosi and Mnuchin would drive a wedge between Republicans, forcing them to choose whether to support a Pelosi-blessed deal with Trump that would violate conservative positions they’ve stuck with for months. Many Republicans say they can’t vote for another huge Pelosi-brokered agreement. McConnell said if such a bill passed the Democratic-controlled House with Trump’s blessing “we would put it on the floor of the Senate.” Those public remarks came after the private session with fellow Republicans. Trump is hoping for an agreement before the election, eager to announce another round of $1,200 direct payments going out under his name, but it’s increasingly clear that time has pretty much run out. If he wins, Trump is promising relief, but if he loses

— as polls are indicating — it’s unclear that his enthusiasm for delivering COVID aid will be as strong. Recent history suggests that any post-election lame-duck session in the event of a Trump loss wouldn’t produce much. “It’s not a question of ‘íf.’ It’s a question of ‘when.’” said Senate GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota. “We have to do more. We know that.” Pelosi said earlier Tuesday that she and Mnuchin remained at odds over refundable tax credits for the working poor and families with children, the size of a Democratic-sought aid package for state and local governments, and a liability shield for businesses and other organizations against lawsuits over their COVID preparations. Pelosi’s spokesman, Drew Hammill, wrote on Twitter that she and Mnuchin then spoke for 45 minutes and found “more clarity and common ground” and that “both sides are serious about finding a compromise.”

Another conversation is slated for Wednesday. The Pelosi-Mnuchin talks also involve pandemic jobless aid, the second round of $1,200 direct payments, and money for schools, testing and vaccines. Pelosi had said Tuesday was a deadline day, but clarified in an interview with Bloomberg News that the aim is to spur the two sides to exchange their best proposals on a host of unresolved issues, not to close out all of their disagreements or have final legislative language at hand. “Let’s see where we are,” Pelosi said. “We all want to get an agreement.” Time is running out and Pelosi has instructed her committee chairs to try to iron out details, but the Senate GOP negotiators do not appear as eager as she is. “It’s getting to be toward the last minute and the clock keeps ticking away,” Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Tuesday. “I’m not Please see Covid, Page 2

aggressive outreach to new rural and small-town voters across the industrial north. His aides worry that his opponent is uniquely situated to prevent that, as Biden not only hails from Scranton but has built his political persona as a representative of the middle and working classes. Trump, who spoke for less than an hour, showed the crowd a video of various Biden comments on fracking in a bid to portray the Democrat as opposed to the process. The issue is critical in a state that is the second leading producer of natural gas in the country. Biden’s actual position is that he would ban new gas and oil permits, including for

Please see Debate, Page 2

Groups sue over use of tear gas PORTLAND (AP) — Night after night in Portland, tear gas and other crowd control devices have enveloped protesters and bystanders in airborne chemicals that settle on the ground, later to be washed into storm drains. Amid allegations that human health and the environment are suffering the consequences, five environmental groups represented by the ACLU of Oregon and others sued the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday. The federal lawsuit alleges the U.S. government violated federal environmental law by deploying “an unprecedented amount of dangerous chemical weapons” without assessing their environmental impacts beforehand, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. There was no immediate response to a request for comment from federal authorities. With the city experiencing some of the most sustained Black Lives Matter protests in the country, efforts by local officials and researchers are underway to determine whether, and how, people and the environment are being affected. Cyanide and heavy metals such as chromium and zinc were found by Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services at much higher levels in stormwater catch basins alongside a protest site than elsewhere in the city, the bureau said in a report last month. City officials said most contaminant levels in stormwater taken from a collection point 700 feet from the Willamette River, which bisects Portland, were lower than samples from a protest site several blocks further from the waterway. “While pollutant levels that enter the Willamette River are thankfully low, the city is concerned about any and all additional pollution loads,” Environmental Services Director Mike Jordan said in September. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality noted that “the repeated deployment of tear gas in downtown Portland has led to elevated levels of certain contaminants” in stormwater drains. But spokeswoman Susan Mills said the concentrations found in stormwater catch basins “are not likely high enough to cause immediate impacts to the environment.” Environmentalists, though, are troubled that the drainage systems around the federal courthouse and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building — both sites of protests that have seen heavy tear gas use — chan-

Please see Gas, Page 2