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the state and localities with the vital resources and funding required to fully support their work,” they wrote.
The administration has denied shortchanging Texas on disaster assistance, saying the state has received 25 federal fi re assistance grants for the wildfi res.
Gov. Rick Perry, who in April 2009 suggested that Texas might secede from the union, last week urged federal action to help the state fi ght wildfi res.
“It is not only the obligation of the federal government, but its responsibility under law to help its citizens in times of emergency,” he said.
Texas last voted Democratic in a presi-dential election in 1976, and Democrats have not won statewide offi ce since the 1990s.
Asked if there was a Democratic vendetta against Texas, former Democratic Rep. Martin Frost laughed and said, “They love Texas. They want to raise money in Texas.
“Texas has not been a political priority for Democratic candidates,” he said. “Texas has been an outlier among major states as far as Democratic politics and presidents are concerned. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that a Democratic president doesn’t pay much attention to Texas.”
BY MARIA RECIO
McClatchy News Service
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will visit Texas on Tuesday, with stops in El Paso and a fundraiser in Austin, but he won’t feel the love — at least not from unhappy Republican lawmakers who see the administra-tion’s refusal to designate the wildfi re-battered state a disaster area as the latest slap in the face to the very Republican Lone Star State.
The refusal by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give Texas disaster status, and the federal aid that goes with it, is the latest of the state’s fi ghts with the administration. The state and the Environ-mental Protection Agency have been battling over permitting under the Clean Air Act — the federal agency even took over some state functions — and NASA’s decision not to give Houston, home to the Johnson Space Center, a retired space shuttle, sending them instead to California, Florida, New York and Washington, D.C.
“You can almost make the case the administration has a vendetta against Texas,” said Republican Rep. Michael Burgess.
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchi-son and John Cornyn wrote Obama on Friday, inviting him to tour north Texas, hard hit by wildfi res. “We are hopeful that after seeing this devastation fi rsthand, you will reconsider your recent denial and provide
Disgruntled Texas Republicans await visit from President Obama
AP photo
President Barack Obama shouldn’t expect a warm welcome from many in the Lone Star state when he visits Texas this week.
BY SHARI ROAN
Los Angeles Times
The incidence of autism may be much higher than previously thought in the United States and elsewhere in the world, according to a rigorous, comprehensive study of the condition conducted in South Korea, researchers reported today.
In the fi rst study to take a broad-population look at the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders — types of autism ranging from severe symptoms to the milder Asperger’s syndrome — researchers found a rate of 2.64 percent among South Korean children. That’s 1 in 38 children, a rate far higher than the estimate of 1 in 110 children for the U.S. by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study, being published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, suggests that, under rigorous examination, many more children may be aff ected than previously suspected.
The study “is diff erent in the sense that they are screen-ing the entire population of children” including those who have never been fl agged with a potential problem, said Geraldine Dawson, chief scientifi c offi cer of the research and advocacy group Autism Speaks and an autism researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “It raises a question, I think, of whether we are underestimat-ing the prevalence in the U.S. as well as elsewhere.”
The fi ve-year study, funded partly by Autism Speaks and led by Dr. Young-Shin Kim of the Yale Child Study Center, diff ered signifi cantly in methodology from earlier autism-prevalence studies. This likely accounts for the dramatically diff erent fi ndings, Kim said.
Previous studies assessing population-wide autism rates typically focused on high-risk populations — such as class-rooms of special education students. In contrast, the study conducted in South Korea assessed more than 55,000 children, ages 7 to 12, not only from special education classrooms and mental health service organi-zations but also regular schools.
Using several diagnostic techniques and measures to evaluate the children, the study found that the rates of autism spectrum disorder among the children in special education and mental health services programs were similar to estimates elsewhere in the world — from 0.6 percent to 1.8 percent of the population.
But when students in regular schools were part of the assessment, the prevalence rate rose to 2.64 percent.
Kim said children in regular American classrooms should be included in future studies to get a better measure of the incidence of autism spectrum disorders. If that were done, she added, the prevalence of the condition in the U.S. and other countries also would be in the range of 2 percent to 3 percent.
Autism rates may be higher than thought
BY SUSANNE M. SCHAFER
Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Students graduating from the growing ranks of online high schools are running into a hurdle if their goal is to join the military: The Pentagon doesn’t want many recruits with non-tradi-tional diplomas.
Many would-be soldiers like Ryker Packard, 17, of Fassett, Pa., say they weren’t aware the armed services have a policy of not taking more than 10 percent of recruits with a non-traditional high school diploma. Critics, including some in Congress, say the military is behind the times and point to the growth on online teaching and testing at
all levels of education, including college degrees.
“It just grinds my gears,” said Packard, who wants to become an Army diesel mechanic after gradu-ating from Pennsylvania’s Agora Cyber Charter School in June.
Packard said his conversation with an Army recruiter came to a brusque end after he told him he was due to graduate from a virtual school. “He just wouldn’t talk to me,” said Packard.
Ryker and his family unknowingly ran into a policy the Department of Defense has that ranks graduates of traditional high schools as “Tier 1” and those from alternatives as “Tier 2” status. Tier 1 graduates now make up 99 percent of all recruits
for all military branches, according to Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez. The secondary status includes virtual and homeschoolers, as well as those who’ve left high school and earned a GED or General Education Development certifi cate.
Lainez said the Department of Defense limits all branches of the military to accepting no more than 10 percent of recruits with what is known as an “alternate high school credential.” Those who’ve opted out of the traditional educational system just don’t stick with military service, she said. That includes students from what she called “any computer-based, virtual-learning program.”
“Years of research and experience
show recruits with a traditional high school diploma are more likely to complete their initial three years of service than their alternate credential-holding (Tier 2) piers,” Lainez said. It comes down to money because its costs $45,000 to replace someone who hasn’t met their full term, she said.
But some members of Congress and supporters of online schools say the Pentagon should reconsider, in particular given the military’s penchant for computerized weaponry and cyber warfare.
“We are dealing with new technol-ogy,” said Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., head of the House Armed Services subcommittee on personnel. “We just need to keep adapting.”
Former Marine and Rep. Duncan Hunter, Jr., R-Calif., who is the only member of Congress to have served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, said it’s unbelievable that potential recruits are being turned away during wartime.
“Their level of education is often right on par with traditional public school graduates,” said Hunter.
A congressional subcom-mittee has inserted language into its portion of the Pentagon fi scal year 2012 budget bill instructing the military to treat students from online high schools equally if the schools are in line with state education laws. The full committee is due to take action on the bill on May 11.
Cyber-school students: Pentagon snubs our serviceA7The Wenatchee WorldNation Monday, May 9, 2011
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Construction
ConstructionProjects located in NCW
& Columbia Basin.We are looking for team players, Construction Su-pervisors & Leads with at least 5 years Journeylevel experience. Fram-ing, Finish Carpentry, Steel Erection, Concreteformed walls. Commit-ted to Quality. Pay D.O.E., Benefits available, EEO employer. Send Resumes to or Apply at Rimmer & Roeter Construc-tion, Inc. 102 Woodring St., PO Box 262, Cash-mere WA. 98815, Fax(509)782-7234. [email protected] NO PHONE CALLS.
Professional
Comprehensive is com-mitted to building strong communities through the efforts of its staff, clients, and collabora-tive partnerships. Our Yakima, WA facility is currently accepting ap-plications for the follow-ing positions: ClinicalDirector, Child Therapist, Nurse Care Manager, RN or LPN. If you are interested in joining afun, team-oriented work environment, please ap-ply online at http://cw-cmh.appone.com/ orcall (509)575-3894 torequest an applicationpacket. Equal OpportunityEmployer/ADA.
Healthcare
Controller
Columbia Valley Commu-nity Health (www.cvch.org) is seeking a Control-ler to provide leadership for the Finance Depart-ment and will maintainagency financial informa-tion, prepare financial reports, maintain and balance the account-ing ledgers and provide direct oversight of the Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Cash Receipts, Payroll and General Led-ger functions. The Con-troller is responsible for maintaining compliance with external stakehold-ers by ensuring the ac-curacy and timeliness of required reporting. The successful candidates will have a Bachelor’s de-gree in Accounting with five years accounting and supervisory experience. CPA preferred. CVCH of-fers competitive wages and an excellent benefi tspackage. Submit resume and application to:
CVCHHuman Resources
600 Orondo-Suite 1Wenatchee, WA 98801
CVCH is an EOE.
Industrial
Looking for Steel Ware-house workers for a newSteel service center lo-cated in East Wenatchee. Knowledge of machinery such as Shear, bandsaw,iron worker is necessary. Working hours are 8-5.
Mail resume to:P.O. Box 1122
Moses Lake, WA 98837or email
Sales
ARE YOU ASALES POWERHOUSE?The Wenatchee World is looking for a high-energy, self-starter to cultivatenew accounts and drive advertising revenue.
This is an Outside Sales position and requires strong communicationskills, goal setting and at-tainment capability. Ben-efits include paid vaca-tion, holidays, sick leave,401(k), and medical/dental/life insurance.
Please submit your re-sume and cover letter to:
The Wenatchee WorldAdvertising Account Executive
P.O. Box 1511Wenatchee, WA 98807
or email:recruiting@
wenatcheeworld.com
An Equal Opportunity Employer General
Holiday Inn Expressis now hiring for a part-time Laundry Attendent. Duties in-clude cleaning public areas. Must be available weekendsand holidays. Must speak English. Apply in person at 1921 N. Wenatchee Ave. Nophone calls, please.
Technology
Chelan Fruit Cooperative
IT AssistantChelanFruit’s Information Technology department is seeking an assistantto help on special proj-ects & assist in fielding help desk calls through the 2011 harvest season (approx. through the end of October.) Must haveknowledge in the follow-ing areas: setting up & troubleshooting Windows PC (XP, Vista, 7), Micro-soft Office, Windows network (windows server 2003/2008). Must beable operate a man-lift; install low voltage wiring & wireless equipment. Candidate must be reli-able, self motivated and work well with others.Past employer referenc-es are required. Please mail, fax or email resume to:
Chelan FruitHR Director
P.O. Box 669Chelan, WA 98816
[email protected] (509) 682-6156www.mountainviewfitness.com
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