Weekday Wrap: Pendleton firefighter adopts child he helped as newborn

By OPB staff (OPB)
July 26, 2023 10:03 p.m.

Stories you may have missed from staff reports and our news partners around the region

Bringing Chloe home — a Pendleton family’s journey to adopt

On New Year’s Eve 2020, Pendleton firefighter and paramedic Michael Cuneo was tasked with transporting a 1-day-old baby to Portland for medical care. Now, Cuneo and his wife Ally Jordan Cuneo have finalized their adoption of the girl after fostering her for two and a half years. The couple had long planned to adopt a child, but Cuneo said a higher power told him on that journey transporting the baby from Pendleton to Portland that she was meant to be his daughter. (Dakota Castets-Didier/East Oregonian)

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Merkley speaks out against ‘legacy’ preferences in college

In the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling against racial preferences in college admissions, an Oregon senator is pushing to eliminate preferences given to family members of alumni and generous donors. Sen. Jeff Merkley argues so-called “legacy” preferences give an unfair advantage to less-qualified applicants. “Every seat that a university reserves for the already wealthy and well-connected — that is the children of donors and the children of alumni — is a seat that is not available to a more qualified individual who comes from a financially challenged background or who comes from a minority community,” the senator said. Merkley says he’s introducing the Fair College Admissions for Students Act — along with fellow Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman of New York. Some universities have recently backed off of legacy preferences. Others want to allow individual colleges to decide for themselves how to handle admissions. (OPB Staff)

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A man brought fake guns to Bend Safeway, site of 2022 deadly shooting

Police are investigating a report that a man brought an airsoft rifle and two airsoft handguns into the Safeway on Bend’s east side. Less than a year ago, a gunman opened fire in the store, killing two people and then taking his own life. (Bryce Dole/Bend Bulletin)

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Eugene Airport gets $12 million from FAA for upgrades

The Eugene Airport has received $12 million from the Federal Aviation Administration for infrastructure improvements. The funding is earmarked for rehabilitating the airport’s aging taxiways that connect the main runway and the secondary runway. It’s part of a slate of upgrades and expansions the airport is planning for the coming years. The construction has already begun and is expected to conclude in the fall. (Chrissy Ewald/KLCC)

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