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February 4 2012
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Judge fines Lane County man over dance parties
Friday February 3, 2012    01:11 PM
StoryEUGENE, Oregon — A Lane County man has been held in contempt of court for violating restrictions against late-night dance parties known as raves that officials say are a growing problem in rural areas around Eugene. The case against Brian Hamilton, 44, of Blachly, dates to a September event called "Where Life Begins" that was supposed to last three days and began without county permits at his 9 ...

Portland jury reconsiders tobacco suit damages
Friday February 3, 2012    01:07 PM
StoryPORTLAND, Oregon — A Portland jury is reconsidering a damage award against Philip Morris in a suit over low-tar cigarettes that goes back more than a decade. In 2002, a jury awarded $150 million in punitive damages after finding Philip Morris deceived Michelle Schwarz of Salem into thinking low-tar cigarettes were a healthier alternative. In appeals, the amount was reduced to $100 million, a ...

Man surrenders in fatal Portland crash
Friday February 3, 2012    01:06 PM
PORTLAND, Oregon — Police say a man suspected in a fatal hit-and-run crash in southeast Portland has surrendered, just as investigators were on their way to his home. 53-year-old Jim Dean Patterson came to a police station Thursday afternoon. Police said Friday he's accused of failure to perform the duties of a driver in the death of 26-year-old Jason Lee Grant, a Vancouver, Wash., musician ...
Portland Police Investigating Fatal Hit and Run to Pedestrian in Southeast Portland
Friday February 3, 2012    02:05 AM
StoryPORTLAND, Oregon - Arrest made. On Thursday, February 2, 2012 53-year-old Jim Dean Patterson contacted an East Precinct officer at the Eastport Plaza Police contact office. Patterson turned himself in as the driver that committed the crime of Hit and Run of the pedestrian at Southeast 70th and Foster. The officer called for Traffic Investigators, and they responded to Eastport Plaza. Coinciden ...

New Oregon beach rules would bar feeding wildlife
Thursday February 2, 2012    11:04 PM
StoryCANNON BEACH, Ore. (AP) — Oregonians who share bits of their sandwiches with the gulls along the Oregon coast would be rule breakers under regulations the state Department of Parks and Recreation is considering. The rules would prohibit feeding wildlife to protect animals from food that's bad for them or makes them dependent, and from hazards such as getting hit while begging for food in parkin ...

Man charged in OR police slaying can aid defense
Thursday February 2, 2012    11:03 PM
StoryST. HELENS, Ore. (AP) — A young Washington man accused of gunning down the Rainier, Ore., police chief a year ago can aid in his own defense and has been "gaming the system," an Oregon judge said Thursday. Columbia County Circuit Court Judge Ted Grove's ruling means the criminal case against 22-year-old Daniel Butts of Kalama, Wash., can proceed. Butts is accused of shooting Chief Ralph Pain ...

Piggyback Bandit acknowledges assault charges
Thursday February 2, 2012    11:02 PM
StorySALEM, Oregon — A man dubbed the Piggyback Bandit because of a history of jumping on the backs of high school athletes in the Pacific Northwest has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of assault after his arrest in Helena. 28-year-old Sherwin Shayegan appeared in municipal court in Helena on Wednesday and acknowledged jumping on two players at a soccer tournament in October. Judge Bob Wood ...

prison inmate found unresponsive in cell
Thursday February 2, 2012    11:01 PM
StoryONTARIO, Oregon — An inmate serving time for robbing a Portland check-cashing store and severely beating a clerk was found unresponsive in his cell at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario, Ore. Oregon Corrections Department spokeswoman Jennifer Black says 28-year-old Michael Hagen was found about 10 a.m. Thursday and sent to a nearby Boise, Idaho, hospital. Late Thursday afternoo ...

New debate: When is medical marijuana usable?
Thursday February 2, 2012    02:50 PM
ROGUE RIVER, Oregon - When police knocked on Josh Brewer's door to check for marijuana, even one of the nation's most liberal medical marijuana laws was put to the test. Officers were fine with the two pounds 10 ounces he and a cousin had grown, harvested, and processed. That was under the pound and a half each allowed by law. And they didn't care about the 12 plants -- six each -- growing in ...
Avakian to seek re-election as labor commissioner
Thursday February 2, 2012    02:48 PM
StorySALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian says he'll seek another term. Avakian (uh-VAHK-ee-un) is a Democrat who lives in Beaverton. He'll face Republican Bruce Starr, a state senator from Hillsboro. Avakian was appointed labor commissioner in April 2008 and was elected statewide later that year to a full four-year term. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for ...

Groups offer solution to timber county crisis
Thursday February 2, 2012    02:47 PM
StoryPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Conservation groups are offering a different approach to the fiscal crisis facing timber counties in Oregon. Instead of just increasing timber production from 2.6 million acres of federal forests known as the O&C lands, they suggest that counties, the state of Oregon, and the federal government share the load. The Oregonian reported (http://bit.ly/zrLM0M) Thursday that ...

Documents show why Gladstone officer was fired
Thursday February 2, 2012    02:47 PM
StoryPORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Newly released documents reveal more information about the firing in December of a Gladstone police sergeant implicated in the death of his wife. The Oregonian reports (http://is.gd/OAllRk) they show Lynn Benton was dismissed for having pornography on a department computer and for engaging in a fraudulent marriage in 1993 with a Brazilian man so he could qualify for citize ...

Eugene Woman Arrested for Hit & Run Crash North of Albany
Wednesday February 1, 2012    06:23 PM
ALBANY, Oregon - An Oregon State Police (OSP) investigation into a November 2011 minor injury hit and run traffic crash on Interstate 5 north of Albany led to Tuesday’s arrest of a Eugene woman on multiple charges. LISA L. ABBE, age 42, from Eugene, was arrested by OSP January 31, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. on warrants charging Felony Hit & Run, Assault in the Fourth Degree, and Recklessly Endangering ...
Washington State Senate secures 26th vote on gay marriage
Wednesday February 1, 2012    06:18 PM
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A previously uncommitted Democrat says he is voting to approve gay marriage. Sen. Brian Hatfield of Raymond said in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday night that it has been one of the most difficult issues he has ever been associated with. He believes his vote in either direction would alienate him from longtime friends. Hatfield says he came to his deci ...
woman accused of killing baby says she lied
Wednesday February 1, 2012    02:56 PM
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — A Springfield woman accused of killing her newborn son has taken the stand to testify that her pregnancy was a charade and she confessed to the crime to avoid exposing the lie. Angelica Swartout testified Tuesday that she wore baggy fleece all summer long in 2010. She demonstrated from the witness stand how she pushed out her belly to fake a pregnancy that was bringing her a ...
Woman pleads guilty to murder in fatal fire
Wednesday February 1, 2012    12:54 AM
SALEM, Oregon — A 35-year-old Oregon woman accused of setting a Salem house fire that killed a man has pleaded guilty to murder and arson. Shray Lynne Thompson entered her pleas Monday in Marion County Circuit Court. Sentencing was set for Feb. 24. Thompson set a fire at a home where she was staying with several other people last Feb. 18. Responding fire crews found 64-year-old Robert Flo ...
OSP investigates traffic crash Involving School Bus
Tuesday January 31, 2012    06:11 PM
Oregon State Police (OSP) cited the driver of a vehicle following Tuesday morning’s minor injury traffic crash with an unloaded school bus on Highway 47 a mile south of Gaston. According to Senior Trooper Dan Davis, on January 31, 2012 at approximately 7:10 a.m. a Yamhill/Carlton School District bus driven by GREGORY VISAGE, age 61, from Yamhill, was northbound on Highway 47 in the process of ...
Police Seek Suspect involved in fatal hit and run
Tuesday January 31, 2012    06:05 PM
StoryThe Portland Police Bureau, in cooperation with Crime Stoppers, is asking for your help in locating a suspect involved in a fatal hit and run to a pedestrian. On January 28, 2012, at 6:59 p.m., Portland Police officers from East Precinct responded to the report of a pedestrian struck in the 7000 block of Southeast Foster Road. As officers were on their way to the call, additional information w ...

Umatilla chemical weapons contractor fined
Tuesday January 31, 2012    06:01 PM
StoryPORTLAND, Oregon — Oregon environmental regulators have assessed a contractor destroying chemical weapons in Eastern Oregon nearly $47,000 in fines for violations that occurred before it finished incinerating mustard agent stored at the Umatilla depot. The state Department of Environmental Quality said Tuesday the violations were in June and September, and the fines were for carbon monoxide emi ...

MassMutual to make life insurance broadly available to persons with heart conditions
Tuesday January 31, 2012    03:26 PM
StoryUp to date diagnostic and treatment advances are resulting in broader life insurance coverage for many people with cardiovascular conditions. Conditions such as coronary artery, valvular and congenital heart diseases are being regularly reviewed by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), a move that helps more people protect their families financially despite wrestling with the s ...

18-year-old Hailee Helligso found safe
Tuesday January 31, 2012    05:20 PM
UPDATE: 18-year-old Hailee Helligso has been located and safely returned home. Previoius Story: PORTLAND, Oregon - Portland Police are seeking help in locating 18-year-old Hailee Helligso, who left her court-ordered residential housing in Northeast Portland, on Thursday evening, January 26, 2012. Although she is 18 years of age, Hailee is not her own legal guardian, is considered a medic ...
Salem man gets long prison term for sexually abusing three young girls
Tuesday January 31, 2012    01:40 PM
DALLAS, Oregon — 34-year-old sex offender Greg Scott Evensizer of West Salem was sentenced to 62 years in prison in Polk County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to six felony charges involving the abuse of three girls all under the age of 12. He was sentenced Monday. "It's Ballot Measure 11 time, so he will do every single day," said Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gaddis, who handl ...
deputies rescue 2 motorists stuck in snow
Tuesday January 31, 2012    01:34 PM
BEND, Oregon — Sheriff's officers and search and rescue teams in central Oregon have rescued two Bend residents who got stranded in their vehicle on a snowy Forest Service road. Deschutes County sheriff's Deputy Rhett Hemphill said 35-year-old Jeremiah Budish and 47-year-old Nancy Walker has been driving toward Sunriver when they got stuck Monday morning. After trying unsuccessfully to free ...
Warm Springs reservation getting broadband service
Tuesday January 31, 2012    01:29 PM
StoryWARM SPRINGS, Oregon - Tribal officials are making a push to spread high-speed Internet service across the Warm Spring Indian Reservation in Central Oregon. The Bend Bulletin reports (http://bit.ly/xH8fCB) that Warm Springs Telecommunications Co., the ninth tribally owned telecom in U.S., expects to start providing high-speed Internet to area residents in late February and telephone services by ...

NW agencies try to head off bat fungus
Tuesday January 31, 2012    01:28 PM
StoryBEND, Ore. (AP) — Federal authorities in the Northwest are working on plans to prevent, or at least slow, a fungus responsible for the deaths of millions of bats in eastern states. The fungus frosts the bats' muzzles — so it's called white nose syndrome. The bats awaken in mid-hibernation. Weak, they die when they leave their caves seeking insects in winter. The fungus showed up in New Yo ...

Facebook Has Spent $210 Million on Oregon Data Center
Monday January 30, 2012    01:29 PM

PRINEVILLE, Oregon - Facebook has invested $210 million to build the first phase of its new data center in Prineville, Oregon, which has a capacity of 28 megawatts of power, the company and local economic development officials revealed this week. The disclosures, released in an economic impact study and a community economic forum, were the first public confirmations of the cost and power usage ...
Kayak capsizes, boy in critical condition
Monday January 30, 2012    01:21 PM
StoryPORTLAND, Oregon — A 15-year-old boy whose kayak capsized on the Willamette River is in critical condition after rescuers pulled him from the water and performed CPR. Chad Berg was kayaking with his father, Geoffrey, and another man, Brian Tidwell, Saturday afternoon near Albany when his kayak filled with water and he fell in. Tidwell made it to shore and called 911. The Benton County Sher ...

Labor group seeks to unionize University of Oregon Faculty
Monday January 30, 2012    01:20 PM
StoryAdvocates asking supporters to sign cards seeking state recognition for a new labor organization. The group United Academics of the University of Oregon began collecting cards from its strongest supporters earlier this month and has since expanded its efforts. Under the process chosen by union advocates, supporters need to collect signed cards from more than 50 percent of those in the proposed ...

Remains at Gold Beach thought to be dog owner's
Monday January 30, 2012    01:16 PM
StoryGOLD BEACH, Oregon - Authorities say they believe a body recovered near Gold Beach is that of a man swept into the ocean a month ago trying to rescue his dog from the surf. A person walking an isolated stretch of the beach found the remains. Police Chief Dixon Andrews says a medical examiner will make an official identification. He says clothing and the location of the body lead authorities ...

Rate hikes likely for Canby ferry
Monday January 30, 2012    01:14 PM
StoryOREGON CITY, Oregon — Clackamas County commissioners are considering asking Canby ferry riders to pay more of the cost. Most cars are charged $2 for the trip across the Willamette River between Wilsonville and Canby. The ferry costs about $575,000 to operate with $457,000 coming from a county subsidy. The Oregonian reports commissioners discussed the subsidy Tuesday as they decided to spe ...

Fairview police fatal shooting account disputed
Monday January 30, 2012    01:13 PM
StoryFAIRVIEW, Ore. (AP) — The mother of a man killed by officers in Clackamas County disputes the police account, saying her drunken son was at the top of a staircase with a knife but didn't move toward officers at the bottom. Sandra Kelley said she'd called 911 late Friday because her 37-year-old son, Larry McKinney, had violated her apartment rules: "You don't come home buzzed or drunk." She f ...

Teen boy critical after rescue on Willamette River
Monday January 30, 2012    12:34 AM
StoryPORTLAND, Oregon - A 15-year-old boy whose kayak capsized on the Willamette River is in critical condition after rescuers pulled him from the water and performed CPR. Chad Berg was kayaking with his father, Geoffrey, and another man, Brian Tidwell, Saturday afternoon near Albany when his kayak filled with water and he fell in. Tidwell made it to shore and called 911. The Benton County Sherif ...

84-year-old Mary Howell has been returned home safely
Sunday January 29, 2012    06:11 PM
Update: 84-year-old Mary Howell has been returned home safely by police. This afternoon, around 2:52 p.m., Mary walked into Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe, located at 1511 Southeast Water Avenue, and told them she was lost and didn't know how to get home. Previous story: PORTLAND, Oregon - This morning, Sunday January 29, 2012, Portland Police Bureau North Precinct officers and Missing Perso ...
Oregon girl remembers murdered Shafia sisters
Sunday January 29, 2012    02:54 AM
An 19-year-old Beaverton girl who was close friends with the three sister says she believes the girls could have been saved if Canadian authorities had intervened. "I think they would probably be alive today if someone had listened to them and did something", said Roberta Khriem. "It’s horrible, just horrible what happened. Sahar and Zainab were my friends and I miss them." Khriem said she h ...
Body of 6-year-old Vinesa Snegur found
Saturday January 28, 2012    10:55 PM
MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOREST, Ore. - The body of a 6-year-old girl was found Saturday, nearly a week after she was swept away in a frigid, fast-moving Oregon river. Sheriff's officials say a passer-by spotted the body of Vinesa Snegur on the rocks of a shallow island in the middle of the Clackamas River and flagged down a deputy. Vinesa fell into the river on Sunday, Jan. 22 while playing in t ...
17-year-old girl scout, honor student dies after snowboarding accident
Saturday January 28, 2012    10:25 PM
PORTLAND, Oregon — Authorities say a 17-year-old girl has died after an apparent snowboarding accident. The Clackamas County Sheriff's Office says 17-year-old Taylur Dewolf of Sandy was reported missing from a Mount Hood ski resort Friday night. Her friends and family told authorities that they had last seen her three hours earlier. The girl's body was found just off the main run at Skibow ...
School energy audits find $40 million in upgrades
Saturday January 28, 2012    11:32 AM
SALEM, Oregon - Gov. John Kitzhaber's top priorities after taking office a year ago was his "Cool Schools" initiative to create jobs while making schools more energy efficient. Energy audit companies have taken a close look at 100 mostly small and rural school districts around Oregon to determine upgrades that are needed, how much energy can be saved, and what it might cost. Those audits, wh ...
35 days for Salem lawmakers with Busy agenda remaining
Saturday January 28, 2012    09:23 AM
SALEM, Oregon — Lawmakers will return to Salem on Wednesday to face daunting challenges: a struggling economy, deep budget cuts and major changes to health care and education. The top priority, legislative leaders say, will be further trimming a budget that was already hacked last year. Nothing is off the table, they say. Barely a quarter of the way into a two-year spending plan, lawmakers a ...
2 people, dog pulled from SUV in creek
Saturday January 28, 2012    05:19 AM
GRAND RONDE, Oregon — Two people and a dog were rescued from an SUV that left a highway, slid 30 feet down an embankment, hit a tree and ended up in three feet of water in a creek. Oregon State Police say firefighters pulled 57-year-old Gertrude Dickey of Willamina and her 67-year-old brother, Monty Dickey, from the vehicle Friday. GERTRUDE DICKEY was transported by ambulance to Willamette Vall ...
Eugene man, 75, convicted in DUI freeway death
Saturday January 28, 2012    01:28 AM
EUGENE, Oregon (AP) — Jurors in Eugene, Ore., have convicted a 75-year-old man of second-degree manslaughter and drunken driving for heading the wrong way on a freeway and killing a Florence man last November. The Register-Guard reports that the manslaughter conviction carries a mandatory minimum sentence of more than six years. A Circuit Court judge scheduled sentencing Monday for Eldridge Mar ...
War vet accused of posing as Eugene Police Officer
Saturday January 28, 2012    11:19 AM
StoryPORTLAND, Oregon — Eugene Police Officer Dan Baker drove a blue SUV and set off sirens to clear cars in front of him at traffic lights. He pulled over motorists — though it's unclear if he ever gave out tickets. And when he stopped by a youth shelter as a volunteer, he came in full uniform. There's just one problem: There has never been an Officer Dan Baker in the Eugene Police Department. ...

Man found dead in SUV in Salem
Saturday January 28, 2012    11:18 AM
StorySALEM, Oregon - The Oregon state medical examiner's office says a young man found slumped over in the driver's seat of an SUV in northeast Salem is a homicide victim. On Friday night, the Marion County sheriff's office identified the victim as 25-year-old Rogelio Hernandez-Davalos. He's believed to have lived in the Portland area. No information has been released about how the man died. T ...

Homeowner Shoots Suspect With Rubber Bullets
Friday January 27, 2012    09:27 PM
StoryPORTLAND, Oregon - Portland Police Bureau Assault Detectives are continuing to investigate the circumstances of this morning's incident where a homeowner shot a man with rubber bullets. The suspect in this case, 54-year-old Oscar Claude Taylor Jr., remains in an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Taylor has not yet been charged with any crimes in this case. Detectives have t ...

Portland Police Negotiating With Man on a Ledge in Downtown Portland
Friday January 27, 2012    09:19 PM
StoryThis evening, Friday January 27, 2012, Portland Police officers assigned to Central Precinct responded to the report of a man on a 2nd story ledge of the Henry Building Apartments, located at 309 Southwest 4th Avenue. Officers arrived and have been talking with the man and have called for Crisis Negotiators and a limited deployment of the Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) to respond. ...

Doctors say 12-year-old Salem heart attack victim will recover
Friday January 27, 2012    01:07 PM
PORTLAND, Oregon — Doctors say a 12-year-old Salem boy who suffered a heart attack and collapsed at a basketball practice will make a full recovery, with no brain damage. Doctors say CPR and a quick medical response saved young Isaac Arzate. He's anxious to return to school and can return to basketball in a few weeks. Isaac says he doesn't remember collapsing the evening of Jan. 6 at a sc ...
Officials reviewing fatal Portland police shooting
Friday January 27, 2012    01:05 PM
StoryPORTLAND, Oregon — The autopsy shows a suicidal man shot by Portland police Wednesday died of a single gunshot to the head. The two officers who fired at Brad Lee Morgan have been place on leave for an investigation and review by a Multnomah County grand jury. The shooting has some thinking the police bureau should return to a policy of having a special crisis intervention team on duty to re ...

'Barefoot Bandit' sentenced to 6 1/2 years
Friday January 27, 2012    01:02 PM
SEATTLE, Washtington — A federal judge on Friday sentenced "Barefoot Bandit" Colton Harris-Moore to 6 1/2 years in prison for his infamous two-year, international crime spree of break-ins, and boat and plane thefts that ended in 2010. Harris-Moore hopscotched his way across the United States, authorities said. He flew a plane stolen in Washington state to the San Juan Islands, stole a pistol in ...
Officers seek ties between convicted killer, teen
Thursday January 26, 2012    09:26 PM
StoryPORTLAND, Oregon = Portland Police and the Lane County Sheriff's Department are looking for any ties between a convicted killer and a Seattle-area teen who disappeared in 1985. They say 19-year-old Virginia "Anne" Rambus lived near Jesse Pratt in May 1985, when she vanished on her way to a party. Pratt was well known to teens living in the Skyway area south of Seattle. Seattlepi.com reports ...

Lookout Point Dam photographer sentenced
Thursday January 26, 2012    11:42 AM
StoryEUGENE, Oregon - A 21-year-old Eugene photographer who pleaded guilty to entering a restricted area at Lookout Point Dam was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 60 hours of community service at the dam, which is operated by the Corps of Engineers. Wiley Roy Nelson avoided jail. In a plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed a charge of entering military property for an unlawful purpose. Offi ...

Eugene spends $13,000 on councilor's security
Thursday January 26, 2012    11:41 AM
StoryEUGENE, Oregon - The city of Eugene has spent more than $13,000 providing security at the home of city Councilor George Poling, the target of some Occupy Eugene demonstrators. The security was needed for the safety of his family. On Christmas night 15 to 20 people erected tents and danced on Poling's lawn and driveway to protest his opposition to Occupy Eugene. Four of those people were arre ...

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