Date: 11/16/2012 03:59 AM
OR–1st NewsMinute/324
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – An openly lesbian lawmaker will lead a state legislative chamber for the first time. Oregon House Democrats chose Rep. Tina Kotek of Portland to be the next state House speaker. The decision must be formally ratified in January. Kotek’s selection notches another milestone from an election that brought a series of victories to the gay community, including the first openly gay U.S. senator and the first bisexual member of Congress.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The Portland City Council has voted to greatly expand its ban on plastic checkout bags. The ordinance requires all retail establishments and food providers, including food carts, to use only recycled paper bags or reusable bags by October 2013. Stores greater than 10,000 square feet must follow the rule by March. Mayor Sam Adams tweeted the news yesterday. Adams says the ordinance is necessary to keep plastic bags out of rivers and oceans.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Investigators say they seized upward of 8,000 pounds of marijuana in harvest-season raids in Josephine County in Southern Oregon. The report from the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement team said yesterday that 26 people have been charged or are under investigation. It said most cases involved people in the state medical marijuana program with more pot than the law allows. Raids were in Grants Pass, Cave Junction, Merlin, Wilderville, Williams, and Selma.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A 47-year-old Oregon man will have to pay $100,000 for falsely reporting where he caught fish in Alaska. The U.S. attorney’s office said yesterday Freddie Joe Hankins of Cove, Ore., was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Anchorage for falsely reporting in 2007 where he caught 31,000 pounds of halibut sold in Kodiak. Prosecutors in a release say he reported he caught the halibut in a legal area, but actually fished closer to port in an area where he wasn’t allowed to fish.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
