3rd Oregon News Minute from the AP

Date: 01/24/2013 10:28 AM

OR–3rd NewsMinute/360
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

 

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Benefits for Oregon state employees now include insurance coverage for sex-change surgery. Public Employee Benefits Board Administrator Joan Kapowich says it will cover any operation a doctor says is medically necessary. The Statesman Journal reports the policy is a result of a settlement with a state employee who filed a discrimination suit after the employee was denied coverage in 2011 for a hysterectomy. The operation was recommended by a doctor for transition from a woman to a man.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – An 11-year-old Portland boy accused of an attempted carjacking is now a ward of the state. The father and mother of the boy and two other children lost their parental rights yesterday at a Multnomah County court hearing. The 11-year-old is facing a juvenile criminal charge and is in a treatment facility. A 7-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister are in foster care. Police say the 11-year-old was armed with his father’s gun when he and another boy attempted to rob a woman Dec. 8 in a church parking lot.

OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) – Clackamas County prosecutors say a Canby man paid his son to shoot a neighbor’s dog. The owner came home last April and found his black Labrador retriever named Paws dead. The Oregonian reports David Walkoski and 30-year-old Derek Walkoski are charged with aggravated animal abuse, recklessly endangering another person and possession of methamphetamine. Derek Walkosk of Oregon City also is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. And, he faces drug, theft and weapons charges in a separate case.

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) – An Oregon State Police wildlife trooper has cited a 16-year-old boy for killing a protected red-tailed hawk near Klamath Falls. Police say the trooper responded Sunday to a landowner’s report that two juveniles had been involved in shooting a hawk on his property and then tried to run off. The trooper found the dead bird and caught up with contacted the juveniles, citing one of them for unlawful taking of a protected species. His name wasn’t released.

 

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.