1st Oregon News Minute from the AP

Date: 02/25/2013 03:59 AM

OR–1st NewsMinute/374
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

 

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) – Police have arrested two suspects in the violent death of a homeless man whose body was found behind a warehouse in Coos Bay. Coos County District Attorney Paul Frasier says 34-year-old Jesse Nathan Hayes suffered multiple injuries to his head and body, including hematomas to the brain. The body was found behind a warehouse after authorities received a report yesterday. Frasier says 31-year-old Michael Lee Gertson and 46-year-old Jesse Jack Longhenry are being held.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – An Oregon hunter has been found not guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of a Marine reservist from California he says he mistook for a bear. The Statesman Journal newspaper says the Salem jury deliberated about two hours Friday before acquitting Eugene Collier. The 68-year-old was the last witness to take the stand. He told jurors he was shooting to kill when he fired the .270-caliber bullet that caused the death of 20-year-old Christopher Ochoa, of French Camp, Calif., in 2011.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Oregon’s complicated relationship with capital punishment takes center stage this week as a House committee takes up Gov. John Kitzhaber’s plea for a public vote on repealing the death penalty. Tomorrow, the House Judiciary Committee will hear public testimony on a measure to ask voters in 2014 whether to amend the state constitution with a death-penalty ban. House Speaker Tina Kotek says she wants to see more evidence the measure could pass in Oregon, although she stopped short of ruling out a vote. Democratic Rep. Mitch Greenlick of Portland sponsored the bill that he believes would pass.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The state Department of Energy says it will review whether a major wind farm in central Oregon should receive $30 million in tax credits. Officials decided to review their recent approval of the tax breaks for the Shepherd’s Flat wind farm after The Oregonian newspaper raised questions about whether it should have qualified. Shepherd’s Flat is a collection of 338 turbines in Gilliam and Morrow counties. The Oregonian questioned whether it should have received multiple Business Energy Tax Credits under state rules governing what constitutes a “separate and distinct” renewable energy facility.

 

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.