1st Oregon News Minute from the AP

Date: 03/14/2013 03:59 AM

OR–1st NewsMinute/401
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

 

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. (AP) – The co-manager of a Lincoln City, Ore., motel recalls the man who checked in as chatty and friendly, paying with cash and saying he was on a road trip. Leah Kallimanis says Michael Boysen showed his ID Monday and signed his real name. It wasn’t until Tuesday, as she and her husband and co-manager watched TV news and reviewed the previous day’s guest log, that she realized the man was suspected of killing his grandparents in the Seattle area. She told KATU-TV she saw the photo, saw the name and said, “Oh my gosh, he’s here!” Boysen is hospitalized for treatment of self-inflicted cuts.

BEND, Ore. (AP) – Police in Bend say they’ve tallied $2 million in damage at two church buildings that were part of a string of seven arson fires to hit the central Oregon city last week. KTVZ-TV reports that the search for suspects in the March 6 fires continues. Lt. Chris Carney says the main building of historic Trinity Episcopal Church suffered $1.5 million in damage. Police said earlier that damage totaled $500,000 at the church’s adjacent St. Helens Hall. Police believe the same arsonist set all seven fires.

SCAPPOOSE, Ore. (AP) – The northwest Oregon town of Scappoose has voted to continue fluoridating its water. City Manager Jon Hanken says the tally in an election Tuesday was 847 to 551. He says that represented a turn-in rate of about 36 percent for the mail ballots. The City Council voted in 2000 to fluoridate the water supply in Scappoose. It put the issue to a vote after questions were raised last year about the health effects of fluoridation. The town of about 6,700 people is in Columbia County.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – As Oregon lawmakers talk about raising more tax revenue from individuals, there’s a distinct possibility that corporations will get millions in automatic tax rebates. State tax collections are flirting with the threshold that would trigger millions of dollars in tax rebate to corporations under a tax law unique to Oregon known as the “kicker.” Voters decided in November that corporate kicker rebates should go to schools instead, but that doesn’t take effect until the next budget cycle. If corporate tax collections exceed projections by at least 2 percent, the entire surplus would be returned to corporations this year.

 

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.