Date: 10/03/2013 03:59 AM
AP-OR–1st NewsMinute/311
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon Legislature approved a series of bills on pensions and taxes, then adjourned its special session after three days of work. The approval of five bills yesterday caps a year-long effort by Gov. John Kitzhaber to stem the growing costs of public-employee pensions. Lawmakers voted to lower the annual inflation increases to pension checks for retired government workers. They also voted to raise taxes on some individuals and businesses while lowering them for others.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A federal judge in Portland, Ore., has delayed the trial of a couple accused in a Northwest crime spree that claimed four lives. U.S. District Judge Ancer Haggerty decided yesterday to postpone the trial of David “Joey” Pedersen and Holly Ann Grigsby two more months, from May 5 to July 7 next year. The Oregonian reports Grigsby’s lawyers also asked the judge to postpone until next year hearings to determine whether the death penalty will be pursued.
SEATTLE (AP) – Officials in southwest Washington say they’re turning to air searches in their efforts to find a man and a woman missing in separate, remote areas. Skamania County Undersheriff Dave Cox says an improving weather forecast should allow an extensive air search today for Kristopher Zitzewitz of Portland, Ore. He was last seen Saturday in the Big Lava Beds area of Gifford Pinchot National Forest, southwest of Mount Adams. A ground search Wednesday failed to find the 31-year-old.
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) – An appeals court has upheld killing sea lions that eat too many salmon at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had previously told NOAA Fisheries Service it needed to do a better job of explaining why it was authorizing the killing of dozens of sea lions, which are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
