OREGON COAST EARTHQUAKES
3 small earthquakes recorded along Oregon coast
NEWPORT, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey reports three small earthquakes have been recorded along the Oregon central coast.
The USGS says a 3.8 magnitude quake was recorded at 7:48 a.m. Saturday about 48 kilometers west of Newport and a 2.5 magnitude quake was recorded several hours later in the same area. In between, a 1.9 magnitude shake occurred at 10:52 a.m.
Tremors were felt from Florence Depoe Bay.
No injuries or damage were reported. Geologists say damage is not likely in earthquakes below magnitude 4.0.
CHILD CENTER CITED
Closed Oregon child care center cited more than 100 times
(Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com)
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon child care center received more than 100 citations over an 11-year-span before being shut down by state regulators last week.
The Statesman Journal reports that Iris Valley Learning received complaints about leaving children unattended, allowing children to be in potentially dangerous situations and not having enough staff to supervise children.
Center Director Connie Williams says any issues found by the state were always corrected immediately.
Child Care Director for the state’s Early Learning Division Dawn Woods says that state officials sent technical advisors to help improve the center’s conditions, but the issue continued to escalate over the years and left the state with no choice to shut the center down.
The center’s closure leaves an estimated 330 children and their parents without child care.
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SENATOR’S WIFE KILLED
State police: Oregon senator’s wife killed in crash
(Information from: KOPB-FM, http://news.opb.org)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon State Police are investigating a fatal crash that killed the wife of a state senator.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that a semi-truck hauling a box trailer was unable to avoid 54-year-old Leta Baertschiger while she was out walking in the right lane of Interstate 5 near Grants Pass.
Baertschiger is the wife of Herman Baertschiger, a Republican state senator from southern Oregon.
State police are unsure why the woman was walking along the interstate.
Baertschiger is survived by her husband and two sons.
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HEALTH OVERHAUL-MEETING RESISTANCE
Even in hometown, constituents rip into Republican lawmaker
HOOD RIVER, Ore. (AP) — Republican congressman Greg Walden found a hostile audience when he hosted a town hall in his Oregon home town last week.
Roughly 800 people turned out to confront the 10-term congressman on issues like health care, immigration, the environment and Syria. Walden is a magnet for questions about health care because he is a lead author of the stalled House Republican health care bill.
In the town of Hood River, Walden drew criticism over health care but assured people there were parts of the current law he would keep, such as a ban on lifetime coverage limits.
Republican lawmakers have been facing the same angry buzz saw in town halls elsewhere in the U.S., a response to the policies of President Donald Trump and others in the GOP leadership.
FATAL SHOOTING
Police investigating after 1 dead in Portland shooting
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland police officers say they are searching for three men involved in a fatal shooting.
According to police spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson, officers responded to a report of gunfire on Saturday and found a man outside of an entrance to a field at Menlo Park Elementary School. The man, who has not been identified, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Simpson says witnesses told police that they heard gunshots and saw three men wearing hooded sweatshirts run away.
Police do not believe the public is in danger.
TAX DAY-RALLIES-THE LATEST
The Latest: Trump: Who’s behind rallies seeking tax returns
President Donald Trump says “someone should look into who paid” for the rallies around the country Saturday that urged him to release his tax returns.
Trump tweeted Sunday: “I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again?”
Trump was the first major-party nominee in more than 40 years not to release his tax returns and he reneged on a campaign commitment to release them. He said they were being audited.
He tweeted Sunday: “Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday.”
Thousands chanted and marched Saturday demanding the release of his returns so the public can examine his business ties and determine whether he has links to foreign powers. The demonstrations came just days before Tuesday’s deadline for taxpayers to file their returns.
TRIBE-CASINO OPENING
Tribe to open giant gambling complex in Washington state
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Cowlitz Indian Tribe says it will open a $510 million gambling complex in southwestern Washington state on April 24.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that officials on Friday announced the planned opening of the Ilani Casino Resort that will include 15 restaurants, bars and retail stores.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear a challenge to the 368,000-square-foot gambling complex from card room owners in nearby La Center concerned the new facility will draw away business.
The complex is projected to draw away at least $200 million annually from the card rooms, other tribal casinos and the Oregon Lottery.
Cowlitz Tribe Chairman Bill Iyall says the resort is expected to attract 4.5 million visitors a year and create 1,200 jobs in the region.
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OBIT-JAMES
Clifton James, sheriff in James Bond films, dies at 96
Clifton James, best known for his indelible portrayal of a southern sheriff in two James Bond films but who was most proud of his work on the stage, has died. He was 96.
His daughter, Lynn James, said he died Saturday at another daughter’s home in Gladstone, Oregon, due to complications from diabetes.
James grew up in Washington state and Oregon. He fought with the U.S. Army in the South Pacific in World War II and received two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star.
After the war, he started acting in plays in college at the University of Oregon then moved to New York to launch his career.
One of his first significant roles was as a prison floor-walker in the 1967 classic “Cool Hand Luke.”
His long list of roles includes the swaggering, tobacco-spitting Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper in the James Bond films.
His daughter says he was surprised that people remembered him most for that role.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.
