2nd Oregon News Minute from the AP

Date: 02/25/2013 09:22 AM

OR–2nd NewsMinute/285
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

 

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Police say the man suspected of running down a woman early Saturday in southeast Portland has turned himself in. SUV driver Jeffrey Porter is jailed on charges of hit-and-run, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence. Investigators found his car at a body shop. The woman who was hit is seriously injured but is expected to recover. Witnesses said the SUV that hit her never slowed down.

COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) – Police say two men are jailed in the violent death of a homeless man whose body was discovered behind a warehouse in Coos Bay. Prosecutors say 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 early yesterday. Michael Lee Gertson and Jesse Jack Longhenry are being held at the Coos County Jail on a murder charge.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – An Oregon House committee tomorrow takes up Gov. John Kitzhaber’s plea for a public vote on repealing the death penalty. The House Judiciary Committee will hear public testimony on a measure that would ask voters in 2014 whether to amend the state constitution with a death-penalty ban. The measure doesn’t seem likely to go very far, especially after voters in California rejected a similar measure last year.

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) – The U.S. Forest Service has threatened criminal charges against a man seeking gold in Eastern Oregon. The service contends John Wasson does not have the right to stay year-round at the prospecting site near Ukiah, saying it interferes with the public’s access to a scenic portion of the North Fork John Day River.

 

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.