3rd Oregon News Minute from the AP

Date: 05/14/2013 10:36 AM

OR–3rd NewsMinute/318
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

 

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – An ethanol plant on the Columbia River that was built with the help of $36 million in Oregon state loans and tax credits is now being used to store and ship crude oil from North Dakota. The Oregonian reports the plant’s switch came with little public notice. It was built at the Port of St. Helens’ Port Westward Industrial park near Clatskanie. The owner filed for bankruptcy in 2009, less than a year after startup. The new owners renamed it the Columbia Pacific Bio-Refinery. It takes oil that arrives by train from North Dakota’s Bakken oil field.

ALBANY, Ore. (AP) – The city of Albany plans to move an osprey nest that has been built on top of a 60-foot light pole at a softball field. Parks and Recreation spokesman Bruce Edwards tells KVAL a platform will be added 2 or 3 feet directly above the lights. Edwards says that should give the osprey pair a safe nesting place for years to come without interfering with the softball field lights.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – A bill to put a statue of former Sen. Mark Hatfield in the Capitol in Washington, D.C., is moving through the Oregon Legislature. Each state has two statues in the National Statutory Hall. Installing Hatfield will mean removing the statue of Jason Lee, a pioneer and missionary who founded the school that became Willamette University. The other statue in the hall is of John McLoughlin, a fur trader known as the “Father of Oregon.”

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon National Guard will be showing off four new drones that are based at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton. The guard is holding a press conference today at the airport, where it will fly the unmanned aircraft for the first time in civilian airspace. The drones have a wingspan of 14 feet and are equipped with two cameras.

 

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.