1st Oregon News Minute from the AP

Date: 01/31/2014 03:59 AM

AP-OR–1st NewsMinute/258
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

 

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The push for a new Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River is headed toward a collision course in the Oregon Legislature. Gov. John Kitzhaber and House Speaker Tina Kotek are continuing their aggressive push for the project. But Senate President Peter Courtney insists that the skeptical Washington Legislature back the project too, not just Gov. Jay Inslee.

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) – Jackson County sheriff’s officers have wrapped up a three-week search of a rural Rogue River, Ore., farm where they say two people were killed and dismembered. They say they found no additional bodies. The Medford Mail Tribune reports investigators dug more than 50 holes and drained a pond in their search for any other possible victims. Susan Monica is accused of killing a handyman and another unidentified victim. She has pleaded not guilty.

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (AP) – Springfield, Ore., police say they’re trying to determine whether a fatal shooting after a car crash was justifiable self-defense. The Register-Guard reports that 53-year-old David Crofut of Springfield was fatally shot Wednesday night, shortly after his SUV collided with the back of a pickup driven by 34-year-old Gerald Roy Strebendt, also of Springfield.

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) – Environmental groups are lining up against Sen. Ron Wyden’s bill to promote logging on federal forests in Western Oregon to help struggling timber counties. Leaders from 10 national environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council, signed a letter urging members of the Senate to oppose the bill.

 

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