Date: 07/16/2014 09:21 AM
AP-OR–2nd NewsMinute/252
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) – Authorities in Medford are worried that an arsonist is behind a series of fires over the past three weeks. The Mail Tribune reports that police say 13 suspicious fires may have started with the June 25 blaze that leveled a former fruit-packing plant downtown. While that fire hasn’t yet been ruled an arson, police say there are too many similarities between it and a dozen other fires to ignore.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Oregon voters will get to decide in November whether to ditch Oregon’s partisan primary elections. State elections officials have certified a ballot measure that would create a top-two primary system. All candidates would appear on the ballot and all registered voters would be eligible to participate. The top two candidates, regardless of their party affiliation, would advance to the general election.
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – Insufficient route planning, a distracted pilot driver and an inadequate permitting process by the state of Washington all played a part in last year’s Interstate 5 bridge collapse north of Seattle. The NTSB voted yesterday to issue a number of recommendations, including state bans on nonessential cellphone use by pilot-car drivers and requiring better warnings of low-clearance bridges.
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) – A 15-year-old boy whose lawyer contends he was just joking has been sentenced to 10 days in juvenile detention for threatening to shoot students and staff at Skyview High School in Vancouver. The threats were made during a two-week period in March.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
