AP Northwest News Minute

MOUNT HOOD, Ore. (AP) — Up to 4 inches of snow has fallen on the Cascades by Wednesday morning. The Oregonian reported that the National Weather Service said higher elevations had picked up even more with Mt. Hood Meadows reporting 9 inches of powder. The weather service added that temperatures were expected to rise briefly Thursday and storm clouds were likely to lessen.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Federal prosecutors and defense lawyers are at odds over how to proceed in the trial of a second set of defendants who are to stand trial for the takeover of a wildlife refuge in Oregon, three weeks after blanket acquittals in the first trial. Defense lawyers want a pool of 2,000 jurors to be summoned as soon as possible, but federal prosecutors want a delay, even as they indicate they’ll proceed with the second trial.

BEND, Ore. (AP) — Officials say the state will seek a sentence of death against a Redmond man charged with killing a woman whose body was found near an Oregon highway. Edwin Lara is charged with murder in the July death of 23-year-old Kaylee Sawyer. A grand jury also indicted Lara on federal charges Wednesday including carjacking, kidnapping, and two counts of brandishing a firearm for allegedly kidnapping another woman and taking her to California after the killing.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon says in a new economic and revenue forecast that job growth has cooled off. So has the growth in personal income taxes that the state collects. Gov. Kate Brown says she will have some very tough budget choices to make. The forecast says new employment data and withholdings from Oregonian paychecks shows the economic slowdown is already here