AP-OR–3rd NewsMinute,276
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Portland doctor Gregg Coodley is promoting
an initiative that would add a penny-per-ounce tax on soda drinks
in Multnomah County. Supporters say the tax would raise $35 million
a year. Half the money would go to schools for physical education
and after-school activities. The other half would go to local
businesses that hire the unemployed. The initiative needs 17,000
signatures to make the county ballot in November. The American
Beverage Association calls the proposed soda tax unfair and
discriminatory.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – An advisory committee recommends that Oregon
stop penalizing state workers who refuse to take part in a new
wellness program. State employees who don’t enroll in the Health
Engagement Model must pay a surcharge of at least $25 a month. The
surcharge was intended to encourage participation in the program to
promote healthy behavior and reduce insurance costs.
HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) – A repeat sex offender is headed to prison
for the rest of his life under Oregon’s three-strikes law.
Forty-eight-year-old David Allen Baker was sentenced yesterday in
Hillsboro after a Washington County Circuit judge decided he can’t
be rehabilitated. The Oregonian reports Baker was convicted in
September of attempted rape and online sexual corruption of a child
for contacts with a 13-year-old girl. He previously was convicted
of child rape in 1985 and 1998.
HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) – A man known as “Moss man” after he was
arrested in a moss-like camouflage suit was sentenced to 16 months
in prison for breaking into the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and
Minerals at Hillsboro. Gregory Liascos of Portland pleaded guilty
to burglary charges and was sent to prison yesterday.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-01-11-12 1036EST
