1st Oregon News Minute from the AP

AP-OR–1st NewsMinute,311
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Communities across Oregon are preparing
for a new punch from Mother Nature as forecasters warn of
hurricane-force wind gusts on the coast overnight and heavy snow in
the Columbia River Gorge and the Cascades. The National Weather
Service issued winter storm warnings for the mountains until this
afternoon. A less-severe winter weather advisory was in effect for
the Willamette Valley, but forecasters backed off earlier forecasts
that significant snow was possible in Portland.

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. (AP) – Hospital officials say an 81-year-old
blind man has died after being struck by a pickup truck on the
highway east of Springfield. The Eugene Register-Guard reported
Monday that John Robert Chamberlain was struck as he was attempting
to cross Oregon Highway 126 near Walterville. He was hit Thursday
and died Saturday at the hospital in Springfield. State police say
they’re trying to determine whether Chamberlain was using a white
cane. Oregon law requires vehicles to yield to blind and deaf
pedestrians with white canes or guide dogs.

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) – The home where an Oregon woman and her four
young children were slain has been torn down as the property owners
decide what to do with the land. Jordan Criado (cree-AH’-doh) faces
aggravated murder charges. Police say he stabbed his wife,
30-year-old Tabasha Paige-Criado, and two of the children, and set
multiple fires in the small single-story house in Medford. KDRV-TV
reports the home is mostly rubble.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon attorney general says Philip
Morris USA Inc., has agreed to pay $56 million to a state crime
victims fund after more than a decade fighting punitive damages
awarded to the family of a Portland smoker who died of cancer. The
decision follows an Oregon Supreme Court ruling in December that
rejected the tobacco giant’s challenge to a portion of the punitive
damages from a 1999 case.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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