AP-OR–2nd NewsMinute,353
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The second of two Oregon men blocked from
flying home last month after visiting Libya is back home. Members
of Mustafa Elogbi’s (al-AWG-beez) family said they were relieved to
see him arrive at the Portland airport yesterday. Elogbi traveled
to Libya after the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi to see relatives.
The Oregonian reported the 60-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen
planned to return to Portland last month but was detained in London
for two days and sent back to Tunisia. The other man returned last
week.
BAKER CITY, Ore. (AP) – With gold prices high in recent years, a
Nevada company thinks it can make money by working over the
leavings of a Baker County mining operation from the first half of
the 20th century. Ironside Mining Inc. figures the giant Sumpter
Dredge had captured only 40 percent of the gold when it was shut
down in 1954. The Baker City Herald reports the company wants a
long-term lease to rework the tailings, which are piles of rock and
gravel. The county owns most of the acreage.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – Northwest blueberry growers are battling a
disease called the mummy berry fungus. The Eugene Register-Guard
reports the fungus doesn’t show up until harvest time, when the
berries turn dry, shrivel and go gray-white. Then it overwinters on
the ground and sends out spores the next year. It does especially
well in mild winters like recent ones. Eugene blueberry growers
Bill and Anita Cook say the fungus has wiped out half of their
yield, for two years in a row. Other farms have seen entire
blueberry patches devastated.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Each winter a group of Portland
20-somethings get together for a crazy cycling competition they
call the “Ben Hurt Chariot Wars.” Competitors use old bikes and
makeshift chariots in a free-for-all that looks like a scene out of
a “Max Max” movie. They slam their chariots against each other
and swing away at each other with padded clubs. This year’s Chariot
Wars occurred over the weekend. It’s the headline event of three
days of bike mayhem called “Mini-Bike Winter.”
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-02-21-12 0930EST
