AP-OR–1st NewsMinute,367
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The cousin of a Saudi Arabian teenager
indicted on charges of interfering with a flight crew says his
relative suffers from schizophrenia, was flying home to see his
sick mother and hasn’t taken his medication for three weeks.
Authorities allege 19-year-old Yazeed Mohammed A. Abunayyan swung
his fist at a flight attendant, tried to hit passengers and
mentioned Osama bin Laden during a flight from Portland to Houston.
Police arrested him Tuesday at Portland International Airport after
his Continental flight turned around following the incident.
Abunayyan appeared in court yesterday but did not enter a plea.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate’s top law enforcement officer says
congressional offices have received threatening letters containing
a suspicious powdery substance. Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer
said in a memo to Senate offices that the letters were sent to
three state and home district offices and that the substance was
tested and found to be harmless. Gainer said the author of the
letters said that additional letters would be sent and that some of
these could contain actual harmful material. The letters were
postmarked Portland, Ore., but authorities say the return address
shown on the envelopes appears to be phony.
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Police say a 51-year-old man is jailed in Las
Vegas pending his return in custody to Oregon to face murder and
other charges in a cold-case killing. Records show Thomas Colbert
was held yesterday at the Clark County jail pending an extradition
hearing before a Nevada judge. Colbert and 46-year-old George Bogan
were indicted Feb. 7 in Grant County, Ore., in the 1992
disappearance of 36-year-old Danny Sweet near Mitchell, Ore. His
bones were found in 1996 near Mount Vernon, Ore.
EAGLE POINT, Ore. (AP) – A party that combined booze, marijuana
and a tank of helium turned deadly last week after a 14-year-old
passed out and died. Fourteen-year-old Ashley Long suffered an
embolism from the pressurized tank depriving her brain of oxygen.
The death sheds light on the deadly effects of helium, usually
misused by people as a trick to give their voice a cartoon
character sound. Experts say parents should talk to kids about the
dangers of ingesting any substance, especially while drinking.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
AP-NY-02-23-12 0400EST
