1st Oregon News Minute from the AP

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Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

 

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Authorities say an Oregon woman was trapped for nearly four days after a dresser fell on top of her. KGW-TV reports that neighbors asked Washington County sheriff’s deputies to check on Cedar Mill resident Virginia Cartier on Friday, after they realized they hadn’t seen her in a while. Deputies forced their way into the 67-year-old’s home and found her pinned underneath the dresser. Cartier had been trying to move the dresser. She’s now recovering at a friend’s home.

SANDY, Ore. (AP) – A kayaker stranded on the Sandy River has been hauled to safety. Clackamas County sheriff’s deputy tells The Oregonian the man was on a patch of shore surrounded by high cliffs and rapids. A rescuer was able to rappel down and help him into a harness. The pair was then hoisted to safety. The man was separated from his kayak and stranded before 7 p.m. Saturday. A water rescue team was unable to reach him.

SEATTLE (AP) – Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell says West Coast communities should get federal help to deal with debris that has crossed the Pacific Ocean following last year’s devastating Japanese tsunami. A 66-foot dock ripped loose by the big waves in March 2011 landed on an Oregon beach this month, having crossed 5,000 miles of ocean. And on Friday, Washington officials said they were checking into whether a 20-foot boat that washed ashore at in Pacific County came from Japan.

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) – First lady Michelle Obama is encouraging Oregon State University graduates to live life for themselves, not for anyone else. The first lady spoke Sunday at the invitation of her older brother, Craig Robinson, the head men’s basketball coach at Oregon State. She says the siblings learned about hard work growing up in a struggling working class family with high expectations. But she says life is defined by more than a paycheck, and urges graduates to focus on what they have.

 

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.