Date: 09/05/2012 09:28 AM
OR–2nd NewsMinute/305
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The Portland City Council considers a $57 million contract today for new underground water storage tanks. The proposal for Kelly Butte is opposed by Commissioner Amanda Fritz who says it’s too expensive. She says it would be cheaper to cover the reservoirs with heavy plastic. The Oregonian reports Water Bureau officials and Commissioners Rany Leonard and Dan Saltzman say plastic covers are a bad idea because they are temporary and don’t address the need to upgrade reservoirs to withstand earthquakes.
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) – A former Bible camp counselor has been sentenced in Vancouver to 35 years in prison for sexually abusing two children he knew through church. Forty-six-year-old Michael Scott Norris of Vancouver was convicted in July of child rape and molestation. The Columbian reports Norris was a volunteer pastor and counselor at Open Bible Church in Portland when he was arrested in 2006.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Federal investigators will be helping to determine what caused a five-alarm fire that destroyed a vacant hotel in north Portland. The ATF says it’s investigating all possible causes of the fire that started early Sunday at the Thunderbird on the River hotel. ATF and Portland fire officials say it likely will take at least a week to determine the cause. Damage has been estimated at $5 million.
DAMASCUS, Ore. (AP) – A few years ago, Damascus in rural Clackamas County became Oregon’s newest city, but that may not last much longer. The Oregonian reports that residents are divided over development – some want it, some don’t and don’t want urban-level taxes. Now the City Council has asked voters whether they should pursue pulling about half the city out of the regional planning process. And there’s a lot of talk about dis-incorporating the city entirely.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.