OR–1st NewsMinute/354 Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) – Emergency officials say a tour bus that careened through a guardrail along an icy Oregon highway and several hundred feet down a steep embankment yesterday, killing nine people, was en route from Las Vegas to Vancouver, British Columbia. Oregon State Police say the charter bus carrying about 40 people lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84. More than 20 people were injured. The bus came to rest at the bottom of a snowy slope. More than a dozen rescue workers descended the hill and used ropes to help retrieve people from the wreckage.
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) – Oregon State Police say the weekend tour bus crash that killed nine people happened near a treacherous eastern Oregon section of road known as Deadman Pass. Lt. Greg Hastings says the bus crashed along the west end of the Blue Mountains yesterday. The crash site is west of Deadman Pass, an area so dangerous the state transportation department published specific warnings for truck drivers. The state advises the area has “some of the most changeable and severe weather conditions in the Northwest” and can lead to slick conditions and poor visibility.
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (AP) – A high rate of smoking has helped make Klamath County one of the unhealthiest counties in Oregon. A report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation marked Klamath 31st of the 33 Oregon counties it ranked. Twenty-four percent of adults in Klamath County smoke, compared with 16.3 percent statewide. The annual mortality rate from tobacco-related illness is 235 deaths per 100,000 people in Klamath County.
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) – The National Guard in Pendleton expects to launch unmanned air vehicles soon out of the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport to train its 23-troop platoon. The East Oregonian says city officials are optimistic the high-tech industry could bring jobs to Pendleton and fill properties on airport land. Gregg Schroeder with the Oregon Army National Guard says the guard is waiting for Federal Aviation Administration approval to fly the craft – commonly known as drones or UAVs – at the airport.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
