Date: 03/01/2013 03:59 AM
OR–1st NewsMinute/357
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage and turn a skeptical eye on similar prohibitions across the country. The administration says unequivocally in a legal brief filed late yesterday that gay marriage should be allowed to resume in California, where it has been barred since the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008. The administration’s position, if adopted by the court, probably would result in gay marriage becoming legal in seven states that, like California, give gay couples all the benefits of marriage, but don’t allow them to wed – including Oregon.
COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) – A Coos County grand jury has indicted three men on murder charges in the death of a homeless man whose body was found behind a warehouse. District Attorney Paul Frasier says two suspects had been arrested earlier, 31-year-old Michael Gertson and 46-year-old Jesse Longhenry. Frasier identified the third man as 48-year-old George Michael Ivanoff. Frasier had earlier said a third person was being held on a parole violation charge. The indictments were handed up yesterday.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The Washington County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a man accused of aggravated murder in the death of a high school student more than 30 years ago. Sgt. Bob Ray says DNA evidence connected 49-year-old Kenneth Lee Hicks to the death of 17-year-old Lori Billingsley of Aloha (ah-LOH’-uh). Billingsley’s body was found in drainage ditch Oct. 10, 1982. She had been beaten, stabbed, strangled and sexually assaulted. Hicks is being held without bail after Wednesday’s arrest.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Two women accused of animal neglect in the housing of nearly 150 dogs found malnourished, filthy or sick at a Brooks warehouse have pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of animal neglect. The Statesman Journal says 21-year-old Merissa Noonan and 19-year-old Amanda Oakley entered their pleas yesterday in Marion County Circuit Court in Salem. Sheriff’s officers arrested them in January after the dogs were seized from Willamette Animal Rescue. The women declined comment.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
