Date: 04/04/2013 03:59 AM
OR–1st NewsMinute/346
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – A Democratic proposal to cut pension benefits for public employees is one step closer to becoming law. A key legislative subcommittee approved the measure in a party-line vote Tuesday, sending it to a vote in the full budget committee tomorrow. It could get a vote in the Senate and House next week. Democrats have put the bill on a fast track, angering Republicans who say it doesn’t do enough to curb the rising cost of funding pensions for government workers.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – The Oregon Senate is considering legislation that would allow foster parents to form a union. Supporters told a Senate committee Wednesday that foster parents have no voice in the Capitol. They say forming a union would allow them to band together and fight for better resources to help them care for children in need of intense support. Foster parents are paid by the state, and the measure would allow them to form a union as public employees and bargain collectively. They would be prohibited from striking. Critics say unions are not the best solution.
PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) – An Oregon woman has been arraigned on charges of improperly disposing of a body after her 89-year-old mother’s corpse was found under blankets and snow behind a southeastern Michigan thrift store. The sheriff’s department in St. Clair County, Mich., says 49-year-old Kelly Rhodes of Salem, Ore., appeared yesterday in Port Huron District Court in Michigan. Sheriff Tom Donnellon says Rhodes stood mute to the charge and the judge jailed her on $10,000 bail.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – An Oregon judge has sentenced a 50-year-old Eugene man to a half century in prison after convicting him on sex abuse charges involving six young girls. Circuit Court Judge Charles Zennaché found Russell Crummett guilty of 12 charges yesterday. The Register-Guard reports Crummett will have no chance for early release. The prosecution says Crummett was a single father whose own child attended school with the victims and they became friends. An appeal is planned.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
