Date: 07/03/2013 10:39 AM
AP-OR–3rd NewsMinute/276
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Salem police say there’s a connection between shrinking space in the Marion County Jail and increasing car thefts in the city. In 2011 in Salem, 437 cars were reported stolen. That spiked last year to 705 stolen cars, a 61 percent increase. Lt. Steve Birr tells KGW that lower-level offenders like car thieves were released sooner after budget cuts in late 2011 forced the county to eliminate 100 beds at the jail.
TURNER, Ore. (AP) – The owner of a sheep farm near Turner where three dozen animals dropped dead last weekend says it was an infection – not the heat or lack of food and water – that caused the deaths. Owner David Etzel told KOIN necropsies performed by Oregon State University show he did nothing wrong. Circling buzzards Sunday led neighbors to discover the dead sheep with full-grown wool.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) – A deal that would have raised new revenue and cut public pension benefits fell apart in the Oregon Senate yesterday when the tax bill failed to get enough Republican votes. As a result, Democrats blocked a vote on a plan to cut pension benefits for retired government workers, sending that bill back to committee. Democratic Senate President Peter Courtney says the Senate will work through the weekend.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The first person of 47 rounded up in a major drug crackdown last May in Klamath County has been convicted. The Oregonian reports Lee Harsfield pleaded guilty last week to racketeering as part of the investigation known as Operation Trojan Horse. Harsfield was one of 28 people alleged to have been part of a criminal enterprise to sell methamphetamine.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
