2nd Oregon News Minute from the AP

Date: 08/28/2013 09:29 AM

AP-OR–2nd NewsMinute/302
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press

 

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) – A Vancouver, Wash.-based health care system that operates in Washington, Oregon and Alaska says it will cut about 500 jobs, most of them in southwest Washington. PeaceHealth said the jobs will be cut through layoffs, leaving positions unfilled and reducing employee hours. Executives said the cuts will target administrative and support positions. PeaceHealth employs about 16,000 people in the three states.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A juvenile with illegal fireworks is being blamed for a smoky fire that burned about 25 acres on an island in the Columbia River between Portland and Vancouver, disrupting traffic and forcing campers to evacuate. No one was hurt in the Aug. 19 fire on Government Island, but it took nearly 80 firefighters about five hours to extinguish it.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – The mother of an inmate who committed suicide at the Oregon State Penitentiary will be paid $100,000 to settle a federal lawsuit. The Register-Guard reports that Deborah Gifford sued in 2011, alleging that prison officials were negligent in their treatment of her autistic son, Richard Gifford, and failed to stop him from getting his hands on drugs that he used to commit suicide in 2010. The newspaper says the state admits no wrongdoing in the death of the former Eugene man.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A Salem woman has been charged with initiating a false police report after investigators decided she made up a story about being assaulted at an Interstate 5 rest area. State Police say Heather Trevino reported that she was attacked by a man at the Baldock Rest Area south of Wilsonville on Aug. 16 while her child was present. Several police agencies responded and conducted a fruitless search for a suspect. Detectives determined the story was phony and that the woman’s injuries were self-inflicted.

 

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