Date: 09/22/2015 09:09 AM
AP-OR–2nd NewsMinute/275
Here is the latest Oregon news from The Associated Press
PRINEVILLE, Ore. (AP) – A Post man accused of holding his ex-girlfriend captive in a cabin and using a blow torch to assault her is facing additional charges. KTVZ-TV reports that 34-year-old Josef Taylor was arrested last week on investigation of kidnap, assault and burglary charges. He has been accused of locking the woman in his cabin in Post for 20 days.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – Lane County will begin offering buyouts to hundreds of its employees in exchange for cost-saving changes to future employees’ health insurance plans and their vacation and sick time accruals. The Register-Guard reports that the deal is designed to reduce staff costs and help the county avoid the 40 percent tax on high-cost health insurance plans expected to take effect in 2018 under President Barack Obama’s health care law.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – The U.S. Interior Department says the greater sage grouse does not need federal protections across its 11-state Western range after some limits were put on energy development and other activities. Today’s announcement signals that the Obama administration believes it has struck a balance to save the widespread, ground-dwelling birds from extinction without crippling the West’s economy.
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) – The U.S. Forest Service is planning to cut down trees that are encroaching on meadowland at Marys Peak. The Statesman Journal reports timber company Georgia Pacific is paying over $175,000 to harvest about 3,000 trees today in the popular recreation area east of Corvallis. Five years of studying the issue led the federal agency to collaborate with the Marys Peak Alliance to remove the trees.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.