1st AP Northwest News Minute

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A coalition has decided to drop its push to allow grocery stores in Oregon to stock their shelves with liquor and instead shift its resources into blocking a massive corporate tax hike heading to voters in November. The now-suspended ballot initiative marked the second time in two years that the Northwest Grocery Association, through the Oregonians for Competition campaign, had tried to derail the state’s monopoly on liquor sales through a ballot initiative.

HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) — A nurse accused of sexually abusing patients at a Beaverton clinic has pleaded not guilty. The Oregonian reports that Alex Woolner entered the plea Wednesday before a Washington County judge. The nurse who resigned from his job with Kaiser Permanente faces charges of sexual abuse, invasion of personal privacy, computer crime and criminal mistreatment

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon bakery owners who denied service to a same-sex couple are arguing that a state ruling ordering them to pay $135,000 in damages violates state and federal laws. The Oregonian reports that bakery owners Aaron and Melissa Klein filed a brief with the Oregon Court of appeals this week arguing the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries violated the Kleins’ rights as artists to free speech, their rights as Oregonians to religious freedom and their rights as defendants to a due process.

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say an inmate at the Benton County Jail has died after reporting to deputies that he had been feeling ill. The Gazette-Times reports that 46-year-old Rory Christopher Holmes fell unconscious while walking alongside two deputies on Tuesday.