RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA-OREGON TAXES
A pot of money: Oregon collects $25.5M in marijuana taxes
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon has processed $25.5 million in tax payments from recreational marijuana from January through the end of July.
The state’s Department of Revenue says medical marijuana dispensaries were required to file their second-quarter returns for recreational marijuana by Aug. 1.
Oregonians legalized recreational marijuana in late 2014.
But it can only be sold by medical marijuana dispensaries until the Oregon Liquor Control Commission finalizes rules for the new industry. That’s expected to happen by next year.
Medical marijuana dispensaries started collecting a 25 percent tax on their recreational marijuana sales in January.
Anticipated state revenue from recreational marijuana through June 2017 was recently quadrupled by Oregon’s Legislative Revenue Office.
The expected amount rose from $8.4 million to $35 million.
Recreational marijuana is illegal in 46 states and under federal law.
PEDESTRIAN KILLED-CHARGES
Portland student charged in hit-and-run that killed teen
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A 20-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter and reckless driving in connection with a hit-and-run crash that killed a teenage girl in Portland.
Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah appeared in court Monday for the death of 15-year-old Fallon Smart, who was struck as she walked across a street last week.
Police say Noorah had been driving on a suspended license and speeding when his car hit the girl.
Witnesses reported that the vehicle made no attempt to stop after the collision.
Police say Noorah later returned to the crash site and was arrested.
Noorah’s attorney argued Monday for the release of her client, who is from Saudi Arabia and studying at Portland Community College on scholarship. She says he’s not a flight risk.
But a judge ordered him held on $1 million bail.
HASH OIL EXPLOSION
Police: Tigard man burned while trying to make hash oil
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a man has been badly burned in a hash oil explosion at his Tigard apartment.
The man, who has not been identified, was taken to a Portland hospital after the incident. An update on his condition was not known Monday.
Police had responded to his apartment Saturday night to find a window blown out and glass scattered around the parking lot.
The victim, who had been alone at the time of the explosion, came out of the apartment with visible burns to his body, neck and face.
Police say he had been trying to create hash oil, a process that involves the extraction of marijuana and use of flammables.
The incident remains under investigation.
OREGON WILDFIRE
Eastern Oregon wildfire now estimated at 50 square miles
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A wildfire spotted Sunday afternoon in Eastern Oregon has quickly become one of the state’s largest active blazes.
Fire officials say the Cherry Road fire has scorched nearly 50 square miles of brush and grass near the Idaho state line. Officials say the fire’s size was reduced from 80 square miles due to better mapping.
Bureau of Land Management spokesman Larry Moore says the wildfire is burning two miles east of the Owyhee Reservoir and it’s threatening Succor Creek State Park.
One hundred firefighters battled the fire Monday morning. Forecasters were expecting afternoon wind gusts of 25 mph.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
Also in Eastern Oregon, firefighters have contained 35 percent of a large wildfire that started July 31 near Unity. The fire made a run toward the Table Rock Lookout late Sunday, spreading 300 yards in one minute. The lookout was spared — thanks to it being wrapped beforehand with aluminum sheets— but an old outhouse was destroyed.
RANCHING STANDOFF-NEVADA PLEAS
2 Nevada defendants slated to plead guilty in Bundy standoff
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two defendants are set to become the first to plead guilty in Nevada to federal charges stemming from an armed confrontation with U.S. land management agents near Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s ranch in 2014.
Gerald “Jerry” DeLemus (de-LAY’-mus) of New Hampshire is expected to enter his plea Tuesday.
Blaine Cooper of Arizona is due in court Thursday.
In court filings, U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro says she has signed plea agreements from the two men.
Attorneys for both defendants say they can’t talk about the pleas until after they’re entered.
DeLemus and Cooper are among 19 defendants currently in federal custody in the 2014 Bunkerville standoff.
Federal prosecutors describe both as organizers and leaders of a conspiracy to stop a U.S. Bureau of Land Management round-up of Bundy cattle.
FIREFIGHTER’S DOG-ADOPTED OUT
Firefighter will get back dog after it escaped, got adopted
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — A firefighter who left his dog with friends as he battled wildfires in Washington state will get back his dog weeks after the animal ran away and got adopted by another family.
The Humane Society for Southwest Washington says the family decided over the weekend to return Hunter the dog to William Jones. They initially declined, saying they had bonded with the animal.
After Jones left, the black Labrador retriever jumped a fence, got picked up by animal control and was brought to a shelter earlier this month. Hunter was adopted 10 days later.
Jones told KOIN-TV in Portland that he called the Humane Society when he returned but was told nothing could be done because the adoption was legal.
The group says staff had tried to look for the owner, but the dog didn’t have a microchip.
GIFTED AND DISABLED
Complaint: Portland schools discriminated in gifted program
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Three families have filed a complaint against Portland Public Schools saying district officials unfairly denied their disabled children entry to a program for gifted students.
The Oregonian/Oregon Live reports that the families say test results show that their children were otherwise qualified to attend the district’s Access Academy program. Two of the families obtained documents showing that officials annotated application forms with handwritten notes linking admission with the students’ disabilities.
The federal American Disabilities Act forbids eligibility criteria that screen out individuals with disabilities.
Portland Public Schools spokeswoman Courtney Westling said Friday the district cannot comment on the complaint until looking into it further. She wrote in an email that the district takes this type of complaint very seriously.
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GIRL DROWNS
Authorities close Portland park after girl, 10, drowns
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Parks and Recreation Department has completely closed Kelley Point Park on the Columbia River after a 10-year-old girl drowned there.
Portland Fire & Rescue says searchers recovered her body Sunday after a search of nearly 2 ½ hours.
The girl was seen just after 4 p.m.
The park sits at the convergence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers and swimming hasn’t been allowed there since 2012.
Parks officials say the girl’s death marks the second recent drowning there.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
