PORTLAND TEACHER-INVESTIGATION
Portland police investigating teacher at K-8 school
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Police are investigating a teacher at a school serving kindergarten through eighth-grade students in Portland.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that police went to Astor School Tuesday to investigative the report that a teacher was behaving inappropriately in class and with students.
Portland Police spokesman Peter Simpson says the teacher has not been arrested.
He says “preliminary information given to police indicates the behavior could be considered criminal conduct.”
The school’s principal sent a note to families simply saying a teacher was placed on administrative leave Tuesday while police are investigating a matter.
The district declined to provide further details.
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TODDLER’S OVERDOSE DEATH
Uncle pleads not guilty in toddler’s overdose death
(Information from: KOIN-TV, http://www.koin.com/)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A 35-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the methadone overdose and death of his toddler nephew.
Willie Lee Harris Jr. entered not guilty pleas Tuesday in Portland to several charges, including manslaughter, criminal mistreatment and unlawful possession of heroin.
Two-year-old Reginald Harris Jr. died Oct. 10 of a lethal dose of methadone.
Authorities suspect Harris left the methadone in a place where the boy had access to it.
Harris’ mother, Pamela, told KOIN-TV she doesn’t believe her son would have done anything intentionally to cause the child’s death. She said the toddler got a hold of the methadone while riding in Harris’ car.
The boy’s death remains under investigation.
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AFTER-SCHOOL SATAN CLUB
Portland Satanic Temple delays start of after-school club
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Portland Chapter of The Satanic Temple has pushed back the start date of its after-school program at a Portland Elementary School.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that the temple’s “After School Satan Club” had been set to start Wednesday at Portland Elementary School with an open house for parents, students, teachers and staff. But the group is postponing the event until an unspecified day in November.
One of the temple’s leaders, Finn Rezz, says the after-school program will focus on “science and rational thinking.”
The club is a direct response to the Christian Good News Club, a “Bible-centered” after-school program “whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
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MISSING HUNTERS-THE LATEST
The Latest: Hunter found, 1 still lost in southwest Oregon
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say one of two hunters reported missing in the southwest Oregon wilderness has been found.
Curry County Sheriff’s Deputy Tracy Morse told The Associated Press that 21-year-old Trevor Higgins was located by search crews Tuesday afternoon.
She said she didn’t know exactly where Higgins had been found but that searchers had been looking for the hunters in mountains between Grants Pass and Gold Beach.
Morse says Higgins was severely hypothermic and was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Coos Bay.
She says the search continues for his father, 41-year-old Shawn Higgins.
The two were reported missing to the Curry County Sheriff’s Office Friday night after they failed to meet up with a relative while hunting.
Bad weather has been hampering the search by dozens of officials and volunteers for a father and son who went missing in the southwest Oregon wilderness.
Searchers went back into the woods Tuesday to look for 41-year-old Shawn Higgins of Coos Bay and his 21-year-old son Trevor in mountains between Grants Pass and Gold Beach.
The two were reported missing to the Curry County Sheriff’s Office last Friday night after they failed to meet up with a relative while hunting.
A sizeable search effort has been launched that includes the county sheriff’s office, officials from other counties, volunteers from the surrounding area and relatives of the two men.
Curry County Sheriff John Ward says heavy rains, swollen creeks and fog have made the search extremely difficult.
CHIROPRACTOR-SEX ASSAULT
Chiropractor’s license suspended over fondling accusations
(Information from: Mail Tribune, http://www.mailtribune.com/)
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — A Jackson County chiropractor has had his license suspended following allegations that he sexually abused a patient.
The Mail Tribune reports that the Oregon Board of Chiropractic Examiners suspended Mark Evan Machala’s medical license late last month.
The punishment comes after a female patient accused Machala of fondling her breasts during a December 2015 massage.
Machala has been charged with third-degree sexual abuse and is set to go trial in December.
Machala’s attorney says his client mistakenly believed the woman was welcoming his sexual advances and retreated once he realized that she wasn’t.
Machala has had no previous disciplinary actions since his license was issued in 2009.
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RANCHING STANDOFF-THE LATEST
The Latest: Lawyer says Bundy had no problem with employees
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The attorney for Ammon Bundy told jurors his client is being falsely accused as a conspirator.
In his closing argument Tuesday, Marcus Mumford said Bundy and others who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last winter made a peaceful stand — but a determined one— against what they saw as federal government overreach in the prosecution of two Oregon ranchers convicted of setting fires on public lands.
Bundy and six co-defendants are charged with conspiring to prevent federal employees from doing their jobs at the refuge through force, threat or intimidation.
Mumford said Bundy did not have a problem with the employees. The attorney said Bundy took with their employer — the federal government.
Closing arguments for the others defendants will be held Wednesday.
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WILDFIRE SEASON
Snow helps wrap up below-average wildfire season in US West
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — With measureable snowfall already dusting parts of the Rocky Mountains and Northwest, the 2016 wildfire season has wrapped up in much of the West.
Jessica Gardetto of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, says wildfires are still active only in the Southwest, especially Southern California. She says the West saw a below-average fire season overall, with about 7,500 square miles burned.
Gardetto says wet fall weather has tamped down the blazes.
Snow fell this week in several western states. It covered Old Faithful on Monday in Yellowstone National Park, where wildfires burned this summer. And about a foot of snow fell in western Wyoming at elevations as low as 7,000 feet.
Gardetto says fire officials at the center will soon start looking ahead to next year.
KNIGHT DONATION
Nike co-founder pledges $500 million to University of Oregon
(Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Nike co-founder Phil Knight and his wife have pledged $500 million to the University of Oregon toward a new scientific research facility.
The Register-Guard reports that the donation is the largest ever awarded to UO and is meant to launch a $1 billion, 10-year effort to build a three-building complex and add new graduate students and post-doctoral researchers to the university.
The Knight donation will be provided over 10 years and will go toward construction of the new facility and also to endowments to generate income for new faculty positions.
UO President Michael Schill says the $500 million pledge is the biggest ever to a U.S. public flagship university.
The $500 million pledge is the latest in a string of donations by the Knights to UO and other institutions.
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Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.
