JAIL ASSAULT
1 hospitalized after assault at Polk County Jail
(Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com)
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say one inmate has been hospitalized after an assault at the Polk County Jail.
The Statesman Journal reports that 46-year-old Michael Gravelle, of Dallas, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries Monday.
A probable cause statement says Ovid Lavoie, of Falls City, admitted that he punched and kicked Gravelle after getting upset about what was playing on television. Lavoie says he attacked Gravelle after the man spit at him and called him a rapist.
Lavoie was jailed following his arrest last year on sexual abuse and rape charges involving a victim under the age of 12. He was re-arrested on an assault charge after Monday’s incident at the jail.
Gravelle has been serving a one-year sentence after pleading guilty to possession and delivery of methamphetamine.
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EUGENE SEX ASSAULT-ARREST
Police make arrest in 2005 Eugene child rape case
(Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Prosecutors have brought rape charges against a man in connection with the sexual assault of a teen girl that police say took place at his Eugene home 11 years ago.
The Register-Guard reports the suspect, who was 25 at the time of the alleged assault, was arrested Tuesday in Nevada on charges of first- and third-degree rape. It’s not yet known when he will be transported to Lane County.
Court documents say the 16-year-old victim’s sexual assault evidence kit was sent to a crime lab in 2005 but it became part of the state’s backlog of rape kits.
Eugene police began investigating the case again in September after receiving the testing results and finding a match to the suspect’s DNA.
The state received a $2 million federal grant this year to test 2,600 backlogged sexual assault cases.
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TOXIC ARMORIES
National Guard halts events in lead-contaminated armories
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The National Guard has stopped all public events at toxic armories across the country in a step to prevent lead exposure.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the order comes a week after the newspaper’s investigation found that lead from indoor firing ranges had contaminated hundreds of buildings, including nine in Oregon.
An Oregon Guard spokesman told the newspaper that the order, issued Dec. 6, was received by the Oregon Guard on Friday.
The order sets imminent deadlines, pledges federal money for cleanup and launches an effort to collect details about contaminated buildings nationwide.
Previous cleanup efforts were sidetracked partly because the Guard required states to assume most of the cost.
The order comes almost 20 years after the Guard was warned that its indoor firing ranges were unnecessarily exposing soldiers and others to dangerous lead dust.
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ELLIOTT STATE FOREST-THE LATEST
The Latest: State takes no action on state forest sale
KEIZER, Ore. (AP) — The Latest on a proposal to sell the Elliott State Forest to a timber company.
3:15 p.m.
Oregon’s top elected state leaders have postponed a decision on the fate of the Elliott State Forest after a public hearing in which the vast majority of people spoke out against a proposed sale to a timber company.
Gov. Kate Brown, one of three members of the State Land Board, encouraged those attending the Tuesday meeting in Keizer to help come up with alternate proposals that would maintain public ownership of the 82,500-acre forest.
Revenue from timber harvests from the forest goes into a state fund for schools. But the forest has been operating at a loss for years.
A Roseburg timber company has proposed purchasing the forest. But concern was voiced during the Tuesday hearing about turning the forest over to a private company.
Besides Brown, also on the State Land Board are the state treasurer and secretary of state.
11:15 a.m.
Oregon’s top elected state leaders are hearing testimony about the proposed sale of the Elliott State Forest, whose proceeds from the lumber industry help fund the state’s schools, to a timber company.
The hearing was being held Tuesday at the Keizer Community Center.
Intense interest in the plan to sell Oregon’s oldest state forest was reflected by more than 200 spectators inside the meeting room.
Many oppose the proposal to sell the forest in the Coastal Range to Lone Rock Timber Co. and its partners, including several Indian tribes. Those opposed had stacked their signs against the deal in a hallway before entering the meeting room.
The meeting was held by the State Land Board, whose membership consists of the governor, secretary of state and state treasurer
FUGITIVE EXPOSURE-RESCUE
Deputies rescue fugitive with hypothermia symptoms
HILLSBORO, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a man who ran from deputies during a traffic stop was rescued after he ran through a creek and began to experience symptoms of hypothermia in a suburb west of Portland.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that deputies stopped a vehicle by a golf course near Hillsboro Tuesday morning and that the passenger ran.
The sheriff’s office says Julian Villalobos-Chavez ran onto the golf course and through a chest-deep creek. Deputies who followed saw him hiding in thick brush on the other side.
Authorities say Villalobos-Chavez quickly began to have hypothermia symptoms, was rescued and treated at a hospital.
The sheriff’s office says deputies learned after the rescue that Villalobos-Chavez had multiple felony warrants out for his arrest. He was booked into jail.
RANCHING STANDOFF-NEVADA TRIALS
3 federal trials slated in Bundy standoff case in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Three trials are ahead in Las Vegas for the 17 men accused of conspiring in an armed standoff against federal agents near Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s property in April 2014.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen on Monday reversed the order that federal prosecutors proposed, and she accelerated the schedule.
The judge’s ruling sets trial to start Feb. 6 for six defendants the government characterizes as “followers and gunmen” in the showdown that ended a federal Bureau of Land Management round-up of Bundy cattle from public land.
Thirty days after that trial ends, proceedings will begin for Cliven Bundy, sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and co-defendants Peter Santilli and Ryan Payne.
The judge says that 30 days after that trial ends, six alleged “mid-level” standoff leaders and organizers will stand trial.
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This version corrects the trial order for the second and third groups of defendants.
WOMEN’S PRISON
Lawmakers reject request for funding for women’s prison
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A plan to open a second women’s prison in Oregon is facing a major setback as lawmakers have rejected a request for funding for the project.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that a legislative subcommittee recommended that the Emergency Board turn down a request by Oregon Corrections Director Colette Peters for $3.8 million to prepare a former prison in Salem for inmates next year.
The Emergency Board meets when the Legislature is not in session to consider agency requests for money. The board is scheduled to consider the prison funding on Wednesday.
The Coffee Creek Correctional Institution in Wilsonville has exceeded its inmate capacity since May 18. Gov. Kate Brown’s proposed budget for the next biennium includes $17.5 million to operate the Salem prison on the grounds of the Oregon State Penitentiary.
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CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR-OFFSHORE DRILLING
California governor seeks permanent ban on offshore drilling
CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Jerry Brown wants President Barack Obama to permanently ban new offshore oil and gas drilling in the state.
Brown says in a letter sent Tuesday to the president that allowing new drilling would be inconsistent with goals of reducing reliance on fossil fuels and combating climate change. A temporary ban in California, Oregon and Washington expires in 2022.
Brown says he doesn’t know if President-elect Donald Trump would have authority to overturn a permanent ban. He plans to ask the governors of Oregon and Washington if they want to join the effort.
The governor announced his proposal in Coronado, near San Diego, at an event to launch a new organization to protect oceans. Oregon and Washington also joined the International Alliance to Combat Ocean Acidification.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.