FATHER-SON-SWEPT AWAY
Search canceled for father, toddler swept into ocean by wave
NORTH BEND, Ore. (AP) â The Coast Guard has suspended its search for a father and his young son who were swept into the sea by a wave along an Oregon beach.
The agency, along with Oregon State Police and other responders, searched unsuccessfully Sunday and Monday for 31-year-old Jayson Dean Thomas, of Elmira, Oregon, and his 3-year-old son.
Thomas and the boy had been walking Sunday on a beach about 2 miles north of Cape Blanco when the wave struck. The boy’s mother saw it happen and called authorities.
Crews in helicopters and search boats and state troopers in all-terrain vehicles found only the man’s jacket and a child carrier he had been wearing in the surf.
State Police spokesman Capt. Bill Fugate says the area where they were swept away is steep and the ocean was rough due to an approaching storm.
SUPREME COURT-OFFENSIVE TRADEMARKS
Justices to hear free speech clash over offensive trademarks
WASHINGTON (AP) â The Slants aren’t exactly a household name when it comes to music, but the Asian-American rock band has made its mark in the legal world.
The Oregon-based group has spent years locked in a First Amendment battle with the government, which refuses to register a trademark for the band’s name because it’s considered offensive to Asians.
That fight will play out Wednesday in the nation’s highest court as the justices consider whether a law barring disparaging trademarks violates the band’s free-speech rights.
The case has drawn attention because it could affect the Washington Redskins in a similar battle to keep the football team’s lucrative trademark protection.
The government says it should not be forced to register crude racial slurs, religious insults and profanity as trademarks.
BODY FOUND-EUGENE PARK
Woman arrested, charged after man found dead at Eugene park
(Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) â Authorities say a 33-year-old woman has been charged with murder after a man was found dead inside a vehicle at a Eugene park.
The Register-Guard newspaper reports 32-year-old Joshua Ty Turnage was found dead Saturday after police received reports of a body at Alton Baker Park.
Lacy Marie Lyons has been arrested and booked into the Lane County Jail.
Authorities have not released further details about Turnage’s death.
The park was closed while police investigated and has since reopened.
The Eugene newspaper reported that the investigation took place in a parking lot where St. Vincent de Paul operates a program that allows homeless people to park their cars there overnight. St. Vincent de Paul spokesman Paul Neville says neither the victim nor the suspect had obtained a permit to camp in the lot.
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PUBLIC LANDS TRANSFER
Rule easing public lands transfer concerns hunters, others
BOISE, Idaho (AP) â A change in U.S. House rules making it easier to transfer millions of acres of federal public lands to states is worrying hunters and outdoor enthusiasts across the West who fear losing access.
Lawmakers earlier this month passed a rule eliminating a significant budget hurdle and written so broadly that it includes national parks.
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Interior Secretary, Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, voted for the rule change as did many other Republicans.
Attempts by some Western state lawmakers in recent years to wrest control of federal public lands have failed. But U.S. lawmakers have the authority regarding such transfers.
Outdoor recreationists fear states would sell the land to private entities that would end public access.
Boise State University public lands policy expert John Freemuth says any land transfers would face significant challenges.
HEALTH CARE RALLY-PORTLAND
Hundreds rally in Portland in support of health care law
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) â Hundreds of people joined Oregon Democratic lawmakers in Portland on Sunday to rally against the potential loss of President Barack Obama’s health care law.
U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, and U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Kurt Schrader and Suzanne Bonamici took part in the event at a gymnasium in support of the Affordable Care Act.
Republicans in Congress have started the process of repealing the law that President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to overturn.
Merkley told the crowd that more than 300,000 Oregon residents had gained access to health care under the Affordable Care Act.
Wyden says he’s never going to support going back to the days that he says allowed insurance companies to have their way with anyone who was sick.
ONION FACILITY COLLAPSES
Snow forces roof collapses at Treasure Valley onion plants
PAYETTE, Idaho (AP) â Severe weather and snow buildup has caused the roofs of about 18 onion storage and packing facilities to collapse in southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon.
The Capital Press reports that the roof collapses in the Treasure Valley have wiped out 25 percent of the region’s total onion processing capacity, leading to soaring onion prices. A 50-pound bag of yellow jumbo onions cost $3.50 before the damage and now costs about $6.50.
Heavy snowstorms starting in December followed by near-freezing rain and then more snow have caused many structures in the area to collapse. At least four onion packing facilities have had their roofs collapse beneath the weight of snow and ice and at least 14 storage facilities have collapsed as well.
HOUSE FIRE
1 dead, 2 injured in southwestern Oregon house fire
WHITE CITY, Ore. (AP) â One person is dead and two others sustained injuries in a house fire in a rural area in southwestern Oregon.
Jackson County Fire District 3 spokeswoman Ashley Lara says crews responded at about 11 p.m. Saturday to a residence in White City to find the upper floor fully in flames.
Lara says two people made it out of the house and both sustained burns and have been sent to hospitals, one in California and another locally.
Lara says firefighters swept a basement living area but couldn’t find the third occupant. She says a body was later found on the first floor.
Names and ages haven’t been released.
Lara says the house is a total loss. No damage estimate was available.
Authorities are investigating to determine a cause of the fire.
APPLE COMPANY SALE
Oregon’s largest apple grower sold to Washington business
(Information from: Capital Press, http://www.capitalpress.com/washington)
MILTON-FREEWATER, Ore. (AP) â A family-owned fruit company in Washington has purchased Oregon’s largest grower and packer of fresh apples.
The Capital Press reports that Wenatchee, Washington-based Foreman Fruit Company has acquired Earl Brown and Sons of Milton-Freewater, Oregon. But the deal allows the Browns to remain and manage local operations involving more than 1,000 acres of apples and 115 acres of wine grapes.
Ron Brown, whose father started the company 40 years ago, says the families worked out a partnership that allows his business to keep its name and its employees. It gives the Browns access to more money for continued growth; the company is already planting another 60 acres of apples and 10 more acres of grapes.
Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.
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Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.
