RANCHING STANDOFF-WIDOW’S MISSION
Widow of slain Oregon standoff leader speaks in John Day
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
JOHN DAY, Ore. (AP) — The widow of one of the leaders of an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in rural Oregon drew about 500 people to a small town to hear her message that federal lands should be turned over to states and counties.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that Jeanette Finicum on Saturday at the meeting in John Day said her husband’s voice had been silenced but that created 13 loud voices counting herself and the couple’s 12 children.
LaVoy Finicum was the spokesman for several dozen occupiers during the 41-day takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last winter.
He died Jan. 26, 2016, when police shot and killed him as he and others traveled to the town of John Day for a meeting.
Jeanette Finicum has become something of a cause celebre in the year since her husband’s death.
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HAROLD HAYES-OBIT
Survivor of WWII secret escape from Nazis dies in Oregon
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — Harold Hayes, an Army medic and the last survivor of a group of medics and nurses who spent nine weeks evading capture in Nazi-occupied Albania during World War II, has died. He was 94.
All 30 men and women in the group eventually made it out, but it was kept secret to protect partisan fighters who helped them.
Hayes’ daughter, Margaret Bleakley, told The New York Times that he died Jan. 22 in a hospital in Medford, Oregon, following an operation to remove a blood clot from his leg.
Hayes was among 13 medics, 13 nurses and four crew members to board a twin-engine cargo plane in November 1943 in Sicily expecting a two-hour flight to help wounded troops in Italy.
Bad weather caused the plane to go off course, and it crashed in Albania after being attacked by German fighters.
POACHING SENTENCE
Spotlight leads to 3-year hunting bans for man, accomplice
(Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Hunting bans are in place for two men who pleaded guilty in a poaching case involving a spotlight.
The Register-Guard reports 41-year-old Scott Michael Blachly and 40-year-old Kevin Duane Neu were told during sentencing that they were barred from hunting for the next three years.
Troopers cited Blachly on Nov. 4.
Authorities say he was on private property when he shined a spotlight on a three-point buck and killed the animal.
Neu was cited as an accomplice.
Hunting deer with artificial light is a misdemeanor.
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CITY COUNCILMAN DIES
20-year-old city councilman dies after car wreck in Idaho
(Information from: Idaho Press-Tribune, http://www.idahopress.com)
WILDER, Idaho (AP) — A 20-year-old city councilman who was one of the youngest people ever elected in Idaho, has died after being involved in a car accident.
The Idaho Press-Tribune reports that City Councilman Ismael Fernandez died Friday in a collision on Highway 19 in Canyon County.
Fernandez was just a 19-year-old freshman at the College of Idaho when he was elected in 2015 to the four-member Wilder City Council. His win made national headlines.
Fernandez was also part of Idaho’s first all-Latino city council.
Wilder has about 1,500 residents and is in southwestern Idaho near the Oregon border.
Idaho State Police say Fernandez was traveling west on Highway 19 when he crossed the center line and crashed into a truck hauling beets.
Fernandez died at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.
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TIMBER MONEY REDUCTIONS
Oregon counties face 90 percent reduction in timber money
(Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com)
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A U.S. Forest Service program that infused rural communities with millions to make up for lost timber revenue is drying up.
Oregon faces a 90 percent reduction in the payments that have kept critical services afloat in many areas since environmental rules curtailed logging on federal land.
The Salem Statesman Journal says the changes will impact more than 700 counties and 4,000 school districts in 41 states.
The Secure Rural Schools program was enacted in 2000 to help ease the financial blow after a dramatic reduction in logging in the 1990s.
But the program has not been reauthorized and payments going forward will revert to a 1908 law that dedicates 25 percent of timber revenues to local governments.
With logging severely curtailed, those payments will be paltry.
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BOY SHOT
Relative shoots 12-year-old boy in Salem
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A 12-year-old boy shot by his relative has injuries that are not life threatening.
Salem police Lt. Dave Okada said investigators are trying to determine whether the Friday shooting was an accident.
The boy was taken to the hospital for treatment.
No one has been arrested in the shooting.
SEX OFFENDER RELEASED
Sex offender out of Oregon State Hospital after decades
ALOHA, Ore. (AP) — A sex offender who has spent the last 31 years in the Oregon State Hospital has been released to live west of Portland in Aloha.
Reynaldo Rios was found guilty but insane after breaking into a home in 1984 and sexually assaulting a 6-year-old girl.
Washington County sheriff’s deputies say Friday that Rios was released Wednesday after a state psychiatric review board found he no longer had a mental illness diagnosis that permits the state to hold him.
A letter from the state’s Psychiatric Review Board says he is currently unsupervised and there is concern he will reoffend.
Deputies are warning parents in the apartment complex where he will live with his sister.
Attempts by the AP to find a phone number for Rios or his sister were unsuccessful.
EDUCATION SECRETARY-OREGON
Oregon politicians oppose DeVos nomination
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkeley, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer and U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici are reiterating their opposition to Betsy DeVos as nominee for education secretary under President Donald Trump.
Merkeley, Blumenaur and Bonamici held a rally in downtown Portland on Friday to denounce DeVos and her position on school choice.
Wyden issued a statement opposing the nominee.
DeVos has spent more than two decades advocating for school choice programs, which include alternatives to public schools such as charter or religious schools.
Wyden says investing money in public schools is a “bedrock principle” of this nation.
DeVos also received tough questioning from Democrats at her confirmation hearing last week about her qualifications and political donations.
The Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee delayed a vote on her nomination until Tuesday.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.