POLICE SHOOT SUSPECT-PORTLAND
Portland police shoot suspect
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Police say an officer shot a suspect Thursday in Southeast Portland.
The Portland Police Bureau said in a news release that one suspect was wounded Thursday night and taken to a Portland hospital.
Police say no officers were injured and there doesn’t appear to be “any further community risk.”
The incident took place at Southeast 22nd Avenue and Lafayette Street.
No additional information was immediately given.
MODA HEALTH
Judge rules government owes Oregon insurer $241 million
(Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Court of Claims has ruled that the federal government must pay an Oregon health insurer $241 million for failing to follow through on its promises.
The Oregon/OregonianLive reports that the court determined Thursday that the government has yet to fulfill an agreement with Moda Health regarding its risk corridor program.
The program promised assistance to companies if they agreed to participate in the insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act before it lost money.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid paid out just over $11 million to Moda in 2014 but gave nothing in 2015 or 2016.
Other Oregon insurers affected by the promised risk corridor money that never materialized include Health Republic and Oregon’s Health Co-op.
Health Republic is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit of insurers.
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STOLEN AMMUNITION-NATIONAL PARK
1000s of rounds of ammo stolen from Oregon national park
(Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com)
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The National Park Service is asking for the public’s help in locating the person responsible for stealing thousands of rounds of ammunition from a locked building at Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park.
The Register-Guard reported Thursday that the park service says in a news release the rifle and pistol ammunition was stolen from a building near the park’s headquarters.
The ammunition was used as part of the park’s law enforcement program.
It is unclear when the theft took place.
The park service is offering up to $1,000 for information leading to the conviction of whoever is responsible for the theft.
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RANCHING STANDOFF TRIAL-NEVADA-THE LATEST
The Latest: Openings end in Bundy standoff trial in Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Opening statements are done and testimony begins Monday for six defendants accused of conspiracy and illegally wielding weapons to block a federal roundup of states’ rights advocate Cliven Bundy’s cows in April 2014.
A prosecutor on Thursday showed photos of each of the six with a rifle, and cast them as having answered Bundy’s call to “do whatever it takes” to prevent federal agents from confiscating his cattle.
Defense attorneys told the jury that no one planned an armed standoff with federal Bureau of Land Management agents.
Defendant Todd Engel, serving as his own lawyer, said sure, he had a gun.
But that’s legal, he said, and he didn’t threaten anyone.
No shots were fired, but the incident reverberated across the West amid an ongoing debate over federal management of vast tracts of public land.
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PORTLAND POLICE SHOOTING
Police fatally shoot robbery suspect in Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A man suspected of robbing a Portland motel has been fatally shot by police.
Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson says officers responded Thursday to a report of an armed robbery at Portland Value Inn in the northeast part of the city. The suspect was a few streets away when he was shot.
Simpson says no officers were injured.
The suspect’s name and additional details about the shooting were not immediately released.
OBIT-PACKY
Packy, Oregon’s beloved elephant, dies at 54
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The Oregon Zoo says the Packy the elephant has died at 54 years old.
The Asian elephant made headlines in April 1962 when he became the first elephant born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years. At nearly 55, he was the oldest male of his species in North America.
Zoo spokeswoman Hova Najarian says Packy was euthanized Thursday morning, and a memorial event is in the works.
NORTH PACIFIC BIRD DEATHS
Researchers: Warm Pacific water led to vast seabird die-off
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Pacific Ocean seabird experts continue to study a massive die-off of common murres (murz) that occurred a year ago but say most evidence points to a climate event that warmed waters of the North Pacific.
Federal officials recorded 6,000 dead common murres in California, Oregon and Washington and 46,000 in Alaska in 2015 and early 2016.
U.S. Geological Survey research wildlife biologist John Piatt (PEYE-at) says the mortality conservatively reached 500,000 birds because most dead birds wouldn’t have washed to shore.
The birds were emaciated. Piatt says the deaths likely were multiplied in Alaska because Gulf of Alaska winter storms hit birds weakened by starvation.
Common murres feed on small forage fish. Piatt says warm water likely produced smaller, less nutritious plankton that affected their numbers.
OREGON WEATHER
Oregonians warned of wind, rain, floods, slides, avalanches
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The National Weather Service has something for almost everyone as Oregon’s eventful winter continues.
The agency’s weather map Thursday morning was a multi-colored puzzle of warnings, watches and advisories.
Flooding and landslides are the main concerns as rain falls and temperatures warm. Flood warnings are in effect from the Willamette Valley to the coast and in big chunks of eastern and southern Oregon.
Multiple slides have been reported this week and are more are expected.
The coast is also dealing with a high-wind warning and a wind advisory has been issued for sparsely populated southeast Oregon.
An avalanche warning has been issued in the Cascades and a freezing rain advisory is effect for the Gorge.
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Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.
