OREGON DATA CENTER
Amazon planning third data complex near Hermiston
(Information from: East Oregonian, http://www.eastoregonian.com)
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — Amazon is proposing to build a third data complex west of Hermiston consisting of four data centers.
The East Oregonian reports that the Seattle-based e-commerce giant recently bought 120 acres of land next to the Hermiston Generating Plant. It already operates two server farms in eastern Oregon.
Amazon, doing business through a holding company called Vadata, has continued to expand at Port of Umatilla and Port of Morrow sites along the Columbia River. The buildings are home to racks of computer servers that host everything from email to streaming movies.
According to Vadata’s Jim Footh, the company needs to build multiple data center campuses to provide a backup in case one center goes down.
Umatilla County Board of Commissioners must first approve rezoning the proposed site from farm use to light industrial. A public hearing on that issue is scheduled Thursday night.
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ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING
Bend man in hospital after accidentally shot by friend
BEND, Ore. (AP) — A 22-year-old Bend man is in the hospital after authorities say he was accidentally shot by a friend who was unloading a handgun.
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office says Trevor Rogers was airlifted to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend Saturday night with injuries not considered life-threatening.
The office says 21-year-old Julian Messner accidentally shot his friend. The office says he mistakenly thought he had removed a round from the chamber of the semi-automatic handgun.
No criminal charges have been filed against Messner but the case is being sent to the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office for review.
FORMER DEPUTY-SEX CHARGE
Ex-Oregon sergeant pleads guilty to sex with Idaho boy
CALDWELL, Idaho (AP) — A former Oregon sheriff’s sergeant has pleaded guilty to having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old Idaho boy he met through a dating app.
KTVB-TV in Boise says 46-year-old Michael Alexander of Lake Oswego, Oregon, is to be sentenced May 8.
He pleaded guilty earlier this month to felony lewd conduct with a child in Canyon County court.
Alexander resigned from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon shortly after his arrest in March 2016.
Prosecutors say Alexander met the 15-year-old Meridian boy through the dating app Grindr and traveled to Idaho to have sex with him twice in 2015. The boy’s mother contacted authorities after discovering inappropriate text messages on his phone.
Alexander’s lawyer said the former deputy did not know the teen was underage. The boy told Alexander he was 18 turning 19, and a college student at Boise State.
MARIJUANA-LAWSUIT
Former Jackson County commissioner files counter lawsuit
(Information from: Mail Tribune, http://www.mailtribune.com/)
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — A former Jackson County commissioner accused in a lawsuit of bilking investors to finance a pot shop has filed a counterclaim.
The Mail Tribune reports that Doug Breidenthal filed the lawsuit Thursday contending his professional reputation has been damaged.
Breidenthal is seeking about $300,000 plus $24,000 a month in lost profits from Greg Allen, Larry Nelson and Mary Nelson.
Those three in a lawsuit filed last month in Jackson County Circuit Court are seeking a combined $529,000 and contend Breidenthal committed elder abuse and breached fiduciary duty.
Breidenthal says he is unable to find work in the marijuana industry and was fired from one job.
He lost his bid for re-election to the county commission in the primary last year.
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CHILD’S DENTAL DEATH
Health Department opens investigation into dental death
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — The Washington Department of Health has opened an investigation into the case of a 4-year-old southwest Washington boy who died after a dental procedure.
KGW-TV reported Friday the health department has 170 days to complete the investigation.
Paramedics were called to the dental office March 10 and Mykel Peterson of Vancouver was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The Clark County Medical Examiner’s Office said the cause of death won’t be released until toxicology reports are finalized.
The boy’s mother says she brought him in for a routine visit and the dentist suggested repairing previous work. The boy was sedated by an anesthesiologist and later brought out to the waiting room, where he stopped breathing.
The dentists who run Must Love Kids Pediatric Dentistry said outside medical experts will review what happened, so it would be premature to comment.
PORTLAND HOMELESS-BACKYARD FLATS
Portland pilot program puts homeless in residents’ backyards
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A pilot program in Portland, Oregon will put homeless families in little modular homes built in the backyards of willing homeowners.
In exchange, the homeowners will own the fully plumbed tiny houses after a five-year lease and can rent them out.
The idea will start with just four units but Multnomah County officials hope to expand.
It’s believed to be the first project nationally to join homeowners with the homeless.
It’s a way for Portland to bridge a gap while affordable housing is constructed in a city where nearly 1,900 people sleep outside each night.
County housing officials say 200 homeowners have signed up to learn more after the pilot was made public.
A critical housing shortage has led officials to experiment with sleeping pods and “tiny house” villages.
RIDEOUT-RAPE TRIAL-THE LATEST
The Latest: Man sentenced to 16 years for raping 2 women
(Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com)
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man who gained notoriety in 1978 when he became the first U.S. man to be tried for raping his wife has been sentenced to more than 16 years in prison. He was convicted of raping and sodomizing two other women.
John Rideout received the two 100-month sentences, to be served consecutively, on Friday after speaking at length to the court and his accusers.
He was led out of the courtroom by a sheriff’s deputy, his hands cuffed to a chain around his waist.
It had been almost 40 years since he stood trial for allegedly raping his wife at their Salem apartment in front of their 2-year-old daughter. Rideout was unanimously acquitted in the case that spawned a TV movie starring Mickey Rourke and Linda Hamilton.
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PORTLAND CAR-BOMB PLOT
Court won’t rehear appeal from Oregon car-bomb plot
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal court says it won’t rehear an appeal from Mohamed Mohamud, the Somali American sentenced to 30 years in prison for plotting to bomb downtown Portland during the annual lighting of a Christmas tree.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Mohamud’s conviction in a December ruling.
Mohamud’s attorneys sought to have the appeal heard before the entire bench, but the court denied the request Thursday.
Mohamud pressed a cellphone button in November 2010, believing it would set off explosives in a van. The bomb, however, was a fake provided by FBI agents posing as terrorists.
Mohamud’s attorneys say the teenager was a victim of entrapment — that he had no intent to commit domestic terrorism until he was persuaded by the agents.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.
