POT USER DATA-OREGON
Oregon set to shield marijuana user data from US officials
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon state lawmakers have given final approval to a bill that would shield the names, birthdates and other identifying information of marijuana users from being accessed by federal drug agents amid worries of heightened enforcement.
The bill was approved 53-5 by the Oregon House on Monday and is largely in response to mixed signals about the new White House administration’s stance on the federal marijuana prohibition.
Democratic Gov. Kate Brown is expected to sign it into law.
Oregon pot shops would have 30 days to destroy their recreational pot customers’ personal data from their records and be banned from keeping such records thereon.
Data collection about pot clients is already illegal or discouraged in Alaska, Colorado and Washington state.
Recreational marijuana is legal in those states and sold from stores.
BATTLING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC
Oregon lawmakers try to stem opioid epidemic
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Seeking to stem the opioid epidemic in Oregon, the House of Representatives unanimously approved a proposed law on Monday that would provide safe-use recommendations to those who prescribe such drugs.
However, provisions in the bill that would have limited many prescriptions to a seven-day supply and would have criminalized improperly prescribing opioids were earlier stripped by the House Health Care Committee. The Oregon Medical Association had lobbied against some of the provisions.
More than 15,000 people died in America from overdoses involving prescription opioids in 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Oregon Health Authority says an average of three Oregonians die every week from prescription opioid overdose.
Now that it has passed the House, the bill next goes to the Oregon Senate.
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This corrects that no seven-day supply limit is imposed via the bill.
PORTLAND-RENEWABLE ENERGY
Portland commits to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland and Multnomah County have pledged to completely transition to renewable energy sources by 2050.
Monday’s announcement from Mayor Ted Wheeler and County Chair Deborah Kafoury places the Portland-metro region alongside 25 other cities that have committed to 100-percent renewables. Nearly 90 major U.S. companies have also committed.
Portland has been working on climate change since it became the first U.S. city to adopt a carbon reduction strategy in 1993. In addition to making its own moves to use clean energy, the city said in a statement that it plans to resist any federal policy changes that increase carbon emissions.
Kafoury described the effort as a pledge to children, allowing them to have a future with cleaner air and more economic opportunity.
SARDINE FISHERY CLOSED
Pacific sardine fishery closed for commercial season
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Federal fishery managers voted Monday to keep the U.S. West Coast Pacific sardine fishery closed for the upcoming commercial season.
This will be the third year in a row there have not been enough sardines to support a fishery.
Sardines were a thriving fishery on the West Coast from World War I through World War II. But their numbers, and the fishery, crashed in the late 1940s.
The conservation group Oceana lauded the decision.
Oceana officials say leaving more sardines in the water before fishing is allowed to occur will help ensure there is enough of the critical food for wildlife while allowing the sardine population to rebuild more quickly.
Much of the catch, landed from Mexico to British Columbia, is exported to Asia and Europe, where some is canned and the rest goes for bait.
FILMING POLICE LAWSUIT-SETTLEMENT
Gresham, Portland settle lawsuit over filming of police
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The cities of Portland and Gresham have settled a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of a woman whose cell phone was seized by a police officer as she recorded an arrest.
The cities agreed to new policies and training regarding the public’s right to film police activity. Gresham also agreed to pay $85,000 in legal fees. Since Carrie Medina’s attorneys worked the case for free, the money goes to the ACLU Foundation of Oregon.
Medina said a Gresham officer seized her phone in 2013 as she livestreamed the arrest of a young man at a light-rail stop in downtown Portland. She said Monday that bystanders should not feel afraid to exercise their rights.
Gresham spokeswoman Elizabeth Coffey says the city adopted new procedures shortly after the incident and is thankful the matter is resolved.
EARTHQUAKE WARNING
Early quake warning system expands to Oregon, Washington
SEATTLE (AP) — An early warning system for earthquakes is expanding to Oregon and Washington.
The expansion means three states on the U.S. West Coast will now be testing a prototype that could give people seconds or up to a minute of warning before strong shaking begins. California has been testing the production prototype since early 2016.
The U.S. Geological Survey says the system isn’t ready to issue public quake warnings yet.
But this version allows early adopters to use those warnings and figure out what steps they need to take in the event of an earthquake.
The USGS and other partners are rolling out the expanded ShakeAlert system Monday at events in Seattle and Eugene, Oregon.
The warning system detects earthquakes using a network of ground motion sensors.
HISTORIC MILL DISMANTLED
Historical mill that operated for 73 years being torn apart
(Information from: Daily Courier, http://www.thedailycourier.com)
CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. (AP) — A historic mill that operated in southern Oregon for 73 years is being taken apart to make way for a new owner.
The Daily Courier reports contractors were working on dismantling the Rough & Ready Lumber mill Wednesday. One of the mill’s owners Link Phillippi says he can’t say who the prospective owner is, but can say the space will not be converted into a marijuana processing plant, as it is rumored.
Phillippi also says although the new owner is not a lumber producer, they will be creating jobs.
The mill was the Illinois Valley’s largest employer for the last 50 years.
Phillippi and his staff are expected to vacate the property by the end of the month. They will continue operating their forestry company, Perpetua.
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RANCHING STANDOFF TRIAL-NEVADA-THE LATEST
The Latest: Testimony over in Nevada ranch standoff trial
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Testimony is over and closing arguments are scheduled Wednesday in the trial of six men accused of wielding weapons against federal agents during a 2014 standoff involving Nevada cattleman and states’ rights advocate Cliven Bundy.
Idaho resident Eric Parker, whose photo as an armed protester on a freeway overpass was widely seen, finished his testimony Monday in Las Vegas.
He was the only defendant to take the stand.
Gregory Burleson of Arizona, Richard Lovelien of Oklahoma, and Idaho residents Scott Drexler, Todd Engel and Steven Stewart declined to testify in their defense.
Their attorneys are expected to argue the government didn’t prove conspiracy, weapon and assault on a federal agent charges carrying the possibility of decades in federal prison.
Jurors heard during two months of testimony from nearly 40 prosecution witnesses, three defense witnesses and Parker.
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7:35 a.m
Trial is nearing an end for six men accused of wielding weapons against federal agents during a 2014 standoff involving Nevada cattleman and states’ rights advocate Cliven Bundy.
Defendant Eric Parker, whose photo as an armed protester on a freeway overpass was widely seen, returns to the witness stand Monday for cross-examination.
Closing arguments could come as early as Tuesday.
The 33-year-old Parker is from Hailey, Idaho.
He acknowledged he lay prone on the pavement looking with an AK-47 style rifle through a seam in a concrete freeway barrier toward heavily armed federal Bureau of Land Management agents in a dry riverbed below.
He says he feared agents were going to shoot unarmed people protesting in the wash.
Parker also says he never had his finger on the trigger.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.
