Latest Oregon news, sports, business and entertainment

TOWN FOR SALE

Buyer wanted: Tiny Oregon town for sale

TILLER, Ore. (AP) — A dot on a map in rural southwestern Oregon is generating a big-city buzz.

Almost the entire town of Tiller is up for sale.

A potential buyer has come forward but is remaining anonymous — and backup offers are still being accepted.

The asking price of $3.5 million brings with it six houses, the shuttered general store and gas station, the land under the post office, undeveloped parcels, water rights and infrastructure that includes sidewalks, fire hydrants and a working power station.

Tiller Elementary School is for sale separately for $350,000.

The mystery surrounding the town’s future is generating both excitement and anxiety for residents who still live near Tiller.

The town in the middle of the Umpqua National Forest has been dying since the timber industry crashed nearly 30 years ago.

TRAIN STRIKES WOMAN

Woman struck by freight train in Beaverton

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) — Police say a woman suffered life-threatening injuries when she was struck by a freight train just west of Portland in Beaverton.

The Beaverton Police Department said in a news release that officers responded Thursday afternoon to a report of a pedestrian hit by a train.

Police say officers found a 26-year-old woman on the north side of the railroad tracks near Southwest Beaverton Hillsdale Highway and Southwest Lombard Avenue.

Police say officers applied two tourniquets to her injuries before she was taken to a hospital.

Witnesses told police the train crossing arms, warning lights and pedestrian signals were all active and that the train horn was heard as the woman was in the crosswalk.

Police believe she may have been distracted on her phone.

RANCHING STANDOFF TRIAL-NEVADA-THE LATEST

The Latest: Standoff trial jury adjourns, to return Monday

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A federal jury in Las Vegas ended a half-day of deliberations without a verdict in the trial of six men who brought assault-style weapons to a standoff with government agents near Cliven Bundy’s ranch in April 2014.

A court official said Thursday that jurors adjourned shortly before 12:30 p.m., and will return Monday for more deliberations in U.S. District Court.

The jury deliberated a half-day last week before returning for three full days this week.

Testimony took two months. Each defendant faces 10 charges including threatening and assaulting a federal officer, extortion, obstruction, weapon violations and conspiracy.

Each could face more than 50 years in prison if he’s found guilty of crimes of violence.

No shots were fired in the standoff near Bunkerville before the federal Bureau of Land Management abandoned the roundup and withdrew.

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XGR-HIRING-FREEZE

Brown orders hiring freeze as Oregon budget crisis looms

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Kate Brown has signed an executive order freezing the hire of new state employees until the Oregon Legislature approves agency budgets for the upcoming biennium, which is currently facing a $1.6 billion shortfall.

The freeze announced Thursday begins May 1 and only applies to the current budget cycle ending June 30.

The potential savings are still being calculated, but any funds would be rolled into the 2017-2019 budget to help close the gap.

So far, government hiring and pay freezes haven’t been part of negotiations in Salem, although Brown’s office says any cost-saving moves will be considered.

In a report this week, proposed increases to government workers’ compensation for the next two years was reduced from $145 million to $50 million.

FATAL FIRE-OREGON MOTEL-THE LATEST

The Latest: Smoking caused Oregon blaze that killed 4

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a fire at a coastal Oregon motel that killed four people and injured three others last summer was caused by careless smoking.

The fire’s probable cause was released Thursday by the Newport Police Department.

Court records show 38-year-old Rebecca Sinclair of Toledo, Oregon, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, reckless burning and recklessly endangering another person.

Sinclair is being held on $750,000 bail.

Her court-appointed attorney, Jonathan Cable, says he just got the case and is still investigating the allegations.

Authorities say the fire started in Sinclair’s room on the lower floor of the two-story City Center Motel on Aug. 5.

The blaze killed couples from Portland and Springfield who were staying in rooms on the top floor.

CUSTOMER ABLAZE

Denny’s customer set ablaze at restaurant near Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say a 69-year-old man was critically injured when a man set him on fire at a Denny’s restaurant near Portland, Oregon.

Sgt. Dan Kraus of the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office says a man entered the Denny’s late Wednesday and sat in a booth adjacent to the victim. He says surveillance video showed the suspect dumping an unknown liquid onto the victim. He then tossed a lit item onto the victim, causing a large flash.

The suspect then ran from the restaurant. Police are searching for a man in his 20s. He wore a black, flat brim hat, black hooded jacket, gray sweatpants with a black stripe and black shoes.

The victim was taken to a Portland hospital. His name has not been released.

TILLAMOOK BAY MANURE SPILL

Tillamook Bay reopens after manure spill from nearby dairy

(Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com)

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon officials say Tillamook Bay has reopened to commercial shellfish harvesting after it was closed because of a massive spill of liquid manure.

Wym Mathews of the Oregon Department of Agriculture tells The Statesman Journal the estimated 190,000 gallons of manure that went to the bay came from the Tony Silveira Dairy after the valve of an above-ground storage tank broke.

The manure pooled in a field near the dairy barns before traveling into a slough that connects to a drainage system that pumps water into the Tillamook River. It then entered the bay.

ODA received reports of the spill in the middle of last week.

Mathews says the dairy likely will be cited and possibly fined. It has operated in Tillamook County for about six years and has not had any previous enforcement actions.

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OREGON WOODS HOMICIDE

Police make arrest in killing of woman found in Oregon woods

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — Authorities have arrested a 27-year-old man accused of killing a woman whose body was found in an Oregon forest this week.

The Benton County Undersheriff Greg Ridler said Thursday that William Hargrove of Corvallis was booked into jail on a murder charge.

The body of a woman believed to be in her 20s was discovered Monday night by someone from a timber company outside the small town of Alsea.

Ridler said the woman has been tentatively identified, but next of kin have not been notified.