Religious Groups to Back Gun Legislation
A group of religious leaders has introduced an initiative that would ban semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines in Oregon. Initiative Petition 43 seeks to outlaw the sale of these weapons and require current owners to undergo background checkouts and register their guns. Rabbi Michael Cahana, one of the chief petitioners of this measure, says there’s momentum to act on gun violence after the shooting in Parkland. He says it’s important that religious leaders are spearheading this proposal.
201: “We felt that it was really time to, instead of just offering prayers, take action and to speak with a religious voice, to speak with a moral authority that our religions, our diverse religions call out to us, to protect life.”
Cahana says the initiative is modeled after similar laws in states such as Connecticut, which have survived challenges in court. Pastor Mark Knutson of Augustana Lutheran Church is another chief petitioner of the initiative. He says Oregon should do this for the safety of its children.
202: “We’re not against anybody. We just don’t want weapons of war being available and we don’t want our children to be anxious when they go to a movie or go to school. And that’s incumbent upon every adult in Oregon to come alongside these young leaders – not to empower them. They’re already very powerful. But to walk alongside and make this happen.”
The petition includes exceptions for the military, law enforcement and licensed firearms dealers.
Power Outage Shortlived…For Most
A tree fell into a power pole on Friday knocking out power to businesses and residents along highway 101 from 126 southward. Some businesses temporarily closed while awaiting for the repairs to take place. The traffic lights at 101 and 126 and 101 and Rhododendron were off for a brief period but there were no incidents of accidents reported from the failure. The outage happened around 12:15 Friday afternoon and Central Lincoln PUD, through a twitter post, acknowledged that 1210 customers were without power and all but 273 were back on line by 1:40. The origin of the loss was at old Rite Aid building.
Department of Revenue Acknowledges Breach
The Oregon Department of Revenue has acknowledged that there was a security breach that allowed 36,000 personal files to be uploaded to an individual’s cloud account. The incident happened on February 21st when an employee uploaded the files. Oregon department of revenue said that through their processes they have retrieved the files and the employee was duty stationed at home and placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of their investigation. The security team at the department concluded that none of the information had been viewed by outside sources. According to the department of revenue the breach was discovered through their system of security processes and has provided this information to the public as a precautionary measure.
Bridge Delays For Coos Bay Travel
Oregon department of transportation is advising drivers that are headed southbound on highway 101 through Coos Bay that there will be bridge lane closures throughout the day tomorrow between the hours of 9am and 3pm. ODOT says you can expect up to 20 minute delays as a result of the closure, but that they expect it to only be a one day closure. Closer to home the Siuslaw River Bridge will continue to have intermittent delays throughout the day all this week as construction and repairs continue.
