Oregon - Immigration - Labor - Law - "Saxton ads fuel scrutiny of farm's labor: Immigration - Attacks on Gov. Ted Kulongoski over illegal migrants draw attention to the GOP hopeful's past." ... "The Republican candidate for governor, Ron Saxton, has run ads saying illegal immigrants are "pouring in" to Oregon and criticizing Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski for his handling of the issue." ... "But Saxton, who was part owner of a farm near Salem until about 2000, acknowledges that he used migrant workers on his farm and that he can't say for sure whether some of them were undocumented." ... "In a September interview with The Oregonian, Saxton responded, "I don't know," when asked whether illegal immigrants worked on the farm. Illegal immigration wasn't such a big issue in the 1990s, he said." ... "This year, illegal immigration has become a hotly debated national issue, and Saxton has made it a high-profile topic of his campaign. His uncertainty over hiring practices at his farm, however, shows how quickly a sound-bite issue can get complicated in the heat of a political campaign." (1, 2) -By Harry Esteve and Alex Pulaski -OregonLive.com /Oregonian 

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California - Oregon - Arizona - Computer - Intel - Jobs - "Intel to shed up to 20,000 jobs with AMD on its heels." ... "It will be a long holiday weekend for about 100,000 Intel Corp. employees, with the world's largest chipmaker --facing tough competition from chief rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. -- expected to announce as many as 20,000 job cuts next week, its largest retrenchment in two decades." ... "Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini, who already has begun to slash jobs and sell businesses in response to falling sales and market share, is expected to discuss with employees the results of a 90-day stem-to-stern review of company operations on Tuesday via Webcast" ... "Intel has about 6,000 employees in its Santa Clara [California] headquarters and about 7,000 in Folsom. Other large West Coast operations include about 17,000 employees in Oregon and 11,000 in Arizona." -By Jessica Guynn -SFGate.com 

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California - Elderly - Disaster - Energy - Food - Work - Water - Animal - Oregon - Wildfire - "At least 132 deaths likely linked to heat Calif. heat wave." ... "At least 132 deaths, mostly elderly residents, were likely linked to a nearly two-week heat wave in California, county coroner's offices reported Friday." ... "Both Northern and Southern California had been gripped by triple-digit temperatures since July 16, with the Central Valley suffering the most with temperatures as high as 115." ... "Before this week, the utility's highest peak energy use was recorded at 5,661 megawatts. The heat wave created a demand of 6,165 megawatts — shocking officials who predicted usage wouldn't top 6,100 megawatts for another four years." ... "In Northern California, a wildfire near the Oregon state line was threatening major power transmission lines between California and the Pacific Northwest." ... "Farmers have been struggling as well, trying get work crews into the fields in the early mornings to avoid the worst of the heat and running water misters to keep cattle from dying. Vegetables, fruit and even wine grapes could be affected." -By Olivia Munoz -AP via -SFGate.com 

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Karl Rove - Stem Cell - Health - Science - Oregon - Missouri - "Experts rip Rove stem cell remark: Researchers doubt value of adult cells." ... "When White House political adviser Karl Rove signaled last week that President Bush planned to veto the stem cell bill being considered by the Senate, the reasons he gave went beyond the president's moral qualms with research on human embryos." ... "In fact, Rove waded into deeply contentious scientific territory, telling the Denver Post's editorial board that researchers have found "far more promise from adult stem cells than from embryonic stem cells."" ... "But Rove's negative appraisal of embryonic stem cell research--echoed by many opponents of funding for such research--is inaccurate, according to most stem cell research scientists, including a dozen contacted for this story." ... ""[Rove's] statement is just not true," said Dr. Michael Clarke, associate director of the stem cell institute at Stanford University, who in 2003 published the first study showing how adult stem cells replenish themselves." ... "Dr. Markus Grompe, director of the stem cell center at the Oregon Health and Science University, is a Catholic who objects to research involving the destruction of embryos and is seeking alternative ways of making stem cells. But Grompe said there is "no factual basis to compare the promise" of adult stem cells and cells taken from embryos." ... "Last week, the journal Science published a letter from three researchers criticizing the claim that adult stem cells are preferable to embryonic stem cells. The authors included Dr. Steven Teitelbaum of Washington University in St. Louis [Missouri], who has used adult stem cells to treat bone diseases in children. The authors wrote that the exaggerated claims for adult stem cells "mislead laypeople and cruelly deceive patients."" -By Jeremy Manier and Judith Graham -ChicagoTribune 

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Michael Hayden - Intelligence - Terrorism - Secrets- Law - Privacy - Porter Goss - Maine - Russ Feingold - Wisconsin - Oregon - "Senators Use Hayden Hearing to Criticize Bush Surveillance Plan." ... "Senators reviewing General Michael Hayden's nomination to lead the CIA used his confirmation hearing to criticize the Bush administration's failure to tell them about warrantless eavesdropping of suspected terrorists." ... "``The Congress was really never consulted or informed in a manner that we could truly perform our oversight role,'' Maine Republican Olympia Snowe told Hayden. The failure to brief all members of the House and Senate intelligence committees until the day before the confirmation hearing ``breeds corrosive mistrust,'' she said." ... "Democrats Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Ron Wyden of Oregon accused Hayden of misleading Congress in 2002 when he said the government was obtaining warrants to conduct surveillance." ... "President George W. Bush nominated Hayden to succeed Porter Goss, himself a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Goss resigned from the CIA post earlier this month. Hayden is currently deputy director in the Office of National Intelligence, which was created last year to coordinate all U.S. intelligence-gathering operations." -By James Rowley and Jeff St.Onge -Bloomberg 

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Michael Hayden - Terrorism - Intelligence - Civil Righs - Privacy - Law - Oregon - "Hayden defends eavesdropping at CIA confirmation." ... "Gen. Michael Hayden, U.S. President George W. Bush's nominee for CIA director, strongly defended a domestic eavesdropping program on Thursday, saying it protected the country against terrorism and did not violate Americans' civil rights." ... "The toughest questions came from Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden and concerned Hayden's role as architect of Bush's domestic spying program and his own credibility." ... "Wyden said Hayden had not kept Congress fully informed of the eavesdropping program and had made misleading statements in previous appearances before Congress." ... ""General, having evaluated your words, I now have a difficult time with your credibility," Wyden said." ... ""So with all due respect, general, I can't tell now if you've simply said one thing and done another, or whether you have just parsed your words like a lawyer to intentionally mislead the public," Wyden said." (1, 2, 3) -By David Morgan -Reuters 

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Government - School - Money - Politics - Montana - Oregon - "Democrats: Land Sales for Schools Unneeded." ... "Two Democratic senators said Thursday they have found a way to pay for a program to fund rural schools without selling 300,000 acres of national forests, as the Bush administration has proposed." ... "Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Ron Wyden of Oregon said their plan would raise $2.6 billion over the next 10 years for the rural schools program by closing a tax loophole they said allows some government contractors to avoid tax obligations." -By Matthew Daly -AP via -HoustonChronicle.com

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Gordon Smith - Oil - Money - Politics - Environment - Alaska - Oregon - "Once again, Gordon Smith votes for Arctic oil drilling." ... "Once again, the Oregonian [newspaper] has been silent when [Oregon Republican Senator] Gordon Smith voted FOR oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [Alaska] -- after saying repeatedly during his 2002 campaign that he would not." ... "The drilling provision was included in the budget reconciliation bill. The vote passed 51-49. Senator Smith cast the tiebreaking vote." ... "And just in case you think that he's "just another senator" in this whole mess, here's what [Iowa Republican] Senator Chuck Grassley -- the budget master of the Senate -- had to say:"

"Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said his panel ... is deeply divided over reconciliation, and he cautioned that moderate Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., hold all the cards. Reconciliation will be decided by "the extent to which I get Snowe and Smith to agree to it," Grassley said."

Gordon Smith - Money - Politics - Virgin Islands - Vacation - Lawmakers - Idaho - Oregon - Montana - Wyoming - Missouri - "Virgin Islands Donors Invest In Key Senators." ... "Concern is mounting that Senate support for the [United States] U.S. Virgin Islands' efforts to reopen a tax loophole is being won with more than $235,000 in campaign contributions." ... "Five senators identified by USVI [United States Virgin Islands] representatives as allies in their campaign - Senator [Mike] Crapo, a Republican of Idaho; Senator Gordon Smith, a Republican of Oregon; Senator [Max] Baucus, a Democrat of Montana; Senator [Craig] Thomas, a Republican of Wyoming, and Senator [James] Talent, a Republican of Missouri - have each received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from scores of USVI residents in the last year, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission." ... "Lobbyists for the USVI said yesterday that the donations resulted from fund-raisers held by the lawmakers during trips to the Virgin Islands." ... "As The New York Sun reported last week, the USVI is currently campaigning for Congress and the Treasury Department to loosen restrictions imposed in 2004 on the territory's Economic Development Commission - a program designed to spur investment in the territory with tax incentives for individuals and businesses." ... "As the Sun reported in 2003, the program's tax breaks were taken up by some of America's top money managers - including Richard Driehaus and Jeffrey Epstein, who keep high profiles in Chicago and New York but declare the USVI as their place of residence for tax purposes. The EDC [Economic Development Commission] loophole allowed some wealthy Americans to dodge almost 90% of their federal income tax bills." ... "According to FEC [Federal Election Commission] records, Mr. Driehaus last year donated, as a USVI resident, $2,000 each to the campaigns of Messrs. Crapo, Thomas, and Baucus." ... "Mr. Baucus received $66,500 from 52 USVI contributors. Mr. Crapo last year received $39,000 from 27 USVI donors. Mr. Thomas received $21,000 from 16 USVI donors, and Mr. Talent received $38,600 from 30 USVI donors. Mr. Smith raked in $47,000 from 48 donors. The numbers were first published in the St. Thomas Source." ... "Contributions to Mr. Smith, in particular, have drawn fire from a Democratic interest group, the Senate Majority Project. The group, which notes that the USVI was Mr. Smith's fourth-largest donor base by geography after Oregon, Washington, and Virginia, alleges that Mr. Smith's support for reducing the EDC residency requirements contradicts past efforts to keep American business from moving to more tax friendly locales like Bermuda." ... ""Gordon Smith took a trip down to the Virgin Islands, and came back with $47,000 and a new position on offshore tax havens," the Executive Director of the Senate Majority Project, Mike Gehrke, said in a press release from the group." (1, 2, 3) -By Meghan Clyne -NYSun.com

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Gordon Smith - Virgin Islands - Law - Politics - Massachusetts - Oregon - "Virgin Islands Are at Center of Dispute on Tax Break." ... "The United States Virgin Islands and several wealthy financiers who own homes there are working to persuade Congress to drop a new requirement that at least half the year be spent in the islands in order to get a tax break intended to spur their economic development." ... "The economic development program allows an effective federal income tax rate of just 3.5 percent for bona fide residents of the Virgin Islands. It has drawn wealthy Americans from the mainland and kindled an economic boom." ... "But the program, whose benefits have been available for decades, has also allowed some homeowners who spend little time in the islands to avoid federal taxes estimated at $400 million. At least one person, who lived in the islands less than one month a year and nonetheless claimed the program's benefits for income he generated selling insurance in Massachusetts, has pleaded guilty to tax fraud." ... "In response, the Virgin Islands Tax Working Group, which represents people who benefit from the break, paid $200,000 last year for lobbyists, according to records compiled by Political Money Line, a nonpartisan campaign finance tracking service. At least one senator, Gordon H. Smith, Republican of Oregon, has been saluted in the islands at a fund-raiser on his behalf attended by several beneficiaries of the program." ... "Chris Matthews, a spokesman for Senator Smith, who sits on both the energy committee and the Finance Committee, confirmed that the senator attended a fund-raiser for him in the Virgin Islands last year. Mr. Matthews said Mr. Smith had subsequently chatted with some of his colleagues about his concerns that the tighter regulations were hurting law-abiding businesses." -By Stephanie Strom -NYTimes 

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Government - Political - Business - Oregon - "Forest sale would target land throughout Oregon." ... "The Bush administration plan to sell off 300,000 acres of public land is expected to include more than 10,000 acres in Oregon — from a parking lot in The Dalles to land in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area." -AP  via -OregonLive.com

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US - Oregon - Health - Drugs - Netherlands - "Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Assisted Suicide Law." ... "The Supreme Court upheld Oregon's assisted-suicide law today, declaring that the Bush administration had exceeded its authority in trying to undo the statute by punishing doctors who help people end their lives." ... "In a 6-to-3 decision, which would apply to other states if their people chose to follow Oregon's lead, the court held that former Attorney General John Ashcroft went well beyond his authority and expertise when he ruled in 2001 that doctors would lose their federal prescription privileges if they prescribed lethal doses of medications for patients." ... "Today's ruling allows the state of Oregon to continue to follow the practice of the Netherlands, which in 2002 became the first country to legalize euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in limited circumstances." (1, 2) -By David Stout -NYTimes

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• Search Google: <Gonzales v. Oregon, No. 04-623>

Oregon - Health - Drugs - John Roberts - "Supreme Court Upholds Oregon Assisted Suicide Law." ... "The Supreme Court rejected the Bush administration's challenge to the nation's only right-to-die law today and ruled Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft overstepped his authority when he sought to punish the Oregon doctors who helped terminally ill people end their lives." ... "The 6-3 decision was a victory for states and their independent-minded voters, and a defeat for social conservatives." ... "New Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., in his first significant decision, joined Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas in dissent." ... "The high court majority said the states — not federal authorities — have long had the power to regulate the practice of medicine and the licensing of doctors." -By David G. Savage -LAtimes

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Government - Terrorism - Intelligence - Florida - Oregon - Ohio - Virginia - "Defense Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts." ... "Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda." ... "The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out." ... "The expected legal challenges, in cases from Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Virginia, add another dimension to the growing controversy over the agency's domestic surveillance program and could jeopardize some of the Bush administration's most important courtroom victories in terror cases, legal analysts say." -By Eric Lichtblau and James Risen (1, 2) -NYTimes 

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Ocean - Animals - "Oregon Surfer Punches Shark in the Nose." ... "A surfer says he reacted on instinct when he punched a great white shark that grabbed his leg near the northern Oregon coast." ... "He said he learned from television shows including the Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" that a shark's nose is its most sensitive area." -AP via -WashingtonPost

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Oregon - Kansas - Religious - Science - Education - [satire alert!-] "Passion of the Spaghetti Monster." ... "Bobby Henderson is holed up in the boonies -- Corvallis, Oregon -- hard at work on his next entry into the fray over just what students should learn about the origin of species." ... "When the Kansas Board of Education proposed balancing evolution instruction by teaching intelligent design, said to be a scientific theory that supports an "intelligent creator" of all life, the decision outraged many, including 38 Nobel laureates (.pdf)." ... "Henderson responded with a satirical letter to the Kansas board demanding equal time for a different, "equally scientific" theory of intelligent design, in which a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the world." -By Kathleen Craig -Wired 

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Government - Military - Intelligence - Terrorism - Privacy- Law - Civil Liberties - Politics - Oregon - "Pentagon Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity: Fears of Post-9/11 Terrorism Spur Proposals for New Powers." ... "The Pentagon has pushed legislation on Capitol Hill that would create an intelligence exception to the Privacy Act, allowing the FBI and others to share information gathered about U.S. citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other intelligence agencies, as long as the data is deemed to be related to foreign intelligence. Backers say the measure is needed to strengthen investigations into terrorism or weapons of mass destruction." ... "The proposals, and other Pentagon steps aimed at improving its ability to analyze counterterrorism intelligence collected inside the United States, have drawn complaints from civil liberties advocates and a few members of Congress, who say the Defense Department's push into domestic collection is proceeding with little scrutiny by the Congress or the public." ... ""We are deputizing the military to spy on law-abiding Americans in America. This is a huge leap without even a [congressional] hearing," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore. [Oregon]), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a recent interview." (1, 2) -By Walter Pincus with contributions by Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost

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California - Abortion - Parents - Oregon - "California defeats abortion notification proposition." ... "Bucking a national trend, California voters reaffirmed the state's commitment to unrestricted abortion access by rejecting a ballot measure that would have required doctors to alert parents before performing the procedure on minors." ... "The proposed constitutional amendment was the first abortion-related measure ever to qualify for the California ballot. If Proposition 73 had passed - it lost 53 percent to 47 percent - California would have become the 35th state requiring either parental notification or consent before minors could terminate their pregnancies." ... "Voters in only one other state have rebuffed so called "parental involvement" measures. A parental consent law was defeated in Oregon in 1990, according to Physicians for Reproductive Choice." -By Lisa Leff -AP via -MercuryNews

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Gordon Smith - Oil - Money - Politics - Wildlife - Alaska - Washington - Oregon - "Senate endorses oil drilling in Alaska wildlife refuge." ... "Senate opponents to drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge failed Thursday to strip the measure from a massive budget package as supporters of exploration argued that the oil is needed to help break America of its import habit." ... "Environmentalists, who believe strongly the refuge should continue to be off limits to oil companies to protect the area's wildlife, had acknowledged that it was a long shot to get the provision killed and now are concentrating on defeating the overall budget bill." ... "The Democratic Party of Oregon issued a statement criticizing [Oregon Republican Senator Gordon] Smith's decision to vote for a budget package that includes the drilling." ... ""Gordon Smith has again shown the dishonesty of his slick campaign ads and so-called independence in the U.S. Senate," said Kelly Steele, the party's communications director. "When the chips were down, Gordon Smith bowed to the will of the Bush White House, and broke another promise to Oregonians."" ... "[Washington state Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell:] "Using backdoor tactics to destroy America's last great wild frontier will not solve our nation's energy problems and will do nothing to lower skyrocketing gas prices," Cantwell argued. She dismissed industry arguments that the refuge can be drilled with little if any adverse impact on the environment or wildlife." ... "The Prudhoe Bay oil fields, just to the west of ANWR [Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge] and the Alaska oil pipeline have resulted in 504 spills a year since 1996 and there's no reason to assume greater protection in the refuge, maintained Cantwell. " -By H. Josef Hebert with contributions by Matthew Day -AP via -kgw.com 

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Oregon - Gay - Politics - "Judge Upholds Oregon Gay Marriage Ban." ... "A judge on Friday upheld a gay marriage ban adopted by Oregon voters last year, rejecting claims that the amendment made too many changes at once and interfered with local government." ... "In his ruling, Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond backed supporters of the law who said the measure only clarified marriage law in a single, simple sentence." ... "The Oregon amendment, passed overwhelmingly in November 2004 as Measure 36, reads: ``It is the policy of Oregon, and its political subdivisions, that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or legally recognized as a marriage.''" -By Brad Cain -AP via -Guardian.co.uk

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Illinois - Michigan - History - "Oregon ticket hits Powerball jackpot." ... "A ticket sold in Oregon matched all six numbers drawn in Wednesday's Powerball game to win the $340 million jackpot." ... "The odds of hitting all six numbers were 1 in 146 million." ... "The biggest lottery jackpot in U.S. history was $363 million, won by two ticket holders in Illinois and Michigan in 2000." -AP via -USATODAY

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Oregon - Parents - Drugs - "Student suspended for bringing vitamins to school in backpack." ... "Jessica Booth, a senior at Oregon City High School, is on suspension after school officials say she brought vitamins to school without prior notification." ... "Her mother says she thinks the school overreacted to Jessica's over-the-counter supplements, which she says her daughter needs for lactose intolerance." ... "Booth also claims school officials told her that the pills could have led to arrest and jail." ... "Jessica's mother, Michelle Booth, says she thinks the school overreacted to the vitamins, and that threats of arrest, jail time and the five-day suspension are unwarranted." -KATU.com

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Oregon - Medical - Drugs - "Justices Hear Arguments on Oregon's Assisted-Suicide Law." ... "The question of assisted suicide reached the Supreme Court today for the second time in eight years, although the profound issues of professional ethics and personal autonomy that have animated the national debate largely remained outside the courtroom." ... "Instead, lawyers for the federal government and for Oregon, the only state to have authorized physician-assisted suicide, argued over a single question: whether John Ashcroft acted within his authority as attorney general when he decided in 2001 that doctors would lose their federal prescription privileges if they followed the Oregon law's procedures and prescribed lethal doses of lawful medications for their terminally ill patients who wanted to end their own lives." -NYTimes

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Oregon - Medical - Drugs - "High Court Revisits Suicide Debate." ... "The Supreme Court is revisiting the emotionally charged issue of physician-assisted suicide in a test of the federal government's power to block doctors from helping terminally ill patients end their lives." ... "Oregon is the only state that lets dying patients obtain lethal doses of medication from their doctors, although other states may pass laws of their own if the high court rules against the federal government. Voters in Oregon have twice endorsed doctor-assisted suicide, but the Bush administration has aggressively challenged the state law." (1, 2) -CBSNews

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• Google Search: <Gonzales v. Oregon, 04-623-[News]>

Alaska - New York - Washington - Oregon - GOV - Transportation- "Alaska's $223 Mln `Bridge to Nowhere' Envied in U.S. Northwest." ... "Alaska's Gravina Island is home to 50 people and more than 350 Sitka black-tailed deer. Under the U.S. highway bill passed last month, this group will get a $223 million bridge taller than the Brooklyn Bridge in New York." ... "The funding is among $1.04 billion that Alaska lawmakers secured for transportation projects, making the state the envy of its neighbors in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The states of Washington and Oregon, with a combined population 15 times that of Alaska's 650,000, each received about $500 million sought by lawmakers for transportation projects in their home states under the bill signed by President George W. Bush on Aug. 10." -By Peter Robison -Bloomberg 

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Portland - OR - New Jersey - Louisiana -  - "BRAC panel votes to keep fighter jets in Portland." ... "A federal commission Friday blocked a Pentagon plan that would have transferred 15 F-15 fighter jets patrolling the Northwest s skies from an Oregon Air National Guard base at Portland International Airport." ... "Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and the state s congressional delegation welcomed the commission s vote against sending the 142nd Fighter Wing s 15 F-15 jets to Air Force bases in New Jersey and Louisiana." -AP via -King5.com 

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-  - OR - Portland -  -  - Religion- "Faithful Furious Over Tactic: Catholics express shock over lawyer's arguments that a woman who sued Portland archdiocese for child support should have used birth control." ... "In 1994, then-Archbishop of Portland William Levada offered a simple answer for why the archdiocese shouldn't have been ordered to pay the costs of raising a child fathered by a church worker at a Portland, Ore., parish." ... "In her relationship with Arturo Uribe, then a seminarian and now a Whittier priest, the child's mother had engaged "in unprotected intercourse … when [she] should have known that could result in pregnancy," the church maintained in its answer to the lawsuit." ... "The former archbishop is now chief guardian of Catholic doctrine worldwide. The archbishop's new post as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was last held by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — now Pope Benedict XVI." -By William Lobdell -LAtimes 

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OR - Salem -  - Drugs - "Prescriptions for cold pills to fight meth OK'd by Ore. Senate." ... "A plan to make Oregon the first state to require a doctor's prescription for many cold and allergy relief medicines was approved Saturday by the [Salem] Oregon Senate with the aim of shutting down methamphetamine labs around the state." ... "The bill was endorsed despite complaints that the requirement will put a hardship on law-abiding citizens who can't afford doctor visits." ... "But backers called it a necessary step to help curb availability of ingredients used to make a drug that's ruining lives — especially those of children who are exposed to toxic chemicals and neglect in homes used as meth labs." -By Brad Cain -AP via -kgw.com 

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OR - Salem -  - Drugs - "Oregon anti-meth law would require prescriptions." ... "A bill passed by lawmakers on Saturday would make Oregon the first U.S. state to require a doctor's prescription for cold medicines containing an ingredient that can be used to make the illegal drug methamphetamine." ... "The bills passed by the [Salem] Oregon Senate and House of Representatives also would toughen penalties for meth-related crimes." -Reuters 

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OR - Salem -  - Drugs - "House passes bill to toughen penalties for meth-related crimes." ... "A bill to toughen punishments for methamphetamine-related crimes was overwhelmingly passed Wednesday by the [Salem, Oregon] House, sending the measure to Gov. Ted Kulongoski." ... "The other bill in the meth package, which also has passed the House, would make Oregon the first state to require prescriptions for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, which can be made into meth." -By Niki Sullivan -AP via -OregonLive.com 

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Gordon Smith - Corporate - Politics - Sports - Vacations - Jets - Accounting - Telecommunications - Energy - Lawmakers - Ore - Nev - Ind - Fla - Mich - Ky - Va -  -  -  -  - "Amid much scrutiny, mixing pleasure and politics goes on." ... "Even if lawmakers are more sensitive these days about teeing up [golfing] with lobbyists at posh resorts, one would never know it by witnessing a scene at Dulles International Airport on Sunday night when lobbyists returned from the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, a high-end course in southwestern Oregon. One lobbyist from Accenture, an accounting firm, even disembarked sporting a long-sleeve Bandon Dunes polo shirt." ... "[Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.[Republican-Oregon]) held the fundraiser, an annual event for his political action committee Impact America. A score of telecommunications, financial-services and energy lobbyists paid $3,000 to $5,000 apiece to join him for the promise of unfettered access for a weekend with the second-term Oregonian and member of the Finance and Commerce, Science and Transportation committees." ... "Smith paid Bandon Dunes $14,472 last year to reserve the resort for his guests, according to disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Bandon Dunes charges $175 per person for a round of golf and at least $300 for rooms during the peak season, from May to October." ... "Smith, the heir of a frozen-foods fortune, seems to have no qualms about his close ties to the business community. He readily admitted that he flew to the event on FedEx’s corporate jet and returned via Union Pacific’s plane." ... "[Nevada] Republican [Senator] Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.[Republican-Nevada]) also flew out for the event, as did [Indiana Republican Representative] Reps. Chris Chocola (Ind.[Indiana]), [Florida Republican Representative] Ander Crenshaw (Fla.[Florida]) and [Indiana Republican Representative] Steve Buyer (Ind.[Indiana])." ... "[Michigan Republican Representative] Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.[Republican-Michigan]) is hosting a golf tournament in July at the Oakland Hills Country Club [in Michigan], the home of the 2004 Ryder Cup matches and the 2008 PGA Championship. [Kentucky Republican Representative] Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.[Republican-Kentucky]), a cardinal on the Appropriations Committee, will hold an event in August at Pebble Beach, the world-famous coastal golf course in California." ... "In the winter, several lawmakers including [Virginia Republican Representative] Chief Deputy Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.[Republican-Virginia]), hosted trips to exclusive skiing resorts in Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming." ... "“You wonder how long Republicans can bifurcate their message to mainstream America with this gross display of wealth,” the lobbyist said." -By Jonathan E. Kaplan -TheHill.com

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Gordon Smith - Money - Politics - Travel - Lawmakers - Oregon - Okla - NC - Ky - Fla - US - Ireland - "Smith trip to Ireland paid for by lobbyist, records show." ... "The Hill, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, reported Wednesday that [Oregon Republican Senator Gordon] Smith and four other GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] lawmakers traveled to Ireland at the expense of a Washington lobbying firm, Kessler & Associates Business Services Inc." ... "Smith, former [Oklahoma Republican Senator] Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla.[Republican-Oklahoma], and [Republican Representatives] Reps. Howard Coble, R-N.C.[Republican-North Carolina], Harold Rogers, R-Ky.[Republican-Kentucky], and Clay Shaw, R-Fla.[Republican-Florida], attended a four-day international trade seminar at Ashford Castle in Ireland's County Mayo in August 2003, the newspaper said." ... "Disclosure reports for the five lawmakers show that Kessler & Associates footed the $25,000 bill, even though congressional ethics guidelines bar lobbying firms from paying for lawmakers' travel. " -By Matthew Day -AP via -kgw.com 

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- Portland - "Oregon court voids same-sex marriage licenses: County had no authority to allow such unions, ruling says." ... "The Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday nullified nearly 3,000 marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples by Multnomah County a year ago, saying a single county couldn't take such action on its own." ... "Multnomah County, which includes much of Portland and is the state's most populous county, began issuing marriages to gay couples last April, arguing that not doing so violated the state Constitution. A judge ordered the practice to cease about six weeks later, but not before nearly 3,000 same-sex couples had wed." -AP via -CNN 

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- Portland - "Portland weekly paper gets Pulitzer." ... "Nigel Jaquiss stared off into space, his eyes brimming with tears when word hit the alternative weekly's newsroom that he had won a Pulitzer Prize, journalism's most coveted award, for uncovering a three-decade-old sex-abuse scandal involving a former governor." ... ""I never thought it would happen to me," said Jaquiss, 42, a former Wall Street oil trader who is now an investigative reporter at the Willamette Week, a Portland weekly known for its edgy critique of Oregon politics." -By Rukmini Callimachi -AP via -SeattleTimes.NWsource 

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Ashland - "Film festival will overshadow stage for five days in Ashland." ... "Ashland is, of course, known all over the world for its theater. But once a year the Southern Oregon city turns its gaze from the live stage to the movie screen." -OregonLive.com

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-  -  -  - Ashland - "Choosing their time: The next contentious end-of-life issue: assisted suicide. How Oregon offers a way out." ... "Steve Mason is ready for death. Since last December, the 65-year-old writer has kept four small bottles of clear liquid Nembutal-- a lethal dose of barbiturates--in his Ashland, Ore., condominium." ... "And at some point in the next few months, when terminal lung cancer has spread to his liver or brain, when his breath is short and he feels too sick to eat or sleep, he will pick a day to gather close friends and family about him. He will give away his belongings and say his goodbyes. "It will be a celebration of life," Mason predicts." ... "A continent away from the political battle that has surrounded Terri Schiavo, a radical experiment in end-of--life policy has unfolded much more quietly over the past seven years. Oregon's Death with Dignity Act, twice approved in statewide voter referendums, is the only statute in the U.S. allowing doctors to write lethal prescriptions for terminally ill patients who want to control the time and place of their death." -By Margot Roosevelt -CNN 

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- - "Why Oregon is at the forefront of change on end-of-life care." ... "The Terri Schiavo case and its emphasis on end-of-life care could put a spotlight on Oregon, where policies and practices point to a future most Americans apparently want and are working toward: personal decision-making, widely available hospice care, and the final act of human life played out at home and not in a hospital." ... "In all these areas, studies show, Oregon is ahead of the rest of the country." -By Brad Knickerbocker -CSMonitor

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-  -  - Food - "Oregon moves to limit junk food in schools." ... "Oregon's state legislature is considering putting limits on sales of soda pop, candy and other junk food in public schools, saying that such food is part of the reason that too many U.S. children are obese." -Reuters via -CNN

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Ashland - Autos - "Ore. gas prices rise to $2.24 a gallon." ... "The highest gas prices in Oregon are in Medford/Ashland, where motorists there pay about $2.30 a gallon. The cheapest gas to be found, on average, is in Salem, where drivers there shell out about $2.18 a gallon." -By Abe Estimada -KGW

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Forest_Grove - "In Forest Grove, a passionate voice to preserve past." ... "There was a time when the Forest Grove Fire Department considered torching the old [A.T. Smith] house in the city's southwest corner as a practice burn." ... "Today, the house -- the second-oldest building in Forest Grove -- is owned by the Friends of Historic Forest Grove." -By Jerry Boone -OregonLive.com

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-  -  - "Oregon's assisted-suicide law to get high court airing: Supreme Court agrees to review Bush administration's bid to block the nation's only doctor-assisted suicide law." ... "The United States Supreme Court has agreed to take up physician-assisted suicide, potentially one of the most profound political and social issues today. The case involves Oregon's law allowing certain individuals to take their own lives with the help of a doctor. The outcome could determine whether such laws are enacted in other parts of the country." ... "Oregon's "Death with Dignity Act" became law in 1997 after voters twice had approved it at the polls by wide margins. It applies only to mentally competent adults who declare their intentions in writing, are diagnosed as terminally ill, and take the prescribed drug themselves orally after a waiting period. Oregon's law specifically prohibits "lethal injection, mercy killing, or active euthanasia."" -By Brad Knickerbocker -CSMonitor

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Forest_Grove - "Forest Grove pastor apologizes for lying about knife attack." ... "A Forest Grove pastor stabbed himself but lied to investigators -- claiming his wounds were actually from an attack during an attempted robbery, police said Tuesday." -By Teresa Bell and Antonia Giedwoyn -KGW 

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Forest_Grove - "Standoff In Forest Grove Ends With Suspect Dead." ... "A standoff near Forest Grove High School came to an end about 3 p.m. Tuesday when the suspect was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound." -KOIN

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Forest_Grove - "Students Locked In Due To Police Activity." ... "Students at two schools in Forest Grove, Harvey Clark Elementary School and Forest Grove High School, are locked in following reports of shots being fired in a nearby area." -KATU

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-  - Portland - "Archdiocese of Portland's bankruptcy filing turns eyes to Vatican." ... "When the Archdiocese of Portland filed for bankruptcy a week ago today, many were stunned — then perplexed." ... "How could the Vatican allow such a move? And with its vast holdings of priceless art and property, why couldn't the Vatican simply bail out the archdiocese?" ... "The answers are rooted in history and based largely on practicality: While the Vatican seeks strict control over theology, liturgy and key personnel issues in its 3,000-plus dioceses worldwide, it has largely stayed out of their financial workings." -By Janet I. Tu -SeattleTimes.NWsource 

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- Portland - "Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., Declares Bankruptcy." ... "The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Portland, Ore., became the first in the nation to file for bankruptcy protection yesterday under the weight of sexual abuse lawsuits that have cost it more than $53 million in claims." ... "The Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon halted two civil trials scheduled to begin yesterday, in which alleged victims of the Rev. Maurice Grammond, a deceased priest, were seeking about $160 million in damages. About 60 additional claims involving Grammond and other Portland area priests are pending, lawyers said." -By Alan Cooperman -WashingtonPost 

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- Portland - "Portland Church Files Bankruptcy." ... "The Portland Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy Tuesday because of the steep costs from clergy sex abuse lawsuits, an unprecedented step that could open the Roman Catholic archdiocese to new levels of court scrutiny." ... "No other American diocese has filed for bankruptcy, though Boston threatened to do so at the height of the abuse crisis that began there two years ago." -AP via -cbsnews.com 

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Forest_Grove - "Large Contingent of Troops Returns to Oregon." ... "Salem is about to witness the largest return of Oregon National Guard troops since World War II. About 400 soldiers from the Forest Grove-based, 1st Battalion, 162nd Infantry, are scheduled to arrive at the State Fairgrounds this evening." -By Kristian Foden-Vencil -OPB

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Forest_Grove - "History In The Buff." ... "History buffs who belong to the preservation group Friends of the Historic Forest Grove have taken the phrase to a new level. Posing in the buff for a fundraising calendar, they've joined the growing ranks of nonprofits using the nude calendar as a way to raise money." ... "These Friends are hoping calendar sales will enable them to buy an 1854 house that sits on two acres in Forest Grove." -By Allison Frost -OPB

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Karl Rove - Gordon Smith - Environmental - Science - Politics - River - Animals - Agricultural - Corporation - Government - Hatch Act - Law - 2002 Election - WVa - California - Portland - Oregon - "Oregon Water Saga Illuminates Rove's Methods With Agencies." ... "In a darkened conference room, [Republican President Bush] White House political strategist Karl Rove was making an unusual address to 50 top managers at the U.S. [United States] Interior Department. Flashing color slides, he spoke of poll results, critical constituencies -- and water levels in the Klamath River basin." [The Klamath River runs from Oregon into California] ... "At the time of the meeting, in January 2002, Mr. Rove had just returned from accompanying [Republican] President Bush on a trip to Oregon, where they visited with a Republican senator facing re-election [2002]. Republican leaders there wanted to support their agricultural base by diverting water from the river basin to nearby farms, and Mr. Rove signaled that the administration did, too." ... "Three months later, Interior Secretary Gale Norton stood with [Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith in Klamath Falls and opened the irrigation-system head gates that increased the water supply to 220,000 acres of farmland -- a policy shift that continues to stir bitter criticism from environmentalists and Indian tribes." ... "Though Mr. Rove's clout within the administration often is celebrated, this episode offers a rare window into how he works behind the scenes to get things done. One of them is with periodic visits to cabinet departments. Over the past two years Mr. Rove or his top aide, Kenneth Mehlman -- now manager of Mr. Bush's re-election campaign -- have visited nearly every agency to outline White House campaign priorities, review polling data and, on occasion, call attention to tight House, Senate and gubernatorial races that could be affected by regulatory action." ... "On [January] Jan. 5, Mr. Rove accompanied the president to an appearance in Portland [Oregon] with Mr. Smith. The president signaled his desire to accommodate agricultural interests, saying "We'll do everything we can to make sure water is available for those who farm."" ... "The next day, Mr. Rove made sure that commitment didn't fall through the cracks. He visited the 50 Interior managers attending a department retreat at a Fish and Wildlife Service conference center in Shepherdstown, W.Va. [West Virginia] In a PowerPoint presentation Mr. Rove also uses when soliciting Republican donors, he brought up the Klamath and made clear that the administration was siding with agricultural interests." ... "His remarks weren't entirely welcome -- especially by officials grappling with the competing arguments made by environmentalists, who wanted river levels high to protect endangered salmon, and Indian tribes, who depend on the salmon for their livelihoods. Neil McCaleb, then an assistant Interior secretary, recalls the "chilling effect" of Mr. Rove's remarks. Wayne Smith, then with the department's Bureau of Indian Affairs, says Mr. Rove reminded the managers of the need to "support our base."" [note: the Hatch Act prohibits political activities in federal offices.] ... "A National Marine Fisheries Service biologist, Michael Kelly, has asked for protection under federal "whistle-blower" laws, saying he was subjected to political pressure to go along with the low-water plan and ordered to ignore scientific evidence casting doubt on the plan. This month, a federal judge ruled the administration violated the Endangered Species Act in the way it justified the water diversion." -By Tom Hamburger -WallStreetJournal via -OregonWild.org 

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- "Fall Creek [Oregon] wildfire hits 1,200 acres, growing." ... "Word spread through the command center late Tuesday afternoon that crews battling the stubborn Clark Fire in rugged terrain along Fall Creek were no longer in danger of getting skunked." ... "After two full days of scratching fire lines through steep ravines and running an endless parade of helicopter water drops on the hottest flare-ups, firefighters made it onto the command center's scoreboard - the 1,200-acre blaze was 5 percent contained." ... ""They're trying to establish a line on the south end, just to give us a little bit of a foothold," said Nancy Lee Wilson, fire behavior analyst for the interagency command team." -By Joe Mosley -RegisterGuard 

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- July 4th News - "Wildfire danger high as July Fourth holiday begins." ... "Another wildfire started Thursday as Oregonians began flocking to mountain and lake recreational areas that are under high fire alert." ... "The grass fire, one of four wildfires burning in the state, was located about 25 miles east of Pendleton and had burned about 300 acres." ... "Several fires were burning in Washington." ... "The fire season has arrived about three weeks early, just in time for one of the busiest recreational weekends of the year. Enough dry weather, dry fuel and recreationalists are mixing this sunny July Fourth that fire specialists are pleading with people to be careful." -By Carol McGraw-OregonLive.com/Oregonian 

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-  - ELECTION 2004 - "Bush's '04 Campaign Quietly Being Planned:  Advisers See Raising Up to $250 Million." ... "President Bush has postponed his reelection campaign until after a war with Iraq, but White House and Republican Party strategists have begun planning for a contest in which they envision raising as much as $250 million to wage a battle designed to break the political stalemate of the 1990s and make the GOP the country's majority party."  ... "Preliminarily, the Bush team sees an opportunity to expand the president's slender electoral majority by targeting several states that were narrowly won by Al Gore in 2000. They include Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico and Oregon." -By Mike Allen and Dan Balz-WashingtonPost 

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- "Lovable trickster created a monster with Bigfoot hoax." ... "Bigfoot is dead. Really." ... "Ray L. Wallace was Bigfoot. The reality is, Bigfoot just died," said Michael Wallace about his father, who died of heart failure Nov. 26 in a Centralia [Washington] nursing facility. He was 84." ... ""The fact is there was no Bigfoot in popular consciousness before 1958. America got its own monster, its own Abominable Snowman thanks to Ray Wallace," said Mark Chorvinsky, editor of Strange magazine and one of the leading proponents of the theory that Mr. Wallace fathered Bigfoot." ... "Chorvinsky believes the Wallace family's admission creates profound doubts about leading evidence of Bigfoot's existence: the so-called Patterson film, the grainy celluloid images of an erect apelike creature striding away from the movie camera of rodeo rider Roger Patterson in 1967. Mr. Wallace said he told Patterson where to go —near Bluff Creek, Calif. — to spot a Bigfoot, Chorvinsky said." -By Bob Young -SeattleTimes.NWsource

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- Enron News - "CHRONOLOGY- California power crisis investigations." ... "A former top Enron Corp. electricity trader pleaded guilty Thursday to inflating prices during the California energy crisis, confirming the suspicions of state officials who are demanding billions of dollars in refunds." ... "Timothy Belden, who was employed by Enron as the head of its western power trading unit in Portland, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal prosecutors said." -Reuters via -Fortune 

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"Bush's job numbers raise questions." ... "During a sweep through Oregon last week, President Bush touted the 100,000 jobs he said more logging on federal lands could bring to the Northwest." ... "One problem: Most of those jobs already exist." -AP via  -RegisterGuard 

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"More E. coli cases from [Lane] county fair." ... "Disease detectives continued tracking the source Monday of the biggest E. coli outbreak in Oregon history that has sickened as many as 42 mostly young people who attended the Lane County Fair." ... "The illness often causes kidney failure and sometimes requires dialysis and transfusions, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some people develop chronic kidney failure or neurologic impairment, such as seizures or stroke. Some require surgery to remove part of the bowel." ... "Hemolytic uremic syndrome is the most serious illness associated with the virulent strain of E. coli, O157:H7, that sickened the fairgoers. The strain infects about 73,000 people and kills about 61 each year in the United States, according to the CDC." -By Tim Christie -RegisterGuard 

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20020826

"Missing Oregon City girls." The Oregonian newspaper's special in depth reporting on the disappearance of seventh-graders Ashley Marie Pond and Miranda Diane Gaddis. OregonLive.com/Oregonian

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"Missing girls case 'resolved'." ... "Weaver [the main suspect] has not been charged in the girls' case. Investigators said there would be no indictments until they finish processing all the evidence they took from Weaver's home during the weekend. Generally, in cases such as this, it takes days or weeks for detectives and prosecutors to complete the investigation and present evidence to a grand jury." -By Stephen Beaven -Oregonian 

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• OregonCountryFair.org
•  Google Search: Oregon Country Fair

• Eugene Public Library website

"Investigation Begins into [Mt. Hood, Oregon] Chopper Crash." ... "Thin air, gusty winds and a heavy fuel load might have contributed to the crash of an Air Force Reserve rescue helicopter near the icy summit of Mount Hood, officers said Friday, but the exact cause could take at least a month to determine." -APvia  -KGW.com

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"Moving On:  After 'Johnny Appleseed,' children's theater guru Celeste Rose will hit the road." ... "Celeste Rose, founder of the Rose Children's Theatre of Eugene, will soon be dancing with a new partner - herself." ... "Rose's new interest is an old one: her Oregon Fantasy Puppet Theater, which she has been running since 1969, often at the same time as she was writing and directing children's plays. Freed from those production responsibilities, she intends to manipulate her puppets full time." -By Fred Crafts -RegisterGuard 

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