NEW YORK - U.S. cities are cracking down on panhandling, with a dozen bans against begging passed nationwide and more pending.Cities from Medford, Ore., to Orlando, Fla., have barred panhandling, and rules are close to adoption in Texas, Hawaii, North Carolina and Washington, USA Today said. Efforts to redevelop downtown areas and cater to tourists are partly behind the push, Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, told USA ... [full story]

A Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputy was forced to shoot and kill a cougar in the backyard of a La Pine home Tuesday morning after it chased the family’s dog and remained in a tree only 30-yards from the house. According to a news release prepared by Sgt. Ronny Dozier, a deputy and Oregon State Police (OSP) troopers were called to the home of Robert Daugherty on Strawn Road about 9:45 a.m., January 22. Daughtery said ... [full story]

Washington County Sheriff’s detectives are asking the public’s help in locating two men, considered armed and dangerous, who allegedly brutally beat an acquaintance at a New Year’s Eve party, kicking him in the head and face repeatedly with steel-toed boots causing life-threatening injuries.   Clifton Burgess (left) and Kenneth Sun (right) - WCSO photos Detectives believe that three men, one in custody and the two wanted men, viciously attacked Scott Stickley in the front yard of a ... [full story]

A 19-year-old Sweet Home man has been arrested and charged with eight crimes in connection with an alleged assault on his girlfriend’s three-month-old child, detectives reported Tuesday. According to a Benton County Sheriff’s Office news release, Michael Jay Henthorne was babysitting Payton Morris while the baby’s mother and his girlfriend, Vanessa Morris, was away from her residence in Adair Village at 8828 NE Con Court. Henthorne reportedly is not the child’s biological father. Deputies were summoned by ... [full story]

The Lake Oswego City Council has selected Alex McIntyre, the current Assistant County Administrator for Marin County, California, as the new City Manager. McIntyre was the unanimous choice of the Council after interviewing three finalists last week and conducting extensive reference and background checks. McIntyre previously served as the City Manager of Tiburon and Portola Valley in Northern California and served as the Assistant to the City Manager of Arcadia, California. McIntyre has a Masters ... [full story]

A 26-year old Portland woman was arrested Monday and charged with attempted murder after she allegedly stabbed her husband several times following an argument at his Gresham home, police reported. Gresham Police said Shalee A. Coleman was spotted about 4 p.m. fleeing the scene on foot, near her husband’s home in the 16100 block of NE Multnomah in Gresham. Coleman and her husband, James A. Braxton, 26, had not been living together. Coleman was taken into custody ... [full story]

GAZA - Thousands of Palestinians scrambled into Egypt Wednesday after masked men blew holes in a Gaza Strip border fence.The Los Angeles Times reported that Egyptian and Palestinian border guards did not try to stop the mass exodus at the Rafah terminal. Witnesses told the newspaper that while some of the gashes in the fence were later closed by Palestinian security personnel, two of the breaches remained open. That allowed people to enter Egypt, buy ... [full story]

PITTSBURGH - A woman accused of firing a Pittsburgh Steelers player's gun inside his house and then hiding in the home for 11 hours has yet to appear in court. Lindsey Paulat, the mother of Steelers receiver Cedrick Wilson's 14-month-old baby, reportedly was undergoing a mental health evaluation pending her appearance before a judge, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Tuesday.Paulat is charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in connection with a daylong standoff that ended ... [full story]

AIKEN, S.C. - Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Tuesday that former U.S. President Bill Clinton's recent criticisms of Barack Obama are not presidential."It's not in keeping with the role of a former president," said Daschle, D-S.D., in a conference call with the Illinois senator announcing the creation of the South Carolina Truth Squad ahead of the Palmetto State's Democratic primary election Saturday, The Hill reported.Daschle said the group will "respond forcefully" to distortions ... [full story]

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - A maintenance worker at a Georgia elementary school was electrocuted Tuesday in front of a group of students. The unidentified man was handling a routine maintenance call at Woodridge Elementary School in Stone Mountain when he received a fatal electrical shock while changing a light ballast in the school's media center, WSB-TV in Atlanta reported."He was working inside the school and one of the teachers was in there and school was ... [full story]