Sept. 21 Reports: David Gregory Christensen, 37, was arrested for suspicion of DUII. Brandon Bernard Kone, 18, and Alex Lewis Grech, 19, were cited and released for minor in possession of alcohol or tobacco. Teresa Hanley, 70, was arrested for suspicion of DUII. Nathan Ray Simmons, 21, was arrested for second-degree theft. Michelle Ann Anderson, 36, was arrested for parole violation. Jenna Kathleen Holmstead, 22, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Brandon James Hillier, 23, was arrested for suspicion of DUII, reckless ... [full story]

TUCSON - Tests have turned up a particularly dangerous microbe thriving in Tucson’s water supply, a report said Friday.The potentially lethal amoeba was blamed last month for the death of a teenager who had been swimming in Lake Havesu and is not considered a threat to Tucson’s chlorinated drinking water.Known scientifically as Naegleria fowleri, the amoeba gets into a victim’s brain through the nasal passages, making it a particular threat to swimmers.Health officials were somewhat ... [full story]

OTTAWA - Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper said that the upcoming Throne Speech is being viewed as a confidence vote by his Conservative Party. Speaking this week in Winnipeg, Harper said the Throne Speech, in which he will outline his agenda for Parliament, won't only serve as a confidence vote for his political party but could help resurrect a series of crime bills introduced by Canadian conservatives, The Globe and Mail said Friday."We want to ... [full story]

LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is reportedly considering calling a parliamentary election in November, midway through the term.Tuesday is the deadline to ask Queen Elizabeth II to dissolve parliament for a Nov. 1 election. Brown plans to spend the weekend weighing the latest opinion polls and preparing for an address to parliament Monday on Iraq, The Times of London reported Friday.The most recent polls show that the Conservative Party got a big bounce ... [full story]

An elderly Corvallis-area man died Thursday afternoon when he lost control of his car during a heavy hail storm on Highway 99W about five miles north of Monroe and was struck by another vehicle. A second driver received non-life threatening injuries in the crash that closed the highway for about 2 1/2 hours.   George William Moore, 79, of Corvallis, was killed on Highway 99W near Monroe on Thursday afternoon - OSP photo About 5:15 p.m. on ... [full story]

PEKANBARU, Indonesia - Health officials in the Indonesian province of Riau said they suspect that a man who died there Friday had been infected with the bird flu virus.Riau provincial health office official Burhandudin Agung told the Indonesian news agency Antara that the patient, identified only as LT, had been treated as a potential victim of the virus until his death Friday."The patient was treated in an isolation room for bird flu patients at Arifin ... [full story]

TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey State Police have charged 40 men and a woman with downloading or distributing child pornography.The suspects were arrested over the last 10 days. They include a man already charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl and a referee for girls' high school volleyball games, The Asbury Park (N.J.) Press reported.None of those arrested in Operation Silent Shield have been shown to have manufactured child pornography, New Jersey Attorney General Anne ... [full story]

WASHINGTON - A U.S. Forest Service agricultural expert who had volunteered for Afghanistan reconstruction, was killed by a roadside bomb, officials said Friday.Steven Thomas Stefani, known as Tom, was in a convoy that was hit by a roadside bomb Thursday near Ghazni, Acting Agriculture Secretary Chuck Conner announced.Stefani was a rangeland management specialist in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada. In Afghanistan, he was working with a provincial reconstruction team in Ghazni Province.In Ghazni, he ... [full story]

BAGHDAD - The trial of Saddam Hussein’s cousin “Chemical Ali” and other top aides has been put on hold until Oct. 21.The final witness before Thursday’s adjournment was Emma Nicholson, a member of the European Parliament from Britain and author of a book on the Marsh Arabs, the Kuwaiti news agency KUNA reported. She described visiting refugee camps in Iran for Iraqi Shiites after the 1991 Gulf War."During my visits to the refugee camps, I ... [full story]

A missing Northern California woman reportedly has been found alive in an Oregon hospital nearly a week after disappearing.Sandra Kelsey turned up in the hospital after apparently making her way from the Sacramento area to Oregon on her own.KCRA-TV, Sacramento, said Friday Kelsey’s aunt described the suburban librarian as "distraught" but alive. It was not revealed where in Oregon she was or what her condition was.Kelsey's disappearance sparked an investigation that traced her cell phone ... [full story]