The Oregon City Police Department is alerting businesses and residents that a convicted sex offender who preyed on boys and girls aged 9-to-15 has applied for a business license and is currently running a bicycle shop on Main Street.   Harry Alan Garret - OCP photo Harry Alan Garret, 54, was convicted of first-degree sex abuse and third-degree sodomy in 2000, crimes that involved children, both male and female, between 9 and 15, police reported. According to ... [full story]

A 19-year old Redmond resident was arrested Tuesday afternoon by Oregon State Police (OSP) and charged with 17 crimes in connection with a September 19th traffic crash into a large tree on Old Bend Redmond Highway south of Glacier View Drive that injured five people.   Richard Lawrence Lopez - DCJ photo Richard Lawrence Lopez, 19, was arrested by OSP troopers about 4:45 p.m., November 20.  Lopez is charged with two counts of second-degree assault, four counts ... [full story]

FREDERICK, Md. -- A 32-year-old woman in Maryland has been accused of using extreme methods to make herself appear to be a cancer patient, including poisoning her own child.Frederick County Assistant State's Attorney Lindell K. Angel said during a recent bail hearing for Wendi Scott that the woman's alleged attempts to portray a cancer patient were indicative of Munchausen syndrome, The Frederick News-Post said Wednesday."Ms. Scott is a masterful manipulator with a history of Munchausen ... [full story]

SAN FRANCISCO -- Local officials were forced to close Rodeo Beach this week not because of the recent San Francisco Bay oil spill, but due to the presence of a shark.The San Francisco Chronicle said Tuesday that mere hours after the beach was deemed clean enough to reopen following the recent spill, three separate shark sightings forced it to close once again.Golden Gate National Recreation Agency spokesman Rich Weidman said Sunday's emergency closure occurred despite ... [full story]

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- WNCI radio in Columbus, Ohio, is coming under fire from a Hispanic group for airing a song parody called "Bunch of Mexicans."Dave Kaelin, a WNCI personality who wrote and performed the song, said it was meant to praise Hispanics, not to be racist. However, the Ohio Hispanic Coalition says the song is offensive -- and the group is considering boycotting the radio station, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch said Wednesday."Enough is enough," coalition ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- An appellate court decision is likely to make investigations into members of the U.S. Congress more difficult, The Washington Post reports.The court ruled in a challenge to the 2005 search of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's office. The Louisiana Democrat is now under indictment.The Justice Department asked for an emergency stay of the decision this week, the Post said. In court papers, the department said that the decision includes an "unprecedented expansion" of limits ... [full story]

MINNEAPOLIS -- A U.S. District judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit from a group of Muslim imams who were arrested last year for praying before boarding a jetliner.U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery rejected dismissal arguments brought by the defendants' lawyers this week, saying the objective facts from the incident must be analyzed to determine if airport security had probable cause for the arrest, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday.The six religious leaders were arrested ... [full story]

NEW ORLEANS -- One big problem in repairing the levees in the New Orleans area is a shortage of clay, officials say.Soheila Holley, a program manager with the Army Corps of Engineers, said the agency has obtained only 20 million cubic yards of clay for the rebuilding, with another 50 million cubic yards being tested, USA Today reports. At best, that is less than half of the 145 million cubic yards engineers believe will be ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- There may be a retrial of a major terror case if defense lawyers are not given access to alleged wiretapping evidence, a federal judge in Virginia said.Judge Leonie M. Brinkema said Tuesday the alleged wiretapping evidence related to Ali al-Timimi, an Islamic scholar convicted of inciting terrorism, will be given to both sides in the case or a retrial would occur, The New York Times reported.The Virginia scholar was convicted in 2005 of ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday appointed seven members to the Advisory Council to the Board of Governors of the American Red Cross.The president also announced nominees for assistant secretary of labor and commissioner of internal revenue at the Treasury Department, the White House said in a news release.Bush nominated Douglas H. Shulman, vice chairman of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, for the treasury position, while naming Romano Group, LLC President Neil Romano ... [full story]