Statutory Changes will Improve Response to Child Abuse and Neglect SALEM, Ore. – The House voted Tuesday in favor of strengthening Karly’s Law, which improved child abuse investigations in Oregon.  Karly’s Law is named for Karly Sheehan, a 3 year old Corvallis girl who was murdered in June of 2005 following previous unsubstantiated allegations of child abuse.   Karly’s Law was named for Karly Sheehan, a 3-year-old Corvallis girl murdered in June, 2005.  “Karly’s murder was a ... [full story]

One of the most successful peace-making efforts in modern history is at a crossroads. Dissident republicans have killed two British soldiers and a police officer in Northern Ireland in recent days, hoping to destabilize the power-sharing provincial government in Belfast. No soldiers had been killed in Northern Ireland since 1997, and the last murder of a policeman occurred in 1998, the year the Good Friday peace accord was signed by Protestant and Roman Catholic political ... [full story]

"I believe in the profession of journalism ... I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service is a betrayal of this trust." So begins "The Journalist's Creed," written in 1914 by Walter Williams, who six years earlier had founded the nation's first college school of journalism at the University of ... [full story]

Authorities say there are many fewer illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border than there used to be. It's a significant turn of events. But let's not mistake it for a solution to our immigration problem. The U.S. Border Patrol recently reported that arrests along the U.S.-Mexico border in the last five months were down 24 percent from the same period last year. From October 2008 to February 2009, the Border Patrol says it arrested 195,399 ... [full story]

The great screenwriter William Goldman once wrote, apropos of the movie business, that "Nobody knows anything. Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what's going to work. Every time out it's a guess." The longer the nation's economic crisis goes on, the more apparent it becomes that nobody knows anything about it, either. We're not the first to make this observation, but the events of the past week underscored ... [full story]

To the editor- The column by Debra Saunders, The Drug War Body Count, (Mon, March 16, 2009) is a necessary read. The time has come to end this drug war madness. We now have cartels operating with impunity in every major city in the U.S. When legalization is the subject it is not just the pot smokers. Three former Latin American presidents are not lightweight figures by any means. Even the Obama administration is now taking steps, ... [full story]

EVENTS The Columbia Gorge Discovery Center, The Dalles Raptor Interpretive Program Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays (except holidays). 11 a.m. Meet in the Discovery Center River Gallery. See and learn about Ferguson, the Bald Eagle. You will also get an up-close experience with a smaller raptor presented by museum personnel. Programs are included with paid admission. For more information, Oregon is Indian Country Exhibit, March 8-29 A special exhibit of Oregon’s Native American heritage. ... [full story]

OPEN: Cougar, coyote, selected furbearers (see regulations)   Remember there is a youth (age 17 and under) TURKEY hunt April 11-12; see the Game Bird Regulations for more details. General spring turkey season opens April 15. See this PDF online brochure for more information about turkey hunting in Oregon. PRINEVILLE/OCHOCO WILDLIFE DISTRICT Snow is present at mid and high elevations, with most national forest roads impassable. Outdoor enthusiasts should be prepared for ... [full story]

Weekend fishing opportunities: Pine Hollow Reservoir, Rock Creek Reservoir, Taylor Lake, and Baker Pond were all stocked with legal-sized and broodstock trout this week. Anglers are reporting catch of bright winter steelhead in the lower Hood River from the mouth upstream to Powerdale Dam. CLEAR LAKE: rainbow trout No recent reports. CROOKED RIVER BELOW BOWMAN DAM: redband trout and mountain whitefish The river is currently flowing at 66 cfs and anglers are reporting success.  Please ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- A coalition of academic and civil liberties organizations says the U.S. government should lift a ban on foreign scholars receiving visas. The coalition, in preparation for an upcoming U.S. Court of Appeals case on the matter, is asking the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to do away with the foreign scholar policy put into place by U.S. President George W. Bush, The New York Times said Wednesday. Among the organizations ... [full story]