Twelve-month Oregon state park day-use passes are now on sale at a discounted price until April 30.Normally priced at $25, the discounted pass costs $20. "You could say it's our annual springtime stimulus to start people thinking about enjoying the outdoors and their parks this summer," said Richard Walkoski, recreation programs manager for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. "For sure, it gives folks who missed the December holiday sale another chance to take advantage ... [full story]

Comments Due By April 30, 2009 PRINEVILLE, Ore. -- The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is providing notice for a public opportunity to review and comment on the draft Record of Decision for the American Pine Products site in Prineville. A Record of Decision is a public document that explains the cleanup alternatives used to clean up a contaminated property. The document contains a description of the site history, site characteristics, contaminants present, an ... [full story]

Health Insurer Will Pay Claims, Provide Coverage to Policyholders during Transition SALEM, Ore. — Preferred Health Plan Inc., a Klamath Falls-based health insurer, will withdraw from the Oregon insurance market because of financial problems, the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS) announced yesterday. Preferred Health Plan is looking for another insurer to pick up its business. In the meantime, DCBS is monitoring the company on a daily basis to ensure it has the ... [full story]

JERUSALEM -- Binyamin Netanyahu took office as Israeli prime minister Wednesday during a ceremony in Jerusalem, observers said. Saying the government faces many challenges, Netanyahu promised he and his Cabinet would "roll up our sleeves and start working straightaway, as soon as we step out of this office," the Jerusalem Post reported. Netanyahu praised his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, saying he "was one of Israel's most talented prime ministers" and wished him well. Netanyahu also thanked "my ... [full story]

BOSTON -- An immigration judge Wednesday allowed the aunt of U.S. President Barack Obama to stay in the United States until February 2010, officials said. U.S. Immigration Judge Leonard Shapiro continued the deportation case of Zeituni Onyango for 10 months during a closed-door hearing in Boston, allowing the half-sister of Obama's late Kenyan father to remain in the country until then, The Boston Globe reported. Smiling broadly as she emerged from a brief hearing, Onyango said, "praise ... [full story]

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- Construction workers preparing a building site adjacent to a cemetery in downtown Montgomery, Ala., unearthed a mass grave from the 19th century, police say. The grave found Tuesday is believed to contain victims from an epidemic of yellow fever that swept through the city in the 1870s, CNN reported Wednesday. "Based on the information we have from historical documents kept by the actual cemetery, it does appear that it may be remains from a ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- The largest U.S. tobacco tax hike took effect Wednesday, dramatically raising the price of tobacco products to fund a federal children's health insurance plan. The increase, which raises the so-called sin tax from 39 cents to $1.01 and applies to all tobacco products, comes as more than two dozen cash-strapped states consider boosting their own tobacco taxes this year, USA Today reported. Congress passed legislation last year that would have raised the tobacco tax to ... [full story]

CLEVELAND -- The brother of a Stamford, N.Y., woman who was mauled by a friend's chimpanzee says she is recovering from serious injuries suffered in the incident. Charla Nash's brother, Stephen, said his 55-year-old sister has begun talking and moving at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio despite the injuries she suffered in the Feb. 16 attack, the New York Daily News said Wednesday. "For a time we were very worried; now it's more hopeful and less worried," ... [full story]

MUMBAI -- An average of 17 people died every weekday commuting to work on overcrowded trains in Mumbai last year, figures released by the government indicate. Using India's Right to Information Act, The Times of London obtained figures showing there were 4,357 fatalities involving Mumbai's suburban rail network in 2008. The majority of deaths, 3,443, resulted from people being mowed down by trains while crossing the tracks. The second highest cause of death was passengers who fell or ... [full story]

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. -- A gymnastics coach in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y., gave a 14-year-old student a bottle of rum as a performance reward, police allege. Police in Suffolk County, N.Y., have charged 22-year-old Spins Gymnastics Academy gymnastics coach Steven Lamensdorf with endangering the welfare of a child and unlawfully dealing with a child over the alleged alcohol incident, Newsday reported Tuesday. Police allege Lamensdorf gave an unidentified female student a bottle of Malibu rum last Friday after ... [full story]