SALEM, Ore. – Oregon high school students will be better protected with legislation passed by the Senate Tuesday morning. Senate Bill 48 allows the Teacher Standards and Practices Commission to revoke the license and permanently bar a teacher or administrator who is found guilty by a preponderance of evidence of rape, sodomy, sexual penetration, or sex abuse of a student in grade 12 or below – not just those under the age of 16. “Current ... [full story]

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Attorney General John Kroger today reinforced his commitment to protecting Oregon's environment by announcing the creation of an environmental crime reporting system and urging the Legislature to authorize the creation of an Environmental Crimes Unit. "Protecting the environment is one of my top priorities," Attorney General Kroger said. Starting today, environmental crimes can be reported through the Oregon Department of Justice Web site. Those reports will be investigated for possible prosecution. Kroger ... [full story]

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon's governor today announced at an event in Portland that the Oregon Way Advisory Group will meet with state agencies and businesses next week to evaluate a federal competitive grant under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for electric vehicles and charging stations. Securing the grant dollars and the required financial commitments from the public and private sectors marks the next step toward building a statewide charging station network. The Governor made the announcement ... [full story]

SALEM, Ore. - Governor Ted Kulongoski on Tuesday signed into law Senate Bill 462, legislation that will allow 6,000 more unemployed Oregonians to qualify for unemployment benefits. The bill comes at a crucial time when more Oregonians are looking for work and need assistance to make ends meet as they seek employment. “People across Oregon are struggling and this bill is critical to keeping food on the table and shelter overhead for those who have lost their ... [full story]

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A man accused of performing an exorcism on a 14-year-old autistic boy has been found guilty of battery and criminal confinement by a jury in Indiana. Eddie Uyesugi, 24, now faces between two and eight years in jail on each felony count, the Bedford Times-Mail reported Wednesday. Prosecutors say the 14-year-old boy suffered bruises, abrasions and two black eyes as a result of a ceremony Uyesugi conducted to rid the boy of demons. Deputy prosecutor ... [full story]

CHICAGO -- A jury in Chicago has awarded $13.7 million to the family of a 22-year-old car salesman who was killed while taking a customer for a test drive. Roger Czapski of suburban Crystal Lake was a passenger in a BMW 530i driven by Christopher Maher of Inverness when it struck a vehicle turning into a church parking lot, hit a light pole and exploded, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday. Police said Maher was traveling about 95 ... [full story]

SAN FRANCISCO -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore says 2009 will serve as a turning point in the global battle to save the environment. Gore, who detailed global warming in the Academy Award-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," said during his keynote presentation of the Goldman Environmental Prize that this year would be pivotal in the battle against such environmental crises, the San Francisco Chronicle said Wednesday. To drive home his point during Monday's speech at the ... [full story]

TORONTO -- A Canadian appeals court has upheld a record $17 million accident award to a Toronto man who ran a red light and was brain-damaged in 2008. The Ontario Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the award by Ford Motor Credit LLC, which owned the leased truck involved in the June 8, 2000, crash that disabled Robert Marcoccia, then 20, the Toronto Star reported. Court heard Marcoccia accelerated through a red light and struck a ... [full story]

HOUSTON -- Police have charged a Houston man with manslaughter in the deaths of five children who were in his car when he drove into a ditch filled with water. Chanton Jenkins, 32, was charged Sunday with four counts of intoxication manslaughter. Emergency crews were still searching for the body of one of the five children, the Houston Chronicle reported. Jenkins is the father of three of the children who died Saturday when he drove his car ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- Spies hacked into U.S. military computers, copying data that could threaten the effectiveness of U.S. fighter jets, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. In recent months, the newspaper said, someone was able to get into Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project and take several terabytes of information concerning design and electronics systems. Officials told the Journal it could make it easier for America's enemies to defend against the F-35 Lightning I fighter jet. The Journal ... [full story]