JERUSALEM - The Israeli attorney general says President Moshe Katsav has signed a plea bargain clearing him of rape charges. Attorney General Menahem Mazuz said the president, who is resigning over the controversy, will instead face other charges including seven counts of committing an indecent act using force, sexual harassment and harassing a witness, the Jerusalem Post reported Thursday. "The president has accepted responsibly for his actions," Mazuz said. "The fact is, the case was ... [full story]

FBI Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Robert Jordan has announced he is retiring, effective the end of July. SAC Jordan has been an FBI Agent for more than 27 years, and he has supervised FBI operations in Oregon since August 2003. Prior to his time in the FBI, he served as a local police officer in New Jersey for 3 years and as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia for one year. "My family and ... [full story]

SALEM, Ore. —The last major bill of the 74th Legislative Assembly cleared the Oregon House of Representatives yesterday on a 40-18 vote. The Oregon Ethics Reform Act, SB 10, sets strict limits on gift to public officials and increases the penalty for violations. The new ethics requirements apply to all public officials in Oregon, not just to legislators. “Restoring the public’s faith in their elected leaders starts with a strong ethical standard,” said House Speaker ... [full story]

Bend Police are looking for the person or persons responsible for burglarizing five vehicles and two homes in a northwest Bend neighborhood Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. Lt. Ken Stenkamp said that in the NW Terra Meadow Drive area, five unlocked vehicles were entered, and two homes were entered - one through an open garage door and the other via an unlocked door leading into a garage. According to a news release, some of the ... [full story]

MONTGOMERY, Md. - School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast of Montgomery, Md., says the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind law is making public education too easy. Weast said the federal law has made it so leaders in education are "shooting way too low" and statewide tests are now too easy, the Washington Post reported Thursday. Weast said that No Child Left Behind pushes for 100 percent proficiency on state tests, causing some states to lower ... [full story]

Bend Police have arrested a 26-year old transient in connection with the theft of copper pipe from a Bend plumbing company after a nearby resident phoned in a tip when he saw the suspect throwing twenty-foot-long pieces over a fence.   Jeffrey Scott Sernett - DCJ photo About 2:45 a.m. Wednesday, a resident who lives across the railroad tracks saw someone tossing lengths of pipe over the rear fence of Pine Valley Plumbing at 375 SE Logsden ... [full story]

WASHINGTON - A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the execution of a mentally ill Texas killer. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, said a lower court used too restrictive a standard when deciding whether Scott Louis Panetti's mental illness prevented him from understanding why he was to be executed. Panetti killed his estranged wife's parents in front of his wife and daughter in 1992, Kennedy's decision said. A dissent by Justice ... [full story]

An investigation into a single-vehicle crash in southwest Redmond Tuesday that sent a 16-year-old Redmond driver to the hospital by air ambulance is continuing, deputies reported. According to Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputies Sgt. Scott Beard and Merlin Toney, a 1997 Isuzu Trooper was traveling north on SW Helmboltz Drive at a high rate of speed when it left the road on the east shoulder near SW Harvest Avenue. The 16-year-old female driver overcorrected, swerved back ... [full story]

WEATHERFORD, Texas - A county judge in central Texas ordered the evacuation of about 2,500 people in an anticipation of flooding. Parker County, Texas, Judge Mark Riley ordered the evacuation of communities along the Brazos River ahead of an expected 3-foot rise in the river level following the expected opening of flood gates in Possum Kingdom Lake, the Weatherford (Texas) Democrat reported. "We've ordered the evacuation of five specific areas along the river, primarily in ... [full story]

ATLANTA - Hundreds of thousands of tubes of tainted toothpaste from China have been found in U.S. facilities for the mentally ill, juveniles and others. The New York Times reported Thursday that the Chinese toothpaste was distributed in state institutions in Georgia and North Carolina. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised consumers to discard all Chinese toothpaste. The toothpaste distributed in hospitals for the mentally ill, juvenile detention facilities and some hospitals for the ... [full story]