BEAVERTON, Ore. - Officials in Oregon said they are mulling their options to stop a beaver from flooding a body of water that shares his name, Beaverton Creek. Bruce Barbarasch, superintendent of the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District Natural Resources Division, said the beaver's dam in Beaverton's Center Street Park is causing the creek to overflow, putting nearby apartments in danger of flooding, KPTV, Portland, Ore., reported Wednesday. Parks and recreation officials said they ... [full story]

HILLSBORO, Ore. - Oregon health officials warned the public to avoid supermarket bulk peanuts for the time being following confirmation of a new salmonella case. The state Department of Agriculture said the tainted nuts came from a Texas processing plant linked to a salmonella outbreak, The (Portland) Oregonian reported Wednesday. Officials traced the peanuts that made a Hillsboro boy ill to the Peanut Corp. of America plant. The victim's family bought the nuts from a ... [full story]

PORTLAND - Health experts say a rare fungal disease that can be fatal to people has migrated from the Canadian woods to forests in Oregon and Washington. Cryptococcus gattii has killed 19 people in Canada since 1999 and a total of five people in Oregon and Washington since 2004, The Oregonian reported Saturday. The fungus lives in soil, water and trees, such as the Douglas fir, and likely spread down Interstate 5 from British Columbia ... [full story]

OREGON CITY - An Oregon youth basketball coach who once admitted to impregnating a 15-year-old girl has been arrested on multiple sex charges, authorities say. Howard Avery, 51, was being held Monday at the Clackamas County Jail in Oregon City, Ore., on $250,000 bail, accused of sodomy, sex abuse and unlawful sexual penetration, The Oregonian reported in Portland. Authorities declined to release additional details about the case against Avery, who through the years has coached ... [full story]

LA GRANDE - An Oregon woman said she was shocked to receive a mailed invitation to her nephew's high school graduation 22 years after it had been sent. Theresa Schlossarek said she received the already-opened envelope -- which bore a June 2, 1987, postmark -- last week. Inside, she discovered the invitation to Michael Ilnseher's 1987 graduation in Toms River, N.J., The La Grande (Ore.) Observer reported Monday. "I never realized something could be lost ... [full story]

MEDFORD - Two Oregon men admitted in federal court Tuesday they burned the letters KKK and the shape of a cross in a family's front lawn. Gary Moss and Devan Klausegger of Medford pleaded to conspiring to interfere with their victims' civil rights. Moss and Klausegger were indicted last July 16 Court documents revealed that last May 26, Moss poured a flammable liquid on victims' lawn and Klausegger handed him a small explosive device that ... [full story]

SALEM, Ore. -- Today, Oregon legislative leaders announced their most recent proposal to rebalance the budget for the remaining four months of the 2007-09 biennium. The proposal includes a $54 million cut to schools that will inevitably lead to many Oregon school districts closing school doors early this spring. On average, this will mean a cut of three school days this year. “Legislative leaders are calling this a restoration fund so they look like they’re ... [full story]

SALEM, Ore. -– Attorney General John Kroger, sheriffs, police chiefs, district attorneys and crime victims’ advocates today announced a broad coalition effort to fight for federal stimulus money to protect public safety budgets during Oregon’s dire budget shortfall. “These funds will be used to put more cops on the street, more patrols on the road in rural communities and more prosecutors in Oregon’s courtrooms,” Kroger said. “Protecting public safety is a huge challenge in the ... [full story]

SANTIAM PASS, ORE. -- One person was killed and five others were injured Saturday afternoon in a two vehicle collision in the Santiam Pass area on Highway 22E in Linn County, Oregon State Police (OSP) reported. According to troopers, Leo Gilleran, 66, of Mt. Vernon, lost control of his pickup on the ice and snow covered roadway while traveling west near milepost 78 about 12:30 p.m., February 14. His Dodge Dakota crossed broadside into the ... [full story]

PENDLETON, ORE. -- A 46-year old Pendleton woman died Saturday afternoon when she was ejected from her car after losing control and rolling the vehicle several times on Interstate 84 about ten miles west of Pendleton, Oregon State Police (OSP) reported.   Carrie Lynn Smith died Saturday afternoon in a single-vehicle rollover crash on I-84 west of Pendleton. OSP photo.  Carrie Lynn Smith was traveling east in a 1993 Ford Tempo on I-84 near milepost 194 about ... [full story]

Oregonians with serious mental illness are dying years earlier than their neighbors in the general population, and a grassroots health movement is under way to reverse this trend. The Oregon Department of Human Services Addictions and Mental Health Division (AMH) has teamed with consumers of mental health services and their families, health care professionals and others to implement a statewide wellness initiative aimed at improving mental and physical health and longevity. Death comes before age ... [full story]

NEWPORT, Ore. – The State of Oregon is inviting the public to propose sites for further evaluation and possible designation as marine reserves. To kick off the public proposal process, Oregon Sea Grant and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will host five informational meetings on the coast and in Salem. The purpose of these meetings is to provide an update on changes to the marine reserves development process that have been made in ... [full story]

CANYONVILLE, Ore. -- Oregon State Police (OSP) troopers are continuing the investigation into Thursday morning's fatal traffic crash northbound Interstate 5 about four miles south of Canyonville. One person died and another received non-life threatening injuries. Next of kin notification was done by Anaheim Police Department and further investigation indicates fatigue as a contributing factor.   The passenger in the pickup was killed when the driver reportedly fell asleep and ran into the logging truck, lawfully ... [full story]