CENTRAL OREGON -- Following are the results from the third Oregon High School Equestrian Team meet held in Central Oregon on April 10-12, 2008, including final district results and extra awards. All medal winners qualified for State competition.   Team Results:   Small Team Division 1st Dufur 375 2nd Lakeview 161 3rd Pendleton 84  4th Hood River 53 5th Paisley 52 6th Summit 21   Medium Team Division 1st Madras 301 2nd The Dallas/Wahtonka Union 295 3rd La Pine 289 4th Bend 197 5th Crook 101   Large Team Division 1st Redmond 656 2nd Sisters 558 3rd ... [full story]

BEND, Ore. -- Following Monday evening’s meeting of the Bend City Council, a Work Session focused on budget cutting, I talked to Finance Director Sonia Andrews. We discussed the amount of funding going towards Juniper Ridge (JR) from the General Fund, which she stated as $180,000 for debt service on a line of credit to cover our obligations per Les Schwab. All potential cuts in the JR budget as presented last fall have been undertaken. ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday said it will hear a case on the extent to which supervisory prosecutors have immunity from wrongful conviction lawsuits.The case involving prosecutorial immunity asks whether officials in the chain of command on a criminal prosecution may be sued for damages for failure to develop policies to ensure that evidence favorable to the defense is shared with defense attorneys, Scotusblog reported.The case is Van De Kamp, et al., vs. ... [full story]

BOSTON -- Cardinal Sean O'Malley has urged Pope Benedict XVI to speak out about the priest sex abuse crisis, the leader of the Boston archdiocese said.Benedict will begin a six-day trip to the United States Tuesday in Washington.O'Malley, who will accompany the pontiff at many appearances during his trip, has joined other U.S. bishops in calling on the pope to talk about the abuse scandal, The Boston Globe reported Monday.In discussions with the pope's ambassador ... [full story]

BEND, Ore. – Today, April 14, at 6 p.m., the Obama presidential campaign will open an office in Bend, Oregon, bringing the total number of Obama offices in the state to eight.   “We are excited about the growing support for Senator Obama across this state. This office in Bend will give local residents an opportunity to play a more personal role in building the Obama campaign and reaching out to their friends, families and neighbors ... [full story]

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Obama campaign will launch an ambitious new field program across Oregon this week designed to empower volunteers to support the campaign with innovative internet tools.  The campaign will identify and train Obama Oregon Community Organizers (Obama OCOs) in an effort to assist supporters in reaching out to their friends and neighbors to talk about Senator Obama’s commitment to bringing change we can believe in to Washington. Today, the campaign is unveiling ... [full story]

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi returned fire Monday on U.S. President George Bush's criticism of her denying a vote on the Colombia free trade agreement.Bush showed he is "out of touch" with U.S. families by proposing to make permanent tax cuts "to the wealthiest people in America," Pelosi said in a statement. "That is one of the President's top priorities -- those tax cuts to the wealthy."Bush criticized the California Democrat's announcement last week ... [full story]

DETROIT -- Lawyers in the "straw donor" trial of lawyer Geoffrey Fieger agreed on six jurors in Monday's opening round of jury selection in Detroit.Fieger and partner Vernon Johnson are on trial in federal court for illegally contributing $127,000 to the 2004 presidential campaign of John Edwards.The jury is being culled from a pool of 40 prospects. The process resumes Tuesday.The Detroit Free Press said the only juror who was rejected Monday said he had ... [full story]

AKRON, Ohio -- Akron, Ohio, police say they are trying to determine if a weekend robbery at a college fraternity party is connected to a string of other holdups.Two men with a gun strolled into a party at Kappa Sigma frat house at the University of Akron and began relieving the revelers of their wallets."I blocked my wallet from him, then he pushed me up against the wall and put the gun between my eyes, ... [full story]

PITTSBURGH -- Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton told a gathering of manufacturers in Pittsburgh Monday U.S. trade laws need fixing.Clinton outlined her trade stance at a forum arranged by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which unveiled a set of proposals it contends would strengthen trade enforcement and crack down on China's unfair trade policies."We need solutions to fix our trade laws, build a strong manufacturing base, and stand up to China and say that unsafe ... [full story]