The as-yet slim facts of how Portland Police Chief Larry O'Dea shot an acquaintance last month filled out a bit yesterday. First, a witness says the incident didn't take place during a hunting trip, as has been reported. O'Dea and a group of friends were camping, retired Portland Lt. Steve Buchtel tells the Mercury, and "there was nothing to hunt" (elsewhere it's been reported O'Dea was hunting ground squirrels, which Buchtel mentioned were around).
Moments after we reported that, the Harney County Sheriff announced that he'd been surprised to hear O'Dea was involved in the shooting. It was reported as a self-inflicted wound. "If an accident happens, you raise your hand and say here's what happened,'' Sheriff Dave Ward told the O. It's not looking great for O'Dea right now, folks.
Whoops! In the best possible way. State predictions legal pot would snag a few million bucks this year were way off. Oregon is now on track to make $43 million from weed sales, an amount that's likely to shrink in coming years, when a smaller sales tax of 17-20 percent (vs current 25 percent) is the norm.
Now two Baltimore officers charged with crimes in connection with Freddie Gray's death have been acquitted. The latest, Edward Nero, placed his fate in the hands of a judge rather than jurors. It paid off. Four more officers face charges in the case.
Neighbors of Bullseye Glass and others concerned about the city's air quality rented a bus and went down to Salem yesterday to plead for stronger regulations. It's not clear anything will come of it.
Hood River County residents voted to keep a big Nestlé bottling plant out. But citizens of Cascade Locks did not, and that's the cash-strapped city in Hood River County that would be getting the thing, anyway. Now, officials are saying they still think there's a chance they can let Nestlé in. Great.
Attorneys for some Oregon occupiers are arguing taking over that Harney County bird sanctuary for more than a month was FREE SPEECH, and that prosecuting them for it is tantamount to burning the constitution (or something like that). We'll see how that works out.
Gresham policekilled a 22-year-old man this morning, after responding to a report of a domestic altercation. Not many details.
Stupid and pointless:A rash of bomb threats at schools in this region yesterday.
File under: Reporters obsessing over Nextdoor.com. Some "drive slow" signs were removed in SE Portland.
There's some buzz this morning that the EgyptAir flight that crashed last week was brought down by an explosion. That tidbit apparently came from a member of the investigative team, but forensic experts are shouting it down.
Annnnnnnnnnnd Donald Trump's ahead of Hillary Clinton in one poll. Potentially meaningless. Also potentially The End.
Not the worst Weather Widget I've seen, so long as it doesn't double-cross us (it will).
ROBOBEE