In brief: Two men arrested in rapes of girls
Two men were arrested this week after they were accused of raping 13-year-old girls.
Devon K. Prince and Kevin C.K. Fisher were booked into the Spokane County Jail facing charges of second-degree child rape involving the two girls. Both were granted release without bail at the request of prosecutors, who asked that the men check in with court officials ahead of trial dates.
The girls, who were described as “disheveled” with one missing a sock when police found them at the Walmart in Airway Heights early Monday morning, told detectives they had given their ages as 15 before the sexual contact. The girl’s sock was found at an apartment rented to Prince, and an empty condom wrapper was found at the scene, according to court documents.
Invoking his right to silence, Fisher told investigators “he had a trust fund, so he wasn’t worried” about paying for an attorney, according to court documents.
Prosecutors did not respond to requests for comment on the lack of an imposed bond.
Board freezes Oregon tuition
PORTLAND – After years of sharp tuition increases, Oregon undergraduates have finally gotten a break.
The state Board of Higher Education on Friday officially approved a tuition freeze for the upcoming academic year.
The freeze for in-state undergraduates resulted from the last fall’s “grand bargain” between Gov. John Kitzhaber and the Legislature. Kitzhaber got more money for education while lawmakers won pension cuts for government employees and a bill that restricted most Oregon counties from regulating genetically engineered crops.
In 2001, it cost less than $4,000 in tuition and fees to attend one of Oregon’s seven public universities. The average has since jumped to more than $8,000.
Oregon approves hatchery fish limit
GRANTS PASS, Ore. – A state board approved a new salmon and steelhead management plan Friday for the Oregon Coast that trims the introduction of hatchery salmon and steelhead on a few rivers to reduce the likelihood they will interbreed with wild fish.
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously adopted the Coastal Multi-Species Management Plan at a meeting in Salem.
State fisheries chief Ed Bowles said the plan made some compromises to accommodate objections raised by anglers and county officials in the Tillamook Bay area and the southern coast.
The plan applies to coastal rivers from Port Orford to Tillamook Bay.
Central Idaho fire under control
STANLEY, Idaho – Firefighters in central Idaho have contained an 80-acre wildfire burning about 10 miles south of Stanley and expect to have it controlled on Sunday.
Gold Fire spokeswoman Julie Thomas said crews succeeded in getting a line around the fire Friday morning despite flames moving into downed lodgepole pine. She said three hotshot crews, six engines and two water tenders are working within the perimeter of the fire to make sure it’s out.
U.S. Forest Service Road 210 remains closed.
Thomas says there have been no injuries or damage to structures from the fire that started Tuesday.