Malheur price tag: 3.3M & counting

The 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge cost taxpayers at least $3.3 million to cover the massive police response, a week of shuttered schools and a long list of supplies ranging from food to flashlight batteries, according to an Oregonian/OregonLive analysis of public and tribal budgets. The total will certainly grow. The amount doesn’t include any figures from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which operates the 187,700-acre bird sanctuary seized Jan. 2 by armed militants. The FBI, still in the midst of a criminal investigation, announced that it turned over control of the refuge to the Fish & Wildlife Service late Tuesday afternoon/ Luke Hammill , Oregonian. More here.