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Jeff Barnard

Bishop, Hatch support renewed timber payments

Jeff Barnard, Kevin Freking The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, March 2, 2012 - 4:14pm

WASHINGTON -- Key federal lawmakers say they're confident that Congress will renew a program this year that has become a lifeline for rural communities suffering from a decline in timber harvests on federal lands, but they can't say when or how.

Congress, Federal Government, Rep. Rob Bishop, Sen. Orrin Hatch, National Read more Comments

Loriann Earp, center, cries with her husband, Justin Earp, on Wednesday. Feb. 22, 2012, in their home in Eagle Point, Ore., as they view photos of their daughter, Ashley Long, 14, who died after inhaling helium at a party. The Earps hope their daughter's death will help spread the word about the dangers of inhaling helium. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)

Teenage girl dies after inhaling helium at party

Jeff Barnard The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, February 23, 2012 - 11:16am

EAGLE POINT, Ore. -- Last weekend, 14-year-old Ashley Long told her parents she was going to a slumber party. But instead of spending the night watching videos and eating popcorn two blocks away, she piled into a car with a bunch of her friends and rode to a condo in Medford, Ore., where police say the big sister of one of her friends was throwing a party with booze and marijuana.

Fatal, Overdose, Party, Accident, National Read more Comments

3 lost in Ore. used knife as signal

Jeff Barnard The Associated Press

Last updated Sunday, February 5, 2012 - 5:08pm

GOLD BEACH, Ore. — Three mushroom pickers lost six nights in the rugged forest of southwest Oregon used their dead cellphone and a sheath knife to flash a signal at the helicopter pilot who found them.

Missing Person, Search and Rescue, National Read more Comments

Wild flight from police in Utah a 'made-for-TV movie'

Jeff Barnard The Associated Press

Last updated Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - 8:58am

Roy Fritts was firing an old-fashioned Colt .45 at a sheriff in his last run-in with the law while his girlfriend drove the car he was riding at 104 mph down an Oregon freeway.

Ten years and a long prison stint later, Fritts seemed to find himself in familiar circumstances Sunday. Authorities say he was on the lam again -- this time speeding down a Utah interstate with a woman he met through a prison pen-pal program and married. She had been jailed for robbing a bank.

Crime, Fugitives, Police chase, Shooting, Utah, National Read more Comments

Tsunami sweeps 5 to sea, rips out Calif. docks

Jaymes Song, Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, March 11, 2011 - 3:51pm

Crescent City, Calif. -- A tsunami swept at least five people watching the waves out to sea Friday and ripped docks out of harbors in California, spreading the destruction of a devastating Japanese earthquake to the shores of the United States.

Four people were rescued from the water in Oregon, but one man who was taking photos in Northern California was still missing Friday afternoon. Coast Guard helicopters searched for him near the mouth of the Klamath River in Del Norte County, Calif., after his two friends made it back to shore.

About 25 miles north, four people were swept off a beach north of Brookings, Ore. Two got out of the water on their own and the others were rescued by law enforcement and fire officials.

Earthquake, Japan, West Coast, National Read more Comments

BRETT BINGHAM/Oregon State University
Medusa head grass grows in July 2010 near Juntura, Ore. New research has found that the invasive plant grows faster and for a longer time than native grasses and even other invasives, explaining its fast spread through western rangelands.

Medusa grass taking over western rangeland

Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press

Last updated Friday, November 12, 2010 - 9:35pm

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- New research suggests that an invasive plant called Medusa head will keep taking over rangelands in the West, vastly reducing the grazing potential for livestock as well as wildlife.

Business, Agriculture, Economy Read more Comments

(Associated Press file photo) This September 2008 photo shows an air tanker dropping fire retardant over a grass fire that threatened homes near Medford, Ore. A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Forest Service to take a tougher look at the possibility that routinely dropping toxic fire retardant on wildfires will kill endangered fish and plants.

Judge orders tougher look at whether fire retardant kills endangered species

Jeff Barnard, The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, July 29, 2010 - 12:43am

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- A federal judge Wednesday ordered the U.S. Forest Service to take a tougher look at the possibility that routinely dropping toxic fire retardant on wildfires from airplanes will kill endangered fish and plants.

Environment, Outdoors, Courts, Fire, Fishing Read more Comments

(NICK UT/The Associated Press) In this April 28, 2009 file photo, smog covers downtown Los Angeles. A new study in the journal Nature finds that while U.S. controls on air pollution have been driving down a major ingredient of smog, ozone blowing over from Asia is raising background levels over western North America.

Study links Asia to smog component in Western US

Jeff Barnard The Associated Press

Last updated Wednesday, January 20, 2010 - 6:12pm

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- Ozone blowing over from Asia is raising background levels of a major ingredient of smog in the skies over California, Oregon, Washington and other Western states, according to a new study appearing in Thursday's edition of the journal Nature.

Environment, International Read more Comments

Couple stranded 3 days after GPS leads them astray

Jeff Barnard The Associated Press

Last updated Monday, December 28, 2009 - 4:50pm

GRANTS PASS, Ore. -- A Nevada couple traveling through Eastern Oregon are safe at home after spending three days stuck in snow because their SUV's navigation system sent them down a remote forest road.

Outdoors, Safety, Travel Read more Comments

Task force urges faster move to reform fishing

Jeff Barnard The Associated Press

Last updated Thursday, December 10, 2009 - 2:19pm

Facing a 2011 deadline to end overfishing in U.S. waters, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been working to expand the use of a management system designed to end the race for fish that has resulted in dozens of ocean species in trouble.

Outdoors, Xplore, Fishing Read more Comments