Latest Hot Stories
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Hotel Scam Beware When Traveling
June 2, 2010BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN YOU TRAVEL and remind your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and anyone you know who travels – especially the older generation – as they may be likely to fall for something like this.
It seems that schemes to cheat people never stop and won’t! But keeping people informedis a key to helping prevent this from happening to your friends and relatives, so please forward to all of yours. Can’t be too careful these days! This so simple, and reading this, anyone could be caught. You arrive at your hotel and check in at the front desk. When checking in, you give the front desk your credit card (for all the charges for your room). You get to your room and settle in. The front desk gets a call and the caller asks for (example) Room 620 (which happens to be your room). Your phone rings in your room.
You answer, and the person on the other end says, “This is the front desk . When checking in, we came cross a problem with your charge card information. Please re-read me your credit card number and verify the 3-digit number on the reverse side of your charge card.”
Not thinking anything strange about the request, you might give this person your information, since the call seems to come from the front desk. But actually, it is a scam by someone calling from outside the hotel/front desk. They’ve asked to be connected to a random room number. If you answer your room phone, they ask for your credit card information and address information, sounding so professional that you do think you are talking to the front desk. If you ever encounter this problem on your vacation, tell the caller that you will go to the front desk to clear up any problems. Then, go to the front desk and ask if there was a problem with your credit card. If there was none, inform the hotel manager that someone acting like a front desk employee called to scam you for your credit card information.
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Obama at the Bat (Casey at the Bat)
June 2, 2010 -
MAY: LIKE SPOT’S NOSE
June 1, 2010Yes, it’s been wet and cold. In some parts of Oregon where they keep records, May was the wettest and coldest in almost a decade. All of that rain is dampening the spirits of Willamette Valley farmers. Some are as much as three weeks behind on plowing and planting because of the mucky field conditions–and a wheat rust fungus has proliferated. Meteorologists say the mild winter and wet spring are typical of El Nino years.
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SWAT TEAM NABS HOLLEY MAN AFTER STANDOFF
June 1, 2010The Linn County SWAT team–Sheriff’s deputies and police from Sweet Home, Albany, and Lebanon–were called out to Holley yesterday to a domestic disturbance situation that became a standoff. 23-year old Maja Howery reported at about 4:15 AM that her 34-year old boyfriend Ryan Holley had been violent, and moody over the weekend. She was escorted to safety, and officers surrounded the house. They entered after using tear gas, but Holley was gone. He turned himself in later, and was taken to jail on assault, strangulation and menacing charges.
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Fast Fighter
May 28, 2010 -
CORPS OF ENGINEERS: ‘HAVE A BOOZE-FREE WEEKEND”
May 28, 2010The Army Corps of Engineers says lay off the booze if you’re boating this weekend. It says drowning is the second-leading cause of accidental deaths. The Corps suggests you never over-estimate your swimming skills, watch out for colder water this time of year, always wear a life jacket while boating, and be especially careful at the end of your boating day, because hours of exposure to noise, vibration, sun, glare, and wind produces fatigue in humans that is similar to drunkenness.
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MONDAY DEFECIT ESTIMATE UP IN SMOKE
May 28, 2010The projected 562.6 million dollar State of Oregon budget defecit for the rest of the biennium has grown to 577 million dollars….because of smoking. The State Economist’s office says it missed something….cigarette tax revenues are down 14.5 million dollars. Governor Kulongoski wants across-the-board nine percent agency cuts to make up the defecit. Republicans and even some Democrats say the legislature should be called into special session to make targeted cuts more in line with the priorities of Oregonians.
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ANOTHER STATE BUDGET DEFECIT PROMPTS AGENCY CUTS
May 26, 2010Governor Kulongoski says the 560 million dollar budget shortfall for the rest of the biennium confirms his fears that it will be a long climb out of the recession for Oregon. Kulongoski said he won’t call the Legislature into session to deal with it, because it would likely feature partisan gridlock in an election year. So he’s directing state agency heads to come up with plans on how to cut nine percent from their budgets for the rest of the biennium–and he’s ordering them to meet with union officials to minimize layoffs of union workers.
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ANOTHER GPS NEAR-TRAGEDY
May 26, 2010A woman and her two kids were stuck on a back country road in the snow by her gps unit over the weekend in southern Oregon. Rescuers say she was just 15 minutes away from her campsite destination along the Rogue River when her gps unit sent her on a snowy detour. Thankfully, her cell phone had a signal, and rescuers actually say her errant gps unit helped them reach her by giving them her latitude and longitude.
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Joke of the Day
May 25, 2010A woman walks into the downtown welfare office, trailed by 15 kids.
‘WOW,’ the social worker exclaims, ‘are they all yours?”
‘Yep, they are all mine,’ the flustered momma sighs, having heard that question a thousand times before.
She says, ‘Sit down Leroy.’ All the children rush to find seats.
‘Well,’ says the social worker, ‘then you must be here to sign up. I’ll need all your children’s names.’
‘Well, to keep it simple, the boys are all named Leroy and the girls are all named Leighroy.’
In disbelief, the case worker says, ‘Are you serious? They’re ALL named Leroy?’
Their momma replied, ‘Well, yes-it makes it easier. When it’s time to get them out of bed and ready for school, I yell, ‘Leroy!’ An’ when it’s time for dinner, I just yell ‘Leroy!’ An they all comes a runnin. An’ if I need to stop the kid who’s running into the street, I just yell Leroy’ and all of them stop. It’s the smartest idea I ever had, namin’ them all Leroy.’
The social worker thinks this over for a bit, then wrinkles her forehead and says tentatively, ‘But what if you just want ONE kid to come, and not the whole bunch?’
‘Then I call them by their last names.’
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SALMONELLA–IT’S IN THE BAG
May 25, 2010Bagged lettuce from a California company has been recalled in Oregon and other states because salmonella bacteria was found in a bag. The Fresh Express company is recalling all of its bagged salad products with a use-by date of May 13th to May 16th with an ‘s’ in the product code. Fresh Express products are widely sold in Oregon supermarkets.
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MERKLEY VS BIG OIL
May 25, 2010Senator Jeff Merkley wants to end subsidies and tax credits that encourage domestic oil drilling for the country’s biggest oil producers. Merkley and two other senators are also calling for punative measures against what they call tax loopholes, like the one that allows oil companies to claim oil drilling and production as manufacturing, and the provision that allows oil companaies to claim depreciation on their wells as they peter out. He says big oil companies are doing well, even in the recession, so it’s time to penalize them and use the money he estimates at 20 billion dollars to subsidize green energy companies. The bill would only apply, he says, to oil companies with revenues of 100 million dollars a year or more.
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DROP A QUARTER IN THE DRUM, SAVE ANOTHER HOMELESS BUM–UPDATED
May 24, 2010The next time you go to Springfield, you can drop a couple of quarters into a red parking meter and help a homeless person smell sweeter. City officials are putting up two dozen used parking meters, freshly painted red, to collect donations for the homeless. Fifty cents buys a shower, a dollar buys a meal, and so on. The program is modeled after one in Denver that really cut down on downtown panhandling. Springfield hopes businesses will ‘sponsor’ more meters to make the program grow.
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WILL THE REAL JASON EVERS………
May 24, 2010The U.S. Diplomatic Security Service is releasing some background info on the man who stole a dead three year old’s i.d. years ago. The man calling himself Jason Evers has refused to give his real name. Agents say he would have dissappeared from his old life in 1996 at age 17 to 25. He speaks with an East Coast accent and sometimes uses street-type Spanish. He may have gone by the nickname Smiley. He may have a father in the Florida prison system. He is reported to be of above average intelligence, and he’s a very good chess player. If you think you who he really is, call–collect if you need to–206-220-7721.
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A DECADE OF DEFECITS???
May 21, 2010A hand-picked panel of the Governor’s says Oregon faces a decade of defecits unless lawmakers do more to control state spending. The task force says even an economic turnaround won’t help much. The group analyzed state spending growth and economic activity to come up with its prediction. Governor Kulongoski responded that the state’s budget problems must be better understood by the public and decision-makers, and that there isn’t just one solution—such as cutting state spending.
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA SHOPS MAKE THE BALLOT
May 21, 2010It looks like voters will get the chance to turn thumbs up or down on a system of easy-access medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon. Marijuana advocates turned in petitions with what they say are 110-thousand signatures to put the issue on the ballot. The proposal would also create a system of state regulated marijuana growers. Voters turned down a similar proposal in 2004. There are about 33-thousand registered medical marijuana smokers in Oregon.
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PORTLAND–THE WHOLE CITY ON FOOD STAMPS???
May 18, 2010Food Stamp use is way up in Oregon. More than 700-thousand Oregonians got free government food last month…about the population of Portland and Salem combined. That means nearly one out of every five Oregonians is on the dole–up from one in six just months ago. The national average is one in eight. State welfare officials say they’re seeing more first-timers apply, as their unemployment benefits run out. The biggest jump in Food Stamp demand was in the Portland area.
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CLEAN UP DOWNTOWN–OPEN A STRIP JOINT???
May 18, 2010Springfield city councillors have had enough of the crowd that hangs out at three downtown bars. The council has voted to tell the OLCC not to renew the liquor licenses of the Club 420, Jim’s Landing, and Stables, due to repeated illegal activity that includes drug dealing and usage, prostitution, and assaults. The owner of Jim’s Landing says his 75-year old landmark is being wrongly targeted. And the manager of Stables says he’s tried to clean up the area, by renaming his bar the Silver Lace Club, and making it a stripper bar.
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INDOOR-OUTDOOR CARPET–FREE!!!
May 17, 2010If you’re a Duck fan, a free piece of history can be yours this coming Saturday. Just show up at 5001 Franklin Blvd in Glenwood, between Eugene and Springfield, from noon to 4pm. Small pieces (up to 2’x2′) of the old Autzen Stadium turf will be given away–free!! The field was torn up, and the ‘crown’ at mid-field is being removed. New turf with a new Pac-10 logo should be on the now-flat stadium floor by mid-July.
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MOUNT ST. HOOD?????
May 17, 2010Just days before the 30th anniversary of the Mount St. Helens eruption, Mount Hood may be rumbling to life. Mount Hood has been the scene of a swarm of earthquakes, which can precede a dormant volcano coming to life again. The largest quake measured 3.o on the Richter scale, Friday afternoon. U.S. Geological Survey volcanologists say swarms of small quakes have shaken the mountain for about a month. They say they don’t think Mount Hood is going to erupt, but they’re watching their instruments.
@kfir720am