An Oregon school district said children as young as 11-years-old will now be able to obtain condoms from the school with no questions asked.
The Gervais School District said the move comes after a survey of students said that 7 percent of high school girls had gotten pregnant and that 42 percent of the students said they “never” or “sometimes” used protection during sex.
“Over the past few decades, teen pregnancy in our community has remained somewhat constant, but higher than the board felt comfortable with,” Superintendent Rick Hensel posted online. He said the board voted to include middle school students because of the closeness of the high school and middle school plus the fact some middle school girls have gotten pregnant.
Amita Vyas, a professor at George Washington University who directs the school’s Maternal and Child Health Program said that 6th grede is “incredibly young” to be giving out condoms. However, she said that educating students and keeping them interacting with parents and teachers is a way to decrease teen pregnancy.
Just days after reports showed a Canadian agency was sending aborted babies to a waste-to-energy station in Oregon to be burned as fuel for electricity, Oregon officials have put an end to the process.
“We are outraged and disgusted that this material could be included in medical waste received at the facility,” Marion County Commissioner Janet Carlson wrote in a Wednesday statement. “We did not know this practice was occurring until today. We are taking immediate action and initiating discussions with Covanta Marion to make certain that this type of medical waste is not accepted in the future.”
The Oregon Refuse And Recycling Association had confirmed the reception of the aborted babies when they said the Oregon plant was the only one in the region that burned medical waste for electricity.
County officials say they will work with the plant to ensure any future shipments of medical waste does not contain aborted babies.
A man convicted of masterminding a $100 million fraud involving Navy veterans could be spending the rest of his life in prison.
John Donald Cody, 67, is a Harvard-trained attorney who was convicted of racketeering, theft, money laundering and 12 counts of identity theft in connection with his looting of the United States Navy Veterans Association.
Cody defrauded veterans and supporters in 41 states but Ohio took the lead in prosecuting him. He was arrested after spending two years on the run after hiding out in Portland, Oregon. Only a small amount of the $100 million was found.
The Ohio state attorney general’s office, which handled the prosecution, is asking the judge to sentence Cody to 41 years in prison and a fine of $6.3 million.
Cody’s defense team is calling for a new trial saying that their legal defense was ineffective because of limited preparation time and their client’s erratic behavior and cooperation.
The USDA has issued a public health alert for raw chicken packed at three California based Foster Farms locations after 278 people have been sickened with salmonella. Continue reading →
When an Oregon church was tagged with Satanist graffiti this week, many people saw it as a hate-speech attack. Vandals placed an upside down cross and the number 666 on the side of the building.
The youth of New Vision Church saw it as an opportunity. Continue reading →
In Furnace Creek, California, the temperature was 122 in the shade.
According to weather forecasters, that’s not even close to a high temperature.
Forecasters are predicting a world-record high temperature coming to Death Valley, California of 130 degrees a deadly heat wave is raving the western part of the U.S. Continue reading →
An Oregon farmer has been found by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with a form of genetically modified wheat that was never approved for use in the United States.
Biotechnology company Monsanto, which recently received special dispensation from the federal government for other products, developed the particular strain of modified wheat but it was kept from being put into use after worldwide outcry against genetically modified wheat. Continue reading →
A national anti-Christian organization is demanding an Oregon city remove a Vietnam War memorial because it contains a cross.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation says government officials in Coos Bay, Oregon are violating the mythical separation of church and state by creating the memorial to Vietnam veterans 41 years ago. Continue reading →
A naturalized U.S. citizen has been arrested in Oregon over charges of helping Al-Qaeda execute a bombing in Pakistan.
Reaz Qadir Khan had pled not guilty to charged of giving “material support” to one of the terrorists who bombed the Pakistani Intelligence Service in Lahore in 2009. At least 30 people were killed and 300 injured in the homicide bombing. Continue reading →
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake has been recorded about 170 miles off the southern Oregon coast. The National Weather Service’s West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said there was no danger of a tsunami from the Tuesday evening quake. Continue reading →
