Senate panel OKs renewal of timber county funding
JEFF BARNARD/Associated Press

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — A U. S. Senate committee has endorsed legislation to extend federal subsidies for timber counties one more year, and to protect more wilderness and wild rivers in Oregon.

Sen. Ron Wyden said Tuesday the two bills are part of his effort to solve the funding crisis for Oregon timber counties, which are struggling to finance law enforcement since the subsidies expired. Still to come is some way to increase timber harvests on what are known as the O&C lands in Western Oregon.

One bill would extend federal subsidies to timber counties nationwide, though at a 5 percent lower rate than before.

The other would create two new wilderness areas in central and southwestern Oregon, and extend wild river protection to parts of the Rogue, Chetco and Molalla rivers.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Aggresive noxious weed still scattered in Illinois Valley
By David De Rurange/KTVL.com

ILLINOIS VALLEY, Ore -- The Oregon Department of Agriculture took to the sky Tuesday morning, surveying Illinois Valley for an aggressive noxious weed called, Yellow Taft Alyssum.  

Josephine County volunteers help eradicate the weed, finding it along the Illinois Valley River and some private properties. The Oregon Department of Agriculture's survey aids in the search. The department's Noxious Weed Program said the flights are worth it when compared to costs spent to protect sensitive plant species.

According to surveyors, the weed overtakes native plant communities and is toxic to grazing animals.
    
"So we're working to get rid of that. To protect the wildlife and the agricultural interests of the people of the Illinois Valley." Oregon Department of Agriculture Suzanne Vautier  said.

Monday's survey found *few patches of the noxious weed when compared to previous years.
The Yellow Taft Alyssum filled numerous fields in the area, including the Illinois Valley Airport.

Illinois Valley is the only known site for Alyssum in the western United States.

For more information and history of the noxious weed, go to http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/PLANT/WEEDS/edrr.shtml

Pictured: Tim Leyba (Cultural & Ecological and Enhancement Network) and Gordon Lyford (Volunteer with Nature Conservancy) holding the Alyssum they uprooted in Illinois Valley.

U of Oregon plans to bar too-wide seat cushions
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Some University of Oregon fans say it's getting crowded in the bleachers. The problem: Jumbo seat cushions.

So the school proposes to limit cushions to 17 inches wide.

Spokeswoman Julie Brown says there have been "a few complaints" about extra-wide cushions taking up too much space at Autzen Stadium and Hayward Field.

She says the university wants to clarify how much room fans are entitled to so it can maintain the allocated stadium seating capacity

The proposal would also limit seats to no more than 10 inches deep, with a seat back height that does not exceed 19 inches.

The plan calls for boxes at the gates, like those at airports for carry-on luggage, to determine whether cushions make it into the game.

A public hearing is scheduled next month.

Meet Sarah Talley
Sarah Talley is Tuesday's Facebook Friend of the Day.

Ore. jobless rate falls below 8 percent
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The unemployment rate in Oregon has dipped below 8 percent for the first time since the nation fell steeply into the Great Recession in the fall of 2008.

The state unemployment rate was 7.8 percent in May and, after a revision, 7.9 percent in April, the state Employment Department said Tuesday.

Job gains have been strong recently in construction as well as in the trade, transportation and utilities sectors.

But manufacturing gained only half the number of jobs expected in May, a subpar performance in a sector that has shown strength during the state's slow recovery from the recession.

Overall, the state gained 3,800 jobs in May. The statistic is seasonally adjusted.

Economists say that months of such job gains have helped to reduce the unemployment rate.

But, they say, the rate also is falling because the percentage of the population in the labor force is dropping. What's called "labor force participation" is at a 40-year low in Oregon.

Retiring baby boomers are a significant reason for that.

The percentage of adults in the labor force varies widely statewide. It's 83.7 percent in Hood River County, and it's 47.4 percent in the southern coastal retirement center of Curry County — the only county where fewer than one in two adults either works or is looking for work.

Unemployment in Oregon is now just slightly higher than the U.S. average, 7.6 percent. The two-tenths of a percentage point difference is the smallest margin since May 2008.

At the outset of the recession, Oregon's unemployment rate rose steeply. By May 2009, it stood at 11.6 percent. It has fallen about a percentage point a year since then.