Free Republic

BY THE OREGONIAN/OREGONLIVE (Compiled from news accounts, court records, public notices) Last week's arrest of a long-sought accused eco-saboteur pushed the spotlight back on a tight-knit cell of radical environmentalists responsible for a $48 million run of firebombings and other crimes across the West in the 1990s and early 2000s. Six men and five women prosecuted in Oregon received sentences ranging from three years to 13 years. They were arrested starting in 2005 in what the FBI called "Operation Backfire," a task force that tracked down the suspects with the help of an informant deep within the underground group....

Discovery of Missing Panel on Boeing 737 Causes Closure of Medford Airport Runways Earlier today, an inbound United Airlines 737-824, Flight UA433, prompted the full closure of both runways at the Rogue Valley International Medford Airport (MFR). The incident, while causing a temporary disruption, concluded with no reported injuries. Upon its safe landing, all passengers disembarked at Gate 5 without any complications. However, ground crews observed a missing panel on the Boeing aircraft. Details regarding the specific panel remain undisclosed at this time, but Medford Alert can confirm it was towards the bottom of the aircraft. Amber Judd, the Director...

JACKSON CO., Or.- Today, a grand jury indicted the man Medford police are charging with lighting a vehicle on fire near Emigrant Lake the same day the Almeda fire sparked. 45-year-old Vance Nguyen is in Jackson County jail on a first-degree arson charge. Today Nguyen appeared before a judge and pled “not guilty.” Police arrested Nguyen after investigating a vehicle that was set on fire near Emigrant Lake. Greensprings firefighters says they found the vehicle in flames, with a propane tank on the top of it. They tell us the direction of the wind that day prevented it from spreading...

I got a call from my son in Calif about 1 pm Tuesday. He was listening to police scanner.. said a fire was coming my way... didn't make sense, this area has never had a fire. It's the city! I went outside in our beautiful peaceful Sr. retirement village to a bank of thick smoke and saw a raging fire. It seemed 10 miles away. The wind was whipping in every direction and took me off my feet several times. I've been through this before living in the woods of No. Calif. I was prepared then. This home was in...

A second victim in the Boston Marathon bombings has been identified: Krystle M. Campbell, a 29-year-old originally from Medford, Mass. Her father, William A. Campbell Jr., told Yahoo News he's in shock that his daughter was killed. "My daughter was the most lovable girl. She helped everybody, and I'm just so shocked right now. We're just devastated," he said. "She was a wonderful, wonderful girl. Always willing to lend a hand."

Tufts University postponed an event with Anthony Scaramucci after the former White House communications director threatened a lawsuit over an opinion piece published in the student newspaper. Scaramucci was scheduled to speak at the university’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy on Monday, but a university spokesman told The Boston Globe the event would be delayed until “legal matters” are resolved. In a letter dated Nov. 21, Scaramucci’s lawyer said he would take legal action unless the newspaper retracted “false and defamatory allegations of fact” in an op-ed piece calling for Scaramucci’s removal from an advisory board at the school....

Students from the Arabic Club at the public high school in the city of Medford, about a 15-minute drive north of downtown Boston, wanted to participate in “World Hijab Day” early this semester. The annual event was created in 2013 to promote awareness and understanding of Muslim women who wear the headscarf as an expression of their faith. At Medford High, the plan was pretty straightforward ... The date was set for February 1. But soon after Hijab Day was announced, the Medford public got wind of it. And there was a wave of phone messages, emails and social media...

Oklahoma is now the No. 1 earthquake area in the world, an Oklahoma Corporation Commission spokesman said Monday. Spokesman Matt Skinner said the state is unique in terms of frequency. "We have had 15 (earthquakes) in Medford since 5 o'clock Saturday morning," he noted. "We've got an earthquake issue." Skinner said the world is going through a seismic phase. "Oklahoma is absolutely unique in terms of the number of earthquakes we've had," he said. Jim Palmer, OCC director of public information and manager of consumer education, said Oklahoma is unique in North America. He said there are other parts of...

Who would have felt comfortable in these circumstances? A Massachusetts man was driving in the town of Medford last Saturday night. He admits he took a wrong turn and ended up going the wrong way down a traffic circle. However, how wrong a turn might his life have taken if the events that followed had taken a slightly different turn. In dashcam video posted to YouTube by a driver who only gave his name as Michael, he is confronted by an angry man in a white tank top and shorts. The angry man steps out of a truck and approaches...

As darkness began to set in, colonials began to attack the front of the column. There were a few cavalry units made up of older, experienced men who rode to within shot of the front of the column, dismounted and fired with great accuracy, then mounting and riding away only to reappear elsewhere. Now and then, the Regulars would fire cannon scattering the Militia who would quickly materialize again as the British column approached Menotomy. At Jason Russel’s house, British soldiers invaded the house killing eleven Americans, including Russel who was later found bayoneted at the foot of the stairs....

An improvised explosive device blew out windows and ignited a small fire at the Jackson County prosecutor's office in Medford, Ore., Wednesday, but authorities said the damage could have been far worse had it ignited a large propane tank at the scene. No injuries were reported as a result of the blast, which occurred at about 4:30 a.m. Local and state police and the FBI and ATF are currently investigating. Law enforcement sources familiar with the case said there was no immediate claim of responsibility and as of yet, there are no suspects, but they are attempting to determine if...

An Oregon man has had rifle confiscated and is facing criminal charges after he attempted to stop a wanted felon from breaking into his home by firing a warning shot. Police in Medford, Ore., say the incident occurred at around 11:30 p.m. on Sunday. Officers responded to an apartment complex in the area after receiving a disturbance call. During their investigation, cops heard a gun shot and a man running away toward the complex’s parking lot. Authorities say 40-year-old Jonathon Kinsella, a wanted felon, was attempting to flee the scene when he was arrested on outstanding warrants, including for burglary...

Jackson County, Oregon Sheriff Mike Winters stands up to the press and their STOOOPID questions. At about 12:23 on the video, he mentions Fast & Furious and this administrations complicity in the murder of our border agent, Brian Terry. He further stated the US Government will NEVER be allowed to confiscate guns in Jackson County.

MEDFORD, Ore. -- A 41-year-old woman wasn't going to let a man get away with her TV. Medford Police responded to an interrupted burglary call at 12:35 a.m. Sunday in the 600 block of North Berkeley Way. The victim got home and found a 23-year-old man in her bedroom trying to flee toward the window, according to a press release from the Medford Police Department. She grabbed the suspect and a fight ensued. She yelled for help and her 23-year-old daughter called for help. The daughter had been asleep. When police arrived, they found the victim fighting with the suspect...

MEDFORD, Ore. -- Law enforcement officials have taken more than 6 pounds of methamphetamine off the streets. On July 13, agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations contacted Miguel Angel Rebolledo-Aviles, 23, on a commercial bus line that was passing through Medford. They found one unclaimed bag that had 6.6 pounds of methamphetamine, according to a press release from the Medford Area Drug and Gang Enforcement. Federal law enforcement officials asked MADGE officers to help in the investigation. Once the investigation was complete, police arrested the suspect on the suspicion of unlawful distribution of a controlled...

The massacre happened at about 10:20 a.m. inside a family-owned pharmacy in a small cluster of medical offices in Medford, a middle-class hamlet on Long Island about 60 miles east of New York City.Police rushed to the scene after getting a 911 call from someone in the pharmacy's parking lot. When they arrived, they found two employees and two customers dead, said Suffolk County Police Department's Chief of Detectives Dominick Varrone. No one inside the shop survived.Suffolk County Police identified the dead employees as Raymond Ferguson, 45, of Centereach, and Jennifer Mejia, 17, of East Patchogue. Bryon Sheffield, 71, of...

MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) -- An Oregon school bus driver has been suspended for refusing to remove a Confederate flag from his personal vehicle. The Mail Tribune reports that 28-year-old Ken Webber of Medford says he's worked for four years at First Student School Bus Transportation Services, a contractor for the Phoenix-Talent School District in the Medford area.

MEDFORD (CBS) – A woman was ordered held without bail Monday charged with killing her husband in Medford. Police found 34-year-old Troy Burston wounded outside a home on Exchange Avenue at 10:40 p.m. Sunday. He was not wearing a shirt and had been stabbed in the chest.

 Despite having a rare neurodegenerative disease called Niemann-Pick Type C, the two oldest Hadley children, Peyton and Kayla, enjoy staying active and participating in events with their family at their Catholic parish in Medford, Ore. (Photos by Jared Cruce) Born three years apart, Peyton and Kayla Hadley began their lives as normal, healthy children. For their first seven years, both progressed normally as they began elementary school, scoring high on tests with excellent reading skills. Then, when Peyton turned 8, things began to change.  One of the first signs that something wasn't right began with Peyton's tendency to cock his...

Drug-trade violence in Mexico that has left more than 28,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands more terrorized during the past four years has made an imprint on Mexican expatriates living in the Rogue Valley. "People are scared so they want to leave the country to find another place to live more freely and not be scared to go out." "When people get together, they're telling each other they are scared and hope nothing happens to their family members," Perez said through an interpreter. "The cartels have more power than the government," she said. "Everyone knows the drug cartels have...